Mace was making coffee ice when her phone rang.
She ignored it and slowly filled her ice containers with coffee that needed to freeze. When she was satisfied she painstakingly walked towards their freezer to place her cubes at the bottom.
She smiled happily when all her ice cubes were perfectly aligned. It was rare to see Mace in a good mood. Usually, she was pissed every morning.
Her phone rang again; she just frowned at it, and walked away. Whoever was calling her would stop. It was way too early for calls.
She hasn't even had her morning coffee.
"Nyeta, Mace, pick that damn phone of yours!"
Jerome "Supremo" Valderama snapped at her the moment he strode inside the office. His hazel eyes glared behind those squared glasses. He was carrying a cup of coffee on one hand while the other was occupied with a trusty phone he was never without.
"Too early, Rome," Mace pouted, nevertheless picked up her phone. "See! It's just 8:30 am! Who would be calling…"
The rest of her words died when she saw who the caller was.
Jeron.
Before it rang again, she answered it. The urgency in his voice was seen on how Mace changed from being playful to being serious.
Jerome observed his detective. The playful lines around her eyes disappeared and her face began to frown. Even her relaxed stance became tense. As if she was ready to fight.
He leaned against his chair, controlling his breathing hoping to hear something at the other end of the line.
Weird as it was, Jerome has that ability. Something anyone could do if they put their mind into it.
"Bodies," he heard Jeron say.
The head of the section looked at his subordinate, waiting for her to return his piercing query. When the latter did it, he began to open his drawer and retrieve his badge.
"Me and Supremo will be there in…" Mace looked at the clock trying to predict their estimated time of arrival (ETA). It was Thursday, not much traffic. "...in an hour. We still need to check if Je Anne is awake."
"Okay, the coroner just pulled in. Oh…it's Neil. Thank the heavens."
Mace shook her head and began to put her things inside her bag. Her section chief was at the door, holding it open for her. When she walked out, he was already calling Je Anne.
He was frowning, Je Anne must have zonked out from last night. When the a**hole fire chief started spewing sh*t, Mace had to calm her down by buying her hand made mochi that was laced with sake.
Too bad she was a light drinker.
"Let her be, Rome. She was pissed last night. That damn fire chief of them -"
"Gurl, I told you not to date that man!" He exclaimed, "he is the most a**hat of all the men in that department."
"Noted, Chief," Mace dryly replied, "as long as you don't say, I told you so. Je Anne has been saying those words to me since she found out we were going out."
Mace shudders in disgust. The two nights she went out with him taught her how wrong the man was.
"Why is Jeron calling us? He should be dialing the Homicide division, not us. Detective Asi will be more than happy to solve this case."
"He must have found something that we had been looking for," Mace began. "Jeron had been helping us during his spare time to look for clues on the cold cases that we have."
"We have a case where the Fire Department was related?" he asked, never missing a step. Mace always thought Rome had eyes on the back of his head, now thought, it seems like he has eyes all over.
"Three years ago, there was a fire in the business district. The whole place blew up like someone experimenting with some kind of firearm. The only saving grace on the incident was that the whole building was about to be demolished," Mace recalled.
"Oh, that one. We were having ramen on the other side of the city when that happened."
Trust Jerome to remember the food they were having rather than the actual major work event that happened. It cannot be helped. He was the kind of man that doesn't put much effort into things he was not part of.
"What made you ask for his help?"
"Remember when we went to the site five days after the blast?"
"Oh…yeah, I remember. The smell. The whole place smells like coconut. Like some tried to cook coconut curd but in one very big batch." Jerome remembered. "We kinda figured it out when we went to buy some sticky rice around the corner. Those were really good."
He was right, the sticky rice cake on that corner was something else. They hadn't been there for so long. Maybe it was time to revisit the blast site. Ever since that incident, construction of the new building was halted. The city government wanted to make sure that the fire incident was not about to happen again.
Mace sighed, when they got out of the police building. It was too early to be out in the sun. Then again, maybe what she didn't like was facing that dang fire chief again. Her stride matching Supremo's pace, she was still thinking of how to respond when the man in question stopped walking.
She frowned and looked at where he was staring at.
Mace crossed her arms across her chest when she saw who was standing beside their car. He was the last man they were expecting. Nor he was not the man people like them would see hanging around the police station. Let alone with them.
Media had pegged him as captivating. His mixed Filipino and Brazilian made him look distinctive, not to mention the way his sun-kissed skin looked like he just stepped out of a photoshoot. As much as Mace wanted to group him with the other pencil pusher she knew, there was a sense of sharpness on his almond-shaped, dark brown eyes.
His facial structure is a clear indication of his lineage, with high cheekbones, a defined jawline, and a slightly aquiline nose. His hair is naturally thick, dark, and wavy. Those features he clearly got from his father.
A son of the biggest conglomerate in the world. Born with a silver spoon, surrounded by maids who he could command at his beck and call. A man who graced Forbes 500 as one of the most successful businessmen and eligible man to marry at the age of 30.
Drake Teves.
Why was he here? That Mace was not sure. What she was sure of, their day was about to get worse.