---

Niall – two months before the murder.
London nightlife was always exciting, I felt a little out of it to be honest. All the other lads had stuff going on in their life, but not me. I was just travelling and watching sports events, it was getting old. Harry and Shelby were supposed to be in town and they always knew where the party was at, well Shelby did at least. She was promiscuous and in a dangerous romance with a powdery white substance, Harry was none the wiser.

I remember the club we went to was some smaller place with blue velvet walls and very low lighting, Harry was ill with a bug so it was just Shelby and I. She was dancing with everyone, I lost her almost as soon as we got there. I found a table in the corner to drink a beer and watch the crowd, scanning to see if there was anyone I’d like to take home.
“Nialler, you’re so quiet over here.” Shelby said as she plopped down in the chair beside mine. She grabbed my beer and took a long chug from the rim, placing it down in front of me and giving me a cheeky grin.
“You’re having enough fun for the both of us, aren’t you love?” I asked with a laugh.
She licked her lips and stood up, but not for long. She was soon straddling me, her dress moving up so that her thighs were fully exposed as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Why don’t you want to play with me?” She asked, tilting her head from side to side. I was confused, this was Harry’s girl and she was all over me.
It went against the bro code. I stood up abruptly, causing her to topple back over the table.

“Shelby, I’m sorry… let me help you” I offered as I leaned down to help her up, she snatched her hand from me and gave me a snarl,

“Zayn is a better fuck than all of you anyway” She was so spiteful as she spoke. That’s how I found out about the affair, I knew I couldn’t tell Harry though. He would have been heartbroken.

---

Kat PoV
I stopped the audio recording, sighing as I looked back through my notes. “Jason…” I started, looking up to see him standing there scanning files as well.
“Yeah?” He asked, not bothering to look at me.
“Do you notice a pattern? The only ones with negative things to say about Shelby are Harry’s friends. None of the other witnesses have anything bad to say about her.” Jason sat down and nodded.
“I was just thinking that. In this report here, her best friend Alicia stated that they used to party all the time, but she changed after she got with Harry. She rarely went out and when she did she was very reserved and barely drank…. That doesn’t match up to Niall saying she was a cocaine addict.” “Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking. Clearly Zayn had nothing negative to say about her either….” I grabbed another folder and began looking.
“Oh, about Zayn….” Jason started, licking his chapped lips. They were able to overturn the no bail ruling; he’s getting out in a couple hours on his own recognizance. I arched a brow, instantly wondering if Harry knew. Something just didn’t seem right with all of this and the less time I spent with Harry, the more I realized it.
“We should get a security detail on him, just in case…” I said softly, looking up at Jason.
“We can’t harass the guy, I don’t think he’ll be a menace-“ I cut him off, grimacing as I spoke. “To protect him.”
“You really feel something, don’t you?” He asked, getting closer to me. I let out a shaky breath, looking back down at the picture of Shelby covered in her own blood
. “I do.”

---

We arranged for an officer to keep an eye on Zayn in addition to his own security team, now I was sitting in the evidence room staring at the gun they ruled as the murder weapon. I couldn’t put my finger on just why it looked so familiar, like I’d seen it before, but where? It wasn’t registered to anyone and had been bought off of an unknown supplier apparently. I know there is something familiar about it though, if only I could remember….
“Kat, we’ve got a problem.” Jason said loudly as he entered the room.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, standing up and packing the evidence back up.

“Zayn is missing.”

Notes

Two more chapters. All will be revealed.