---

“They were seeing each other for quite some time, each time a pap caught them, Johnathyn said he paid them off. These were the snaps we were able to get our hands on.

No one can know I showed you these Kai…” She said as she leaned down, grabbing my gaze with her eyes.

“What-yeah, okay. Of course.” I felt incredibly bewildered, how had this happened for so long and I was none the wiser? “What did Jonathyn say? Did he kill her?” I blurted out, I hadn’t wanted to believe it was even a possibility until now.

“That’s the thing, he told us Emelie was coming to break up with you. She had decided she was leaving you for Jonathyn, he thinks you killed her.” She said quizzically.

“What? That can’t be true, the last time we spoke she told me she couldn’t wait to see me, that she loved me and I was feeling pretty shitty about the fact that I was coming home to break things off with her, but I would never- “

“Kai, calm down. I’m not insinuating you did it, I’ve got a feeling about Jonathyn. Normally my instinct is never wrong, that is the only reason why I’m sharing this with you. I shouldn’t have shown you the pictures, I’m sorry…I had to get a reaction out of you though, for reassurance.” She had placed her hand on my arm as she spoke, I looked down at her fingers; her nails were perfectly manicured, but the skin around her fingernails were scarred as if she’d bitten or picked at it for years. She didn’t have a ring on any of her fingers though, in fact she didn’t have any jewelry except for a necklace around her neck, a simple gold chain with a pearl placed sweetly in the middle.

I finally shook my head, coming back to reality. “No, I understand. I thought it was a set up anyway, so I guess this is better…”

“Why would you think it was a set up?” Her voice had perked up some, intrigued.

“Because you said I was a suspect.” I said, looking up at her.

“I had to say that…at the office, no one can know we meet or that I tell you any details. Not even any lawyers that are involved. There would be dire consequences Kai.” She sounded a bit desperate, why did I think she was a bitch before? Clearly, she was being secretive because she was breaking laws and wanted me to know the severity of it.

“I understand, I won’t say a word.” I sucked in air, blowing it out harshly before looking back at the pictures.

“What a bitch…” I said under my breath, my eyes focused on the carefree face of someone I thought was my best friend. Johnathyn had betrayed us before, but I didn’t think he’d stoop this low.

“Okay, I should probably go…” She said and began gathering the photos, shoving them neatly back into her bag. I grabbed her wrist lightly.

“Stay? Just for lunch. I don’t really want to be alone right now.” I wasn’t sure why I’d just become so vulnerable, but this was a lot to swallow.

She pursed her lips, giving me a look over.

“Just as two people who are just that- people. Kai and Mak, drop the statuses.” I offered.
She looked hesitant, but finally gave me a nod. “Okay, only because I have nothing else to do today…you’re lucky I had a short shift today.” She said as she finally closed the bag and placed it on the floor.

She was dressed casual again today, tight blue jeans and a loose fitting thin pink V-neck. I could see her tank top underneath, but I knew if she weren’t wearing it her bra would be visible. It’s incredible how quickly my mind travels.

“Great, well what are you in the mood for?” I said as I stood up and walked to the refrigerator and opened it up. It was immaculately clean and stocked with all the essentials – all things to my assistant of course, if it were up to me there would probably be some beer and tofu in there. A little can go a long way with me, in most cases.

“Gosh, you’ve got everything” She said, pondering as she stood up to come peruse with me.
“What can you make the best?” She asked, her eyes peering into the back, probably trying to think of possibilities.

“Oh, you see. My specialty is Pizza.” I said confidently, opening the freezer side and giving her a grin. “So easy, just set the oven and pop it in. It’s delicious.”
She laughed, shaking her head at me. “Typical. I love pizza though, so you’re in luck.” She reached in and grabbed a box that had vegetable supreme written on top of it and handed it to me.

“Good choice, I’ll put it in the oven. Make yourself comfortable, get whatever you’d like to drink or anything you need.” I said as I turned to assemble the pizza; set the oven, opened the box and removed the plastic, placed it on a pizza sheet and then popped it into the oven when it was preheated. I set the timer to 18 minutes and then walked into the living room, she was sitting on the couch with a bottle of water pressed to her lips as she drank.

“Water? So tame.” I say as I sit down beside her.

“Well, I don’t drink soda.”

“There was beer and wine?” I pushed.

“So, I saw, however I am five years sober, so I wouldn’t want to mess that up.” She looked to me as she spoke, I could tell she was feeling uncomfortable. Leave it to me.

“Oh, yeah. No definitely not that’s wonderful. Congratulations.” I quickly said, hoping I wasn’t being too invasive.

“Yeah…thanks.”

I could tell she didn’t want to carry this topic on, so I leaned back and kicked my feet on to the ottoman in front of the couch.

“So, are you from Los Angeles?” I asked as I watched her relax some, turning her body towards mine.

“No, I’m originally an east coast girl. Born in Myrtle Beach and moved all over until finally settling down here in my late teens.” She said with a shrug.

Honestly, we’re getting somewhere. “Did you have parents in the military?” I asked, assuming that would be the only reason why she’d move around.

“Sadly, no. My parents were dysfunctional at best. It was a lot of running away once I was old enough to get away with it. So, I kind of ended up in Los Angeles when I was younger…I’m sorry, I’m being too honest aren’t I?” She asked with a nervous laugh.

“What? No, of course not. This is all off the record right, so technically this conversation isn’t even happening. Be as candid as you’d like.” I replied, furrowing my brows playfully. She smiled and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

“Right, this could be highly therapeutic for the both of us then. Nothing is better than speaking to someone without holding anything back, especially when you don’t have to pay for it.”

“Exactly…” I say, looking at a smile on her lips. I hadn’t noticed how her bottom lip pouted out just a bit more than her upper lip.

“What?” She said, covering her mouth with her hand.

“Oh, no. Nothing, I’m sorry. It’s just…” I started.

“Just what…?” She asked with curious eyes.

“Hard not to stare at a beautiful woman.” I took my chances, it could go one of two ways – either she’d laugh it off and feel awkward since I’d just hit on her, or she’d accept the compliment and roll with it.

“Oh, thank you. I’m sure you see plenty of beautiful women though.”

She bit, excellent.

“You have something different about your beauty though, it’s dark…but light. Truly beautiful.” I was laying on the charm now, why not take advantage?

I saw her cheeks brighten, she could take a compliment. That was good to know, I hated girls who pretended they didn’t know they were gorgeous just to fish for compliments.

It’s why things didn’t work out with so many of the high-profile people I’d “dated.”

“You are quite handsome yourself…” She finally replied, her eyes looking me over. I knew she’d wanted to allow herself a good look. I felt my lips curl into a lopsided grin as I moved closer to her, my fingers gently smoothing through her hair. She leaned forward, her eyes locked with mine as I watched lips slightly pucker.

Our lips touched briefly, not necessarily a real kiss – a brush if you will and suddenly we were ripped away from one another and out of our moment thanks to a loud beeping wailing from the timer I’d set.
I can’t catch a break.

---

[[ Mak POV]]

It appears the skies had sprung a leak, it rarely rained in Los Angeles, yet this was the third time this week. Something was going on upstairs.

I watched the steam rise from the asphalt as our car slowly inched forward in the stand still traffic.

“Who do you have to kill to get through this intersection?” My assistant said as he hit his fist on the steering wheel.


“Now, now, violence never solved anything.” I said giving him a smirk. We had known each other since college, it was only luck that we’d been partnered together in the same precinct. He rolled his eyes as he looked over at me, clearly, he was not amused.

“You know I have road rage, you have driven, and this could have all been avoided.” He said with a roll of his eyes.

I sighed and pressed a button in the center of the dashboard, immediately a siren went off and blue lights began flashing.

“Problem solved.” I said with a squint of my eyes. Cars immediately began moving to make room for us.

“I obviously could have done that.” He argued as he weaved through traffic.

“But you didn’t, so here we are.” I replied as I pulled my phone from my bag. I had a text from Kai, which no one would have known from his contact name. Edward.

Do you think you could stop by tonight?

I looked out the window, I knew I was spending too much time with him, but I was infatuated. It was scary.

“Who is that?” Mike asked, looking down at my screen.

“Just that guy… the one I’ve been seeing.” I replied before putting my phone up. Mike could not know.

“Oh, yeah…that guy.” He said with attitude drenched words.

“Don’t give me that, you know that I am a grown woman, right? I have the right to date people.”

“Yeah, you just have awful taste. Let me guess, he’s a bartender? You know as soon as he finds out you’re a homicide detective he’ll run for it.”

“You’re so charming. Don’t worry about what I do in my spare time.” I was getting irritated, he was such a child.

“Someone needs to. I know you’ve been spending time with Kaiser Kane.” He said as he parked the car, looking over at me. I pursed my lips, tightening my jaw as he looked at me.
“Just be careful Mak, he’s powerful and influential. Don’t get caught up or let him cloud your judgment. There is something there he isn’t telling us.” I watched him take his seatbelt off before I finally spoke.

“What do you mean? Why would you think that?” I asked, wondering if maybe he were right.

Maybe I had been blind to any involvement he had because I was so smitten.

“I just don’t think his alibi adds up, I think we need to pursue that some more…”

“Right, because we don’t have plenty of evidence against Jonathyn.” I cut him off, sounding more agitated than intended. He paused and looked at me, furrowing his brows.

“We may need more. We have another interview with him this afternoon, maybe pull your head out of your ass and do your job.” He said before shaking his head and getting out of the car. I sat there for a moment, thinking about what he had said. I took a deep breath and climbed out of the car, following behind him as he walked up a grassy hill. There were police everywhere and yellow tape sectioning off the crime scene.

“How old?” I asked as I looked down at the body, the medical examiner looked up at me.
“About 15, looks like a working girl.” He said as he bagged up some evidence and handed it to me. I looked at the clearly fake I.D. that was inside the plastic.

“Come on, there is a witness.” Mike said as he guided me toward the other side where they had an older lady sitting on a bench with a blanket wrapped over her.

Not exactly a good distraction, but it got my mind off the struggle I’d somehow fallen into.
After two hours or so, we were finally on the way to the office. It was beyond hot from the water mixed with the hot ground. I knew my hair was probably a mess.

“What time are we meeting Jonathyn?” I asked as I pulled my hair into a pony-tail, looking over at him.

“He’ll be there in 2 hours, want to grab lunch?” He asked as he exited on to the highway.

“Yeah, that sounds good to me.” I said as I tried to focus on anything other than what he had said to me earlier, why would he think that Kai’s alibi didn’t add up?

Lunch went by quickly and we were back in the office with about thirty minutes to spare before Jonathyn arrived. I took this opportunity to reply to Kai.

Yes, I’ll be at yours tonight.

I pressed send; I knew I could get to the bottom of it by myself. I didn’t need Mike.

“Jonathyn’s here. You ready?” Mike asked as he stopped at my desk. I nodded and slid my phone into my drawer and closed it.

“Let’s do this.”

Notes