Happy Accidents

Chapter 8: Orphan

He loved and hated these kinds of cases. He loved the rewarding feeling when they were over, the knowledge that whoever was taking innocent lives could never do so again: that and the puzzle. Trying to figure out puzzles from clues was his thing; it always had been. He might not have been book-smart, but he was knowledgeable and observational. It was precisely the reason he'd chosen law enforcement.

He stood in the observation room beside the interrogation room, leaning casually against the wall and sipping his coffee. He was doing what he always did: letting his subject stew for a bit. Much to his surprise, the guy hadn't called his lawyer yet... not that Sasuke had wanted to deal with that snake. Dosu was willing to cooperate, and that was what mattered.

For now... Sasuke had another puzzle to figure out. That annoyingly perky and energetic doctor who was now his assigned partner. She wasn't even a cop; why would they suddenly give her to him? No license to carry a gun, even. Or, if she had one, she didn't carry it on her. He'd notice the compensation if she had.

She was... odd. The way she floundered when it came out that he'd been the wrong number, she texted. He hasn't been lying when he replied initially; it was a good outfit, and it looked good on her, too. He certainly hadn't been expecting it to be her. Part of him wished it hadn't. It was an image he couldn't unsee now that he'd met her face-to-face, and the reaction it caused was deeply annoying.

Satisfied he'd let his charge stew long enough, the detective chugged the rest of his coffee and tossed the cup, exiting the observation room with a flourish before entering with the same. Now was the time to play the alpha; otherwise, Dosu wouldn't crack. Not for a moment.

"So, care to explain this?" He said bluntly, laying out a few of the photos they'd taken of his apartment. Dosu was quiet; he must have learned something the last time he ended up in prison.

"No? Okay. Let's try this one." He laid out a few of the crime scene photos of Dosu's roommate, which quickly elicited a reaction.

"I have no idea what that is," he said as he pointed to the body, looking almost ill. He even pushed it away, like he couldn't bear to look at it.

"That right there is your roommate," Sasuke replied bluntly, shoving the paper back in front of him. "Who we found dead in the river. What, was she a client that didn't pay up, so you chose to maim and murder her?" His words were firm and cold, with underlying calm aggression that made him dangerous.

"No, no—she was never a client of mine."

"So you were a client of hers, then," Sasuke stated as he leaned back in his chair, observing.

"No! Kin and I—we were never like that. She was Zaku's, through and through."

"Zaku's girlfriend?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. They mostly wanted to keep it under wraps, but they really couldn't in the apartment. Not from me, anyway." He almost looked proud.

"Yeah, the apartment we have you making product in for your clients. Well, whether you killed her or no doesn't matter. You're still going in with the intent to distribute. Again." Grabbing the photos and slipping them into the file, he stood up to leave before Dosu stammered something.

"Wait, wait, wait. Look—I know this won't get me off what was happening there, but there was this one guy we'd seen hanging around. Good lookin' thing, always flirting with Kin when Zaku wasn't around. Told her she had nice eyes. I don't think he's a tenant of our building, though."

The detective paused. "Got a name? What he looked like? Anything useful that isn't going to sound like you trying to get off clean?" The sarcasm in his tone was biting.