The Heart Collector (Under Editing)

Chapter Seventeen: Paranoia

Fare woke up with a start. The ache in her back indicated that she fell asleep at her desk again. She stretched and blearily looked at the files spread out in front of her. On the left was Kila's. On the right was August Lynch's. Before Novus and her had made it fully down the block, Sheila handed Novus August's file. She said that it was the one that they asked for when she refused to commit murder. Novus had surprised her when he immediately handed it to her after Sheila had left. He claimed that it was an olive branch and that he thought that he should spend the night with both files. While Fare's first reaction was to question the action, but her curiosity was eating her heart out. She wanted to be first to look for any discrepancies. Thus far, none stood out. If anything, she could not see any similarities.

August had obvious signs of torture and that he fought back, but any DNA that may have been under the fingernails was gone with his fingertips. Kila had a broken neck and fractures to several ribs that the coroner stated was caused by her fall down the stairs. There were no signs on her body that she had fought back. Fare thought that was odd because she knew Kila would have fought her attacker, so she may have been caught by surprise. The only thing that Fare found that was similar between the two files was that the recently deceased coroner, Theodore Locke signed both reports and that he filed them as complete autopsies when he did not open them up completely. Fare concluded that he was involved somehow and that his usefulness ran out. She glanced at the clock and sighed. It was seven in the morning which meant she only slept for four hours, and it would be another three before she met up with Novus again.

Fare pushed herself to a standing position and went to make something edible. While she fried an egg, Novus texted her that the hair and fingernails that were sent to Agatha were a match to Kila. She took a deep breath and quickly flipped the egg when it began to burn. Fare was not sure what she had hoped to find in the files, she certainly knew that it was more than what was there. She began to suspect that more of the Ninth Division was involved, but for the time being she decided to keep that to herself. She had a feeling that Novus suspected it too, but she sensed some denial coming from him. She would not be surprised if he were having a tough time believing that his fellow comrades may be committing crimes. To be honest, Fare might have thought the same if she was in his shoes. It could not be easy to swallow that a system that you believed in wholeheartedly could be corrupted.

Fare polished off her breakfast and decided to make a large pot of coffee. She knew that she would crash hard later, but her brain needed the caffeine to power on. She was half-way through the pot when a knock at the door pulled her attention away from the files. She looked at the clock and Novus was not due for another hour. She furrowed her brows. She closed the files and placed them in a drawer out of prying eyes. When she looked through the peephole, Fare was surprised to see who was on the other side.

She opened the door, "Milo?"

Milo was fidgeting. His appearance was disheveled and by the looks of the bags under his eyes he had not slept in several days.

"Milo?" She asked again.

He startled and Fare noticed that his pupils were huge.

He looked over his shoulder, "I-I'm sorry. I don't know what to do."

Fare watched him wring hid hands over and over. He was visibly jittery, and she could not tell if it was the drugs, he was on or something else. She stepped aside and allowed him in. She offered a glass of water to him, but he just stared at the condensation forming.

"What's going on Milo?"

"I-I think that I'm being followed."

"Followed? Why do you think that?"