𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 (𝟏𝟖+) 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃 ✓

Chapter 19

The apartment is silent, it's only eleven in the morning with Jade and me already awake while Nash left for work earlier in the morning. I'm still working on decoding the laptop but I've been distracted for the last couple of minutes with Jade staring intensely at me from across the coffee table. I decided it'd be best to have a rest day at home to relax, more for her than me. I already talked to Camryn and from the sound coming through the phone I could hear her holding back tears but she'll be reassured once she sees her face-to-face tomorrow. Both of us have been sitting on the ground using the coffee table to do our work and taking advantage of relaxing on the super-soft carpet Nash has here. But it's enough now, time to pick her brain.

"Is there something you want to ask me?" I question her as I push my work to the side a bit so I have her full attention.

"Natalia, why did you want to become a police officer?" she questions, her face is tinged with confusion. "Isn't it scary?"

"Well it is scary but I love helping people, I always wanted to do a job that would help people. I could have become a doctor or a nurse or anything else but somehow I ended up as a police officer," I chuckle as she moves closer to listen to my story. "I remember one day you told me you wanted to become a doctor right?"

"Yes! When I was in kindergarten my mom got me a doctor set to play with and I had everything a doctor has, even the coat. My teddy bears were my patients," she says with a wide smile and even I have to smile as I picture a younger Jade playing doctor. 

"You'll have to do a lot of studying when you go to middle school, high school, even college," I list off.

"It's okay, I love learning new things. I wish we had school every day, even when it's summer," she beams and I chuckle at her excitement. "You know my mom wanted to do something that helps people too but she became a vet," she tells me and I nod my head pretending I didn't already know but this is knowledge I had the day we did a background check on Julia.

"But she's still helping people even if they are animals. You can think of it this way, if someone brings their pet because they're sick, that person is sad because the pet is sick. If your mom can take care and help the animal heal, both of them can be happy again. You get what I'm saying?" I ask her and she thinks for a moment before nodding her head in understanding.

"I'm going to be a doctor and help people in a hospital like Dr. Haruto," she says with a grin and that has me smiling back. Guess Haruto made a really big impression on her. 

"If you ever want to ask Haruto anything, make sure you do it when we're visiting your mom at the hospital or you can ask me and I can call him," I say ruffling her hair. It's always nice to help boost the minds of the younger generation. 

"I'll make a list of things to ask Dr. Haruto today," she says as she goes back to where she was sitting before and rips out a piece of paper from her notebook.

"You already finished your homework?" I ask her and she freezes for a moment before giving me a guilty smile.

"Not yet," she says shyly and I let out a laugh.

"Finish your homework first and then you can make the list for Haruto. Always finish what you need to do before what you want to do, don't let things distract you from doing the things that need to be done now," I advise her and she nods her head in agreement before turning back to her worksheet.

And now to get back to my decoding. I'm ninety-five percent in, another five to go and I should have what I need. Whoever set up this laptop put it through layers and layers of code; it's so intricate that even I'm impressed. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jade putting her work back in her bag and then turns her focus to her question sheet for Haruto and I'm getting the feeling Jade will have such a long list that it'll be like an interview.