Silver Fox - Unedited

10 || Fire Hazard

Fab stretched her muscles and felt her stomach flex as she pushed up from her spot on the floor, stepping out of her bedroom to take a shower.

The AirBnB they'd rented was equipped with hot water, though she bypassed it as she rinsed the light sheen of sweat off her body. Cold water in the city wasn't really cold, anyway. More like room temperature.

Fabiana was in and out of the shower in fifteen minutes, feeling refreshed from her morning yoga and the water wetting her skin. She left the bathroom quietly, seeing Isaiah's bedroom door still shut tight as she made her way back to her own room.

It's almost eight in the morning, I can't believe he's still asleep.

After years of getting up before the crack of dawn to be at work by first light, she considered waking up at seven in the morning as waking up late. She thought it was cute Isaiah wasn't a morning person, though she couldn't relate in that regard. Mornings were always productive for her, and now that the mission was mostly over, she needed to find something to do.

After pulling on a short denim skirt and a simple t-shirt, Fab left her room and waddled into the kitchen, turning on the Keurig on the counter to make herself a fresh cup. She placed a coffee bullet into the Keurig for Isaiah to make when he woke up after discarding her own in the trash, then padded to the dining room table to pull out her laptop and notepad.

She'd asked Rhea early in the morning to send her the details of one of the cases she'd left unfinished so she could start working on it again. She felt herself slip into full concentration as she found the email and got to work.

Eyewitnesses place her at the crime scene at the time of the crime but she says she's innocent and doesn't know anything. This is a crime of passion but there's no way to absolve the mistress of guilt when all evidence points to her. It's too obvious. I'm missing something...

Fab looked over her notes on the evidence again and tried to find something incongruous. She'd been the prosecutor on scene at the time the police called in the crime and she'd seen everything in its raw state, including the body.

The murder was called in by a neighbour... she took a look at her notes of the neighbour's testimony, biting on her lip as she concentrated.

She didn't notice Isaiah or her empty coffee cup until he placed a full plate of breakfast by her notepad with a cup of juice before taking a seat across from her. She glanced at the time, surprised to find it close to ten thirty.

"Did you cook?" She asked, stabbing her fork into a piece of fresh pineapple.

"I ordered in. How long have you been out here?" He bit into bacon and regarded her with hooded eyes still cloudy with sleep.

"Since about seven." Fab watched him grunt deeply and continue eating, holding back a smile. He was missing a shirt and his pecs were dusted with salt and pepper chest hairs, matching the treasure trail that went down his navel. She looked away when he ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to be caught looking at him.

"What are you doing?" He nodded to where she was writing in her notepad with one hand, fork in the other.

"Work," she replied, glancing at him before stabbing a cube of melon. "Thank you for the food."

He smiled at her and nodded, then the two slipped into comfortable silence. He watched her as she worked, pausing once in a while to eat some of the food in her plate until she finished. Her bottom lip was caught between her teeth and her forehead was creased in concentration.

Fab let go of her pen when her hand started to cramp, taking a look at the time again. It was a little past midday now, and she felt no closer to finding a new clue than she did before.