Investigating Love ✅

Chapter 1

The sirens of the police cars ring through the apartments in the richest street in Salem town.


After Mr. Swythe had called the 911, every police officer was put back on duty. From now on, the priority of detective's department in Salem is to find senator's daughter.


General Sarah Alder called a meeting for everybody who works at her station. It's time to encourage her team enough to capture the bastard that kidnapped young Swythe.


"Good evening, everyone. I'm sorry I had to call all of you here this late. As you may already heard senator's daughter was kidnapped." General Alder takes a deep breath and lets out a long exhale.


"We actually don't know anything. We don't have any information when or where this happened. All we've got at the moment, is that nobody have seen the victim during last 48 hours."


Sarah Alder nods towards her assistant and eyes the crowd in front of herself. Many of familiar faces look determined to act and solve the case in no time. Only if it was this simple.


"Get to work." It's all that general can say for now. She walks back to her office to get inside paper work again.


"She seems stressed, doesn't she?" Scylla asks leaning against her desk while playing with her pen. "I mean, we had lots of kidnapping cases before. Swythe's no different." The brunette says looking at her partner's facial expression.


Byron turns towards the detective and makes eye contact with the girl. "Actually, it is a whole different case. She just disappeared like a ghost. Of course, we need to check if she didn't run away but that surely will piss off her parents." The boy pulls out his phone and texts Izadora.


"What are you doing?" Scylla asks curiously about the boy's intentions. Her attitude slightly changes as she slowly starts getting involved into the case.


"We need an expertise from Libba's room, so I'm asking Izadora if she has free time tomorrow. It's already late and I need to go back home to Eliot. We've got family dinner tonight." Byron looks at the brunette sitting behind the desk as she nods giving him a small grin.


Scylla knows what happened last time Byron and Eliot organized a family dinner and it was a disaster. "Good luck with that." She chuckles and leans back in her chair tapping on mouse scrolling through Libba's Facebook profile.


"Goodnight, Ramshorn." Byron says his goodbye to the girl and quickly disappears from the station.


Light footsteps approached Scylla's desk and the brunette looks up Alder's posture. "The case is yours, Ramshorn. Tomorrow, you will meet your new partner working on this case. Don't be late." General leaves thin file on Scylla's pile with documents and turns on her heel.


"Yes, general." The brunette says quietly and immediately takes the file to study through it. There wasn't much inside since the case was fresh and Libba doesn't have any criminal past.


*


Byron arrives at home and brings groceries inside. Carrying two bags full of food, he enters the apartment almost dropping what he bought.


"Jesus, honey!" Eliot helps his fiancé with the groceries. "You could've called me to go down and help you with all of these. It's pretty heavy." The boy puts down the bag on the kitchen counter and turns to Byron.


"We've got two hours to cook, baby. How was your day?" Eliot walks over to his boyfriend with a happy smile on his lips and wraps arms around Byron's waist.


The brunette puts arms around Eliot's neck as they sways together, both of their faces lit up with smiles. "It was fine. But you know I like being home more." Byron leans slightly down and pecks his boyfriends lips letting the kiss linger for a few long seconds.


"I know, it's because you have me, waiting here for you everyday. I love you, By." Eliot rests forehead against his boyfriend's and chuckles lightly as they're both staring into each other's perfect eyes.


"I love you too." Byron leans into Eliot's lips kissing them softly as he moves hands from the boy's neck to his cheeks and cups them gently. "What are we making tonight? Let's not mess this up, okay?" The brunette laughs softly and taps his fiancé's butt on the way to the kitchen.


Eliot makes a beeline over to the radio set up on the windowsill in the kitchen and tunes it up. Their favorite song rings and echoes through the apartment as Byron looks over at his boyfriend.


"There's no way they still play it! You set this up!" The detective laughs and pulls the boy by his hand and twirls him around. Eliot laughs and intertwines their hands.


"Oh, you know if I could I'd set it up every evening." He leans down and opens a cupboard with aprons. Eliot hands one of them to Byron and puts one on as well. "Let's get to work."


*


"I think it's the best mac & cheese I've ever had. You two are great cooks. Why don't you open a restaurant and serve this?" Byron's mother jokes and laughs lightly at her boys enjoying the meal as well.


"Mom, don't be ridiculous. You know we both have two left hands." Byron puts his fork down and takes Eliot's hand in both of his. The brunette's fiancé looks at him with sparkles in the eyes as they both grant each other with pure smiles. "We want to announce something to everyone."


"Two years ago when I met you, Eli, I knew one day I'm going to marry you. I don't know how or when but that's true. No matter what gets in our way we both love one another and that's what trully brings me happiness." Byron's mom covers her mouth with both of her hands in shock. Her eyes start to water slightly expecting what's coming next.


By the other side of the table where Eliot's parents are sitting, there isn't much of an excitement. Eliot's family is very religious but they agree that every being deserves to be who they want to be and they respect Byron's and their son's relationship.


"A week ago, before I sent an invitation to the dinner, Eliot proposed to me. We're going to get married." Byron says gushingly as he almost explodes in his chair.


"Of course, it won't be too soon. You don't have to worry, dad. We're not starting a family, yet." Eliot assures his parents seeing happiness in their eyes but they rather stay calm about the news. The boy squeezes his boyfriend's hand and pecks his lips.


Byron rests his forehead against Eliot's shoulder while looking at his mother tearing up in front of everyone. "Okay, mom. Come here." The brunette gets up and hugs his mother.


"Oh, sweetie. I'm so happy for you two. I can't imagine better things that happened in my life." The older woman carefully wipes her tears away trying not to mess up her make up.


"I think my birth was bigger." Byron jokes and Eliot laughs as he gets up and shares a hug with his fiancé's mom too.


"Babe, we know you're the true Goddess. You don't have to brag about this again." Eliot kisses Byron's cheek with a delightful smile and holds the boy's hand. "I love you." He gets caught staring into Byron's eyes as they share a moment.


"I love you too." They put arms around one another's bodies and kiss softly in front of everyone. Their pride inside their chests pounding widely for real for the first time in their lives.


"Okay, now show me the rings!" Byron's mom squeaks in joy as she takes Eliot by arm and the three of them walks over to the living room. Chattering about their future and current plans lasts longer than everybody thinks. Soon Eliot's parents join the group as well.


*


Scylla had spent all night going through camera footage from the streets set close to the one that senator lives in. She wanted to recreate what happened with young Swythe but the amount of hours to see through was too much for one night.


Mugs of coffee went through Scylla's body that night and even though, she woke up at 6 am with her head rested on the desk. "Good morning, detective Ramshorn." Woman's voice makes the girl the brunette snap from her nap and shoot up in her chair.


"Don't touch my tail!" Scylla calls out in confusion, because of the reality hitting her mind. She looks up at the person in front of her and gets up. "I'm so, so sorry. I must have fallen asleep last night while going through the footage."


The brunette sighs quietly scratching the back of her neck. "Scylla." She extends a hand towards the new face around the station.


"I'm Raelle." The blonde gently shakes Scylla's hand and looks down at the papers set up all over the girl's desk. "Bet it was an intense night, huh?" Raelle lets go of Scylla's hand and sits down opposite the brunette.


"As I said, the footage from senator's street is hours too long. Plus, I looked through it once and there isn't a single sign of anybody getting kidnapped. We should inform Swythe's parents about possible run away." Scylla picks up the phone and types in number.


"Wait, what if she wasn't kidnapped on the street or in front of her house? It could've been a postman or someone that sneaked in." Raelle suggests putting down the phone that Scylla's holding.


"What's on your mind?" The brunette looks at Raelle with curiosity. She puts down the phone and shifts slightly in her chair ready to hear what her co-worker has to say.


"I think we should wait for today's expertise from Swythe's house. If your technician finds anything then we'll have to follow that track." Raelle locks eyes with Scylla. She twists on her chair and turns towards Alder's office.


"Is she always this early here?" The blonde watches Sarah fill up some documents at her desk. "Over working is dangerous if it comes to the circumstances of a young woman's life at stake."


Scylla peaks an eye at Alder then looks closely at the girl in front of herself. "Well, not for her. Alder has her own, let's say, rules. She never leaves the station if any of her charges stays for the night. General believes that a true leader guides the mission, not just sends her warriors to fight."


"Oh, that's quite relic, isn't it? But, yeah, that's quite a way to become a leader, huh?" Raelle turns to Scylla with a smile. "Coffee? We've got lots of work to do." The blonde gets up and collects some of her accessories.


"No, thanks. I think I've had enough coffee for one day." Scylla returns the smile to Raelle. She gets up from her desk and grabs badge from the drawer.


"Suit yourself. I'm waiting in the car." Raelle takes her jacket on the way out of the station and throws it over shoulder. Scylla watches the blonde leaves and heads to the restrooms.


The brunette splashes some cold water over her face and takes out cosmetics from her purse. She puts on fresh make up trying to hide the fact that she's been up all night and barely had sleep.


"Looking like a zombie, huh? Maybe you should go home and get some good sleep and I will take care of the new blondie." Vira looks at Scylla in the mirror while washing her hands. "Wouldn't mind taking over that case though."


Scylla clenches her jaw slightly and turns to her ex-girlfriend. "The case's assigned and Raelle's my partner from now on. Don't be so dramatic, Vira. Everyone gets their 5 minutes to shine and you used yours to into my bed." The brunette walks past the girl leaving a thick smell of sass behind.


Scylla gets in the car parked by the entrance to the station and settles down. "Are you sure there's no coffee needed?" Raelle hands a paper cup from Starbucks to the brunette but the girl shakes her head.


"I'm fine. Let's go, we've got some serious work to do before the streets get extra busy." Scylla buckles up and rests her elbow against the car door by her side. She hugs her cheek into her palm looking out the window as Raelle drives off the station's parking lot.


It takes only a few short minutes for Scylla to doze off into first phase of sleep. Her head getting heavier with every second while Raelle driving the car heading to Swythe's residence.


After a while the blonde noticed that Scylla has been quiet for some time. She pulls up in front of Libba's house and looks at her partner with a soft smile. The way that the brunette looks so peaceful while being asleep gets Raelle caught up staring at Scylla.


It takes a couple of seconds for Raelle to realize that this isn't the right time for her to think about things other than the cases’ matter. She gets out of the car and walks to the senator's house.


The blonde knocks at the door then presses door bell twice. Finally, after a couple more tries Libba's mother opens the door dressed in a white suit. "Good morning, Mrs. Swythe. I'm detective Raelle Collar. Let's talk about Libba."


"Of course, come in." The older woman steps aside letting Raelle inside the house. "Tea, coffee?" Mrs. Swythe closes the door behind the blonde and leads the way to the living room.


The interior of the mansion is decorated with many antics. Several windows around the rooms letting enough daylight inside the house to see clearly. Excellent curving on marbled walls make Raelle feel the fancy vibes from the very beginning.


"No, but thank you. I wouldn't be so calm if my child got kidnapped. I appreciate that you want to collaborate, Mrs. Swythe. Many of people that we have to deal with at our work are just pain in the ass." Raelle stops looking around the house and turns to the older woman.


"I have a few questions about Libba. Is she a good daughter? Causes any problems at school or ever complains about something? Maybe she fell into low company?" Collar takes out her small notebook and clicks pen to start putting down notes.


Mrs. Swythe takes a deep breath. "No, I don't think so. Libba's an excellent student, she's always on time, always does homework. There isn't a bad thing that I can say about her."


"Is it possible that she-" Raelle starts looking down into her notebook, but gets cut off by the older woman. The blonde looks up at Libba's mother with curiosity.


"-ran away? Of course, it is. My husband, well, they aren't in the best relationship lately. He puts pressure on Libba and I think she's still too young to get involved into family business. Teenagers need time to have fun before getting into serious stuff, Libba didn't. I warned Jeff but he didn't want to listen to me." Mrs. Swythe sits down on a sofa in the living room and rests chin on her palm.


"Have you talked with your daughter about this? Maybe she needed help or a break and everything will be alright once we find her." Raelle tries to comfort the woman seeing how difficult it is for her.


"Are there any close friends she could go to? Do you have their contacts?" The blonde turns page in her notebook and waits for Mrs. Swythe to give a hint how to get a chance to talk to Libba's friends.


"She- um, she has one friend. Actually, I think they are together. Gregorio Shelbark, they've been friends since they were kids and I was suspecting they were together, but never asked. Here, it's his number, Libba left it for me just in case." The older woman hands over a piece of paper to Raelle.


"One more question before I leave, did Libba behave odd or she was put off something like she wasn't herself?" The blonde wanted to make sure she asks about everything necessary to adjust the way they go in the investigation.


Mrs. Swythe looks at the detective with emptiness in her eyes like she's searching for something in her memory. "The day she disappeared, she didn't go to school. In the morning Libba said that she didn't feel too good and I let her stay home. Oh my God, what if I-"


"No, Mrs. Swythe it wasn't your fault. If she got kidnapped and the whole situation was planned, I’m sorry to say that, but she would get kidnapped anyways." Raelle shows the woman the true side of crime.


The blonde closes her notebook leaving the piece of paper inside of it before clicking her pen again. "I have to go now. Thank you for the conversation, we'll stay in touch." Raelle shakes Mrs. Swythe's hand and walks away. She leaves the mansion and in the meantime Izadora pulls up in front of the house.


The technician gets out of her van dressed in sterile lab suit so she doesn't destroy any evidence by accident. "Good morning, detective Collar. How's the investigation going?" Izadora starts the conversation between the two as Raelle's about to get back in her car.


"It's fresh case so there's not much to say, yet. Mrs. Swythe is generous, she will let you inside so you can do your thing." Raelle smiles saying jokingly.


Izadora takes out her bags with necessary accessories that will help her gather possible evidence inside of Swythe's mansion. "She fell asleep?" The woman asks about Scylla who's sitting in Raelle police car still asleep.


"Yeah, detective Ramshorn stayed up all night going through the footage from this area. She didn't find a anything suspicious, unfortunately. What's her history? She strongly insisted on not going home to get some sleep." Raelle looks at the brunette sitting in her passenger seat.


"Well, for that you're too new tight lips. Ask Scylla, maybe she will give you the answers, but I'd be careful with that. She's sensitive over her past." Izadora warns detective Collar and heads towards the front door of the senator's mansion.


The blonde gets in her car and shuts the door which makes Scylla snap out of her nap. She looks over at Raelle with sleepy eyes. "Oh, we're at senator's house."


Ramshorn goes for the handle of the passenger's car door to open them, but Raelle locks the car with one move of her hand. "What are you doing?" The brunette turns towards her partner with confusion written on her face.


"I already asked Mrs. Swythe the standard questions. You fell asleep so I went there alone. Scylla-" Raelle shifts in her seat trying to get into the brunette's mind.


"Detective Ramshorn for you. You should've asked me first... it's my investigation. You had no right to go there without me." Scylla looks mad at Raelle. She grabs the handle again. "Open the door..." The brunette's face becomes pale. "Open the damn door."


Raelle has no choice and clicks the button on her side. The door unlocks and Scylla opens them widely as she squirts with vomit all over senator's lawn.


The brunette shuts the door and wipes her mouth with a napkin. "Drive." Scylla lets only one word slip out of her mouth. Raelle doesn't hesitate a single second and pulls off of Swythe's front yard.


"Are you alright?" Collar asks after stopping at the red light on the way to the station. "I can drive you home..." The blonde offers and grasps the steering wheel with both hands in slight frustration.


"Turn right then left. I live not far from here." After the light switches to green Raelle follows Scylla's instructions. A phone vibrates in her pocket as she pulls up in front of a building.


The brunette looks at Raelle for a second then gets out of the car. She slowly closes the door and walks inside the building. Scylla gets upstairs and opens the door to her apartment.


Collar watches the girl enter the building and drives away in the direction of the police station. Raelle's planned to continue investigation without consulting anything with her partner. Someone has to keep hands on pulse if anything new airs for the case.


After Raelle arrives at the station she settles down at her desk. The blonde opens case's files and reads them again to let her mind get involved into Libba's missing scheme.


"Detective Collar, where's detective Ramshorn? Did you lose her on the way back here?" General Alder looks over at Scylla's desk and turns back to face her new charge.


"No, ma'am. Scylla- I mean, detective Ramshorn, she didn't feel too good. She went home to get some rest and come back here later." The blonde explains why her partner isn't at work. "She spent whole night working and I guess it was too much for her."


"Yes, I know. Sometimes our work can be difficult and tiring but once the success is achieved the satisfaction can't be forgotten." Sarah smiles softly at Raelle as if something inside her was raising her beyond the clouds.


"Agreed, chief. Everything has its' cons and benefits. I chose this job for donuts but whatever you like general." Raelle jokes and returns the smile to her boss.


"Have a nice day, Collar. Check up on Ramshorn if she doesn't come over tonight." Alder steps into the lift and presses a button to get down to the underground parking lot.


"Ah, what a woman." Raelle mumbles and leans against her palm. It certainly keeps her curious about Scylla's past and what's so mysterious in her.

It looks like Raelle has got a new case to solve.

*


"To be honest, I don't think Libba would run away. I knew her when I was a kid and she loved the fact that her parents were rich and she could have anything she wanted to. She was also a bitch but- you know what I mean." Scylla sits down at the table by her father's side.


The brunette grabs a spoon full of fresh made soup and feed her dad. The man waves off at his daughter with a hand. "No, dad. Let me do it. You can barely move your fingers."


After a terrible car accident Scylla's father needs a wheel chair. He can't move his legs nor arms. The doctors say he won't live too long because of the damage the accident cause in his brain and because of the age.


Mrs. Ramshorn unfortunately wasn't so lucky if you can say that. She was buried at local cemetery two years ago. Now it's only Scylla and Thomas. The brunette tried to keep her family's tragedy away from media but Salem's a small town. Everybody knows her situation, well, except Raelle who arrived at the town few hours after Libba's kidnapping.


Ramshorn feeds her dad a whole bowl of soup and rests down on the couch after putting her pops into the bed. Taking care of an elderly man and paying expenses only from detective's salary is sometimes difficult, but somehow Scylla manages to keep moving forward.


She feels how fluids start to swirl in her stomach and saliva comes up to her mouth. Scylla tries to swallow what's trying to come out of her, but this time it doesn't work the way she'd want it to.


The brunette gets up from the couch and runs to the bathroom opening the toilet right in time. She lets out everything she has eaten for dinner and sits down beside the sink. "Damn it." A certain thought comes up to Scylla's mind and her throat gets dry only because of thinking about possible consequences of her latest downs.


"You alright, sweetheart?" Thomas calls out from his bed which is close to the bathroom. He heard the brunette puking a few times during the day and it has him worried knowing how Scylla gets over her mother's death.


"Yes, dad. I'm all fine it's probably just food poisoning. Don't worry, go to sleep." The brunette flushes water in the toilet and turns off the light in the bathroom. "Dad, you need to get more sleep. C'mon get under the blanket." Scylla pulls sheets over the older man and kisses his forehead for goodnight.


Ramshorn sits down on the couch again wanting to get some rest and relax in front of TV. She pours water in a glass and downs it before turning TV on. Scylla's planning on staying home for the night to fully recover from her overworking tendency.


The only thing she's got passed down from her father is weakness for alcohol. After Scylla's mother died, the brunette fell into drinking hard. It was her bottom and she prefers for it to stay that way. Holding back from any kind of alcohol is extremely difficult especially when nobody except her father and Alder knows the truth.


Everyone has their demons from past and everyone deals with them differently. To prevent herself from reaching for a bottle of something strong, Scylla spends more time at work which isn't too good for her health. She's been clean for a month now.


Sometimes the brunette thinks about grabbing something on the way back home, but then she calls Alder so they can have a nice chat until Scylla gets home without anything to drink.


Deep down Ramshorn knows that she needs only one failure to get back down or ever lower. It determines her to act against any crime that has been committed in Salem town.


*


"Good morning, detective Ramshorn." Raelle greets her co-worker and puts a cup of coffee in front of Scylla. "Alder told me to check up on you last night but I- kind of dumped her orders."


"I wouldn't let you in anyways. Anything new in case?" The brunette takes the cup and sips on the liquid. She turns to the trash can and spits the coffee. "What is that?"


Raelle quirks a brow at her partner. "I like to add something stronger for morning coffee." The blonde winks at Scylla with a slight smirk.


Ramshorn gulps and brings a hand up. She slowly walks thumb across her bottom lip. Feeling how percent rush through veins together with blood.


"You okay?" Raelle's expression changes when she sees how Scylla flies away with her thoughts. The blonde waves a hand in front of her partner's face.


Scylla's eyes water up slightly. "Excuse me." The brunette puts down the cup and walks away to the bathroom. She opens the door and enters the first empty stall.


Ramshorn's heart rate speeds up and her breathing becomes heavy. Scylla leans on her knees trying to catch air into lungs. She slowly starts to calm down as minutes pass. Her past getting closer to grasping her life again.


"Get over it Ramshorn... breath in, breath out." Scylla whispers to herself when her breathing finally comes back to normal pace. She straightens up when someone enters the restroom.


"Detective Ramshorn, are you alright?" Raelle knocks at the door of the only closed stall. "I've got some news about Libba's kidnapping." The blonde says softly and leaves the bathroom to give Scylla some time.


After a few minutes the brunette walks out and looks at Raelle. "What news?" Scylla crosses arms on her chest with a small cough not wanting to bring up the topic of her panic attack.