Playing dangerous

Chapter 5 *Max*

On my way home, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to lie on my bed, watch yet again Blade Runner 2049, and her damn stupid smile.

I'm no romantic, I've had my fair share of relationships, 2 to be exact but that was enough for me to realize that I'll just leave my younger twin sisters to bless my parents with grandchildren.

I'm not saying I hate love and never wish to get married, but it's not like I found anyone or that I'll ever find anyone willing to spend the rest of her life with me, but oh well, not everyone is meant to have a soulmate. I have a nice paying job and as tiring and hard as it can get I don't regret any of my life choices.

I remember the day I told my parents I'd leave my hometown, New York, to live in Maryland, "Who on earth would leave THE New York City to go to unknown Maryland?" That's what my sister Evelyn told me, with Emily, her identical twin, nodding her head confidently as if their opinion mattered to me. Truth be told, they're not wrong, but New York is a big city, crowded, has a high crime rate, and is too dangerous for my liking. It's not a city for me, I'm not some party boy who drinks for a living, or a billionaire who can afford to buy the Bahamas, I like my life peaceful, and Maryland happened to not only be a pretty and not-so-dangerous city but I also got a job opportunity there so it was perfect for me. To this day I don't regret coming here.

After a 5 hour sleep despite my exhaustion, and destroying my lungs with my unhealthy smoking habit (I don't like calling it an addiction), I head to work at 8 am. I've recently been handed a case that involved a psychiatric hospital where potential abuse of children for the sake of experiments took place years ago, it's an unsolved case and I have no idea why the department would want to re-open this case now. As I contemplate the case's history through a file I've been given, I hear a very familiar voice getting closer to my desk.

-"Yo bro you also got assigned to investigate the children's psychology case?"

I look at the desk in front which is glued to mine where I see my colleague, Jasan, sitting with his signature smile, his white teeth in contrast with his dark skin.

-"Yeah." I reply dryly, looking back at my papers.

-"Cool, we gon' work together like the good ol' days." He says with enthusiasm.

-"The 'good ol' days' being 4 months ago."

-"And? We're buddies dude, working with you is cool and productive."

I could categorize Jasan as a "friend" since he's the closest person I am to among my other colleagues. So yes, I won't admit it to him because I like seeing him convince me that we're friends, he's unfortunately for me fun to be around and his annoying presence turned out likable.

-"Do you know why they're re-opening the case all of a sudden? The last time they investigated it was 10 years ago."

-"I heard they got new leads. One of the children victims, now grown up, showed up at the police station and accused a man of being one of the psychologists to have made experiments on her."

-"Did they find the person?" I ask curiously.

-"Yes, but...he killed himself in the temporary cell he was detained at, he actually banged his head on the wall several times until he bled to death, talk about gruesome and crazy. He never admitted to his crime, though killing himself led us to believe he may have been the right person."

-"Well damn." I was surprised by this revelation, how come I didn't know this sooner? Bet I was too busy with that graffiti girl. "This is gonna be hard..."

-"I know right, but we're a killer duo so we'll solve the case, right commerade?" He raises his hand and waits for a high-five, my eyes narrow and I roll them before high-fiving him.

-"We're not the only ones solving the case you know?" I sit back, take a sip from my warm black coffee, and skim the file one last time.

-"We're like 4 people assigned on that, so two duos". He says cheerfully and raises his two fingers to make a V sign. I stare at him. He then clears his throat, understanding that my morning friendliness ran out of power. He takes his own file and we both start working.

These past few days have been pretty busy, this new investigation has so far gone nowhere, all we've been doing is retracing the case's history and questioning further that girl victim. We didn't get any relevant information from her, only that those psychologists acted bipolar, she said that one day they would treat them right and make the environment they were living in safe until they get adopted, and one day they'd lock them up to study their brains. We still have no clue on the reason why they would do such a thing and why nobody talked about it when the case was fresh and opened 10 years ago.

After my lunch break and a small chit-chat with Jasan, I leave the police station for some patrol.

Hands in my pockets, I walk around my assigned area next to the central park. A soft breeze brushed my face and I could sense autumn replacing the hellish summer, I looked at kids running around and old ladies talking by the small lake, though I wouldn't call that 'talking' but rather gossiping, a fine skill all women master.

I walk nearer to the entrance to have a better look at everything when I see a girl walking her golden retriever dog. For the few things I like, dogs fit in that category, I sometimes wish I could work with dogs during investigations like those police shows on television. I dart my eyes to see the woman who's walking it and to my surprise...

It's the graffiti girl.