Paint the town blue

Chapter XVI

Yuki and I spent the whole Sunday at home, as the weather was disgusting: from the very morning it wasn't just raining, but a real downpour, the sky was covered with leaden clouds, through which even a ray of light couldn't break through, and the wind only gave it all a cold note. So my neighbor and I spent the whole day watching movies, playing video games and talking about future plans. Yes, this is how those who are in their twenties spend their weekends.

We also discussed our idea of installing cameras in the house, and even looked at a couple of companies on the Internet, but decided to consult Logan about it first. He still has a better understanding of technology and these systems in general, so I'd better ask him.

Yuki offered to ask Alex, because we are partners, but I refused. Of course, I didn't say that I didn't really trust Albon because of my suspicions, so I attributed this reluctance to the fact that we had a lot of work without these conversations. It's funny, when my partner was Max, I didn't even suspect him of the terrible things he did; now that my partner is Alex, I'm ready to suspect him of anything. It's unfair, I know, but I can't help it.

The work week was pretty quiet - Alex and I only went out on cases a couple of times, and that was related to robberies or hijackings. We didn't have a real job for a detective, which made me even a little happy.

Alex also behaved strangely: he still didn't respond to someone's messages, and if they called him, he immediately left the office, and was always writing something down. I really wanted to look at his notes, but apparently he realized his mistake that time and never left any notes on the table again - he either hid them in a drawer and locked them, or at the end of the day he passed them through a shredder. I didn't ask him directly about his notes, because I know for sure that he won't answer anything. Yeah, that's not how I imagined working with a new partner. Give me back the old one, huh?

I grinned at my thought, and Alex looked at me a little surprised. In response, I just waved my hand and continued to study the data on one of the old cases on the computer.

My visit to Valtteri had to be cancelled this week - he had some urgent business in his homeland, so he had to fly away. But never mind, I can stand a week without digging into my brain, especially since he sent me a prescription for a new batch of medicines electronically. And I am very good at self-examination myself.

So on Thursday, I spent the lion's share of the day at Esteban's instead of Bottas's office. It was a quiet day, no new cases were thrown up, so I decided to talk to the Frenchman about old cases. He was surprised, but nevertheless began to talk with some enthusiasm about the most interesting cases in his opinion. Estie talked about unusual cases that he had encountered and heard about during his internship at other police stations, and I was sincerely glad that my thoughts didn't return to Max.

"Do you want me to give you some reports to read?"

"Come on, I have the whole evening off anyway."

"Let's go then."

Esteban went to the autopsy room, and I followed him. It's usually quite cold in this room, and few people would like to be here, but I was quite... comfortable here? And that scared me. It was quiet, empty, and only the occasional crackle from the ceiling lamp is heard. There were no bodies at the station right now, because we haven't had any murders or anything else with a fatal outcome for a long time. The positive days for the employees of the station.

We went to the cabinet where Esteban kept copies of the reports he remembered best. It's a strange collection, but everyone has their own quirks. For example, I'm talking to a piece of paper with a sloppy heart before going to bed.

I unceremoniously sat down on one of the empty steel tables covered with a white cloth, and Estie grumbled something under his breath and reached into the closet. He was sorting through thin folders, taking out some of them and putting them aside. Soon he had a small stack of old reports in his hands, which he handed to me. I took one of the folders and quickly flipped through the pages.