Fallen (Lingorm)

Chapter 6

Lingling was hunched over her desk, half-drowned in papers and police reports. Her eyes flicked over the words in the latest file about Mr. Alvarez, suspicion gnawing at her gut. Something wasn't sitting right. These reports were too perfect, too neatly tied up. It was like someone wanted to make sure everything looked flawless—but in real life, nothing ever was.

The door creaked open, breaking her train of thought. Lingling glanced up just in time to hear laughter filter in. Orm and her friends, no doubt back from their lunch break, were chattering loudly.

Orm stepped into the room first, still laughing at something, while Becky and Prig lingered behind, peeking in. Becky flashed a wide grin. "It's been a while, Kwong!" she greeted.

Lingling offered a polite smile in return. "Yeah, good to see you."

But her eyes flicked to Prig, who was doing what she always did—staring, in a way that was more than a little uncomfortable. Prig's eyes scanned her up and down, admiring her like she was a piece of art on display.

Lingling smiled tightly, giving Prig a quick wave. There was something off about that girl.. not in a bad way, the opposite actually. She wasn't bad, just...weird. Nice, but still weird.

Orm, on the other hand, noticed the staring and shot Prig a glare, like she was warning her to stop whatever she's doing.

Becky, blissfully unaware, waved goodbye. "Take care, you two!" she said before pulling Prig away by the arm, leaving Lingling and Orm alone in the room.

It had been three days since they'd started working on this case together, and so far, everything had gone relatively smoothly—if you didn't count the bickering. Lingling turned her laptop around, showing the screen to Orm as she leaned back in her chair.

"I've gone through 18 reports so far," Lingling said, her voice neutral but with a hint of exhaustion creeping in. "That leaves... 24 more to go."

Orm's eyes widened, her jaw dropping in disbelief. "Wait,  When I left you barely started anything ! Did you even take a break?"

Lingling shook her head, not even slightly bothered. "Nope," she muttered, leaning forward to go over her notes. "Anyway, I've found some interesting points about Mr. Alvarez's murder. These 'official' reports are too clean. There's definitely something they're not telling us."

Orm, now in full work mode, slid into her seat beside Ling and leaned over the laptop. Her eyes were scanning the notes quickly, biting her lip in concentration. And there it was—work mode Orm. Ling's weakness.