Holding On

Chapter 7.

They entered into the tiny and sparsely furnished office—which they knew was by choice as the lieutenant rated a larger office. There was a single visitor chair and they both opted to stand. The little fridge and coffeemaker were the only extravagance in the room.

Lieutenant Lana Dark was a striking and fit woman in her late thirties with her auburn hair just past her shoulder. She ended the call and looked over at them with her sea green eyes.

"Sir." They stood at tension and she nodded in return.

"I went over your reports and progress so far in your current case, Maksim Sidorov. Anything more to add?"

She took the cue. "A background check was done on all forty-nine of his closest coworkers. At the end of it, nine of them were flagged as priority of which they've all been invited for further interview by noon today. Another scheduled appointment to the Volkov's HQ to question the absent three and Volkov himself." She finished.

"Good job so far. All around. I'm sure you don't need to be told who Aleksei Volkov is, so all I'm going to say is tread carefully. Good hunting."

They got out of the elevator and were heading towards the car when Lynch's comm got an alert.

"Not so good news." He looked up after going through his comm. "Two of the flagged names are in."

She scowled in annoyance. "People need to learn to stick to schedule. When we say noon, we mean noon." She glared off into the distance. "So how do we do it?"

"I'm thinking I'll stay behind and handle things here while you go on and take care of things there." She contemplated and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, that'll work."

"Good luck." He said as he walked back to the elevator.

She pressed on the gas and swung uptown.

She walked straight to the receptionist after flashing her badge at the entrance. "Good morning, Ms Lockhart." She glanced up at Eva and flashed a blinding smile.

"Detective Crane. How are you this morning?" She came around the desk to meet her. "I'll lead you straight to Celeste and good news, Mr Volkov just came in." She led her to the same elevator and ushered her in. "Just press the top floor button, you'll see Celeste at her desk."

"Thank you." The door closed and took her to the top floor. It was a vast room, elegantly furnished with posh carpetings in rich forest green. Paintings by renaissance artists and modern artists lined the walls and the floor to ceiling window gave a great view of the city.

She saw Celeste sitting behind her desk in what she supposed was a magenta suit. Her skirt showed off straight legs cladded in black heels and she glanced up and walked towards her.

"Detective. You're just in time. A room has been set up for you. Darius and the other two will be brought to you and after you'll see Mr Volkov." She led her to conference room and offered her coffee.

"Thanks."

"He'll be right in." Eva drank her coffee as she waited.

Darius Wilson strode in a few minutes later. He was tall and built, his brown hair brushed back from his sternly handsome face. His grey eyes produced a steely stare as he walked towards her. Her memory sparked and that feeling from her office came back like she's seen him somewhere.

"Detective. Darius Wilson at your service." He offered a hand and shook hers with a charming smile that didn't reach his eyes. He took his seat and she got straight to it.

"Could you verify you whereabouts two nights before from 11PM to 3AM?"

His mouth twitched a little. "Straight to business, I see. Well as you know, I was on a trip with the boss of which we didn't get back till the early hours of this morning."