Murder on West 50th street.

Chapter 2: A suspicious new partner. (Part 1)

I arrived at work at 7:30 like usual and headed to my desk. I was about to sit down but was stopped by Eric. He was attractive with his tall muscular frame, his strawberry blond hair and his green eyes. I was so caught up in my day dreaming that I hadn't noticed he had been talking to me.

"Ella...Ella..."

"Sorry! What where you saying? "

He was looking at me with a quizzical look plastered across his face.

"I said that I was your new partner for this case." He said slowly, clearly amused.

"Umm... Isn't Chris supposed to be my partner?" I asked, confused.

"He is supposed to be but he caught a cold this weekend."

"Oh, ok." I replied simply. Silence came over us as we just stared at each other. I decided to change the subject before the situation became awkward.

"So, have you seen James yet? He is usually quite punctual."

He looked away from me and hesitated for a second before answering my question.

"Umm... no, I haven't." He played with his fingers nervously as he spoke.

"Mentiroso." I thought to myself. If he didn't see James, why would he be nervous? He shouldn't be and that's what caught my attention.

Yet again, my thoughts were interrupted but this time, it wasn't Eric. A tall skinny guy with dark unkempt hair and big glasses stood in front of me, he was looking up at me expectantly.

"Yes, sorry! What where you saying? "I asked calmly after recomposing myself.

"I was just saying that we managed to get the footage of the area surrounding the crime scene that matches the time frame of the murder ..." He said in a small voice. He hesitantly handed me a folder with pictures and a CD crammed in it.

"I also took the liberty of adding the enhanced images of the 'criminal' that we managed to get from the video." He added quickly.

"Thank you that will be very helpful to the investigation" I said with a smile on my face.

"Is that all? " I asked kindly.

"Yes." He was smiling at me, his nervousness seemingly gone. I gave him a quick nod before turning back to my desk. I was surprised to see Eric still standing there. He was staring at the file on my desk that had just been handed to me. I don't think he noticed me watching him because when I pulled my chair out he jumped in surprise. I gave him a questioning stare but he ignored it by clearing his throat. His behaviour was getting stranger by the minute.

"Should I go and check out the pictures and surveillance footage for you?" He asked with a straight face. The panic in his voice was barely there but I still caught on to it.

"It's okay, I will manage. If you want we can check it out together though, if you are so eager to do it? "I asked my face void of emotions. He nodded his head in agreement before pulling a chair over so he could sit beside me

I slid the photos out of the file once the surveillance footage started playing.

"Tell me if you see anything interesting" I said tilting my head back to look at Eric. He averted his eyes from the screen to give me a quick nod before turning back to the screen.

I started examining the pictures one by one to see if anything of relevance could be seen but there was nothing. The pictures didn't show any clear features of the criminal. All we could make out were his beard, his dark dishevelled clothes and his dark hair; exactly what I had observed the day before.

I let out a sigh of frustration before turning to look at Eric. He looked pretty calm all his nervousness seemingly gone.

"Did you find anything?" I asked him, a little hope laced in my voice.

"In the footage we can see a black van pull up in front of Applebee's, a man then gets out drops the bag casually before walking away taking a left at the corner and heading for the subway station. We then lose track of him. We can't see his face." I was about to turn around to talk to Eric about what we should do next when someone cleared their throat beside me. I turned quickly, taken aback by Eric's presence and our close proximity. I could feel his breath fanning my face and my cheeks started getting warmer. I was blushing. He handed me a yellowish file with the words "AUTOPSY REPORT" printed in bold, black letters on the front; I took the file from his hands and placed it on my desk, breaking eye contact. I turned away, knocking his arm slightly. He winced.

"Is there a problem?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I just over did it at the gym yesterday, that's all."

"Oh, well I hope you get better soon." I said sincerely.

He just walked away without another word.

Igrabbed the file, opening it roughly, and started reading the report.    

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Marie