Agent Kelly Tomlinson

Five.

I walked over to my older brother slowly. His back was pressed against my door as if waiting for me hopelessly to open it on the other side. His face was sunken with sadness and his eyes stayed glued to the plastic bag wrapped around his wrist. He hadn't heard me approach yet.

"Louis," I said quietly. It was almost 9 o'clock and I was exhausted from the long day and the overworking mind. I knew it was going to be a long night for me to begin with as I tried working out all the unknown kinks in the case, but now my anxiety was through the roof as I stared at the guy who said "fuck you" to me less than 24 hours ago.

At the sound of my voice, Louis rose to his feet and brushed his hands against his pants. He stared at me for a couple of seconds as if trying to read my reaction to his random appearance. He licked his lips anxiously and held up the plastic bag that had the aroma of Chinese food being released from it.

"I figured you might be hungry," he smiled weakly. I couldn't help but watch him and try to read between the lines for his motives. But he looked honestly genuine. Like he was trying to make up for our fight yesterday.

I chuckled softly and nodded my head. The idea of Louis coming inside my home to have dinner with me sent a wave of nerves through my body. I was hoping for the best but I was afraid this was going to be another repeat of last night.

"Come on in," I pulled my keys out of my bag and opened the door to my apartment. The cool air from the air conditioning brushed against my skin. The normal scent of my Warm Vanilla Sugar air freshener was mixed with a faint smell of something unfamiliar. It wasn't strong, but it was enough to make my extra-strength senses catch it.

I heard movement coming from the back room. My room. My heart began to beat faster in my chest as I thought of an intruder being in here. And to make it worst, Louis was here. He heard the noise too and stopped in his track next to me and stared ahead. I raised my hand to his chest and silently told him not to move. I tip toed over to the cabinet under the sink and pulled off the gun that was stuck to the top of it.

I ignored Louis's look of worry and surprise and inched closed to my bedroom. After two steps, a small golden retriever puppy bounced out towards my direction. His tongue was out, wildly licking the air in excitement of meeting new people. He had a blue collar wrapped around his pale yellow fur.

I raised my gun in surprise but didn't waste a bullet. I was no longer worried, but confused on how a dog could have gotten in here.

A couple of seconds later, someone walked out from behind the wall dressed in jeans and a white shirt. I raised my gun again threateningly before I looked at his face and saw that it was only Ryan.

"Whoa whoa whoa," he put his hands up as he stared into the barrel of my weapon. "Hold your fire. It's just your favorite person in the whole world."

"Ryan!" I exasperated and lowered my gun, clicking the safety back on. "I thought you were an intruder. I gave you a key for emergencies, not to use as a hang out spot for you and your dog."

"Sorry. If I had no known you were gonna try and shoot me I would have given you a heads up." His eyes moved from me to my brother behind me. His eyebrows raised in surprise and he pointed to Louis. "Hey, isn't that your brother?"

I glanced behind me at Louis who was staring at Ryan with narrowed eyes. My working brain suddenly realized that Ryan being here while Louis was around wasn't good for the case. If Ryan had to show up at any time during the case, it would be best if Louis didn't know who he was. Looks like that's not gonna happen now.

"Dammit," I muttered under my breath. My mind tried racing with different ideas of how to get out of this sticky mess but I came up with nothing. "Yeah. Ryan this is Louis. Louis this is Ryan. Ryan is my case partner. We work together."