The Eleventh

Three

"You said, you haven't seen your husband for months?" Nadine asked Mrs. Romero.

"Yes. I haven't."

"This woman isn't talking," James whispered to Nadine.

"Let me handle this, okay?" she said.

"Okay, ma'am," straightening up on his seat.

"Does he call you?" she asked her again.

"No," Mrs. Romero replied.

Bored with how slow they had been going, James stood from his seat and roamed around the house. Nadine followed him with her eyes, curious what he was doing. Minutes after, he came out from the kitchen and sit beside Nadine again.

"Curious question Mrs. Romero? Don't you have any health problems?" he asked.

"I don't think so."

"I checked your refrigerator ---"

"Why did you do that?" Nadine said.

"I was hungry."

Her eyes got big like there were going to explode.

"I'm just joking, okay. You gotta calm down sometimes. Jeez."

"No time for joking. We're here for the case."

"Okay. Let me continue," he told her before he turned to talk to Mrs. Romero again. "I noticed that all of the stuff inside are healthy. You're very health conscious huh?"

"How is this related to the case?" Mrs. Romero asked.

"Just answer me."

"Yes yes. I'm very much concerned about my health so I have a very strict diet."

He then stood up for the second time and went to the dining room just few meters away from their area.

"If that's the case, then who's cigarette is this?" he put it up and there's one cigarette above the cigarette butts that were still hot at the moment.

"Uhhmm. That's my son's," she answered but she couldn't look to his eyes.

"You're son is not here. He's currently in his job because we came there before we got here."

"You go the basement. I'll go check upstairs!" Nadine yelled.

Slowly, James stepped down the stairs.

"Philip, I know you're in there. I got you buddy, so better come out now."

Just as he was looking around the basement, he recognized a hard object pointed on his head.

"Don't move or I'll kill you," Philip said.

"Okay, calm down. Drop the gun now. Let's talk about this," his voice incredibly loud.

"You'd be dead before I'll go to prison."

"Then you will have two murders under your name. You like that?"

"I don't care."

Before he even got down, James opened his phone recorder for a possible confession from Philip.

"Then you're saying that you also killed Sanchez?"

"Yes. But I will ---

"Kill you if you don't drop your weapon now," Nadine finished his sentence. Her gun was pointed at his head. He dropped his weapon and she handcuffed him.

"Philip Romero, you're under arrest for the murder of Leroy Sanchez," she stated.

"High five!" he signalled his hands to her. "No high five?"

But surprisingly, he saw her curved a little smile, which also brought smile to his.

---

"Thanks for saving me back there," James said while they were inside the breakroom.

"It's part of the job, Reid."

He only nodded.

"And you're my partner," he couldn't help but smile at what she just said.

"Partners?" his hands going for a handshake.

"Partners."

"Finally," he told himself when she accepted the handshake. "About the uhm ---"

"Let's talk about it after work," she smiled seductively before leaving James speechless in the room.

---

When their shift ended, he was looking for her in the precinct but she was not there. He figured she just left and forgot about what she said earlier. On the way home, someone grabbed his jacket while passing by an alley. It was her.

"You gotta stop doing that, okay?" he said. "You're scaring me."

But before he could said anything else, she kissed him hard before pulling away.

"Come with me," she said.

"Where are we going?"

"No questions," she answered while pulling his hands which made James smile just by the sight of it.

---

"What place is this?"

"A place where nobody else goes, idiot."

"Awww. That's harsh," he said charmingly.

The place looked like an abandoned building where murders seemed to be most likely to happen.

"Okay. This is the only time I'm going to entertain questions from you aside from those that are work-related. But no personal questions. Clear? You got five minutes."

"What is this thing going on between us?"

"I dig a little something about you before I got officially transferred to your precinct. You have FUN without attachments whatsoever. That's what we're gonna do."

"But I haven't agreed yet."

"Okay. Then I'm going to leave," she said but he grabbed her hand.

"I said YET. So what are the conditions?"

"I already told you the first three rules. Rule number four, we'll do it anywhere except my place."

"But why?"

"Privacy."

"Okay, what else?"

"That's all."

"I also have my condition," his eyebrows raising.

"What?"

He walked closer to her and leaned to whisper.

"Don't fall in love with me."

"Easy."

---

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