WHITE LOTUS

A hushful night, joined by a cool wind breezing through SOUN City, a lean, well-build body and tall man with a coat came out from a blue colored Ford Mustang. He brings out a pack of Marlboro and smokes as he walks to the SOUN City Police Department.

"Good evening, Detective Quadryno. Night shift, detective?" An officer asks with an easygoing tone.

"Yeah. Have a good day, officer." Det. Quadryno replied with a wry smile on his face and throws the cigarette he was smoking as he enters the police department.

Det. Micheal Quadryno greets other officers in the department as he walks to his office. He hopes that nothing too serious will happen for tonight. He steps into his office that has a strong odor of cigarettes in the office. As he hangs his gun holster and coat, he takes out a pack of cigarettes and throws it sloppily on his desk. He then sits and takes out stacks of report that he plans to look into for tonight's shift before he starts looking into, he lights a cigarette. In an hour or so, a noisy fracas was heard outside his office. A young woman's voice can be heard begging loudly saying, "PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE PROTECT ME! I don't wanna die!" She cried. Det. Quadryno exits his office to see what is going on.

As he opens the door, there he sees a young woman crying unstably and she went straight to him and grabs both his arms and begged him to help her, "Detective, please... help me...I don't-" she cries and completes her sentence, "I don't wanna die." The young woman looked terrified of what her fate could be as she begged to Det. Quadryno. He noticed it in her eyes when she was pleading for help to him.

"I'll make sure the officers will assist you. I assure you. If anything happens, we'll be one call away," Det. Quadryno calmly assured her of it. He ordered two officers to handle this matter. After calming the intense situation, Det. Quadryno struts back to his office to continue with the bland reports on the desk. But before he enters his office, a detective bluntly told him, "Michael...Smoking is a no-no in the department."

"No-shit, Sherlock..." sarcastically replied by Det. Quadryno and closes the door of his office.

Right he was done looking into all the reports that was given earlier that night, he gets a phone call for a homicide case. Without wasting any time, he grabs his gun holster and coat. He heads straight to the crime scene. Upon arrival, he sees sirens lighting up the late-night sky at a high-rise apartment. The ER team and police cruisers were there closing the entrance and the lobby of the apartment. He heads to the lobby and orders one of the office to show him the crime scene.

The aiding officer and Det. Quadryno enters the elevator and heads up to the crime scene. While waiting for the elevator to stop at the floor the crime scene is, he requests the officer, "Give me a brief information of what I'll be seeing at crime scene."

"A young woman, tied, bruised, bloodied on a bed." The officer replied with a disbelief tone.

The elevator opens ups, Det. Quadryno thinks could it be the young woman that came to the police department earlier. The officer told him which door the crime scene. He walks to the crime scene feeling puzzled of what the officer was hinting. He thought to himself, "What did he mean?" as he enters the room he looked shocked. He saw the young woman from earlier at police department; tied, bloodied, bruised and a white lotus origami on her chest. The forensic team was taking pictures and gathering evidence. The guilt slowly clouds his mind when he was reminiscing the moment he assured her. He felt ashamed because it's the duty of his and the police to serve and protect the people. An oath of every officer holds and deliver.

"Once you're done gathering all the evidence needed. Please send it to me, ASAP," He sternly ordered the forensic team. He exits the crime scene. He went back down to the lobby. "Send the report of the case and every evidence that you found to me, ASAP." A stern tone from Det. Quadryno to the officers. He lights a cigarette with frustration as he travels to his car. He steps into his car and gazes to the apartment as he smokes. He picks out a bike leaving from an alley near the apartment and he also notices a suspicious man looking around the area, but he looked well dressed. The suspicious man notices Det. Quadryno is staring at him. They both stared at each other and a black G-class Mercedes-Benz came and the suspicious man steps into the vehicle and left the area.