Freezer Burn

Chapter Seven

This chapter is SFW!

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Allen O'Connor and Nabil Astafei sat together in a car, outside of an apartment complex. Allen rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration, his fingers drumming on the wheel as Nabil flipped through case notes. They had been interrogating people by each and every address, yet no one stood out. Plenty of other officers were doing the same, yet still, there was no further information on who the killer may be. 

"We need to get lunch after this." Nabil groaned, letting his head back to hit the headrest. Both of them were stalling on going in the shoddy complex and receiving no more useful information. After a few more moments of them in a comfortable silence, Allen finally sighed and turned the car off, climbing out of it. 

"Already?" Nabil whined, though followed in the same actions. Both detectives made their way into the complex and headed right up to the forst apartment. Allen lifted a hand and knocked heavily, waiting a few moments before a yowl was heard from under the door. They didn't have much time to give each other strange looks before the door open, revealing a darker skinned male with messy black hair. From back in the room, a blonde haired man poked his head out to see who was at the door. 

"Detective Astafei and O'Connor, we're going door to door to ask a few questions - can we come in?" Nabil requested permission, and judging by how the man opened the door more and stepped aside, it was obviously given. Both detectives stepped inside, receiving a smile from the blonde man, his leg was completely wrapped in a cast. The only two obvious signatures on it was 'Auggie' written in large letters, and a small cactus drawn near his toes. And a few scratch marks, which closely resembled a cat's claws. 

"You can take a seat," the other man offered, quickly introducing himself as Vid, and his boyfriend as Ed. Once Allen and Nabil took a seat by each other on a single couch, they began questioning. The questions were pretty typical, such as where either of them were a few nights ago - which was apparently the ER. None of them came up with any interest, and by the time all the questions were asked, they seemed to have just been like every other interviewee. 

Allen tapped a pen against his clipboard thoughtfully, eventually shaking his head with a sigh. "Thank you for the cooperation." He forced a smile and began standing up, though he was knocked back when something quite heavy abruptly hit his stomach. It knocked the breath out of him, and even drew a laugh from Nabil. 

"Oh my god - I'm so sorry-" Vid immediately apologized, rushing forward as Allen glanced down to the fat, yowling, orange cat that made itself comfortable on him. He stared at the chubby cat in shock, he could've sworn he had been hit by a large dog. Vid picked up the cat that seemed to be practically half his size, continuing to apologize over and over again. The orange fluff ball howled and wiggled its back legs, though Vid's hands were holding it directly underneath its front paws - so it really didn't do much help to struggle. Vid shoved the cat into Ed's lap, and it promptly began to bite and grab at his cast, scratching at it with its back legs.

Once again, Allen and Nabil were in their car outside of another house. Nabil was still amused by their previous encounter, though Allen seemed adamant that they drop in. In all his years in this career, he had never been knocked down by a cat. Especially with such force, he didn't know a cat could even be so powerful. "Alright," he finally spoke up, "Last one today." He instructed vaguely  before getting out of the car, to which Nabil followed. The house was small and older, and the man who answered the door looked quite startled. He was small in size and only about 32 or so, with short black hair and thick rimmed glasses. He stuttered pretty heavily, but he was probably just nervous that police abruptly appeared at his door. 

It didn't take long for him to let them in - explaining that he had been having a private lesson with one of his students. The student looked to be about a teenager, athletic with long, dirty blonde hair - and he definitely didn't seem happy that they had been interrupted. There was no surprise when Allen and Nabil repeated the same set of questions to the interesting pair, and of course it did no help furthering their research. There were no answers that stood out or seemed to accuse them of wrong doing - the only suspicious actions here revolved around Allen's doubt that the student was actually being tutored. 

"Hours of this shit." Nabil grumbled, glaring at the papers they had wasted time on. All of the driving around, all of the questioning and writing, yet they came up with nothing. "Ease up. You can't actually expect an answer right away. Until the killer makes another move, we have nothing to go off of." Allen retorted, staring out the windshield as they parked on the side of the road. Rain was pouring down, as it had been a lot recently. The sky outside was so dark with rain and grey clouds that it seemed like night had already come. Allen flipped through channels on the radio, listening for any station that caught his attention. Both he and Nabil were both caught up in their own priorities at the moment - but it seemed to suddenly interest them both when one of the radio stations they came across was a reporter in the middle of speaking. 

"... discovered missing just this morning. The family has made many calls and expressed their concern, and the authorities have begun a search for the missing teenager. It's still unknown whether this is a case of someone simply running away from home, or a possible kidnapping. The family expresses great concern and pleads Fabius be returned home safely, and even offers a great sum of money to anyone who can offer possible whereabouts."