Inner And Outer Demons

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Tris's POV

"The fire pattern here," The lieutenant points to the burned pattern on the wall. "And the trail there, shows that an accelerant was used in this fire."

"Which supports the suspicion of arson?" I ask him, as he turns back around to look at me. Nodding his head, I look down at the dark trail against the floorboards. "It can, yes."

Hearing heavy footsteps, and deep breaths, I lift my head. Four rushes in, out of breath from the hurry as he's late, and his clothes look rumpled like he didn't have time to find anything but what was on his bedroom floor this morning.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." He says, greeting me and the lieutenant at the same time. "What are we looking at?"

"Female, late twenties. Nita's working to get us an ID and the cause of death is kind of self explanatory looking around." I motion around at the burned out house we stand in. The walls and floors, and everything in it scorched. The body had already been taken back to the medical examiners lab, and I know she'll have her hands full trying to get an identity from the badly burned body.

"What started the fire?" Four asks, sliding his hands into his back pockets.

"Looks like she fell asleep smoking a cigarette, however, they found some burn marks that point towards arson. An accelerant was used."

"Arson can be hard to prove and hard to convict." The lieutenant tells us, and I nod.

"So can homicide. That's why we're here." Four retorts and walks into the next room to look around.

"So," I speak up once we're in the car on our way back to the precinct. "You want to tell me why you were so late this morning?"

I can't hide the smile and teasing tone in my voice, and by the look of Four's lips curving slightly upward, I don't think he's taking my teasing tone badly. "Overslept."

His usual excuse and I know he's hiding something. "Mhm."

Four looks over at me with a smile still tugging at his lips, just as I'm about to look out the window. I like this side of him. The side of Four that isn't afraid to smile, isn't too icy to tease and have playful banter with. I like this Four.

"Look," Four says as we ride up the elevator together. "About last night,"

The doors open and Will rushes towards us before Four has a chance to even get started with what he wanted to say. Giving him a look that says "sorry", I turn my attention to Will.

"The house you were just at, we got the name to who it belonged to." Will says and we move into the squad room. Four goes to his locker, as he went straight to the crime scene from home, and I follow Will back to his desk.

"Name is Cassie Evans. Twenty seven, she's lived there for about six months."

"Not a long time." I comment. "She married?"

"Divorced, just finalized a real nasty one a few weeks ago. Apparently, the husband was, what's the word? Overprotective maybe, all I know is that she filed and he wasn't happy. I'd look there first." Will says handing the sheet of paper he printed out with the information.

"Thanks." I say, returning back to my desk.

"ID?" Four asks, and I nod.

"Cassie Evans, and I think we should call her ex husband in. Will says it was not an amicable divorce." I tell him, and he nods agreeing with me.

"Ex husbands are always a good place to start." Four says before pushing himself up from his chair.

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