Always By Your Side (Jack Archer x Mithran Ganesh)

Chapter Two

As I arrived at the lab both of my hands begin to shake not from fear but from adrenaline just being in the same room as Mithran pushing the thoughts aside, I headed inside seeing him looking through the archives. "Hey sorry I'm late just had to get a drink of water did you figure out who that mysterious person is?" A small smile appeared over his lips nodding. "Absolutely his name is Derek Hayes a twenty-seven-year-old CEO of a very popular club downtown." I nodded trying my best to stay focused on the case. "Were you able to locate him?" Before he could say something, the door opened and in walked Elliot with a smirk across his face. "No need I managed to locate him using cell towers." We both turned to look at him. "You got to be kidding me you already located him?!" He nodded smiling sending the information to Mithran's tablet. "He was visiting family in another state but is on his way back in the meantime here's the address to his club along with the schedule of all his employees." Mithran nodded while I gave Elliot a glare. "Heh don't worry Archer I'm not trying to take your boyfriend away." At that point my entire face turned bright red but right as I was about to say something I felt Mithran's arms being wrapped around my waist again laying his head on my back. "Archer please calm down he's just teasing you just keep your mind on the case." A small smile appeared over my face once again just being close to him. "That's such a sweet sight I'll be going back to my office...Oh, and before I forget Miss brains and beauty wants to talk to you later." I nodded as he left the lab as the two of us stood in silence once more before he pulled away, but I didn't mind one bit. "We better get going before Carmen comes in here." I nodded reaching for his hand as the two of us left the lab towards the entrance of HQ. "So, I was thinking after work we could go see a movie or go to dinner or maybe just take a quiet walk through the park." He nodded humming in agreement. "That sounds nice, but we have plenty of time to think about it in the meantime let's just focus on the case." As we headed towards the cruiser, I heard my phone going off sighing I reached into my pocket pulling it out not even bothering to look at the screen. "You got Archer." Looking over I saw Mithran staring at me which made me smile at his cuteness followed by my famous smile after a few moments I hung up the phone putting it back into my pocket. "I'm guessing that it was Marina." When he said that my eyes went wide, and my jaw dropped. "Don't act so surprised Jack after all I learned everything from you, but we better get going or we won't be able to solve this case." I nodded as the two of us quickly got into the cruiser pulling out of the parking lot making our way towards our next destination which luckily for us wasn't far from HQ as we pulled in the owner came walking out." Thank you for seeing us on such a short notice sir." He nodded as we made our way into the club. "It's no problem at all after hearing about a murder at the apartment brings chills to my spine, I'll do whatever it takes to help you solve this once and for all." After arriving at his office, we all took a seat. "Well sir if you could please identify the victim if you would." He nodded as Mithran reached into the folder pulling out a picture handing it over it didn't take long because the next thing, we knew tears were streaming down his face. "I-I recognize her...she's my sister Kayla." We watched him crying his heart out while being completely distracted I felt a hand on mine looking down I saw Mithran's hand on mine holding it tightly at this point so many thoughts were running through my mind and that's to protect the love of my life after a few moments of silence Derek finally calmed down wiping his eyes. "I apologize for my behavior it's just that ever since both of our parents died in a car accident everything has been completely crazy with me traveling out of state and with her working full time as a professor at a local college, we hardly see each other." We nodded as I looked around the office immediately something caught my eye sitting on top of a filing cabinet was a laptop with the victim's name on it. "Is that your sister's laptop?" Derek turned to look and nodded. "Yes, she left it here on accident I was going to return it to her but couldn't since I had to leave at the last minute but before leaving one of my waiters came in asking if he could deliver it, but I refused because of the accident that happened between them." This new information caught our attention. "If you don't mind me asking what exactly happened between your sister and the waiter." I watched as he took a deep breath reaching into his brief case pulling out a police report handing it over to me. "It happened a few months ago Kayla was at the club along with her friends enjoying a night out when all of a sudden, the waiter started coming by the table every few minutes talking to her instead of doing his job, so one of his coworkers quickly informed the assistant manager and was immediately escorted back to the kitchen." I nodded watching as Mithran took down some import information. "Then what happened next?" Derek reached into his desk drawer pulling out some notebooks along with some envelopes and a cell phone. "This is all of Kayla's things?" He shook his head. "No, the cell phone her's it's been found in the waiter's locker I was confused on why it was in his locker, so I went to confront him but when I went out there it's like he wasn't there so when I asked around everyone told me that an officer was looking for him." As soon as Mithran finished taking down important information, he quickly pulled out the dusting kit and some tape being careful started dusting the notebooks envelopes and cell phone for fingerprints in the meantime I got up from my seat making my way over towards the filing cabinet. "We'll need to confiscate her laptop in order to find her killer and also do you know if the waiter still works here if so, we'll need his schedule." He nodded turning towards the computer. "Here you go I also went ahead and printed out his information good luck." I nodded shaking his hand as he left the office. "Did you manage to get some fingerprints off anything?" Turning around I saw that Mithran had a smirk across his face. "We hit the mother load fingerprints on everything and while I was at it unlocked the phone." I couldn't believe it the love of my life is a genius grabbing some evidence bags slipped managed to bag everything. "Alright let's get this shipped off to the lab while we go visit this waiter.... wait a minute what's his name?" Both of us just looked at each other before Derek came back in. "I'm so sorry but the waiter's name is Jason Smith a twenty- year- old with a huge rap sheet just be careful around him from what I was told he has some anger issues." As he left the office once again the two of us just stood there until Mithran cleared his throat. "We better go speak with this Jason Smith right away because I have a feeling that he won't be cooperative." I absolutely agreed with him on that one after everything that we've been through I will always love Mithran no matter what as we headed out the door with evidence in hand, I heard my phone going off once more grumbling I decided to ignore it after unlocking the cruiser and making sure that everything was situated the two of us headed off towards our next destination but all of a sudden out of the blue a shiver ran up my spine followed by beads of sweat then it hit me like a ton of bricks. "Uh Oh I think Carmen called and I ignored it..." Mithran just looked at me from the corner of his eye before reaching over placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "It'll be okay when we get back, we'll just tell her we've been busy." I nodded smiling feeling a whole lot better knowing that I'm never alone in this ever it wasn't long until we reached the suspect's house. "Here we are it doesn't look like anybody's home." Mithran nodded in agreement. "It seems that way, but we won't know unless we try." After getting out of the cruiser the two of us made our way up the walkway towards the front door it wasn't long until we were standing mere inches taking a deep breath, I knocked luckily, we only had to wait a few moments because the next I knew there was a woman in her mid-forties standing there with a calming smile. "Oh, hello can I help you?" We nodded pulling out our badges. "Yes, Mam I'm Secret Agent Jack Archer and this is my partner Lab Assistant Mithran Ganesh we're here to speak to your son Jason Smith is he here?" She nodded opening the door allowing us to enter. "Please take a seat I'll go get him." We nodded taking a seat after a few moments our suspect came downstairs with his mother right behind him. "Hello there Jason, my name is Secret Agent Jack Archer, and this is my partner lab assistant Mithran Ganesh, I believe you know why we're here?" At first, he didn't say anything but nodded taking a seat across from us. "Is it about the murder of that woman?" We nodded as his mother sat down beside him." That's correct her name is Kayla Hayes does that name ring a bell?" Again, he nodded swallowing the lump in his throat." Yea I met her in the club I was her waiter she was extremely beautiful, and it was love at first sight." While listening to his story I saw what looked like a tube of lipstick sticking out of his shirt pocket. "From what we were told you came by her table every few minutes talking to her instead of doing your job and was immediately escorted to the back." At this point his entire face turned bright red. "That's correct I know I shouldn't have done it but who could've blame me." That's when Mithran reached into the folder pulling out a police report. "Then what about the incident that happened a few months ago?" He quickly looked up before shocked and confused on how we got the report. "Alright...Alright there's no point in hiding it what happened was I was so in love with her, so while she wasn't looking, I reached into her purse and stole her phone then hid it in my locker, but somebody saw me do it and told the assistant manager who then called the cops and I got charged with theft as soon as the manager arrived back from his business trip, I went in there to see if I could return the phone to her but he got angry and told me to leave so I did." His story didn't even make any sense, but it was still too early to tell. "We were also told that you have some serious anger issues is that true?" He nodded. "Yes, it's true I do have anger issues but no matter how hard I try I just can't control it but I'm learning." His mother nodded in agreement. "He's been going to counseling in order to keep his job and also been doing community service and playing sports I'm so proud of him." We smiled at the sight before putting our notepads away." Thank you for talking with us if have any more questions we'll let you know, okay?" They nodded as we headed out the door. "Did you believe his story Mithran?" He shook his head looking through the notes. "It's still too early to tell we'll need to find more evidence to prove he's innocent." As we got back in the cruiser my phone started going off once more. "You better answer it." I pulled out my phone placing it on the holder. "You got Archer." It was quiet for a few moments before a loud shriek made us cover our ears. "JACK ARCHER HOW DARE YOU IGNORE MY CALL WHEN YOU GET BACK HERE YOU BETTER GET READY TO START RUNNING WHEN I GET A HOLD OF YOU!" When she hung up both me and Mithran turned to look at each other before busting up laughing. "Oh man Archer, you really made her mad this time!" I couldn't help but smirk knowing that even that I'm going to get my butt kicked by Carmen, I wouldn't have it any other way today was just going to get better with Mithran by my side.