The Detective and Her Bachelor

Chapter 34

"Would you like to stop anywhere else?" Michale asked as we drove back towards the mansion. 

I eyed the pouring rain outside. It left tiny rivers along the glass, determined to conquer every surface until everything was either destroyed or soaked.

"We've only been gone for a few hours so far. What's a few more? Make em sweat. It's good for the body. Flushes out the toxins. And they got a whole lot of horrid toxic energy in there." Michale chuckled, no doubt thinking about how he had promised Clipboard Girl that we would only be gone for an hour... or five.

I hesitated, torn. There is a moment when you have to decide if you are going to call it a night or go the extra mile to be productive. To fall into the nothingness of late night silence, or in that silence rise up and do something that will make you proud of yourself.

You wrestle with the idea of physically doing more, but you also like the vision of a more productive version of yourself. And as Michale drove me towards the mansion, I really needed a more productive of myself. Someone I could end the day being proud of.

"Can we make a stop?"

Michale smiled, seeming pleased with my choice. "The phoenix is back. Where to?"

I gazed out the window, watching the rain hit the car harder, unrelenting in its determination. "To the Detective Agency. I need some answers."

...

There was one thing Allie and I had in common. Misty had called it our 'Older Sister Angry Walk.' It was a strut that apparently terrified all who stood in our path. The click-clack of Allie's high heels had always signaled the incoming fashionista hurricane. While my walk was silent, giving no warning before you were nearly bulldozed over. Hers was classy, sleek, and admired— A CEO that could cause even the most level-headed to stammer. Where mine was just downright terrifying from its zero to one hundred change in atmosphere. A beast of stealth that gave you no chance to mentally prepare for her approach.

Allie liked to give people a chance to decide how to receive her. Or perhaps it was just to give an extra moment to build the tension and fear. I didn't like to give people a chance to school their features. I wanted to know what their first thought was when they saw me.

But today, I took a page out of Allie's book. Because I was too angry, tired, and emotionally frazzled to be quiet. So when the double doors to the detective agency slammed against the walls on either side, announcing my presence like Maleficent, ready to come and ruin a baby's birthday party, I was rewarded with a gloriously new perspective. A suddenly clear path as everyone shuffled out of the hall, eyes averted, bodies a blur of panicked movement.

Ah. It's good to be home.

I smirked against my better judgment, enjoying the nervous energy, feeding off of it like a Dementor from Harry Potter. It was a feeling I understood. One I was familiar with. One that made sense.

Fear is safer. Fear is easier. 

"Delle?" Denzin, our eighteen-year-old intern asked, eyes wide as I swept past him, nearly knocking a stack of folders out of his hands when he didn't move out of my way fast enough.

"Get Brooklyn, Hudson, and Hunter and meet me in the conference room in two minutes," I replied.

Denzin stared after me, shocked at my audacity to give him an order. He was Decker's intern after all, not mine.  "What about Decker?" he asked,

I continued walking, shouting over my shoulder. "He isn't here is he?"

"No... but—"

"Then stop asking stupid questions and just get the others."