CHAPTER TWO; I BECOME A MURDER SUSPECT.

It's raining when I get up and continues to do so until i'm in my office building. I find Christine peeping into my office holding two cups of coffee. "What are we looking at?" she jumps obviously startled. "Oh, you're here," she says giving me a quick glance and goes back to looking into my office. "There's this hot guy in your office,"  I move to her side so I can take a look. It's not Avan. I feel a bit dissapointed. "I told you to let my patients wait for me outside until I get here," I try to dry myself before going in. "But he's not a patient, he said he's a detective and has some questions regarding a case he's working on." I help the detectives sometimes when they are trying to arrest an offender especially serial ones. Christine gives me one of the coffees and heads back to her desk as I go in.

The first thing I notice is, he is crude and lacks any sense of sophistication or class. However he is a handsome man with very manly features. "Good morning i'm Detective Kerrick Swindle," I offer my hand and he takes it promptly, "I'm Dr. Vienna Starr." He releases my hand immediately I say my name and does not linger like some men do. "I have not seen you around before," he nods and takes a seat. "I have just been transfered to Greencity recently and I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about the case i'm working on." I lean on my desk as he shuffles the files I hadn't notice before. 

"So do you know Carrey Mark and  Nate harris," I immediately tense up. This is not him asking for my input on a case, this is him questioning me like a person of interest. "Um, yes I went out with Nate once and Mark around three or four times," he looks at me intensely before nodding his head. "Why once? he wasn't good enough to score a second date?" he smiles but the tone of his voice suggests he's not joking. "No, he never got in touch with me after that date," he looks at his files. "When was this?" panic starts to rise inside me and I try not to let it on. "It was the night before last night," he looks at me intensely before closing his file."He never called because he never even got home.There's nothing similar between the murder of these two men, not the cause of death, not the time of death, not the location they are disposed off,not the..." Wait are you saying mark is dead too?" I feel sick. "Yes doctor and the only thing both men have in common was you were the last person to be seen with them alive," he stands and moves closer to me. Close enough for me to smell the mint from his breath."Why do you think that is?" 

I am no longer a person of interest but their main suspect. I can tell by his questions but mostly by the way he is looking at me. "I have no idea why, detective," he continues to pierce my soul with his very blue eyes for what feels like ages. "Okay that's it for now but i have a feeling i'll be seeing you soon," he takes the cup of coffee that's been on my desk and before I can react he's out the door. 

The rest of my day I have four appointments. After that I take the bus to the mini mart near my apartment. I need liquor badly especially if I am about to go to prison. The thought of that makes every part of me cringe. On top of all that Jade has a date tonight of all nights. I make my way to the drinks section. After i'm done selecting the drinks from fridge I try to close it. I realize someone is holding the refridgerator door. I look up to see Avan with sweatpants and a hoodie on. He looks at my hand and his lips curve into a small smile, "hard day, huh?" He bugs me, something about him feels off. I walk away leaving  him holding the door. 

After the cashier is done calculating my total I reach in for my wallet. A hand from behind me reaches around me and places a big can of ice cream next to my drinks. "Add that," I hear the familiar voice and I don't even have to turn to know who it is. "What do you think you're doing?" I look back to see him holding his tongue out like a kid who's just gotten away with something. "It'll be fifty dollars miss," the cashier says looking so uncomfortable with the whole situation. Before I can pay Avan hands her his card. I am about to protest but he gets a call and goes outside to receive it. 

"Is this Swindle guy going to be an issue for us 'cause we can always get someone else," I walk next to him. He looks at me and I can swear for a second there he looked startled. But he covers it too well and too fast. "Wait, did you just say Swindle? Like detective Swindle," he looks at me with a confused look. "No, that was my assistant. What would I be talking about a detective for?" he looks like he's telling the truth. I begin to wonder if I am actually that stressed out that I am starting to hear my own things. I hand him his icecream. "I don't eat that stuff, too cold and gives me headaches," I return it to the shopping bag. "So why did you buy it?" he smiles. "You said you were having a hard day." "No I didn't." Yes you did." "No I didn't." We go on like that for a while that I don't even notice we begin walking towards my apartment. 

"Fine, maybe you didn't but you're too easy to read Starr," I like it when he calls me that. It reminded me of my brother. I wish he was here. He could have taken care of the whole murder thing for me. God, how I miss him, how I miss all of them. "A hard day is an understatement. Because you're feeling so generous maybe I could hold on to this too,"I say showing him his gold card. "Yeah, why not?" he says giving me such intense eyes. "Everything that I have will one day belong to you anyway," he smiles and continue walking. I stand there trying to process what he'd just said. "Hey I was kidding take your card back," I say running to catch up to him. "Well I wasn't," we're now standing at the gate of my apartment. "Isn't this you?" he says pointing at the gate. "How do you know?" "Tell me why you had a hard day and i'll tell you how I know," I can't tell my patient who's maybe mentally unstable that his doctor may be going to prison for the murder of two men. 

"Okay then, you keep your secrets and i'll keep mine," he smiles when he says it. But still a part of me feels like mine isn't a secret and if it is,  it won't be for much longer. At least not to him. "So is this where we look at each other longingly and I lean in for a kiss?" that startles me and I take a step back. "This was not a date," he takes a step forward. "You're right that can't be our first date, so like a pre date or something like that?" he smiles and my cheecks feel hot. He smiles like he has achieved his goal and takes a step back. 

Two black suvs come driving fast and stop by us. One man gets out and bows to him. "We've found her. She's abroad but we've found Lily Sir," he rushes in and punches the guy. The guy drops to the grond clenching his stomach. He looks back at me, "have a restful night and try not to worry so much. Things have a way of taking care of themselves."  Avan enters one of the cars and they drive off. That name seems familiar. Lily,where have I heard it before? It is when I am in the shower that it finally dawns on me. Lily was my brother's fiancee and Jade's sister. Could it be the same Lily? And if so what does he want with her.