Case: 1: A Dystopian Mystery (Annalise Storm Chronicles Book 2)

by May Freighter

  Hopps scowled at her, obviously irate that she interrupted his bromance time with Devlin. “It was locked when we got here. The principal felt that the private office of the Science teacher has nothing to do with this incident. If you want to take a look inside, you’ll need permission from Mr Sage.”

  Annalise wrinkled her nose at the mention of the principal’s name. That man always used a condescending tone with her as if she was at fault for all things that went wrong in this building. He was an old man who clung to power, even though he could have retired a long time ago with his pockets full of credits.

  “We should get going.” Devlin drew close to her side. “We must interview the security officer who shot the poor woman in the back.”

  One of the officers at the edge of the holo-barrier led them to the principal’s office in the central section of the school.

  Annalise stole a peek at Devlin’s profile. “I didn’t know you wrote scientific papers.”

  “I have many interests. If you wish to get to know me, feel free to join me for dinner tonight.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m not that interested in you.”

  “Would it be such a bad idea to get to know your new partner? A little bonding never hurt anyone, especially in this line of work. We both know that, at any moment, your life can be threatened, and I would be the only person who’s there for you.”

  “Don’t forget, Devlin, we’re only partnered until I find a trained servant from the Academy.”

  He tilted his head, observing her every reaction. “It could take months, years maybe. That is unless you plan to buy out someone else’s servant.”

  She ground her teeth. “What I do is up to me. Understood?”

  “Alright, I won’t press you into having dinner,” he said. “You are your own woman, and I don’t want to take away your independence.”

  She snorted inwardly. Did he mean what he said?

  Wasn’t his goal to marry her and use her father’s status to climb the corporate ladder at an advanced speed? But, her father was the one who backed their engagement. He wouldn’t have chosen someone who needed his help in the first place.

  Who exactly is Devlin Madoc?

  The officer stopped in front of a large glass door. “The principal’s office is through here.”

  Annalise thanked him and, before Devlin could go through it, caught her partner’s arm. “I’ll have dinner with you but not tonight.”

  Brief shock registered on his face. A split second later, he composed himself and smiled. “Feel free to notify me of the date and time. I will try to work my schedule around it.”

  “You would do that? If I said to go out for a meal now, would you drop everything?”

  Devlin’s expression hardened. “It would have to be outside our work hours, of course. I don’t want to impede the investigation in any way. I believe you wouldn’t want that, either.”

  She nodded, finding his answer agreeable. He may be an intense man with a penchant for flirting, but he took his job seriously. Somehow, it made him more human in her eyes.

  He opened the door to the principal’s office, allowing her to enter first. She immediately spied Gregory Sage—the esteemed principal who earned more than any man or woman in Silver. His full head of grey hair was styled to one side and trimmed short. During the time she was gone, the number of wrinkles on his large forehead seemed to increase by two. When his dark orbs returned her stare, she suddenly felt like she was back in school and about to be scolded for something she didn’t do.

  “Ms Storm, if I’m not mistaken,” Gregory said in an authoritative voice. “What can I do you for?”

  Devlin took a step closer to the principal’s glass desk. “We are here to speak to the security guard.” His gaze raked the room for anyone else. “Where is he?”

  “He went to use the toilet because it took you such a long time to get here.” Gregory clasped his hands together. “I would rather you quickly conclude this tiring business. I am a busy man, and this…issue has impacted the morale of the staff in my school.”

  “We heard that Ms Green reported directly to you,” Devlin said, burning holes in the principal with his blue gaze. “Aren’t you upset by her passing?”

  “As you can see”—Gregory motioned to his activated terminal on his desk—“I don’t have time to mourn people. Once Roland comes back, please conduct your interview here, in my presence, and leave.”

  Annalise’s balled hands started to tremble at her sides. He didn’t care if one of his staff died. It wasn’t some random person off the street. Gale would have had to see him on a daily basis.

  How could he dismiss her like this?

  “Would you act this way if she was a pureblood, too?” Annalise snapped.

  Devlin shot her a glare, dousing her fury in cold water. The silent warning was enough. She shouldn’t have spoken her mind here.

  Gregory rose from his seat and slammed his palms on his desk. “Ms Storm, I would watch that tongue of yours. If your father heard you, he would have a seizure. As always, you are lacking in manners and proper demeanour of a lady. You are unfit to be a part of such a powerful household.”

  A spiteful comeback almost tore its way out of her when Devlin replied, “We will wait outside.” He grasped Annalise by the arm and led her out of the office.

  She stumbled over her feet. Her outrage fuelled her anger further due to such evident insults to her and her family. How dare an old man tell her how to act like a proper lady when he had been married three times, one of them to an intern?

  Devlin pushed her out the door and jerked her to a stop out of the principal’s earshot. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I thought it was a fair question to ask!”

  “This man is a big supporter of your father’s campaign. Show some respect,” Devlin snapped, releasing her.

  She massaged the aching spot on her arm. “Why should I care about my father’s career?”

  Devlin stared at her in disbelief. “You have no idea, do you?”

  “About what?”

  “Your father is the sole reason why Falcon is keeping you alive. He is the reason you got into the Academy with your abysmal scores and why you are working alongside the best detectives in DPD.” The warmth she always saw in his eyes vanished, and she was faced with an Arctic glare. “You are his only daughter. He goes above and beyond his fatherly duties to keep you safe and out of trouble. On the day you were shot, he collapsed in City Hall, though I’m certain he had kept this from you.”

  “What are you talking about? And why do you know so much about me and my family?”

  “We’ve met before, but you don’t seem to remember. It was a time when you didn’t have a beast by your side. Our parents met for business talks, and I would usually find you getting up to no good in your father’s study.”

  “I don’t—”

  He sighed. “I know. You don’t remember. I’m not surprised. At the time, you were only four or five, and I was already ten.”

  Annalise squared her shoulders. “You didn’t answer my question. Why do you know so much about me and my father? Sure, you may have come over to play when we were kids or whatever, but it doesn’t give you the right to keep tabs on me.”

  “The business talks our parents met for were for our engagement. Since you were five, you were already meant to be mine.”

  Her cheeks reddened, and she could hear her pulse pounding in her skull. “You’re kidding, right? This is some twisted way of trying to get to me…”

  The look on his face broke any illusion that his words were lies. She couldn’t deny the sincerity she saw there. Still, how could her father sign her over at the age of five? No matter how she looked at it, theirs wasn’t a normal engagement.

  She pressed her lips together and pushed her worries to the back of her mind. It wasn’t the time to think about any of this. They had a case to solve.

  “Let’s see if the security guard is back,” she mumbled. />
  “Annalise…”

  She raised a hand. “Don’t! Please. We have work to do. It’s best if we keep our partnership professional from now on.”

  His strong jaw clenched and unclenched. “You won’t be able to avoid this matter for long.”

  “Maybe not, but I will give it my best try.”

  3

  No Evidence

  In Annalise’s eyes, Roland was a nervous man for someone who committed no wrong. Everything from the tapping of his index finger on his thigh to the twitch of his right brow indicated that much. Divinity’s officials had a law put in in the mid-twenty-third century where a pureblood could not be held accountable for the manslaughter of a modded if the pureblood was acting in his or her defence. Everyone knew this, but why were this man’s eyes flicking between her and Devlin with such speed?

  Devlin cleared his throat, gaining the security officer’s attention, and activated his wrist comms’ recording function. “May I have your name and occupation, sir?”

  Roland scratched his greasy, dark mop of curls. “I’m Roland Brent. I’m a senior security officer at the Montgomery Institute.”

  “Very good, Mr Brent,” Devlin began in a soothing tone. “Could you account for the events that led to Ms Green’s passing last night?”

  Roland’s eyes momentarily darted to the principal who was seated behind his desk.

  “Don’t be nervous and tell these detectives what happened,” Gregory ordered with a tight-lipped smile.

  Annalise folded her arms as she rested her hip against the wall. She observed the principal from under her lashes. He appeared calm, collected, and unshaken by the fact that his school’s secretary had been killed. Such behaviour made her want to shake him until he admitted his indifference instead of putting on a show for the police. And, if what Devlin told her was the truth, and Sage was her father’s supporter, he truly did feel nothing for the modded. To him, much like to her father, they were nothing more than lower-class citizens who served the needs of the purebloods.

  “Do you need to be present for this interview?” Annalise asked the principal.

  “This is my school. Unless you wish to have a lawyer here with Mr Brent, I am your next best choice. Plus, the events have shaken him up quite a bit, as you can see. It would be unkind of me to leave him in the care of the police without providing some form of support.”

  Sure. All you care about is protecting your sorry ass and this school from getting bad publicity.

  Devlin, sitting across from Roland, cleared his throat. “I think it is time to allow Mr Brent to speak, don’t you think?”

  Keeping her retort in her mouth, she returned her gaze to the man in the navy security uniform. “Do go on, sir.”

  Roland nodded. “I was doing my rounds around eight last night. As I turned the corner to the Science department, I was faced with Gale. All of a sudden, she—”

  Devlin raised his hand, stopping him mid-sentence. “What did her eyes look like?”

  “I’m sorry?” Roland asked.

  “Her eyes, what did they look like at the time?”

  The security officer scratched his nose. “She—she wasn’t looking at me. I don’t think she was focused on anything. But, if I had to guess, I think they were bloodshot.”

  Devlin nodded. “Alright, what happened next?”

  “She charged at me! The first thought that came into my head was that she had to be possessed. Before I knew it, my gun was in my hand, and I fired.”

  “How many times?” Devlin inquired.

  “Ah…er…twice. I fired twice,” he responded eagerly.

  Annalise sighed. This was a simple possessed case where no investigation was needed, after all. Roland would be patted on the back and ready to move on with his life in no time. Poor Gale would remain dead, yet no one here gave a damn about it. Another modded would take her place without a fuss.

  Devlin rested his right elbow on the armrest, leaning in. “She ran towards you, and you fired?”

  “Ye—yes…” Roland replied.

  “How come she was shot in the back and not in her chest?” Devlin added, making Annalise’s eyes grow wide.

  She straightened her posture and studied her new partner. Any pureblood affiliated with her father would disregard this case, directing any suspicion away from the pureblood in question.

  Is he trying to solve this case properly? She edged closer.

  “Gale…she must have turned around when I fired. I—I don’t know. It happened too fast,” Roland said, stumbling over his words.

  “I believe this interview is over,” Gregory said, rising from behind his desk.

  Devlin shook his head. “If this man committed murder of a modded woman, we must find out the truth, sir. Would you want to have such a trigger-happy man working on your premises?”

  “If you have any more questions for Mr Brent, please contact him through his attorney,” Gregory retorted, unshaken.

  Annalise glowered at the principal. “Are you covering for him? You do realise it will come back to bite you in the ass later?”

  “I take care of my employees, Ms Storm. Unless you have solid proof to charge this man, there is no point in forming an investigation on the misinterpreted words of a confused and shocked man. In his records, you will find that Roland has a history of panic attacks. Pushing him further would be bad for his health,” Gregory said, meeting her stare head-on.

  “Fine.” Annalise glared at Roland. “The next time we meet may be in an interrogation room. I hope you like grey walls, Mr Brent.”

  “Annalise, let’s head back,” Devlin offered, standing. He buttoned up his suit and smiled at everyone in the room. “I am sorry if we have caused you and Mr Brent any distress, but the truth will come out one way or another.” The warmth in his eyes vanished. “It would be bad for your school’s reputation if a murderer is found on these grounds. Wouldn’t you say so?”

  With that, Devlin guided her out of the principal’s office. Once they were near the staircase, she grasped him by the arm, drawing him to a stop.

  “You knew all along, didn’t you?” She searched his face for some tell. “From the moment you saw the body…”

  “Not the body, no. I found the fact that the security camera in the hallway had been turned off interesting. Since there won’t be a security feed we can use as evidence, the only remaining link is the guard. Now that the principal wishes to provide him with a lawyer, it will give him more time to correct his statement.”

  She realised she was holding onto his sleeve and withdrew. “Why did you ask about the eyes?”

  He tapped his nose and winked. “That is for me to know, Annalise.”

  Devlin went on ahead while she stood there unable to form her assessment of him. He was cocky, a flirt, but he was also smart. She was beginning to see the true man behind the smiles and politeness—a man she never wanted to be interrogated by.

  Having written her report about the interview, she glanced out the window of the HPD office. The days had become a lot shorter as winter was looming over them. She grabbed her coat from the back of her seat and spared a glance at Rios. He was snoring at his desk again. Since Chief never complained about his actions, she assumed he had to be a great investigator, even if the way he portrayed himself gave her little reassurance.

  With her gaze, she raked the office for Devlin. Once he returned with her from the institute, he went straight into the Chief’s office and hadn’t come out for hours. They weren’t talking loudly, either, leaving her with two options: to try listening in or to go home and have a relaxing bath. She chose the second one as she shrugged on her coat and headed for the car park.

  Outside, cold air whipped her hair around her face. She hugged her grey pea coat closer to her skin, regretting her decision to wear it and not something warmer. Mavel would have known what to pick. Her mood plummeted as she reached her car and let the scanner on the door read her wrist comms.

  She hadn’t seen her beast since
they spent the night together two days ago. She tried her best not to think about it, praying he would come back to her or, at least, tell her he was safe. But, she knew he wouldn’t. Mavel couldn’t stay. If the information that he was an illegitimate child of James Steinberg—Pro-Modded Party’s deceased leader—surfaced, everything his father worked for would be destroyed.

  A heavy hand landed on her shoulder. She turned around to find Jamen, her co-worker. The lights from the street lamps played with the shadows on his face. They gave him an almost angry expression.

  She stood her ground, waiting for him to vocalise his reason for stalking her to her car.

  “Why did you take him as your partner?” he asked.

  Annalise sighed. She knew he and Devlin had some kind of history and didn’t get along. She wasn’t about to become an emotional punching bag for those two men. “I took him as my partner to get back to work. It may take months before I can get another servant or am paired with someone suitable from the Academy.”

  “You should have waited.”

  She folded her arms. The movement let some air slip under her coat, and she shivered. “Look, I don’t know what it is between you two, but he isn’t a bad detective—”

  “Of course not! He works for Falcon, and they only hire the best from all fields,” Jamen retorted.

  “He said he doesn’t work for them anymore.”

  Jamen snorted. “And do you believe him? Falcon doesn’t let someone like him go without repercussions.”

  Her arms fell to her sides. “What are you trying to say?”

  “I want you to stay alert, Storm. Think of it as a starving lion is constantly watching your back and never let your guard down around him.”

  Even with such a sincere warning from her colleague, she couldn’t take sides without facts. “Why are you so against him? Or is it the Falcon Group that bothers you so much?”

  “Both.” He took a step back and rubbed his stubbly jaw as he assessed her. “Once I finish up with a case in Bronze, let’s meet for a beer, Storm. I will give you the proof you are looking for.”