Chapter 128: 7-2

I answered the call, making my way outside. "Raven!" Alex's voice immediately rang out of the speakers. "I haven't talked to you in ages! How are you?" "You saw me a few days ago, Alex," I rolled my eyes playfully, holding the phone away for fear he'd bust my eardrum open like a piñata. "Hey, there's always a reason to talk to your best friend, m'kay. Especially since you're barely back at the estate," he said. "Don't blame me for wanting to know every detail about your life. Its a best friend's job." "I'm okay. Sin has me out right now on an investigation to find a missing chimera. He says it's a good experience for me, like I'll need to be solving murders for the rest of my life," I chuckled. "But yeah, I'm doing alright. How about you?" "Please. You know it's all-chill in AlexVille. All-day-every-day, bitches." Alex was truly something else. "Hey, do you want to catch up on Friday? I know this super good waffle shop not far from your new place, actually." I frowned, "wait, how do you know where I live?" "I know everything," he said simply. "You can never hide from me, Mariderchi. I'll always find you. Like the guy in the Taken movies." "Doesn't he die at the end of those?" "Wrong movie, Raven. Completely wrong movie," he sighed. "You've never seen the Taken movies. I'm horrified. This is an injustice." "Yeah, yeah, whatever," I could see Sin inside through the glass windows, finishing up with Katerina. "So Friday then? What time?" "Be there at ten. And wear your sweatpants, because once you try their Belgian waffles, you'll never go back to pancakes." "Please, waffles are pancakes with abs," I shrugged. "Woah. Someone's been lurking around on Pinterest," Alex said, teasing me. "I'll see you Friday." "Later, Raven." Shoving the phone back in my pocket, I saw Sin appear beside me in only a few seconds. "Who were you just on the phone with?" I asked, noticing that he had his contacts list open. "Constantine. He's got some news about Katerina." "And?" "Whoever we just talked to is an identity thief," he said. "The real Katerina Bardot died from lupus last year." "Lupus? Are you sure? Why would someone go through all the trouble of taking her identity?" It didn't make sense. "That doesn't add up at all." "Someone doesn't want us, or anyone else for that matter, nosing around in their business," explained Sin. "The person in there is playing dress-up." "So then, why aren't you in there taking care of her?" "Because she invited us to her place later tomorrow to talk more about her sister's disappearance," he said. "But I don't get the point. Why are we wasting time with her if she's only feeding us lies?" "Think about it, Raven," he gave me a look. "We'll be in an empty house far away from public eye. If something goes down, at least we can kill her discreetly without getting a target put on our backs by the NYPD." "You know, sometimes you make absolutely zero sense," I said. "The words coming from your mouth sound like mumbo-jumbo." Mumb-jumbo my ass, he thought to himself. "I heard that." "No, you didn't." I gave him a look. "Come on, Grey. I have to go to the police department anyway." "What for?" "Someone put up 'Missing' posters while I was in Fellguard. Apparently, I've been a missing person for over a year so I need to go down there and make up some kind of lie to get them off my back." "Do you want me to go with you?" "I think I'll be good on my own. Thanks though." "So, you see detective, it was just one big misunderstanding," I looked at the man in front of me, who gave me an interested gaze. "Where did you say you were for the past few years?" "I lived in Cuba for a while." "And you didn't think to call or text anybody that you'd left? Pardon me, Miss, but that doesn't seem to make much sense," he said, crossing his arms and leaning on his desk. "There are quite a few holes in your story." "Why does it matter? I'm here and I'm fine. Isn't that enough?" "It is, it is. But am I wrong to question?" He shrugged. "I'll let the department know. You just have to sign a few things before you go." "No problem." "You know, it's strange," he said a while after, printing off documents for me. "The man who reported you missing... Manny? He spends his time trying to find you. Months. And when you do come back, he's been murdered." "So what are you saying?" "It's just unusual that he's dead around the same time that you're back," the detective shrugged, gesturing where to sign on the papers. "You think I had something to do with his murder? That's ridiculous. Manny was a close friend." "I've detective for years. I've seen people turn on their parents, their siblings, even their husbands and wives. One thing I've learned is that people usually aren't who they say they are. But of course, innocent until proven guilty." "The fact that you can't find incriminating evidence to arrest his murderer isn't my fault," I said calmly, trying not to snap at him. "Instead of interrogating me, you should be out questioning people who were around on that night." "I was simply making an observation, Miss," the Detective raised his hands in surrender. "As I said, Detective. I only returned a few weeks ago," I gave him a displeased frown, signing off the last document. "Are we done here?" He gave me a brief nod. "Thank you," I said simply, leaving before he found another way to get under my skin.