24There was no mistake, Detective Olivia Hero Bennett was not made out for freezing weather. The mere fact was a clear representative of the contradiction that was her life. She was twenty-nine, independent and one of the toughest Detectives working out of the 6th precinct covering the West Village. She was a born New Yorker and still she could not stand its winter weather.
The call had come in while she had been getting ready. She had not been expecting getting phoned to cover a crime scene on her first day back, but there she was.
Olivia climbed the steps of the old WV complex, her heels clicking behind her and announcing her presence to any uniform or Detective that was already on scene. She walked with a light strut that represented her strict work ethic and every so often she took a sip from her travel mug, softly cursing both the hot beverage and her Captain.
No, she couldn't be that petty towards Malcolm Danes; someone had died, had been murdered and it was up to them to find justice for that person. Their job: hers and her new partner, whom according to dispatch would be meeting her at the crime scene.
She arrived at the fourth floor with ease, greeting the uniforms she passed and giving her colleague and good friend, Detective Megan Piper, a knowing nod.
Olivia stood in front of the entrance of apartment 4C, a yellow tape separating the inside from the rest of the world, the living from the dead. Olivia took in a breath and tried to focus on the present: the crime scene and not her own personal demons, insecurities and grudges. Justice, someone -everyone deserved justice.
She crossed the yellow tape and her let her day begin.
She spotted Brighton Fox near the body, one she couldn't see well enough from where Detective Thomas Cross had suddenly ambushed her and had started rambling about the preliminary findings.
Caucasian female, 22 years-old, found by her assistant at around five am.
"Assistant?" Olivia asked, her brain trying to form a coherent picture of the young woman lying in the middle of the well furnished apartment. Either she came from money or she had a high-end job; some of the furniture Olivia recognized as designer, tasteful and expensive.
"Yeah, she ran our vic's agenda and helped her with mostly organization issues." The Detective informed her, reading from the quick notes he had taken down. "Piper is taking her statement right now."
Olivia nodded remembering there had been a woman whom her colleague and friend had been talking to just outside the apartment. A young African-American girl who had looked no older than twenty. Olivia took in a breath; too young, she was too young to have already suffered such a traumatic event. For as the victim was dead, a tragedy by definition, it was everyone left alive, witness to the event that had to carry the trauma with them.
"And umm", the Detective muttered. Suddenly changing from his 'trying to impress' mode, to a more tentative and even nervous one.
"Spit it out Cross." She stared her colleague down, an action she was famous for, her hazel eyes making the rookie Detective gulp and chuckle nervously before answering her.
"He's the one standing in front of Fox, the tall guy."
Olivia did not need to ask to whom the young Detective was referring to. Her eyes shot up and her strong, upright posture stumbled for a slight second. "He got here before me?" Her voice had not cracked, it hadn't. She was in control.
The Italian Detective shrugged faking nonchalance, yet clearly far more interested than he ought to have been. Olivia scoffed at him and changed her view towards where the Medical Examiner sat next to the victim. The Detective that had been blocking Olivia's view of the young woman suddenly turned and Olivia felt her breath hitch. She knew who the tall Detective was, those blue eyes were anything but forgettable.
Olivia could not decide what was worst, the fact that her new assigned partner was the famous Detective Nathan Tyler, known for his impressive closure rate, anger issues and suave audacity; or the look of longing and hope that Brighton Fox was throwing at her.
Not today, she thought towards Fox. If having a new partner assigned on her first day back after her suspension was not enough, Fox's wanton look towards her made Bennett's inside squirm and her mind suddenly remember why it was it hadn't worked out with the ME in the first place.
"Detective Bennett, it's an honor. Your reputation precedes you." The Detective extended his hand, smiled and firmly shook her own.
Bennett ignored Fox's lustful and yearning glance and concentrated on what now would be her new partner. She tried not to blush, tried to remember that the situation made her angry. She shouldn't have a new partner, did not want someone new; it didn't matter if he was the best rated Detective in Manhattan. She wanted Rook back.
So no, she shouldn't have blushed or felt honored by Tyler's words, but she did anyway.
"The honor is mine, Detective Tyler." Olivia felt obliged to at least smile and nod her head, a way to acknowledge and respect his stature. Though from the slight half-crooked smirk, his stature did not need any reminding of. Bennett was then reminded of one last fact the Detective was famous for: his ego.
"Fox do you have an ID?" Olivia was the one who asked, wasting no time and taking the lead in the investigation, hoping the older Detective did not mind. Fox was her ME, the 6th was her precinct and the murder of that young woman was her case.
"Addison Jaime, twenty-two, she appears to have multiple stab wounds around her torso."
Brighton Fox answered in the coolest, most detached voice that Bennett had ever heard him use. She tried to ask him the reason for his detachment, but he never made eye contact with either of them, just kept on rambling about time of death and several other notable injuries.
Bennett the concentrated on the victim, now with Detective Tyler out of her view she had enough visual for her complete analysis. The girl was positioned face-up, her clothes and limbs expensive and relaxed.
Fox then confirmed her suspicions that there had been no struggle.
"Any sign of forced entry?" Tyler asked.
"No, she has no signs of self-defense either but she does have these marks around her neck consistent with strangulation, but they look to be postmortem. I'll need to examine her back at the morgue for a more through conclusion."
She had known her killer, had known him well enough for her not to have any defensive wounds. These were the murders that bothered Olivia the most, the ones that were the product of betrayal. Someone had died for being trusting, for putting their faith in the wrong people.
Bennett observed the young woman, how she was laid out almost peacefully, legs and arms tucked in with her red hair combed neatly in place. She rested over a grey rug, her red hair a luminescent aura around her, the morning light made Addison Jaime look almost beautiful.
"Time of death?" Bennett circled the victim as she asked the question, looking for any kind of discrepancies or odd sightings.
"Around 12 to 3 this morning according to my preliminary findings. She probably died quickly as well, these stabs were delivered with a certain technique, yet not as fine or precise as a contract killer would inflict them."
"CSI has searched the place, but have found no prints other than ones of the victim so far, there are traces of bleach around the kitchen and living room." Cross added to the profile, his voice expressing annoyance and dread. Bleach probably meant they would have to rely on witness statements and make a wider canvass. Cross was a good Detective, but he was still a rookie, trying too hard yet not wanting to overwork himself. Piper insisted he had a crush on Bennett, the young woman scoffed at the absurdity of the idea. Piper was nosy and imaginative, but a good friend to the younger woman.
"You see this here, around the entry wounds..." Fox ramblings suddenly passed to being background noise as she heard her name being called from somewhere outside.
"Hey Bennett!" Piper's voice carried a sense of urgency and desperation which Bennett had no heart in ignoring. From where Bennett was standing she could see her friend and the young assistant who stood still behind the Detective, sobbing violently and visibly shaking. Bennett gulped and tuned out Fox's voice completely, shifting her attention towards the door. She would get back to the body later on.
It was not even until she was out of the room, trying to soothe the eighteen year-old girl that she remembered she had just blindly trusted Tyler with Fox. Damn.
But Olivia Hero Bennett had a soft spot for witnesses, she couldn't leave someone in the state the young assistant seemed to be, shaking and sobbing. Piper had probably gotten nothing out of the girl, and even though Piper was good; when it came to witnesses, Bennett was better. She approached the women cautiously, trying to get a clear read on the assistant, deciding the best way of approach.
"Hey, look at me, look." Bennett instructed the girl as Megan Piper just nodded at her and mouthed she would go around, canvass for witnesses.
The girl sniffed loudly, sobbed and hiccupped, but she turned and managed to lock eyes with the Detective. If it was one thing that Olivia knew how to do, it was empathize with the witness, the next of kin. She gave off the sensation of understanding and trust, one that she could only master when talking with her victims, with these people that had gotten hurt, the ones who survived.
"I'm Detective Olivia Bennett, my partners and I are heading the investigation."
The young woman sniffed loudly yet managed to hold her gaze with the Detective's.
"I'm truly sorry for what happened, and for what you witnessed." Olivia gulped, keeping her own memories at bay and trying to focus on the girl, calm her down, get a valid statement.
"What's your name?" She asked as sweetly as she could.
Trembling, yet finding her voice the girl answered, "Vivien Diggs", she stuttered.
"Vivien I promise we're trying to do everything we can, getting information, investigating every angle so we can catch whoever did this to her. Do you recall anything that you think might help us?"
Silence, not even a sob.
"You don't have to speak now if you don't want to, but here's my card."
The girl took the object from Bennett with trembling hands. "Whenever you're ready, I'll be there." Olivia stared deeply into the girl's eyes, they were frightened and still hazed with shock and denial, Olivia knew that stare better than any of the officers or Detectives there. It was a stare that she would never wish upon anyone.
Vivien nodded at the Detective yet she did not say anything; it wasn't because she didn't want to, but because the girl felt as if her voice had been stolen away. To Vivien's comfort, she noticed the Detective understood, her eyes conveyed not pity, but a sort of sympathy that instantly made Vivien feel better, like the nightmare would soon end.
"This will end, the day will pass and one day you'll accept the facts that happened here and realize that although you will carry them, they will no longer haunt you." Olivia managed a weak smile at the girl and felt some weight lift off her shoulders as she saw Vivien give her a weak and trembling smile back. That was all Bennett had wanted.
"Bennett!" A voice called for Olivia from inside the apartment and she scrunched her face in confusion, until she remembered she had left Tyler inside along with Cross and Fox; the combination made her shiver. With one last knowing and supportive glance at the girl, Bennett sent her only witness off. She crossed the crime scene tape once more, suddenly remembering the whole situation at hand.
No forced entry, young woman, stabbed, Tyler, Fox, this morning, murder, justice. And just like that, the compassionate Detective turned stoic and sharp.
"Cross, canvass the building, maybe one of her neighbors saw or heard something. Piper is running around trying to do that, make sure she doesn't dawdle."
"Sure boss," the rookie answered.
Nathan Tyler raised his eyebrows at that, this woman had everyone working under her; he found the fact intriguing and even alluring to some extent. Here was the legendary Detective Bennett, young and fierce like the rumors had promised, but also weary and defensive, the combination fascinated him.
"Everything alright?" Tyler asked, more with curiosity than concern.
Bennett was a trained Detective, she heard the curious tone in his voice to which she rolled her eyes and answered him with a sharp tone. She wasn't in the mood for small talk.
"Yeah, everything under control. What did Fox add to the prelim findings of the body?"
"The wounds are consistent with a military technique, not sure where he learned that, but he insists the blows weren't delivered by a military operative; he says they are too unstable."
"I trust Fox's judgment, what else?"
Tyler gave the ME still crunched over the body, arranging it so it could be transported back to the morgue, a glance. He did not have to be a Detective to see that there was history between his new partner and the medical examiner. He found her phlegmatic behavior towards the current situation astounding.
"The room has been bleached and we aren't finding anything else of relevance. Fox says he'll get more out of her once she's transported to the morgue."
Bennett was left thinking, absorbing the facts, completely ignoring the feeling of nostalgia and longing creeping up on her. Rook would have joked about the situation, something light and completely inappropriate, she would have called him on it and he would have told her to 'just relax kid.'
"Mind you, I've no idea what more he can get out of her, she doesn't look like much of a talker."
But Nathan Tyler wasn't Rook, no matter how immature and light his joke had just been.
"Don't be a child." She glared at him and headed over to Fox, scrunching down next to him so she could hear the information she had just heard from Tyler out of her ME's mouth.
It wasn't personal, it really wasn't. If there was someone she was mad at it was the Federal Agency that had decided their suspect's life had been worth more than Rook's; but she did not trust Tyler, not yet. It wasn't personal, she just had a hard time trusting people.
Fox asked her how she was doing, Bennett stared him down and added "Not now Fox", as quietly and as tender as she could, given her current stress mood. The ME, patient as ever, just nodded and gave Bennett a quick run of his preliminary findings. Bennett nodded, already knowing, deep down, that Tyler had given her the correct information.
"Bennett! A woman next door, Lila Dante claims she heard and saw some movement yesterday, Cross is taking her over to the 6th right now." Megan Piper appeared at the door, wild curly hair framing her round face, a nice calm smile and stare adorning it. The older woman looked fresh and it made Olivia envy her; ten years her senior and sometimes Piper's eyes looked clearer and far more alive than Olivia's did.
"Great! We'll head over in a few."
It was Tyler who answered, a smirk playing his face, and almost a daring glance thrown at Bennett. His purpose was fulfilled as the young Detective fumed with both annoyance and anger. Tyler did not know if she was used to being the one who called the shots, but they had assigned them as partners and that was what Tyler was aiming for, a partnership, he was not a damn rookie she could order around.
Piper left, if she had been thrown off by the new team member's response she did a good job of hiding it. Bennett, wasting no time after her friend had disappeared turned to her new partner and took in a breath ready to scold him for his stunt. Tyler feeling bold and secretly trying to test the woman's limits interrupted her again.
"Where are we on next of kin?" He dared, a smirk both in his smile and eyes.
Bennett's eyes widen in shock, how dare he treat her like his insubordinate? She was a first grade Detective, and a pretty good one at that; she might have been young, but she wasn't some naïve kid. But instead of shouting, calling him out for overstepping the small amount of authority she had earned within their team, she just took a breath and tried to calmly answer him.
"As far as I know, nowhere. Cross should be on it though."
Tyler nodded, turned to take in the crime scene one last time before diverting his view back towards the intriguing Detective he had been assigned to. He knew the crime at hand deserved his full attention, knew he had a job to fulfill. But Tyler was finding out, that the woman in front of him with the gorgeous hazel eyes and a distant yet firm look was a mystery far more interesting to solve.
"Then we'll wait for next of kin from the rookie while we head over to interrogate the neighbor."
"CSI's reports should get in later today as well. We should report back."
The Detectives just held each other's gaze, each of them holding something different. Bennett's was filled with annoyance, heaviness and nostalgia; Tyler's was full of curiosity and fierceness. Bennett broke free first, finding the elder Detective's blue eyes intimidating yet strangely alluring. Not quite sure which she was most scared of, Bennett scoffed at her new partner, going for stoic and challenging and sounding more like a conflicted teenager.
Tyler held in a chuckle, she was a firecracker. She was also gorgeous and haunted, and more than her eyes and hair and lean figure it was her mind that made him intrigued.
"Give me a ride Detective?" He asked, trailing after her, trying to keep up with her firm and quick strut. Huh, she strutted when she was angry.
"I drive, always, no questions asked." Her respond was as cool as ice, authority seeping from her every bone.
"Wasn't arguing Detective." He smirked, glad that she couldn't see it, he had a feeling that Detective Olivia Bennett would have been more offended than amused by his demeanor.