Our Story: Harvey's Life

My Canary

For now the day bleeds
Into nightfall
And you're not here to get me through it all
I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug
I was getting kind of used to being someone you loved

Theresa woke up and went straight to the shower. After a warm bath, she wore a robe and went downstairs to gulp down some cereal. After she was done eating, she went back up to her room and started her makeup.

Don't apply too much, her subconscious mind filled in for her.

She applied light make up on her face and started rummaging through her wardrobe.
She finally fished out a white custom tailored suit. She paired it with white heels.
After making sure her hair was okay, she grabbed her briefcase together with her car keys.

"Picture perfect you don't need no filter, gorgeous make them drop dead, you're a killer. Shower you with all my affection, yeah these are my only intentions..." Tess sang as she drove to the NYPD. She placed her polarized coloured lenses sunglasses on her face.

After her car was secured in the parking lot, she made her way into the department. Thanks to her pretty looks, everyone could not help but steal glances at her.

She strutted across to the main office where she could find the head. She rapped two quick knocks on the door.
"Come in!"

A middle-aged man was sitting in front of a desk piled with files. The room had four small couches facing each other. Tess took a seat on one of them as the man stood up.

"You must be Miss Tess Harvey. It's a pleasure to meet you." He extended his hand.
"The pleasure is all mine." She took it.
"I have been informed about everything you are to do here and I'll do my best to cooperate." He smiled.

"Of course, I.." She was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.
"Excuse me one second," he placed a phone to his ear. "Yes? And so? You're the detective in charge, do something about the suicide case!" He disconnected the call.

"A suicide case? Mind if I check it out?" She offered.
"It would be our pleasure, let's go."

Everyone started saluting him as they walked into the crime scene.
"Sir!" A guy did the same too. He wasn't wearing a uniform so Tess assumed that he must be the detective in charge.
He looked Tess over before addressing the Captain.
"I didn't know you would come here yourself."

"Where's the corpse?" Captain asked.
"We already took care of it."
"So, what's the conclusion?"

"It's a clear case of suicide sir."
"Why do you say that?"
"He left a video message." He picked up a phone and showed them a video.

"I'm sorry I have to die like a coward. I've been unfair to a lot of people and I feel like death is the only redemption for me." He placed a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, then the video stopped.

"Can I walk around?" Tess asked.
"Of course."

She walked into all the rooms in the house and walked back out. She wore a glove and went through the phone. Suddenly,she burst into a fit of laughter.
When she regained her breath, she faced the detective and said, "Are you as dumb as you look?"
He looked taken aback.

"You concluded this as a suicide? This is a case of murder. I wonder who stopped the video after he died? I checked his phone and saw that it had no auto stop feature or app on it.
That means, someone else was in this room. The one who forced him to kill himself.

And, am I the only one getting a strong whiff of paint in here? If you go towards that room," she pointed," you'll see a few recent scratches by the window. The culprit must have gone down through the water pipe.
And, you've been touching the phone without gloves. Are you trying to taint evidence or what?"

When she finished talking, everyone kept staring at her.
"I can't believe I missed all of that." The detective said. "Thank you, by the way, you look familiar. Have we met?"
"No." She replied flatly.

"Miss Harvey, let's leave. I have somethings to talk to you about." The captain said.
"Wait, Harvey?" The detective said again. "Tess Harvey?"

"How do you know my name?" She turned to him.
"You don't remember me? It's me, Max. From highschool. You stopped my brother's wedding, remember?"

"Max?" She looked lost then she looked at him. "The tattooed nerd?"
"Yes!" He smiled brightly.
"Wow, you've changed." Tess looked him over again. His tattoos had completely disappeared.

Guess they weren't permanent tattoos.

"We have to leave now," the captain said.
"I'll see you around," she turned on her heels.

Max kept looking at her until she disappeared from his sight.

"These are the rookies here," the captain handed over a file to Tess. "You can choose the ones you want for your team. You'll be given an assistant. He has worked in various areas so we think he can help you out with anything you need." He pressed a button on his telephone," Come in."

A guy entered and saluted them both.
"I'm Officer Keith. Caleb Keith."
"Caleb, this is Detective Harvey. You'll be under her from now on."

Tess continued to look the guy over and over again.

"Then, I'll take my leave. I'll go through this," she raised the file,"and send the list to you tonight. Just do me a favor and tell them all to meet me at our office tommorow morning by 8:00am. No more, no less. If anyone is late, he or she is out of my team."

"Noted." Captain said as he escorted her out.

Tess made her way to Theresa's Diner and started to check the profiles of the rookies she was to choose from.

Young, Houghlin, White, Garrett, Dominic, Graham, Griffin, Hamilton, Pitcher, Baxter, Robbins...e.t.c..

She sipped her coffee silently when she felt a presence beside her. She looked up to see the kid she met the first day she arrived.

"Hi," he greeted.
"You're off work?"
"Yeah, my shift just ended."
"Nice, unlike me. I'm on a shift forever!" She smiled.

Talking to the high schooler seemed to be interesting for Tess. The kid told her almost everything about him until he had to go home.
Tess stayed for a little while until she finally made a draft of the rookies she wanted.

Just four of them.
Just four.

It's gonna be a long day tommorow, she thought to herself.