Silhouetted Psycho [ON HOLD]

- 22 -

"Yes, I'm trying to hide something."

Vincent's acknowledgement made Kevin's eyes grow in size, him turning his head towards the others as if to clarify he wasn't the only one who heard it. Marvin seemed equally shocked by it but the other two detectives remained indifferent, their minds busy observing and linking the dots with every movement and comment that the suspicious profiler made. Vincent seemed more than aware of this situation by the look he gave to both Edward and Scarlett but not once he lost his composure during it.

"In fact I'm trying to hide a lot of things. But none of those things has anything to do with what you're thinking." His piercing gaze fell on the female team member for a second before returning to where it originally was, back into Kevin's eyes. "I'll answer your question since you're so persistent on it." Although he finally agreed to answer the question as Kevin had demanded, it never felt like he had gave in. He still had the upper hand of the situation somehow, making it seem like Kevin and everyone else was at his mercy. "Home. I was at home when the murder happened."

"Can you prove it?" The youngest was determined to get something out of him before he could put an end to the conversation.

"Unless you send me a written notice to summon me officially for questioning regarding the case, I don't need to prove anything to anyone." Vincent concluded the discussion and left the room coolly, giving no chance for anyone to utter another word to disturb his exit. The four remaining detectives let go of their breaths that no one noticed they were holding, the atmosphere of the space tense and cold after the talk.

"Edward you have to summon him." Kevin wasted no time to turn to their leader and announce.

"On what grounds Kevin? We have to show something to say he's a suspect of the case." Edward seemed calm but Scarlett could sense his inner frustration that he was trying very hard to conceal.

"Anyone can see he's got something to do with the killings! We don't even know where he's coming from and all he did was find that CCTV footage of Jake Brian!! That too from who knows where!"

"That's not a good reason to convince the chief." The team leader replied to the worked up detective, slowly feeling the strings of his patience loosing as well.

"Okay then how do you explain that fur thing? It matches Vincent's hair perfectly! And how he disappeared for three days right after the last murder? He looks weak like he was fighting with someone and what if that someone is Annabelle Ruswelt? What if he approached her and she fought him to death finally ripping out his hair?!"

Kevin's voice was now building up to a scream of anger, trying his best to convince the team leader to take an action against Vincent Kennedy, the new profiler of their very own team. Edward slammed his hands agaisnt the flat surface of his desk, the loud sound echoing through the room making everyone flinch at the sight of seeing him like that for the very first time.

"Enough is enough Kevin! I don't say no to something I can do. You're not the only one who has doubts here but even if you are, that doesn't give you the right to raise your voice at me or anyone else in this room like that. If you continue to act like this I'm going to have to remove you from the case and you know I will do it. Understand?" Edward stated seriously looking at the shaking boy in front of him, at a loss of words to say anything back. "Answer me before it gets worse Kevin." He warned one last time.

The mentioned detective however, didn't utter a word but made his way outside in a fit of rage, wanting to let out his frustrations. Marvin attempted to run after him only to be stopped by Edward, stating that Kevin should learn how to not only listen and adapt to a tough situation by himself but also to 'grow up' and act like an adult instead of throwing tantrums when things don't go his way. Marvin could agree with everything Edward said but he also couldn't help but worry about Kevin whom he knew to have a hard time controlling his emotions in a situation like this. Scarlett didn't have anything to add to it so she stayed quiet throughout the entire incident, wondering how the fate of Violent Crimes Unit has ended up so miserably in such a short amount of time. Her thoughts came to a halt hearing her name being called out by the team leader, some files being stretched in her direction.

"Scarlett I want you to go through these again one last time before our next meeting. Can you do that?" He requested while the girl examined the files she got, realizing they were the pictures taken at all crime scenes and the analytical reports of blood and everything.

"Sure I'll do that by tomorrow."

"Are you planning to stay late again?"

Getting where this was going he heaved a sigh, almost deciding to take back the files from Scarlett and give them to Marvin for inspection. Edward knew how Scarlett easily decided to overwork herself when she got an interesting case to solve and he was worried about her health. She was the ace of the team, even though he never verbally admitted it, hence losing her will cause great damage to the whole unit.

"I promise I won't overwork myself. Plus, even Lora isn't at home so it'll be way safer for me here than at home too." She reasoned for the team leader to give in reluctantly.

"Okay then but if I see you looking unwell for even one minute I'm seriously do something." He declared looking straight into the ace's eyes and waited until she nodded in agreement to it, making it clear she understood what he meant. "And Marvin."

"Yes?" The detective tore his eyes away from the door that Kevin stormed out a while ago to answer Edward.

"Keep an eye on Kevin. Knowing him, he'll surely do something to prove to us that Vincent is somehow related to all of this. I want you to stop him from doing any of that stuff or else he'll be the one to rot in jail for invasion of privacy or something if Vincent decides to sue."

"I know Edward, I'll make sure he won't do anything stupid." Marvin agreed. "But Edward do you really think Vincent is innocent?" He couldn't stop himself to ask.

"I don't know for sure." The team leader admitted in a defeated tone, his shoulders hanging low as if he was carrying the weight of the world on them. "Everything Kevin pointed out was right, the timings are too perfect but still I can't help but think it all could be coincidences as well."

"But it's unlikely that every single thing is purely coincidental right? I mean, the hair, the disappearance, and him being weak too." Marvin nudged, taking a slow approach on the subject with Edward unlike how Kevin did. "He looked perfectly fine when the previous murders happened but just after we find a girl that put up a fight before she died, Vincent disappears for three days and shows up weaker than he already was."

"But he seems strong and I don't think it would be difficult for him to take down a senior high school student to appear that weak." Edward revealed his reason to think it was all coincidences.

"True but still... As you said everything is too perfect." Marvin let go of a deep sigh, not knowing how to continue the conversation.

"What do you think Scarlett? You were quiet the whole time." Edward noticed the lack of response from the girl and turned to her, hoping to know what was on her mind.

She could see how everything was standing against Vincent in every aspect but despite that she wanted to believe he was innocent. Because no matter how he acted in front of others she had seen a side of him that no one else knew, and a little voice inside of her told her to put her trust in him. She was torn between two decisions and the stress eating her out was making it even harder for her to function.

"Scarlett?" Edward waved his hand in front of her seeing she was lost in her own world of thoughts.

"Ah yes yes?"

"I asked what you think on this matter." He repeated himself.

"I... I don't know..."

[A/N]
I keep forgetting it's Sunday I'm sorry guys XD Hope you enjoy and lemme know what you think