Crime (h.s. au)

Chapter Forty

Ava

"Nice to see you again Isaac," I grin, shaking his hand. His bright blue eyes lock on mine and he gives me a smile, letting my hand go.

"This is Detective Styles," I introduce him, and Harry shakes his hand.

"Alright. I only have one office open at the moment but if you don't mind sharing that'd be perfect," he says, and Harry agrees. I don't mind sharing an office with Harry if it means I can easily talk to him about the case.

Isaac shows us where to go and I see an L-shaped desk. I sit on one side and Harry takes the other section, both of us setting up our laptops. There are two monitors already in here that have the database, so getting settled in should be fairly simple.

"The roommate is coming in at 3 for questioning," Harry lets Isaac know.

"Alright. I'll make sure to have a room open for you. If you need anything, I'm just over this way. Thanks again for helping. You're the best in the business, Ava. And I'm sure you are too, Harry. Ava doesn't trust easily," he says, smiling over at me before walking out.

I tense, knowing that Harry more than likely won't like working alongside Isaac. Isaac is really good at questioning people, and getting confessions out of suspects is what he's best at. Harry is good at putting things together to get the main suspects in cases.

"You've worked with him before?" Harry asks, my eyes glancing over to him.

"Yeah. He's a nice enough guy," I shrug, and Harry purses his lips. I can tell he's biting his tongue, and I try not to talk too much to Isaac himself. He's about thirty and looks like a typical young cop portrayed in movies.

"And before you start filling your head with thoughts, he's married and has a kid," I tell him, logging into my computer without looking up at him. I know Harry by now, and I know his tendency to overthink things when it comes to me. We had already expressed our mutual jealousy when we talk to other people, so we agreed to be exclusive. It took me a bit to process the concept, but I was able to accept it.

"Lovely," he sighs, and I snort. My eyes trail to him and I can see him smiling, my eyes rolling. He leans over and shuts the door, and he turns to look at me.

"Fucker," I call him under my breath, and he just laughs.

"Ava, you're the best," he mocks. "Oh, I'm sure you're good too Harry."

"Ah so you're jealous that I'm the best," I tease, finding my behavior strange today. Perhaps it's because we're sharing an office and I get to spend more time with him.

"I was, then I found out he's married so I'm all good now," he grins, and I shake my head at him. He softly laughs before beginning to set up his stuff, my eyes reading through the notes on the roommate. He was out of town and his alibi checks out.

I start writing down a few questions to ask and I furrow my eyebrows, concentrated on how the interview should go.

Isaac had mentioned that the detective he had on the case was in the midst of a transfer to another state's police department, so he didn't want her leave interfering with solving it. So Harry and I are the main detectives on the case, alongside Isaac.

The thoughts about the conversation I had with Harry yesterday flood my mind and I think about that night I saw my father get murdered. I started wondering if he was there. If he was one of the men throwing punches. But in my recollection, it was all men much bigger than Harry.

I sat on my bedroom floor last night, my head in my hands, trying to get rid of those thoughts. The sleepless nights are coming back, all because I have these memories looming over me. All because Harry is around me and getting to know me. Though I'm aware I don't have to tell him anything, he makes it so hard due to his nature. He wants to understand, wants to sympathize, but the last thing I need is someone's sympathy.