My Thorns (Jenna Ortega X Emma Myers)

Chapter three

Jenna

Jenna was exhausted. She hadn't got any sleep in a long time. As usual, her mind was clouded by darkness, and the rare moments she had managed to fall asleep were often cut short by nightmares. More than the lack of sleep, she was mentally drained. The weight of her issues, work- everything, really- was getting too much for her, and she felt like she had no strength anymore like she was slowly dying, in a way.

Maddie used to be there during her most difficult times, used to hold her, keep her safe until the dark thoughts disappeared. Eventually, it must've got too much for her to handle, and even if Jenna knew deep down that it wasn't really her own fault, she couldn't help but blame herself for the loss of her lover.

She should've tried to be better, hide her shadow from her.

Despite everything, Jenna knew she had to stay strong, her job required it, and it was the only part of her life that wasn't completely in shambles (yet). She couldn't allow herself to sink deeper, no matter how tempting it was, she had to focus on her job, even if it meant shoving her issues in the back of her head until it eventually got too much. Lives were potentially at stake. She was going to do some good for the world, even if she couldn't do that for herself.

The brunette let out a deep sigh as Hunter came to sit beside her, two cups of coffee in his hands, "Here, take this, you look like you need it." He said and Jenna silently thanked him before forcing herself to take a sip. She felt sick. She hadn't eaten anything since the day before, and she knew she needed to regain a bit of strength. The coffee would do, for now.

"Got anything new?" She tiredly asked her partner, the later gave her a small smile in return.

"Just got the report about the stolen items," He stated as he handed her a file and Jenna hummed, prompting him to continue, "All of them are quite expensive, though there's no real pattern. They stole some ancient greek vase, a traditional Japanese sculpture and some European modern artist's paintings. All of them are pretty small, easy to carry, and since Tanner has other greek or whatever else items I doubt our burglar is a collector, or they would've taken those too. They were probably just after the money."

Jenna nodded, a frown of her face as she took in all the information. A collector would've been easier to track than a random person who wanted money, but at least it meant that they would try to sell them, so maybe they still had a chance to find the stolen pieces, and even the thief too. Her hopes weren't so high, though.

The detective brought her hands up to massage her temples, her head was starting to ache badly.

"What about you, how did your visit at the bar go?" Hunter asked.

"Not so well. Some people do remember seeing Tanner that night, only one client think he saw him with a woman. Dark haired, wore a black dress. He didn't remember anything else." She sighed.

"Well... At least we know Tanner didn't lie about that, I guess."

"I don't get him though," Jenna furrowed her eyebrow, looking up at her partner, "Why is he hiding some stuff from us? Why fake a blind dating app or whatever when we know that woman might be the thief? He doesn't make the job easy for us."

"Maybe he's more embarrassed than he misses his vase," Hunter chuckled and Jenna couldn't help but join him. There was nothing really funny about the situation, the brunette blamed it on her nerves. They both knew this was getting nowhere. "Whatever, it's on him if we can't get him his things back anyway."

"Don't say that," Jenna said, regaining her serious, professional state, "I don't care about him or his fucking art pieces, but we have to solve this case."