Here We Are...

Chapter 10 - SCENE OF THE CRIME

12:50pm.

Kurtis entered the scene, he hated leaving Bella like that but this is way too serious. He hoped she'll forgive him later. Maybe she can come over tomorrow and spend the night with me... Or maybe she can move in... Kurtis was in his own thoughts, thinking of ways for Bella to come to him, but each time he mentions something about them moving forward she hesitates. He doesn't mean to move things fast between them. It's just how he feels... Kurtis groans, shaking his head as he starts walking to where the team was.

The building was burnt down badly. Everything inside the art museum was unrecognizable as Kurtis passed by while the crime scene investigators took pictures of the scene. So strange as it's one of the museums that he went with Bella and her friends for an event. It promoted her paintings. He smiled a bit remembering how amazing Bella was that night. He groans again, scratching his head, shit I need to focus. He looked up to see Lee waving at him and he hurried over.

"What's the verdict?" He asked, bending down to check the burnt ground immediately going in work mode. "Whoa whoa, first off, did Bella receive my messa- Ow!" Kurtis punches his arm then walks over to one of the other detectives. Kurtis notices the other group with search dogs walking beside them around the area. "Sarge, what's going on?" He asked his Sergeant, Beth Jenkins, along with two other colleagues with her, Detective Jill Philips and Detective Paul Ellis.

"What's wrong with Cooper over there?" Jill asked, motioning to his direction. "He's just being annoying." They all nod, understanding. "We're not exactly sure, but to confirm the writing on the wall is indeed deep red paint. Sprayed to be exact. We are having the dogs sniff out whatever evidence is left behind. The only thing they caught was the cheap cans they used and left on the side." Paul exclaimed as he took out a cigarette for himself and offered one to Kurtis. "Wow, that's uh very specific details you have there Paul." Lee sarcastically says but Paul grinned, "Don't get jealous if I find something with my keen eyes." This made the three detectives groan at Paul gloating for no reason.

Smoking his cigarette in frustration, Kurtis looks at their Sergeant inspecting the lettering on the wall. "What the hell is going on in this town..." She exclaims. "And the writing? What is it supposed to mean?" Looking at the wall trying to decipher what kind of threat it is. "The Deputy Chief can't ignore this now. There has to be a connection..." Sergeant Beth says. "Sarge! Here's the list of the people that stayed overnight in the building." Someone rushes by handing Sargent Beth a thick folder to her.

She looks it through as the others keep looking around, investigating and jotting down notes. Sergeant Beth suddenly closes the folder loudly, "I knew it." Kurtis and Lee look at her confused as she shows them the folder. They opened it to see pictures of different graffiti tags but what caught their attention was the writing. It was exactly the same, even if each tag said something different. "Where were these taken?" Kurtis asked just as Jill and Paul wondered what they were looking at, which Lee showed them. Sargent Beth sighs annoyedly, "Two of those were taken from the downtown Bronx area." "B-Bronx?! As in the Bronx, New York?" Lee exclaimed out as she nodded her head.

"And the others?" Jill asked as she turned the pictures over to see the states written one from Atlanta and the others in Chicago. "Whoever it is must be connected to these." Sergeant Beth says as Kurtis is in a thinking posture, "The probability in this case is that someone refused some kind of deal... Or-" "Or they were threatened and then decided to get rid of the arts and crafts museum-" "That's insulting Lee..." Paul says as Lee shushes him, "And so they can't enjoy their hobbies!" "Lee!" All of them shouted at him and he jumped back, laughing nervously, "Just saying." Jill groans, "Continue Kurt. I think you were on something?"

Kurtis sighs, "It could've been a deal gone wrong. If we can reach out to the Bronx police and investigate with them we can get a better description of who we're dealing with." "Along with finally uncovering the gang of bandits here in town." Paul says. "Alright team, research the history of these tags and reach out to the precincts over at the Bronx, Atlanta, and Chicago." Sargent Beth commanded and they all nodded as they walked off to follow her instructions. Just as Kurt and Lee were going to walk off she calls out to them, "Hughes, Coop. If this is connected to the bandits that means the Captain has no choice but to get the Chief to allow you two to further run the evidence." Kurtis nodded, "Understood. We're on it." As Lee 'Yes' throwing a fist in the air. Sargent Beth sighs, but nods as she turns back to speak to the crime scene team.

Kurtis and Lee head out to the car, driving back to their precinct. Lee groans loudly as he enters then puts his seatbelt on, "Fuck man. I swear when we capture these damn brats they are getting serious jail time." He exclaims while Kurtis tosses the one cigarette and takes out one of his own pack, a Newport pack. "Hey, don't let Bella see you do that, she won't want to be with you like that." Lee scolds him but Kurt just breathes out the smoke, "Actually, I'm planning on surprising her. To an expensive dinner. Maybe see if she wants to move in with me..." "Oooh, that's awesome! No wonder she stayed with you last weekend, you cigarette dog." Kurtis sighed, "I hope things will progress... Feels like she doesn't see a future yet." Lee ponders on the side during the drive, "Just see what she says, you could overthink things, badly. I've seen it happen before." Kurtis makes a confused look, "No I don't... Do I?" Now he's wondering, making a worried face that had Lee laugh hard. "Don't worry man. She seems good with you." They both chuckle afterwards just as they arrive at the precinct, exiting out the car and inside.

They spent a few hours, the clock shows ten at night already. The detectives and officers were extremely tired from working overtime with the cases that kept piling up.

Kurtis and Lee were at their desks exhausted. "What do you think she's doing right now? Working at her part-time?" That bar Bella works at is highly suspicious with weird people inside it but she says it's pretty much an average bar... Kurtis asked, leaning back on his chair looking up at the ceiling. He's a bit worried since he hasn't heard from Bella in a while, but he realized that his phone died and he forgot to charge it last night. "Aw, the lovey dovey Hughes is in love." Lee makes kissing sounds. "Shut up. Do you think they would get mad if I left to go check on her then come back?" Lee shrugs unsure, "Most likely, the Captain has been on our ass with this shit and the Sarge." Kurtis groans, "Damn, you're right... most of the time." Lee smiles very smugly and Kurtis shakes his head getting back to researching the evidence now with fully accessed files and camera footage to do so.