Treasure [Klance/Leith]

19 - Antonio

Never had I ever thought to end up in a place like this with my life on the line every case and my mental health at stake with each crime scene. As a child I would always tell my father that I wouldn't become like one of the men that had taken my mother from us before I turned ten. My father was the police chief of Brookfield, Wisconsin. Everyone loved him for his charitableness and the lengths he would go to protect his citizens. Every Halloween I would dress up as a policeman, to dress just like the man I admired the most was something I had loved the most in my short life; not the stupid laughter at dad jokes nor the late night football nights we would spend together screaming at the top of our lungs with the guys as we watched our favorite team score right as the final second hit.

Now I stood in front of a mirror wearing a white button up with a black tie and vest. My pants and shoes wear black as midnight and my once curly hair had been straightened enough so that it laid flat on my head. The room I stood in smelt like the bittersweetness of honeysuckle and vanilla, it was most certainly a woman's room speaking that the walls were a soft shade of mint, the decorations inside the room consisted of art pieces and 'inspirational quotes' scattered across the walls and the bed was made with white sheets and quilts to stand out against the minty walls much like the rest of the white furniture in the home.

I had spent the entire afternoon shopping and helping Irene with getting our undercover investigation to look and be perfect. Together we were the Jennings, Adrienne and Celestine. At least that's what our aliases were. We were planning the entire act from the moment Keith sent us out of his room in a fit of annoyance after Areum and James Lanner left the room, he seemed to have been mildly disturbed by something but neither of us chose to pester him about it.

I fixed my tie and smoothed out my vest slowly, it was my first undercover detective work and already I felt nervous about it however, it was for the best interest of the citizens within my city that I solved the case as soon as possible. "Antonio, are you done yet?" Irene shouted from outside the door as she impatiently knocked on the door.

I let out an aggravated sigh as I let my arms flop down at my sides. Aren't I supposed to be the one rushing her? "Yeah, what do you need?" I called out.

"I'm ready to go, the meeting takes place in thirty minutes and I do not want to be late because lateness is not-"

Before she could finish I groaned in annoyance as I opened her door, "Lateness is not tolerable, yadda yadda I get it you've said it about-" as I rolled my brown eyes they settled onto the woman in front of me and my voice got stuck in my throat abruptly.

Irene stood in front of me wearing a white, skintight dress with heels that made her my height and her hair was placed into a dutch bun. Her grey eyes shined against the smoky makeup on her eyelids and her lipstick made her thin lips look some how larger. She stared at me with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyebrows in a deep frown, "What. Is. This." She demanded as her grey eyes glided down my body. "What are we doing? A theme of the nineteen forties? How disgraceful." She stuck her nose into the air and scoffed slightly as she began to walk towards her front door to her one story house.

My jaw dropped slightly as I stared at the normally shorter woman in shock. And here I was about to call her beautiful, glad I didn't waste a compliment on a complete bitch. I ruffled my hair slightly before I begin to chase after her with my eyes narrowed. "So, you remember what I told you?" I asked as I tucked my hands behind my back and looked at her from the corners of my eyes.