Oh, Hi Officer // h.s ✔️

VI

Amara Winters' POV
I'd looked through every file, every single bit of information. I even made a board full of post-it notes and all the women that had disappeared, plus their state at death and the locations where they'd been found. But it felt like bits of information were missing. Things didn't add up and everything was just so messy, yet no DNA traces were found. Not even a single fingerprint.

"What are you doing?" I heard behind me as I sipped on my coffee and looked at the board on the wall.

"Investigating a case." I simply said, turning around to see the mysterious Styles standing in the doorway.

"Why are you investigating that case?" He asked, making himself clearer this time.

"Because the Chief asked me to..." I said in an obvious tone, flicking through some of the pages of the thick files.

"But that's my case." He chuckled breathily, looking kinda scary. But it didn't faze me. I just shrugged and took a sip from my coffee.

"I heard you shut it down years ago, and now the Chief asked me to open it again because notions of dead young women reached the police," I said as I studied every picture on the board.

"You need to stop investigating this case, it's mine, and I don't work with anyone else but me." He said in a threatening tone, but I just rolled my eyes.

"I'm not giving this case up just because you're too proud to have a partner to investigate it with. You either suck it up or let me have it." I sassily said, frowning at a picture at the right bottom of the board.

"I won't repeat myself, I don't work in teams. I don't work with partners. You better go before it's too late." Harry said lowly, slowly saying the words.

"I won't either, you better suck it up or leave. I got orders from the Chief and I've dug too deep to drop out now." I shrugged, examining the possible motives on the board, but I just couldn't think of one for the bottom right picture. I heard a deep sigh behind me, yet the door never opened nor closed. So Styles must've given in. Never thought I'd be able to convince him...

"You know, it's weird," I said, frowning at the picture.

"What is?" Styles' voice spoke after a few seconds of total silence.

"That everyone on these pictures is a woman and between 20 and 30 years old. All except one man." I said carefully, not trying to touch a hurtful subject.

"Your old partner and you... were you good friends?" I asked, making Styles look up at me, obviously caught off guard by the question.

"That's none of your business." He said roughly, making me sigh.

"He was, wasn't he? I'm sorry for your loss, I take it that you didn't have much time to grieve." I said. It was a risky question. I had no idea how he would react. Though his reaction really did surprise me. He shook his head and hid his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking as he quietly sobbed.

The poor man never grieved his friend...