Veil of Crimson

A Promising Breakthrough

“NOPD, open up!” I yell through the door after knocking on it. I have both Kirk and Natalie with me, and my heart is still racing from the adrenaline. I didn’t realize I’d get a break in this case this soon, but I’m sure glad I did. I was feeling quite hopeless about it and now I’m finally about to make an arrest.

Soon enough, the door swings open and we all point our guns at the person who opens up. He smiles like we’re the best guests that he was expecting to get. I’m not sure why he looks this happy, to be honest and I don’t like it one bit.

“Hello, Detective! Couldn’t wait to see me, could you?” he says in greeting, making me roll my eyes. I can’t with this anymore. I put away my gun and pull out my handcuffs, making him let out an excited ‘oh’. This dude is seriously deranged.

“Adrian LeBlanc, you’re under arrest for the murder of Gale Roberts,” I inform him, getting behind him and grabbing his arms to cuff him. He chuckles and shakes his head in response, but lets me cuff him.

“You can’t be serious, darling. I haven’t sunk my teeth into that human,” he remarks, making me frown at his words. I think we’ll have to do some serious psychological profiling on this one. He’s completely insane.

“Yeah, okay, Nosferatu. We’ll see if you hit him to death,” I remark, knowing very well that those video tapes will make everything much easier now. We’ll get to search this place thoroughly, with no restrictions. Unlike on the day of the murder.

“Hey! I’m not Romanian! I was born and raised in New Orleans!” he protests, finally showing something else than being amused about this whole situation. As the handcuffs click, I shove him forward to lead him to the car.

“Good for you,” I murmur darkly, then open the door and duck his head in order to get him into the backseat. Once again, he seems to be having the time of his life.

“I’m not used to having doors held open for me. Or riding in the back. I’m like a president now, aren’t I?” he remarks, unable to shut up. Kirk sends me an annoyed look, while I let out a long sigh.

“Get in the back with him, will you?” I ask him. He seems even more displeased now, because clearly, the guy is getting on his nerves. Yeah, same here, but the sooner we get him behind bars, the better.

“But why can’t Natalie go?” he protests, making me glance at her. She goes pale, looking completely terrified. I turn back towards the officer, sending him a patronizing look.

“Because he scares the crap out of her and I don’t want her to throw up on the back of my neck,” I conclude, deeming the conversation done. He grunts something under his breath, but gets to the other side of the car either way.

As he hops in, Natalie sends me a grateful look, and I send her a reassuring smile. She doesn’t need that man to harass her. Mental harassment still counts as harassment. I sit behind the steering wheel, starting the car.

When I turn left immediately to drive just a little down the street to the station, LeBlanc starts protesting in the backseat. “Can’t you at least drive us around the block? Let me enjoy the ride a little longer, I’ve never been arrested before!” he speaks up.

I ignore him, but I can’t help but take a deep breath, then exhale heavily. Someone give me enough strength not to strangle this guy in custody, please. It’s my first ever case. I really don’t want to screw it up.

I can see Natalie stiffening on the passenger seat, while Kirk lets out a scoff. “What? You can do this every day, if you want to,” LeBlanc speaks up again, directing his words at my colleague, I presume.

We park on the side of the road, then get him into the station. As he walks in, it’s basically like he owns the place. Officers are greeting him everywhere, not even startled by the fact that we have him in handcuffs.

“Hey there, Georgia!” he greets one of them, making the woman blush. I turn my head back forward, shaking my head slightly. I can’t understand the hype about him. It’s not like he’s a celebrity. He’s a restaurant owner, for f**k’s sake.

As we get him into the questioning room, we start the interrogation right away. “Mr. LeBlanc, can you explain this?” I ask, already having a laptop with the tape ready.

I play it for him, letting him see his face peeking out of the door of his restaurant. Literally seconds after Roberts died. He smiles in a confident way. “My, I look handsome from this side,” he remarks.

I can’t take it anymore. I slam my hand against the desk, but he doesn’t even flinch. Instead, he points his gaze to me calmly, seeming amused. “Do you think this is funny? No one enters your restaurant during the time frame of the murder and then you open the door, literally moments after Roberts was knocked dead!”

He doesn’t react to my tone. He leans slightly forward, watching my expression curiously. “You weren’t this hostile last evening. What changed?” he wonders. Natalie gasps beside me, while Kirk’s voice echoes through the speaker. He’s behind the glass.

“You slept with this guy?” he asks, completely shaken. Oh my God, he made this sound completely the wrong way. I widen my eyes in horror, already shaking my head, while LeBlanc looks amused. This was completely intentional.

“No! I became his tenant, not that it’s any of your business!” I shout out, feeling even more pissed off now. “Though I’m not sure I want to be living in the house of a murderer,” I remark as I turn back to the guy, who’s watching me like he can barely hold back his laughter.

“Oh, darling, I told you, if I were the murderer, there would be signs. Besides, you don’t have any proof that I did this. I simply went to peek out to the street out of the same reason you’re watching these tapes. To see the murderer!” he states like it’s obvious.

I’m not amused by any of this. I lean forward, narrowing my eyes at him. “Maybe. But I hope you realize this makes you look really bad. Your restaurant, your house, all your properties are going to be searched thoroughly, and I promise you, we won’t stop until we find that murder weapon,” I tell him.

This time, he actually laughs. “Oh, go ahead. You’ll be looking for a very long time and it will all be in vain, because I’m not the killer,” he remarks, then makes a face that resembles some sort of discomfort. In the next moment, there’s a soft click and he stretches his arms, startling both Natalie and I. “Ah, much better,” he smiles.

“How did you do that?” I want to know, already reaching behind my belt to take my gun out, but I left it in my desk. I felt safe enough not to carry it into the questioning room and now he’s uncuffed himself like his hands were tied together by strings of candy. Crap!

He crosses his arms against his chest, smirking. “Relax, Detective, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll sit here tight, until you realize all this fuss is ridiculous and that you should be seeking my help instead,” he remarks, making me stare at him distrustfully.

“You said you don’t know anything about the murder apart from what you’ve told us. Were you lying?” I want to know. He sighs like I’m slow-minded.

“I wasn’t lying. But I have resources that I could use to gain information that could be helpful for your investigation,” he explains, making me think about what he just said. Combined with his body language, it sounds truthful. He’s opened his arms and placed his hands on the table, leaning slightly forwards.

“We’ll see about that after we search your properties,” I let him know, making him smile in response. Like he has nothing to hide, really. I get up and so does Natalie, but he isn’t finished yet.

“You’re wasting your time,” he repeats himself, making me stop and turn to look at him. He sends me one of those charming looks that women are supposed to fall far. Well, I don’t. Those blue eyes don’t work wonders on me. “Could I get my lawyer here, please? The two of us still have to sort out that contract, after all, I promised we’d sign it today,” he says.

I send him a look, refusing the temptation to roll my eyes at him. “Yeah, sure. But I’m not signing anything until I know for sure whether you’re guilty or innocent,” I let him know. He chuckles.

“Then you’ll be signing very soon,” he shouts after me, because I’m already leaving, shutting the door behind me with a little more force than necessary. I turn my head towards Kirk, who comes out of the door next to us.

“Watch the door. I don’t want him getting out of here the way he got out of those handcuffs,” I order him, making him nod in response. He doesn’t seem very pleased that he’s serving as a doorkeeper now, but who else am I supposed to leave out there? Natalie? She’s still as pale as a well. “You feeling good, Nat?” I ask her.

I don’t turn my gaze towards her, because we’re walking towards my desk, but she looks up at me. She’s even shorter than I am and I’m not really on the tall side either. “Yeah, just … LeBlanc is … weird,” she remarks.

I let out a chuckle, not really knowing where it came from. Maybe I had to release the tension somehow. I finally look at her, smiling. “Yeah, tell me about it. I can’t wait to raid everything he owns. We’re not finishing until we find something useful,” I tell her.

She nods, but her smile seems very fake. She can’t bring herself to be positive about this. But I am. I’m not sure why, but I’m ready to take this guy down.

Lieutenant gives me a hand in the investigation and sends out every free officer to help with the raid. LeBlanc is a really rich guy. He owns lots of premises. My new home is one of them. I don’t mind having it raided, because there’s nothing in there. At least that’s what I hope.

I’m not the one who’s headed there, but I let the detective, who’s leading that raid know that I moved in there yesterday. I don’t mind the funny look I get in response, but I have to get it out there. I’m in charge of searching Fleur de Lys, because it’s the crime scene after all and I haven’t had the chance to inspect it that closely.

When we get there, it’s standard procedure. We secure the place, making the chef go ballistic, but as he threatens to call his boss, I inform him that the said boss is in custody and he shuts himself up instantly. I knew we let them get back to business way too soon.

The staff leaves immediately and lets us get to work. Everything was swiped for prints already, but we’re looking at this from another perspective now. We try to find proof that LeBlanc was the one that killed Roberts.

We go through his entire office, but nothing. We work for hours, before I finally give up and decide to treat the team. “Okay, guys, let’s take five. I’m ordering pizzas, then we get back to work! We need to get something done today!” I call out.

Everyone seems grateful for my decision and after fifteen minutes, we’re already sitting on the porch outside, eating the pizzas. I’m strict about the rules and I like to stick to them. No food at the crime scene. Even if it’s a restaurant.

As we get back to work, I can’t help but feel hopeless. LeBlanc’s smug face keeps dancing in front of my eyes, the more I search his damn restaurant. I’m getting a feeling that we won’t be finding anything useful today. I hope I’m wrong, but with every second, it looks more and more like I’m right.

Until someone calls out for me. “Detective Gauthier! You might want to come check this out!” I hear Natalie’s voice cut through the restaurant. I stop what I’m doing and search for her with my gaze. I soon notice her coming out from behind the … Wine rack? What is this now?

I walk towards her in confusion, while she seems quite triumphant. “What do you have, Natalie?” I ask, while a smile spreads across her face.

“You’ll want to come check this out for yourself,” she tells me, not wanting to explain anything else. I follow her down an old staircase, which is lit up by lamps that look ancient. As we get to the bottom, I get met by an open space that makes my jaw drop.