Veil of Crimson

A Deal Needs To Be Respected

I stare at him in complete shock, not knowing what to think about his revelation. In a way, I feel like laughing. But the way he holds my gaze, without any hint of amusement hiding in his eyes, leaves me unable to breathe. He … Collects … People’s blood.

“Um … You collect … blood,” I repeat, trying to hear how the words sound coming from my mouth, but nothing prepares me for it. I can’t help myself. It sounds so ridiculous that I let out a chuckle. I cover my mouth with my hand in order to stop myself. “Sorry,” I murmur, pressing my lips together.

He stares at me in a puzzled way. “What? You don’t think I’m strange?” he wonders, completely confused by my reaction. I force myself to stay serious as I look at him again.

“Honestly, LeBlanc? That ship has sailed a looong time ago,” I inform him, then narrow my eyes at him. “Why blood, though? I’m pretty sure that’s illegal,” I remark, finally coming back to myself.

He almost seems to breathe out in relief as he smiles. “Actually, it isn’t. We make a contract and everything. It’s all legal,” he lets me know. I stare at him a moment longer, not sure what to think about this. I finally relax my eyelids and look at him normally.

“Uh-huh. I’m going to check on that, you do realize that?” I ask him, making his smile turn into a self-satisfied smirk. Ugh. What do I have to do to wipe it off that stupid chiseled face?

“I wouldn’t expect anything else from you, Detective,” he responds, making me let out a long sigh. But something still doesn’t add up. I stare at him in a questioning way, not knowing how to ask this. In the end, I decide for the direct approach.

“What do you do with the blood?” I want to know. He pauses, watching me for a moment, before pulling back. He shakes his head at me in response.

“Sorry, no. You know what you need to know. You’re not ready for the next step,” he says. The way he puts it, makes me feel uncomfortable. I’m not sure what to think. I stare at him in a serious way, but he shakes his head again.

I pull my hands into fists, suddenly feeling scared. What he does with the blood … At first I thought this was funny. Really strange, yes, but funny. Collecting blood from dead people. Ew, but just a ridiculous hobby really. I’ve faced people who collect dead specimens so collecting blood isn’t really that strange. Expect it is. Because it’s from humans. El, something is really messed up inside that head of yours.

“Did I creep you out?” he asks, bringing me out of my thoughts, which results in my body flinching. Before I’m even able to deny it, he already sighs. Wow, am I that obvious? “You can trust me, you know?” he then adds cautiously, leaving me speechless for a moment.

But then, the words return to my throat and soon start flowing out of my mouth. I turn towards him, once again pissed off at his behavior. “Oh, I don’t know, can I trust someone, who almost killed us both?” I retort, talking about the stunt he pulled with my car.

He tilts his head, then smirks. “Uh, yeah? I parked your car without even driving it. If that doesn’t speak volumes about being able to trust me, then I don’t know what else to do to prove it to you,” he remarks in response.

I narrow my eyes at him, unable to believe that he just said that. I breathe in sharply, my jaw tightening. I’m slowly drifting into that furious mood again and he’s not helping it one bit. “What an interesting point of view. So, you don’t think that, I don’t know, telling the truth and actually helping with an investigation earns you more trust than swerving my car around like an i***t?!” I snap.

He stares at me blankly, clearly not knowing what to say to that. “Oh. I didn’t see it that way. I thought you wanted some grand gesture, isn’t that what women are all about?” he wonders, once again having that ridiculous smirk plastered over his face.

My eye twitches and I start the car. “I really thought we were getting somewhere with this,” I mutter under my breath, but he manages to hear me. No idea how to be honest. I can barely make out the words myself.

“Whatever do you mean, Detective?” he says, making me sigh. I drive off without answering him for a few moments. I need to keep my cool. I’m driving after all. I glance at him shortly. It’s a sideways, nasty glance, just to be clear.

Finally, I shake my head, unable to deal with his weirdness anymore. “Adrian. Just stop talking, please,” I breathe out in defeat. However, all that does is make him chuckle in response. I grip the steering wheel a little more tightly than necessary. I can see my knuckles turning white from the force I use.

“So you do know my name. I thought you keep forgetting it and that’s why you keep calling me by my last name,” he speaks up. Oh my God, I’m going to murder this guy if he doesn’t learn how to keep his mouth shut. And it’s only the first day I’m forced to work with him!

“Let’s make a deal. I’ll start calling you by your name if you actually keep quiet when I tell you to stop talking,” I grunt unhappily, not even knowing what I’m getting myself into.

He seems quite happy about my proposition, actually. “Oof! I don’t believe it! Anything to hear my name coming from those sweet, sweet lips, darling,” he remarks, making my jaw clench. I see a red light in front of us.

I accelerate, not turning on the warning lights. Or the sound. I keep driving, getting closer and closer to the stoplight. I don’t intend on stopping.

“Uh, Detective? I’m not sure this is a good idea,” he remarks, and I can hear the slight worry in his voice. Good. I want him to be terrified. Like I was. “Detective!” he calls me again, this time with panic evident in his tone.

I hit the brakes just before we get to the crossroads. We both get stopped by our safety belts, but my, do we get thrown forward with a force. As the car comes to a stop, we fall back to our seats and Adrian is watching me, clearly stunned by my actions.

“You’re one hell of a force, Detective, I’ll give you that,” he remarks, making me smile back at him sweetly. He smiles back.

“Thank you, Adrian. Now shut up, please, before I get tempted to throw you out of the car,” I tell him. His face falls, but a deal is a deal. He doesn’t say another word and I keep smiling the entire ride back to the station.

As we walk into the office, it’s bustling with officers on duty. Nat is sitting behind her desk, going through some paperwork. I need to talk to her. Maybe she has something on the victim’s ex, since Miss Saint Germain was a dead end.

“Hey, Nat, do you have any news for me?” I greet her as I stop by her desk. She looks up in surprise. She probably didn’t see me coming. She then glances beside me, growing even more serious.

“Hey, boss … Mr. LeBlanc,” she adds cautiously. “Not much. The ex has an alibi. He spent the evening with his kids, he was watching them at a birthday party they attended. A bunch of other parents were there as well, and I contacted a few of them. They all confirmed that Mr. Wesling left at around ten in the evening … The party was a little outside of Salt Lake City, so yeah. No opportunity. And no motive. He hasn’t spoken to his wife in a few months. I’m just confirming it with the victim’s phone records,” she explains.

I let out a small sigh. Great. So another dead end. “Thanks, Nat. We spoke to the previous owner of the mansion, but turns out she was friends with the victim. We still have to check her alibi. She got into an argument with a neighbor and supposedly spent the night with him. Can you confirm this for me, please?” I ask her.

“Right away,” she assures me, smiling before her face suddenly falls. Her eyes are glued on Adrian and I turn to look at him as well. I haven’t even noticed it, but he’s holding a piece of paper that says Can I speak now?

I breathe out in frustration, rolling my eyes before walking away from Natalie’s desk. “Yeah, you can talk, but there better be something useful coming out of your mouth,” I tell him as he follows me around like a puppy again.

As I glance at him, he grins happily. “Ah, thank you, Detective. You have no idea how frustrating it is to not be able to talk.” I glare at him, not saying another word. This dude. Ugh.

I’m just about to give him a piece of my mind, when the Lieutenant comes walking past us. “Gauthier, LeBlanc! How’s the new case going?” he barks in greeting. I look at him, feeling like a kid who just got caught doing something bad.

Relax, El, he doesn’t know that you were about to tell Adrian to go where the sun doesn’t shine. I put a professional expression on my face. “Sir, there’s been a few dead ends, but we’ll manage,” I reply.

He frowns in response. “So, you have nothing?” he wants to know, making me feel embarrassed, and that’s putting it mildly. I feel … humiliated. That’s the word. Like he doesn’t think I can do this.

“Not yet, no,” I respond truthfully, making him shake his head slightly. Then, he gestures at LeBlanc, who is grinning at him like the Cheshire cat.

“Well, use your partner! He has connections, come on, chop chop! We need to get our closing rate up!” he barks at me, then walks away before I’m able to say another word. Adrian already takes a breath to say something, but I raise my hand, feeling blood flowing through my veins like a hurricane.

I really don’t want to hear one of his remarks after the exchange I just had with Lieutenant Williams. “Please, don’t. Unless you have something to say about any of the connections that he’s talking about,” I speak up in defeat.

He smiles at me in a sheepish way. “As a matter of fact, I do. But you’re not going to like where I’m about to take you.”