Love Between Law and Life

Chapter 11: Breakfast, A Great View and A Conversation… with your Boss

            Dinner ended with a very tired breakfast, Bobbie chuckling as she watched Florence rub ceaselessly at her eyes in some hopes of waking herself up. They were at their regular diner, Jolie trying to hide the smile on her face as she makes an odd gesture with her hand, silently asking them if they wanted more caffeine to lose the zombie look they’d adopted.

            Funny, she never thought she’d become a regular anywhere on his island beside the precinct. Especially considering she wasn’t planning on staying long, taking a glance at the messy hair Florence across her makes the statement dissolve in her mind. They probably should be doing more important things at this point, but Bobbie couldn’t bring herself to break the small bubble of calm that surrounded them in the early morning.

            Last night was like taking a break from the constant movement of the world. Kaleo, Florence and herself eating an actual home cooked meal that the detective had to admit she hadn’t had in a while. It’s always been takeout or something to put in the microwave for a couple minutes while she got dressed. They’d watched a cartoon movie that seemed keep all of them entranced until poor Kaleo had to go to bed in hopes of getting enough sleep for the morning.

            Since the kid had watched the show a million times, he wasn’t going to miss anything, so Florence and Bobbie had settled with a bowl of popcorn with the intent of seeing it through to the end. Bobbie because she’d never bothered to watch anything really since she’d reached Oahu beyond the news and Florence because she believed in finishing what she started even if she watched it the same amount of times as Kaleo.

            Bobbie tried not to let red spread across her face as she remembered how the night ended, and no, get your mind out of the damn gutter. They’d inevitably ended up in a fight over the popcorn, Bobbie reaching her hand around Florence to snag a few as Florence tried to pull it away. This just led to the detective being able to grab them as the psychic tried and failed to shield them on the other side, just sticking the bowl between them by accident.

            Eventually she just gave up and leaned back, head resting on Bobbie’s outstretched hand without a word. The moment was so casual, she hadn’t even realised what had happened, even then they both ended up essentially leaning against each other for the rest of the movie and falling asleep unintentionally.

            The morning was the real rush, Florence jerking awake with her internal clock and Bobbie following shortly after to find the danger. They were late and Kaleo needed to get to school. It was chaos at that point, Bobbie borrowing Florence’s shower to get off yesterday’s memories off her while the frantic mother pulled off the impossible with surprising success.

            It wasn’t her intention to stay over, she’d planned on just staying for dinner, but then Kaleo had offered the movie and they’d fallen asleep. Thankfully, she had an overnight bag under the passenger seat and they’d somehow still managed to drop Kaleo off to school with enough time. The tiny human seemed more excited with the extra movement than uncomfortable, chatting about the movie and his friends at school while Bobbie listened with a grin on her face. Florence kept up with the responses like a pro while the detective was still figure out what the fast blur of words meant.

            The ringing of her phone in her pocket startled her out of her thoughts, making Florence watch at her with what had to be out of a very blurry vision. Bobbie waved the device in front of her before pressing it to her ears, taking in the offered information with a hum, a nod of her head even though the talker on the other side couldn’t see it and a word of thanks.

            “More on the case?” The psychic finally looks a little more awake, hand rubbing the back of her neck as if trying to get rid of a sore point. Wouldn’t be surprising since neither of them were exactly teenagers anymore sleeping mostly upright on a couch was not as fun. Again, get your mind out of the gutter.

            “Something like that.” Bobbie drops the phone on the table wincing at the loud sound it give off. Honestly, if she didn’t know herself, she’d believe she was having a hangover. “Crime Lab just called in. They’re finished processing the scene, they found two more bodies beyond Kaholo and his wife.”

            “Partners?”

            “Yep.”

            “They said they had a name yet?”

            “No, but they most likely would by the time we go in the office. Same M.O, no injures from running in the forest this time, most likely it had to be that they were caught off guard and taken down  immediately.” Bobbie reads over the message one more time, skimming over the details.

            “Needle marks? Drugs?”

            “I’m not sure if they’re going to be able to tell that but most likely.” Bobbie rubs a hand down her face with a heavy sigh. Time to get on the job then. “You have to get back to the bookstore?”

            “Unfortunately not, and I say that ‘cause it seems my own co-workers had overthrown their ruler and taken the bookstore for their own. Oh, the betrayal.” Florence groans as Jolie picks up their check, the waiter struggling to hold in a chuckle at the look on Bobbie’s face. “Now I must suffer with the likes of you, my brave knight. Ever haunted by the words ‘take a break for once in your life you over pressured bastard’ The nerve of the bastards. I took them in and sheltered them from the cold and they do this to me without warning.”

            “Is she always like this?” Jolie whispers with a wince as Florence head thunks on the table, only just cushioned by the hand that shot under curtesy Bobbie.

            “Only when she’s hungover.”

            “I’m not hungover, you are.” The psychic’s voice is mumbled, not even bothering to raise her head. Jolie pulls the coffee cup a little to close to her head away with a weary look, more likely worried she’d brain herself on it than break it. Insurance probably didn’t cover that far.

            “Hey, while you’re still awake, I need to pass home.” Bobbie tilts her head to catch Florence’s eyes as she shifts enough to rest her chin on the palm of her hand then just her forehead.

            “Why?”

            “Because I used my overnight bag this morning. I want to change it out while I have the chance.” Bobbie explains, ignoring the growing grin from Jolie. “In my line of work, you learn that it’s better to get things done while you have the chance.”

            “Oh. Cool. No problem.”

            “You two are so adorable together, let me not keep you back. At this age, you should talk all the time you can.” Florence shoots the waiter a raised eyebrow as she walked away, already caught up with another frequent customer.

            “Do we really look that old?” The detective pouts as she pulls together their things, checking through her phone for any more messages.

            “That’s the part you’re stuck on?”

            Florence whistles lowly at the beach house that came into view, bending forward a little to see it better thought the wind shield. “Impressive.”

            “Think so?” Bobbie chuckled, pulling into the driveway with a little grace that spoke of how accustomed she was of the area. “The precinct has a place here for whenever agents are working this side, it makes it easier than trying to find a place to rent.”

            “Just you here?”

            “Yep. It’s not bad though, it’s never quiet with the waves at the back.” They step out, Florence waiting patiently as she opened the door. Yes, she was going in, she was kind of curious, but Bobbie didn’t seem to even realise she was following her. Besides, the detective got to check out her home, what was the harm in the reverse?

            “Private beach, nice.” The psychic grins, already taking in the energy of the house as she entered. There were definitely other presences in this house, but they were older, like a layer of dust that hadn’t been wiped away yet. Would definitely fade in time if the owner of the aura didn’t come back. Bobbie’s one, however, was all over. Not as strong which suggested she wasn’t home often but present enough to claim her space.

“Help yourself to anything, check out the place, break anything and it doesn’t really matter since I literally am paying from nothing.” The detective waves one of her hands around, the other holding her bag. Florence laughs at the words making a shooing motion with silent assurance that she’ll be fine on her own. “It’ll just take a few minutes, case files at the precinct after.”

The psychic whistles a low tone again as she takes in the spacious living room, a stairs to the side that led to the second level of the house. To the other side was what led to a study, the door wide open and the desk that she could see was covered with scattered papers and files. Florence moved on to the kitchen just behind, whatever was in the study was none of her business unless Bobbie asked her otherwise. There were a lot of emotions there, not all of them good. Bobbie’s presence was strong in that room and so was a mental shield at screamed at her for peace and privacy.

The kitchen area was absolutely beautiful. To the side was the actual kitchen, a counter to the front that alerted where it started. It was fit with all essentials – fridge, sink, stove. It was neat and fit well enough to look satisfying. To the opposite side was a dinning table surrounded by chairs and covered with a tablecloth. And the back was two glass doors that allowed you to look at the sea beyond.

The early morning sun was shining through, bathing the room in a glow. Florence walked up to it, taking in the sound of the sea and smell of salt even through the closed doors. This was more than her own calm, this was where Bobbie felt the most relaxed when she was at the house and it bled into her like a welcomed stream. This was some of the few times the psychic enjoyed her abilities, it allowed her to see the beauty someone else felt for the same view she saw in a regular basis and hardly bothered with.

“Like what you see?” Florence startles as Bobbie’s voice reaches her unexpectedly from the door to the kitchen, turning to face her with a cheeky grin.

“Nothing like the bookstore, but it’s nice.”

“It’s nice, that’s it?” The detective shoots back, slinging the bag over her shoulders. “I’ve been told this is one of the best views of the beach and you telling me it’s just nice?”

“What can I say. I grew up on this island, there isn’t much of it I haven’t seen.” Florence shrugs nonchalantly even as her voice goes soft, her head turning to take in the view one more time. If this were sunrise, she could only imagine what sunset must look like.

Bobbie groaned as she spotted Captain Akamu sitting at her desk, completely prepared to leave Florence and high tail it out of the precinct. The psychic however, looks happy, waving at the Captain with a grin and questioning expression. The Captain doesn’t say a word, only shoot them a shrug on his shoulder and a nod of his head to his office.

“Been a while, Akamu.” Florence folds her arms over her stomach as she sits in one of the offered chairs, tracking the Captain as he dumps a handful of folders in front of them. Bobbie sighs heavily and delivers a more strained greeting as she takes the seat to the side of the psychic.

“It has, I see you’re having fun taking my detectives away from me.” He nods his head at Bobbie, shaking his head at the scowl she returns. All three of them knew that Akamu only called them in to see how they were working with each other more than how the case was going. And of course, Bobbie loved being the difficult one to work with.

“More like your detective has a habit of dragging me away from my work. What she gets up to on the days she is supposed to be working is not something I can help.” Florence shoots back with ease, clearly accustomed to the back and forth conversations with the Captain. Not a banter per say, but not more of a chat either. “How is everything, by the way?”

“Stressful but as well as can be, mahalo.” Akamu leans back on the chair. “I see you’re getting progress on the case.”

            “You can thank Flo here for most of that, but yes. This is actually a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.” Bobbie reads through the file in her lap. It’s all the information on Kaholo. He wasn’t a good man, had a few things under his belt, but he’d never killed an innocent person as far as she could see.

            “I told you, you would enjoy it.”

            “With all respect, Captain, you told me nothing of a sort. You kicked me off one case and put me on another.”

            “I did, didn’t I. My bad then.” He chuckles for a few seconds before his face grows serious. “I do believe that you know that this is not a social call.”

            “I’m starting to hear that phrase a little too much.” Florence yelped as Bobbie pokes her in the side, retaliating by stealing the file out of her hand.

            “How are both of you really working together?”

            “What do you mean?” Bobbie ignores the lost file and takes up another one, taking in the picture of Kaholo’s wife. Young when she married, saving grace at the moment was that they didn’t leave any children behind to fall into the system.

            “You both are the best at what you do. Currently my best detective on the force and best psychic-“

            “I am your only psychic.”

            “So,” Akamu doesn’t acknowledge or deny the statement, carrying on like the champ he was, “I would not like if either of you came to any sort of blows. Though I’ve seen nothing that had said such, I would not like it if you ended up going after each other’s throats. Florence, I know your refusal to work with people and Bobbie, your allergy to working with partners… so?”

            “Allergy.” Florence genuinely snorts at this as she tries to hide the outburst behind her hand and Bobbie had to admit she kind of wanted to join her in the reaction. Akamu was so strict most of the times, it was funny to hear him place the word in a statement that didn’t actually attribute to an actual reaction.

            “Don’t worry, Captain. Florence is not like most partners, plus she’s not a cop, so I don’t have to hear day in day out about regulations and rules.”

            “And I wouldn’t really call Bobbie a human-“

            “If you call me a damn Nene again, I will dye the rest of your hair white.”

            “Try me bi-“

            “Okay, okay. I see.” Captain Akamu interjects gracefully as usual, raising his hands in some sort of surrender. “That’s great, this works out well. And how the case is going?”

            “Long and working with little to no clues, but we have something more than what we started out.” Florence’s face settles a little serious, Bobbie allowing her to take the metaphorical stage. “I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to provide enough to actually solve this.”

            “You’ve done enough by just bringing in the first set of information, anything more is a bonus. I don’t want either of you to stress yourselves out with it. You’ve both done well enough already.” Akamu shakes his head. “What lead are you following up right now?”

            “Florence brought up the possibility that each one of the victims may have an illness that connected them to the M.O. The only thing is that only one of the partner’s had the illness, and all of them varied greatly.” Bobbie leans forward, resting hands on her lap.

            “And finding a random guy with green eyes isn’t exactly easy even if the colour isn’t too common .” Florence adds, reminding them of the statement she’d yet to give on the entire finding yesterday. She clearly didn’t look like she was happy with having to, but willing to put up with it just for the sake of helping other keep an eye out.

            “Yes, that does give us something better than nothing. Is it possible if you saw the guy, you’d be able to recognise him?” They were sort of grasping at straws, but it was better than nothing.

            “Probably, I can’t be certain about it. It’s like one of those faces you know but can’t really describe it, but you know who it is the moment you see them?” She tries to explain with a bit of hand waving.

            “Okay, I’ll see if I can pull up a couple pictures at some point. Other than that, what about Noelani?”

            “Hasn’t shown up since her friend came to say hi.”

            “Because she doesn’t want to, or you think something happened?” Bobbie still didn’t know much how Florence abilities worked, but it was kind of interesting how well Akamu seemed used to it. If she hadn’t seen it for herself first hand, she wouldn’t have believed that Florence was telling the truth.

            “Definitely doesn’t want to. I can’t help it, but I do believe she knows I wouldn’t have been too pleased with Kaholo’s presence.” The psychic turns to Bobbie with questioning look. “Have they figured out who was the next two bodies?”

            “Yea, just got the message.” She holds out her phone to the Captain, knowing that he’ll pass it to her after. “Hanale and Malia Makarie.”

            “Great.” Florence grins, “Guess that officially raises the count to fourteen. This just keeps getting better and better.”

            “We’re dealing with a serial killer.”