Love Between Law and Life

Chapter 9: Why Does Everyone Assume We’re In a Relationship

            “When I ran these their names in the systems, guess who’d been in a couple times.” Bobbie strapped her weapon and badge to her side, shutting the van door as she marched towards the closed doors of the warehouse. Florence kept her trot behind the detective, leaning over just enough for her voice to carry.

            “For what? They seemed normal.”

            “Both of them had accounts of illegal trade, money laundering and guess who else they did a job for.” Bobbie sighs. “From what I hear, Naheo was having work done on the house he was renting. Kid just wanted to help the owners out and paid more than money for it.”

            “Are you sure it’s them?”

            “No, and honestly, I hope not.” Bobbie raps her knuckles on her door, holding her hand out to push Florence behind her. The psychic snaps her teeth at her in irritation but moves back. “They seemed like honest people, but I can’t exactly ignore everything without reason.”

            “Good luck.” They wait for a few seconds, no sounds coming from behind the door. “Is it possible they’re not here?”

            “I don’t know…” Bobbie pushes at the door, clicking her tongue as it hardly budges. Giving it a chance, she knocks again and listens for any sound.

            “I’m not getting any presence from behind it, my range isn’t far, but either they’re far in the back or they’re not here.” Florence whispers at her. Bobbie is a little impressed, she didn’t know her abilities extended that far, but it might just be an aura thing.

            “I could hire you as a guard dog.” Bobbie grins before pulling back and kicking at the door. Florence growls but keeps her distance, raising her eyebrows at the ease the door swings open. The detective pulls the gun from her waist, sweeping the area with her eyes and cursing at the lack of movement.

            There is a sound of doors slamming and a car taking off. “Bobbie!” The detective turns back to the psychic and looks at the direction she’d pointing, cursing as she watches the car sped away.

            “In the van, now!” Florence doesn’t say a word, keeping pace with her easily and getting in the vehicle in such a synchronised fashion that any outsider unfamiliar with them would assume they’d been doing this for years. A questions nags at Bobbie, but she had neither the words nor the time to vocalise it as she revs her tires and takes off towards the dirt track resembling a road.

            “Think you can catch up to them?”

            “Think I can- girl, I’m driving a van built for these roads, they’re lucky I don’t decide to race them.” Bobbie could help but let her more excited side slip out in the wake of the chase. Could you blame her, who didn’t like a highspeed chase? Especially when the odds were with you.

            It hadn’t been long, but the Tua and Pika were a little more out of sight then she would have liked, so she puts her foot to the accelerator and grins almost manically at the rush. Her partner, however, had words to say on the matter. “Could you at least promise me you’re not going to get me killed?”

            “What are you taking about?” Bobbie glances at Florence pressing herself against the seat, her hand clutching the seatbelt. She didn’t look scared, but she definitely didn’t look comfortable either.

            “I like to keep my body parts where they are!”

            “You are literally not making any sense.” The detective raises her voice to match, tightening her hands on the steering as the brothers takes a narrower track. They had to be heading towards the hills, either they were hoping Bobbie wouldn’t follow them or the hills had some sort of cover. Best case scenario, they weren’t aware Bobbie was coming back and panicked, taking the first direction they could reach.

            “You’re driving is a nightmare.” Florence finally spits out, sounding more like her heart was in her throat than her chest. Bobbie is having too many moments of her brain shorting out in the last two weeks. She genuinely considered having it checked by a professional, but then realised her issue was by a five-foot-two human, not an aneurism.

            “My driving is just fine!”

            “Is that why I’m the only person that’s been your partner for so long.”

            “Low blow, Lowell. And come on, who doesn’t like highspeed chases?” Bobbie grins and takes a sharp turn, watching as the dirt track leads to a field with grass as taller than the van itself. If it weren’t for the tracks dug into the earth, she’d have lost them already.

            “I like them as much as the other guy, but on roads made of tar and pitch.” Florence snaps, “If I end up in an accident out here, No one gonna have a clue of where to even start looking for us until next month.”

            “No need to worry, I told Akamu where we were heading before we left. So, if we do die out here, you don’t have to worry about strangers seeing your bones.”

            “I hate you.”

            Tua and Pika’s car finally came into sight, the sides riddled with dirt and the paint scratched horribly. Their tires kicked up dirt and it honestly did nothing good for Florence’s stomach. If the daughter of a gun beside her didn’t slow down in the next five minutes, she was either going to have to order a cleaning or new leather.

            Florence did indeed like highspeed chases like most people, heck, she loved the idea of drag racing and everything, but the morning has not been kind to her. Between her upsetting sleep, stomach filled with nothing but sweets and caffeine, and having deep conversations, she wasn’t feeling up to the whole sharp turns and maniac laughter.

            “This! Was not! In the job description!” She screams at Bobbie as the psycho daringly pulls up next to the car, waving at the panicked Pika as he grits his teeth and yells at his brother.

            “Pull it together!” The detective slams her foot on the acceleration and takes to the front of the car and takes an almost insane swerve to block their exit. Tua doesn’t get the memo, car still speeding towards the driver’s side.

            “I talk to dead people, doesn’t mean I want to become one of them just yet!” Florence would admit she had her hand on the belt buckle and was fully ready to abandon ship even if it were too late. Thankfully, Pika’s warning yell that could be heard all the way over to the van convinces the brother to slam the breaks. They come to a smoking stop almost millimetres away from Bobbie’s door.

            “Ta-da!” The psychic could only watch as the maniac rolls down her window and climbs through it, using the hood of Tua’s car as a ladder to jump down and open his door. Effortlessly, she pulls off his seat belt and drags him out the car, letting go as he pulls away with protests that he wasn’t going to fight.

            Florence sends a pained glance upwards an makes an aborted hand movement before jumping out the vehicle herself. She curses as her legs buckles for a couple seconds before wobbling off towards the psychopath dressed as a human as gracefully as she could manage. “You are a hazard to life.”

            “Thanks.” She grins as she watches the psychic lean against the hood of the van. Turning her attention to the brothers, she glares at Pika until he holds up his hands and walks around the car, leaning against the hood like Tua. “Why’d you run?”

            “What you mean, why we run.” Tua snorts. “You’re a detective, you didn’t think to mention that when you first walked in? Would’ve saved a lot of trouble.”

            “It seems it’s a good thing I didn’t, but it doesn’t answer why you ran.”

            “We’ve been in jail long enough to know when we’ve been found out.” Tua shrugs. “Last thing we wanted to do was end up back in it for the same damn thing.”

            “Just so we’re on the same train of thought, the both of you just became suspects in the murder of Erza, Maxine, Naheo and quite a few other deaths.”

            “What!” Pika yells, his expression earnest enough to convince them that he was as surprised as them, Tua looked like he’d swallowed his tongue in shock. Florence could feel their aura still as clear as when they started talking, that ruled them out so far, but the questions weren’t done yet. “Erza and Maxine were our best customers, why on earth would we hurt them, much less kill them?”

            “That’s what we’re hoping you can explain to us.” Bobbie leans back a little, resting her hands on her hips. Florence had to keep her eyes firmly on the brothers and squash the thoughts of ‘hawt’ in her head. What was she, a teenager having a crush? Pull yourself together! “And you can start by explain why you ran.”

            “’Cause we’re still getting shipments of dragon and baobab wood, okay!” From the look on Bobbie’s face, the extent of the meaning behind the wood didn’t fully register, but Florence couldn’t help the flare of anger on her chest.

            “You’re what? Are you mad?” She snarls, surprising all of them. The psychic takes a step towards the brothers, a part of her revelling in the way they try to press themselves against the car to get away from her.

            “We know. We’re trying to cut ties, but that’s the kind of thing you got to be careful with or you end up with a bullet in your back.” Tua holds his hands up, shooting her a look of fear. It wasn’t just terror for himself, but to whoever must be his business partners.

            “Wait, hold up. I’m a little bit lost here.” Bobbie had been a city kid for most of her life, right.

            “Baobab and dragon happens to be on the list of endangered trees.” Understanding flickers across her face, then a tinge of anger. “The rarer the wood, the bigger the income. There are people who’d pay top dollar for those kind of things.”

            “You have to be kidding me. I’ve done drug busts, witness protection, raids and you’re telling me I’m negotiating with people about wood?”

            “Oi, some respect would be nice. Endangered doesn’t strike any heart strings?” Florence huffs, crossing her arms over her chest.

            “Yea, it does, but can you imagine trying to explain this to a New York police captain. I’d be lucky if he didn’t laugh the entire time it took me to walk out the damn precinct.”

            “Can we go… or are you going to arrest us?” Tua elbows Pika almost painfully in the side, shooting them a nervous grin as they turn their bickering to him.

            “I should arrest you for wasting my time. And yes, we’ll address the whole wood situation later. But no, you’re not getting arrested, I just need you to answer some stuff for us. Do you have any idea who would want to kill Erza and Maxine?”

            “Besides for money, no.” Pika shook his head. “They seems well off beyond Maxine’s memory problem, but the news didn’t mention anything about robbery, so I don’t know.”

            “Anyone who was near their house, visitors coming over, anything they might have said?”

            “No one ever came over when we were working there. They never really talk beyond holding conversations with us. Never really looked worried once they were used to us coming over.” Tua shook his head regretfully. “Look, I’m sorry I can’t help more. Those guys were awesome, I want you to catch the bastards that kill them as much as everyone else.”

            “What about Naheo?”

            “Naheo?”

            “Naheo Keahi. He owned a rented house. You were called in for both new furniture and floorboard replacement.”

            “Rings a bell, but we never got to the kid.” Tua sighs. “We got the call for appointment around a week before the kid went missing. We just got out of jail not long back, so we just assumed the kid heard about it and panicked, so we never followed it up until we heard about it on the news.”

            “Dammit!” Bobbie snarls and stomps her foot, cursing black and blue under her breath.

            “Words, honey.” Florence was of course no help, shooting her a sweet smile as she bowed to meet her gaze. Surprisingly, Bobbie shakes her hand and chuckles, running a hand down her face. “Look, this is better than nothing. We’ll just try again.”

            “Yea, I just thought we were getting somewhere.”

            “And we are. It’s just taking some time.” Florence uses her placating mom voice on her. “We’ve already established the fact that there might be more victims out there, the fact that each victim seems to have some sort of medic history and Noelani been a sweetheart in giving us clues. You’ve been on this case for three weeks, you’ve done damn good so far.”

            “You say the cutest things, babe.”

            “Babe?” Now Florence is grinning with all teeth, watching as Bobbie’s face turn beet red. The only thing that irritated her is that she couldn’t tell if it was from the sun or the pointing out of the term of endearment.

            “It’s New Jersey slang, don’t get used to it.” The detective snorts, turning her attention to the brothers. “What are you two bastards grinning at?”

            “I see at least one thing about the two of you aren’t a lie. I guess I must congratulate both of you in your relationship.” Pika grins and sent a fist bump at his brother.

            “Hardy har har.” Bobbie snarls half-heartedly. “Now get out of here before I decide to actually arrest you, and I’ll be checking you guys out later about that whole wood debacle. Don’t forget it.”

            “I’m actually kind of glad neither of them had anything to do with it.” Florence hums as she leans against the window, eyes trained on the scenery passing by.

            “As much as it sucks to have lost a possibly lead, yea, I agree.” Bobbie drums her fingers on the steering wheel without really noticing it, a nervous tick she’d developed over the years. It was harmless, so she never really bothered with it.

            “Hmm.”

            “So, what’s up with you?”

            “What do you mean?” Florence glances at her and Bobbie takes in her entire body expression. The energy it took just to lean up against the door, the dark circles under her eyes and the fact that she’d turned the vents of the dash away from her. She got the idea that her level of AC might be a tad too much, but this was the first time Florence had actively done anything about it, and much more – without words of complaint.

            Bobbie might not have known Florence long, but she’s spent enough time with her to know that the psychic wasn’t someone to let something affect her without standing up for herself a little bit. Bobbie had turned down the air conditioning low enough that it was starting to get a little warm for herself, but Florence still seemed to be cold. “I don’t know… You just seem off.”

            “Ouch, thanks.”

            “Be real with me.”

            “Fine, I got a vision from Noelani last night.” Florence rubs her hands up and down her shoulders as if trying to battle the cold. Without much thought, Bobbie leans back on her seat and grabs her work jacket she’d never bothered to use, tossing it as the psychic and winking her eye at her as permission to use it.

            The easy-going nature disappears as Florence explains the things she saw, the terror Noelani must have felt in her last moment. The psychic had seen her last moments and it seemed to keep a grip on her that she couldn’t quiet shake off. Bobbie listened intently as she trailed off, no more words to really describe how close she was to an answer and still couldn’t grasp it. “And… well I guess the whole illness thing has be getting to me to.”

            “Illness thing?”

            “Ya know. How Maxine had Alziemers, Mahio was getting help for drug overdose, and Naheo had his own stories with it-“

            Wait, you’re still on that?”

            “Yes, I’m still on that.” Florence practically snaps her teeth at the detective. “It’s just that I want you to take me serious.”

            “Wha- I do take you serious. I’ve seen you have conversations with a ghost.” Bobbie’s voice is almost at a shriek, her hands waving dangerously away from the steering wheel.

            “I meant about the illness. Things from the more intuition side than paranormal.”

            “Seriously?” She snorts and Florence growls at her. The detective puts up her hands in surrender for a second before finally steering the van back onto proper roads. The psychic seems to physically relax that the thought of being back on mapped out roads.

            “Seriously.”

            “…okay.”

            “Okay?”

            “Okay, I’ll check it out. To be fair, I was going to, I just got caught up with everything else.”

            “Okay.”

            “Okay?”

            “Okay. Thank you.”

            “It’s like having a conversation with a two-year-old. Honestly.”

            “Bobbie?”

            “Yes?”

            “I didn’t eat breakfast.”

            “Would you look at that, neither did I. Let’s go get food.” Dealing with Florence was like dealing with a kid in an adult’s body – a kid that could probably take you out with just her words, mind you – but it kept her day interesting. The overpowering silence that’d seemed to take over her life since she moved to Hawaii didn’t really stand against the woman filled with too much kindness deep in that shell she’d built around herself.

            She highly doubted the psychic felt the same way about her. She had no clue beyond the ‘not to straight’ comments from Florence, but Bobbie didn’t know if she heart to push the situation. Beyond Captain Akamu, Florence is the only one who’d genuinely tried to make a connection with her. She didn’t want to lose that friends ship that’s become the greatest part of her day.