Queen Bee

For police detective Geoges Bernanos, today was an unbearable day.  He was originally able to get off work earlier and drive the police car to pick up his son from class at a school two blocks away. Thank the heavens his son was still young and enjoyed the thrill of parading around the city in a police car. If he was a bit older, he would probably be just like his two brothers, frowning and pretending not to know him. But these wonderful plans were broken by the sound of a gunshot echoing a few blocks away, followed by cries to call the police and sirens slicing through the air. As the most qualified and experienced police on the block, Bernanos couldn’t just sit in the police car and shirk responsibility.  Furthermore, he was dispatched with a young man who had just graduated from police school. His name seemed to be something like Gilbert. He was easily flustered and couldn’t even go a sentence without stuttering. Bernanos had once made fun of him with a friend, saying, “If this guy comes against an actual gangster, he would probably end up shooting his own foot instead.” Right now, he just wanted to rush to the scene as quickly as possible. He wasn’t in the mood to tease Gilbert but the other clearly didn’t recognize his good intentions. It took him more than 30 seconds to just insert the key and nearly even stepped on the accelerator without releasing the brake.  His ridiculous behavior left Bernanos no choice but to go back to how he usually treated Gilbert, roaring, “God, are you being chased by a bear or something?! Get your head straight!”  The roar seemed to jolt Gilbert back to his senses a little. Although he still mixed up the windshield wipers with the headlights, at least he didn’t try to accelerate with the brakes on again.  Bernanos had no choice but to force himself to stare out the window along the whole trip. That way, he could avoid seeing any more nonsensical actions until he couldn’t stand it anymore and give him dim-witted partner a slap.  The police car entered the second block and the crowd immediately cleared a path just barely big enough for the police car to slowly drive in.   “Damn it.” Bernanos spotted a father with his child in the crowd and blurted out, “This isn’t something children should be seeing.”  Through the cracks in the crowd, Bernanos could see a corpse lying on the floor and the dark red blood slowly draining out from underneath the body.  Not far away from the corpse stood a slightly pale woman. She was very petitely built and wore glasses. He had a slight impression of this woman who rented in Mr. Leech’s house. He would frequently see her slowly walking to school during his morning patrols.  To guarantee the scene wasn’t damaged, the police car stopped twenty meters away from the body. Bernanos got out of the car. From this angle, he saw the corpse had his head blown open. In his hand, was a gun aimed at his own head.   Ah, it was a damn ghost.  He thought inside as he fished out the police receiver and called out to the woman, “Geoges Bernanos, police detective. Could I ask you to come to the office with me?” The woman turned around hearing his voice. Now, Bernanos could see her face. Her looks were extremely refined, but the indifferent expression on her face gave others an unapproachable feeling.  “Okay.” The woman answered. Her voice sounded slightly husky, “Right now?” “In just a bit. I still have some questions I need to ask you.”  “Go ahead.” “Do you mind if I record this?” Bernanos raised the police receiver, “Memory isn’t as accurate as a recording.”  The woman’s expression didn’t change, “I don’t mind.”  Bernanos nodded, “May I know what to call you?” “Kara.” The woman replied succinctly, “I’m studying at MAU and currently rent from Mr. Leech.”  “I know, Mr. Leech mentioned you to me. You’re currently in the midst of obtaining a Ph.D, right?”  “Yes.” “Who is the deceased? Is he connected to you?”  “He said his name was Kevin. He… he’s in the service industry. I bought his service half a month ago.”   Kara was speaking in a roundabout way. Bernanos could faintly guess at the man’s identity, but he needed to make it definite: “What kind of services?” “s****l services.” Kara shrugged indifferently.  Bernanos nodded his head and changed topics, asking, “How did your relationship develop? How long did it last?” “It was just that once. He took the initiative to contact me on a dating app and after that, we never talked again. Today, he just suddenly showed up at my door and said he wanted to see me. He said he wanted to date me and I didn’t agree. Then he took out his gun and…”    Bernanos pondered, “Can I see the app?” Kara took out her phone and opened the app before handing it to Bernanos. Bernanos asked for Kara’s consent before opening their chat history.  From the chat records, it really was a one-off deal. However, it was worth noting that Kevin had been sending Kara messages expressing his love for her and requesting to see her again starting from last night. However, since Kara didn’t have notifications on for the app, she never saw the messages. As such, when she opened the phone, she was also surprised by Kevin’s bomb of messages.   Barbados looked at all the “I want to see you” messages Kevin sent and subconsciously frowned.   What kind of outdated TV drama was this? Even Hollywood’s worst screenwriter probably wouldn’t write such melodramatic lines.