Chapter 7: The Girl on the Rooftop (7)
1575 Words
The door to Interrogation Room 2 closed behind him.
Adrian stretched his long legs, walking down the third-floor hallway toward the SCIU office.
The moment he stepped inside, five pairs of bright eyes snapped in his direction.
Lucy was the most expressive of them all. She sprang up from her seat and rushed to Adrian’s side, the admiration in her gaze nearly tangible.
“Adrian, you were amazing! That move of yours was genius, I need to jot it down in my casebook!”
Elijah, Silas, and Marco also stepped forward, bumping fists with Adrian in a quiet gesture of recognition and respect.
But just as the room brimmed with a celebratory buzz, Alex’s voice cut through, bringing everyone back down to earth,
“We have the suspect’s confession, evidence, and witness statements. Lucy, write the report. The sooner you finish, the sooner we get off shift.”
Lucy’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Wait, aren’t reports usually Marco’s job?”
Alex looked at her and answered firmly,
“My decision is set in stone. I told you yesterday.”
Lucy’s lips immediately twisted into a comically miserable pout.
“But, Captain... I’ve never written a report before.”
“There’s a first time for everything. Get on it. If you can’t write it, ask your boyfriend for help.”
Lucy pressed her lips together, trying to look pitiful.
“I’m single. Where would I find a boyfriend?”
Alex smirked. “Don’t think I don’t know you’ve trained your AI assistant to act like one. What was his name again? Jason? Or was it Jacob?”
Immediately, Lucy’s cheeks flushed bright red.
She shot a glance at Adrian, utterly mortified that her silly antics had been exposed in front of him.
She stomped her foot and yelled, flustered,
“Captain! That was totally uncalled for!”
“What did I do?” Alex replied coolly. “You forget everyone in this office is a detective? Don’t dawdle, go write the report.”
At this point, Lucy gave up on maintaining any semblance of dignity.
Adrian was here now, sooner or later, he’d see through her anyway.
She rolled her eyes at Alex, then lifted her chin and flashed a grin she clearly thought was mysterious and alluring.
“That guy’s pretty interesting. Congratulations, Captain, you’ve officially caught my attention.”
Everyone on the team was well aware of Lucy’s love for cheesy romance novels, so Alex played along without missing a beat,
“So, Ms. Cold-Hearted Billionaire, back to your desk you go. Your poor little report, which is innocent, helpless, and probably trembling, is waiting for you.”
Then he turned to Adrian.
“Dr. Monroe, we need to talk.”
Adrian followed Alex out of the office. The two walked silently down the hallway until the door to the empty emergency stairwell closed behind them.
Their footsteps echoed against the cold concrete walls.
Alex came to a stop, his sharp gaze cutting into the man before him like a scalpel.
“Dr. Monroe,” Alex asked, “why did you say those things to Vivian during the interrogation?”
Adrian looked up at him, his gaze lazy but still sharp.
“Lieutenant Rios, don’t you have any new lines?”
He’d asked the same question yesterday at Crownwood High, and now he was asking again. Anyone watching might think Alex simply had it out for him.
“Don’t deflect. You know exactly what I mean,” Alex said, his voice low with warning.
Adrian dropped his polite, professional demeanor and replaced it with a languid, slightly defiant attitude.
“Relax. It was just a little trick to get her to talk. Don’t be so serious.”
Alex let out a short, sharp breath, his eyes never leaving Adrian’s face.
“You might be able to fool everyone else, but not me. That wasn’t a ‘little trick.’ You clearly used psychological suggestion, implanted the idea in her subconscious that she’s ugly.”
Adrian leaned against the wall, arms crossed, the corners of his lips curling into a faint, unreadable smile.
“Lieutenant Rios, why do you always make everything so dramatic?”
Alex leaned in, his gaze piercing through the calm mask Adrian wore.
“Whether I’m being dramatic or not, you know the truth. Vivian is a minor. If anyone finds out you manipulated her psychologically during the interrogation, her entire statement becomes inadmissible. Adrian, you’re crossing the line.”
“I’ll say this one more time, there was no psychological suggestion, no manipulation. None of that.”
Adrian’s stubborn refusal to admit anything only fueled Alex’s frustration.
He stepped forward, closing the distance and pinning Adrian against the wall with the weight of his presence.
“Don’t give me that. Should I spell it out for you? You already got the confession we needed, so why keep hammering on her looks? Repeating that she’s not pretty enough, that she’ll never amount to anything with an average face?”
Adrian casually flicked a stray lock of hair from his forehead, his tone neutral and unbothered.
“I care about results, not the process.”
Alex let out a sharp laugh, anger creeping into his voice.
“So as long as you get the result you want, that gives you permission to use whatever method you please? We had what we needed, testimony, evidence, a solid case. Why go out of your way to do more?”
Adrian raised an eyebrow, a faint trace of mockery in his gaze, as if the question were too stupid to deserve an answer.
“Vivian’s extreme attitude and lack of remorse will aggravate her sentencing.”
“So to highlight that attitude, you resorted to psychological suggestion. Adrian, you’re a trained psychologist. You know exactly what that kind of manipulation can lead to. The inferiority complex you planted, about her appearance, might drive her to obsessively chase after beauty, mutilate her own face with endless procedures. Or worse, it could push her into hating anyone prettier than her. Just like what she did to Natalie.”
Adrian replied calmly, tone unchanging,
“As you said, it's just a possibility. That doesn't mean it will happen.”
The tips of Alex’s ears turned red with fury. He inhaled deeply, twice, three times, just to stop himself from putting his fist through that smug face. Then, in a low, tightly restrained voice, he warned,
“Adrian, I don’t care why you joined SCIU. But if you pull something like this again, I’ll personally send your ass back to the university.”
At this point, Alex deeply regretted everything. He’d once grown frustrated watching his team wade through cold cases that led nowhere. He wanted results, something concrete to elevate SCIU’s standing, so he had drafted the proposal requesting collaboration with a criminal psychology expert. He had genuinely hoped that a new addition to the team would spark real progress.
What he hadn’t anticipated… was that the higher-ups would send him a ticking time bomb.
Looking back now, Alex wished he could cut off the very hands that wrote that damn proposal.
Adrian, on the other hand, didn’t appreciate being lectured. That condescending tone Alex took reminded him of far less pleasant memories.
So, to seize back control of the conversation, Adrian stepped forward, closing the already minimal gap between them. From this distance, he could even catch the bold scent of coffee on Alex’s breath.
Adrian was shorter, so standing this close meant he had to tilt his chin up just to meet Alex’s eyes. The posture was somewhat suggestive - submissive, even - but Adrian didn’t care. He knew exactly how this would play out. Alex liked men. And that meant Alex would be the one to retreat.
Just as Adrian expected, Alex froze for a split second as the “beauty assault” caught him off guard. But he quickly snapped out of it and took a step back.
Under different circumstances, if a pretty face came this close, he might’ve welcomed it with open arms.
But this venomous beauty in front of him? No thanks. His stomach was already turning, and he had no desire to stomach anything that toxic.
Adrian was quite pleased with himself. He curled his lips into a faint smile and spoke slowly,
“Captain, has anyone ever told you how insufferable you look when you play the righteous hero?”
“Yes,” Alex replied without missing a beat. “The criminals I’ve thrown in jail. And… the idiots too cowardly to live as decent people, but bold enough to flirt with becoming one of them.”
With that, Alex grabbed the lapel of Adrian’s tailored suit and yanked him closer. He lowered his head, bringing their faces so near that their sharp noses were nearly touching. He could smell the faint trace of sandalwood cologne clinging to Adrian’s skin. Locking eyes with him, Alex growled,
“Tuck that tail of yours away. Don’t let me catch it slipping.”
Then he let go and turned on his heel, walking off without another word.
The polite smile that usually graced Adrian’s face vanished completely. His sharp eyes turned cold, fixed on the emergency exit where Alex’s tall frame had just disappeared. For a brief moment, a calculating glint crossed his handsome features, like his mind was dissecting every single word from that conversation, analyzing each layer with razor precision.
- Writer
