BURN THE TRUTH

Episode Forty

Within seconds, Officers arrived on the scene. The local cops weren't far behind. Unfortunately, it was no use. The man had already succumbed to the trauma. They secured the crime scene. Velda notified the officers of the happening as the further investigation was being carried out.

Clyde was the first of her crew to arrive at the scene, seeming distressed about the whole incident, or the fact that he left his home a few minutes before the supposed dinner with the family of his wife without even notifying her. "Hey, Dee. Sorry, I couldn't tell you, something came up" He wince "I will be back before you know it, just help keep them till I return" He nods, hand leaning against his waist while the siren wails in the distance "Yes, yes. Thank you" He said before he dropped the call and then move past the series of cops at the scene.

"Hey, Velda,"

"Clyde? I thought you were supposed to be..."

He scuffed "I wasn't sure of the situation so I chose to come. Though it seems you're better than Loui described. She kind of made it seem you're on your way to meet the Lord" His gaze shifted away from her to Devyn.

"Yeah, he came in before the cops arrived," Velda explained before he got the chance to even ask.

“Oh," Clyde let out “By the way, Carter won't make it here, from what he said, he appears to be somewhere distant and won't be able to make it on time even if he tried. Though he would by morning. In another way, he sent his most sincere apology"

"Tell him he doesn't need to come" Velda simply let out.

"I don't know if that should make him feel better or worse" Clyde responded, “Who might have hired him?" He asked as they turned to the victim.

Velda swallowed "That's the million-dollar question" She answered nonchalantly before running her hand through her hair.

Louisa lifted the barricade tape as she makes her way through Velda's driveway. A bag hung to her left shoulder "Hey. How's it going, Joe?" She asked the cop who stood a few distances from the entrance. The faint sound of the siren wailing behind.

"Just like always" Joe returned, hands clutching the head of the belt around his waist.

"It's more like you're in a good mood. Your wife must be behind it, if only the world could be peaceful for a while, I bet you won't be here at this moment" She winked and walks past him.

"Peace is overrated, Loui"

"And chaos is exhibiting. Though only for amateurs" She returns as she walks past the door "You still kicking those butt?" She waved at a cop who gave a facial response.

"Hey, guys, evening!" Louisa let out once she reaches closer to Velda and Clyde "How are feeling, Captain?"

"Couldn't be better" Velda responded turning to face her "You seem energetic,"

Dramatically she let her bag drop to the ground, with a soft intake of breath "Not like I wish to" she said before swiftly tying her hair in a rough bun.

"Now, if you wouldn't mind sharing with us a sympathetic and logical explanation for your late arrival"

"I thought you were supposed to be in a kind of dinner... Or was it all an excuse?" She asked him, seeming much invested in whatever response Clyde would come up with.

"Duty called"

She gave him a quizzical look but then her gaze shifted "That's very evolved of you" she said deciding to call it as she saw it before reaching to notice Devyn by the corner. Instantly she bolts from her location to Devyn. Although she leaves her words unspoken as she strides toward him, her gaze was doing plenty of talking.

"Hello, I'm Louisa, I don't think we have been formally introduced"

"More like meeting rare, I'm Devyn" He responded as he took her hand in a handshake.

"I work with Captain Velda, you're a close friend of the captain,"

"You're quite a detective, aren't you? You should be able to figure that out"

She smiled, perhaps proud of her title “So it's mean..."

But Velda interrupted before she could carry on with her intended interview “Um, so much is going on here. Let me show you. This right here, is why you were called in" Velda said as she collectively pried her away from Devyn and the I'm-missing-something look on Louisa's face soon flips right to duty mood.

"Looks like blunt-force trauma" Louisa say as she squatted next to the corpse. Her camera shutter clicks a few times before she rests the camera on the floor near her.

"Yes, yes. I did hit him over the head. Won't have if I had a choice. He doesn't look like the type who flees" Velda explained watching the young investigator going through the victim.

"Any lead on who might have sent him?"

Clyde scuffs "Well, that seems to be the case here, don't you think?"

"Tough break, huh?" Louisa muttered as she held up the pistol, "But we're gonna figure out who the motherfucker sent you" She told the corpse. Her eyes rose to Velda in a confused look "Why didn't he use the pistol? It would have been easier"

"Perhaps he wanted it to be seen as suicide, using the pistol at an early moment would have complicated the way they wanted it to display. If it's any consolation, I'm grateful for that" Clyde said in consideration of what had happened.

“Oh! Someone is a religious man today" Louisa remarked as she rose to her feet.

"You still leaving tomorrow?" Velda asked with hands folded across her chest as they stepped away from the men bagging the body.

Her expression slightly falls "Well, apparently, uh, my sister arrived a couple of minutes ago, and did she bother to give me a heads-up? Uh, no, she did the opposite. Not to mention that I was planning on travelling home to see everyone in the first place. And now, my whole family thinks I was the fuel behind her action”

"Then you make them understand" Velda advised softly.

"Well, I mean, you guys know how family can be. You try to make them understand and they think it's one of your mastermind plans"

"Give the girl a Tequila and drive her home, it's less a stressful way, you know. You may not have another perfect plan" Clyde suggests...

Clyde had left sooner than the rest, though it wasn't long before the body was moved out of the home of Captain Velda, and together the cops and every other person left the area leaving the crowded place to be once again silent. Devyn was seated in his car when Velda walked out of her house exquisitely dressed in a tremendous classic outfit, her skin glowing under the night light of the street in a vibrant mix of brilliant rays.

Even though Devyn was well dressed for a person that had left his place in a rush, her fits outed his in every way possible, a different outfit from the one she had earlier pulled out. Except it was on the line with what the man had requested, only giving her the idea that she would be attending an event with him.

“That’s quite a look you got there, detective” Devyn remarked as she walks from the entrance “Shall we?” He said offering her the passenger’s seat.

Devyn’s eyes rested on the tiny gold necklace he had gifted her perfectly laying around her neck with the font resting just a little further down. There was no sign of the bruises around her neck, seemingly covered communally with makeup. She settled majestically on the seat before her eyes rose to meet that of Devyn’s.

Without a say, Devyn leaned in close enough and in a blink, his lips pressed against hers, lightly. And then he ensnared her lips between his in an impassioned kiss before pulling away, her breath and shock left behind. “It’s perfect around your neck” He whispered dangerously close to her lip before he goes to recapture them and growls when she gasped. “It makes me kind of want to give it all to you” He rose, his grey eyes not withdrawing from their home. He wanted to memorize it all, that look on her face that only flashes, quickly, whenever he was that close to her. His need for her was becoming much stronger than it had ever been.

“We’re running late,” Devyn cleared the lingering tension, his husky voice rumbling against her skin before he gently closed the door.

“What do you say of this?” Devyn requested as he walks out of the changing enclosure into the executive waiting room Velda was seated in. Her right leg was crossed against her left with a win glass in her hand.

“Whether it's a Brioni or some other brand, you should wear something besides black. It's sort of fun to mix it up and you'd be more in style” She told him without even trying to appreciate the suit he wore.

“When do you become one to consider such? You're not much different from me during your work hours”

“If you're not up for my opinion, you can wear whatever pleases you,” She said before sipping her win. Devyn smirked. He did quite like her manners.

He glanced down at the suit, straightening his arms as if checking them again “Perhaps a change would be fun” he admitted, not actually looking her way.

Eventually, Devyn’s Mulsanne ceased at the entry of a momentous grey structural formation that holds a striking archaeological style. The door was answered as Velda readied to get off the car before Devyn passed the car key to the valet. “Thank you,” Velda said nicely to the man that helped open the car door.

“Cute,” Devyn remarked as he reached her side but she glared at him in return.

“Use the word cute to address me again and I can't guarantee your safety” She threatened with a pleased fixed smile.

“That's quite a say, detective”

The tranquil music softly playing in the space was angelic. A couple of greetings were made by a few of the guests. Through the hall covered with a series of artworks Velda strolls. She took moments to try and understand the art placed against the whitewashed walls and dissimilar sculptures situated in their perfectly designed zones.

There was something exceptional with the way Devyn paid attention to her. As if he was consumed by her presence alone or something deeper, something unclear.

“Someone I knew once said, that one should look at art from a distance” His voice, was low, though there was something silent in the way he talked from the place he stood two steps away. “You’ll tend to appreciate it more from a little further back. The art... has organic lines with droplets of red, yellow, blue and grey paint in various shades. It's known as No. 5, 1948, a classic Pollock drip painting” He quietly explains.

Velda didn't make a move, nor did she look away from the art. “You seem to know much about painting”

He scuffs, a very warm smile on his face “Come,” he said as he moved toward her “there is one I wish to show you”

“Oh, Devyn? You did come” A young man called from behind, he looked like one in his late twenties, and his see-green eyes were orb round and darted back and forth at Devyn and Velda as he reached to shake him. “I'm glad you did make it,” He said as they exchange pleasantries before his eyes darted at Velda again, evidently waiting for an introduction.

“Here's Velda, my fiancee,” He introduced, his words seized the ability for Velda to think for a second there, my nerves so much wished for her to glare at Devyn but she managed to outlive it, conceivably there was no better way to describe their relationship in an event like this and to a person, she was yet to know.

“I'm quite delighted to meet you, I'm Frederick West,” he said extending his hand which she took with pleasure.

“It seems you came at the right time. Allow me to introduce you to my father, shall we?” He offered and Devyn nods. His reason for attending the event has smoothly arrived on his path like some God's sent.