CHAPTER 2

"Okay. Thanks for your time. I'll come around again and in case you remember something that might help us, please do inform me. Here is my card." Detective Evatt replied as she got up and handed him her card from her hand bag.

Maxwell refused to take it as he just watched her, his eyes running through her body. She dropped the card on the table and slid it towards him. She swallowed some saliva as she felt nervous in front of him. His stare seemed to penetrate through her jacket into her soul.

She got up and left the conference room. On her way out, she met with some other staff who were chatting in low voices but on seeing her, everyone pretended to be working.

"Hi, how's work going so far?" Detective Evatt asked one of the men that was seated on the front row.

"Work is a fine detective, just as you can see." He replied to her in a frightened voice which piqued the interest of the detective.

"I see. Do you mind if I…sit?" Detective Evatt asked him.

"Su…sure…" He said to her,

"Thanks." She replied as she sat down on the seat that was opposite him. He pretended to be so engrossed in what he was doing. Detective Evatt watched him with an expressionless face.

"What is your name?" She asked him.

"Ben. Ben Newt." He replied and the other man tucked at him then whispered, "don't give a full detail of you to a detective."

"What's that?" Detective Evatt asked them as they said "nothing." Ben cleared his throat severally. Detective Evatt noticed how his fingers danced in nervousness.

"I mean no harm young man but if you can help me with my job, I'll surely let you be soon. Do you know anything concerning the death of your fellow staff? I mean Emerald Warren?" Detective Evatt asked him as she observed his hand and body language.

It seemed like her question made his heart skip a beat.

"No! I don't know. Excuse me." He replied as he got up and left his seat.

"Don't mind him. He's always scared of detectives because they can see the lie in you. He's been scared of them since he was little, his dad…was a tough detective before he passed away." Someone said to her from behind.

Detective Evatt looked up to see who was talking to her. It was a man who came to pick up some paper work from that desk.

"Where is my brother, Maxwell?" A young man came into the company, directing his question to a man seated two tables away from her. He sounded so loud that she heard him clearly.

"He is in the conference room sir." The other man replied.

Detective Evatt turned to look at him, wanting to catch a good look at this person, the suspect's brother. She waited for him outside the conference room. He came out in a hurry and was leaving for another direction which was leading to an office. Detective Evatt walked up to him.

"Hi." Detective Evatt said from the back. Maxwell's brother turned to look at who was speaking to him, only for him to be surprised.

"Claire? Is this you?" He asked in a surprised voice.

"Yes…you still remember me." Detective Evatt replied more in a surprised voice, ladened with embarrassment.

"Of course! How will Jack not remember his good friend? Please come in, let's talk. It's been a while." Jack, Maxwell's brother said to her as he welcomed her into his office.

Detective Evatt admired his office, it was well furnished and beautiful. Large spaced, cold due to the air conditioner that was turned on and also very neat.

"Please have your seat. What should I get for you?" He asked her as he took off his coat.

"I'm fine…I'm good." She replied, feeling shy.

"Oh come on. Let me get you some coffee." He offered but she turned it down politely.

"I've had some this morning…please don't bother. What a lovely office you've got." She complimented him.

"Thanks my dear. It's been such a long while." Jack replied as he looked down back on his chair while he looked into her eyes deeply.

A few years ago, Jack and Claire attended the same high school. Claire was so intelligent and good at sports. She was a junior colleague to Jack with three grade intervals. Jack had always had a soft spot for Claire back then but she had low self esteem because she was obesity and students did laugh at her back then.

She had refused to participate in any sports and remained anti-social to social activities at school. She got humiliated so much by her mates and even juniors.

One day during a basketball game, Claire came to play with the other students. She loved basketball so much and decided to come give it a trial, hoping to win for her team.

"Hey! Biggie, what do you think you are doing?" One of the students asked her as she wielded at her. She was the prettiest girl who had a lot of crushes from all the boys including their seniors.

"I want to participate too…trust me…I can do it and I'll make us all win." Claire said delightedly.

"Ohhh….hahahahahahaha….I see. Or maybe you should have put it this way, you came to get rid of your big belly and big body and maybe then…I'll let you participate by doing five laps." Amanda, the prettiest girl, mocked.

"Look Amanda, I can do it okay? My body size is no excuse for what I can achieve. Please trust me…" Claire pleaded.

"Okay then, since you want to do this then why not start now? Hmm? What do you say?" Amanda asked Claire.

"Sure sure….thank you so much Amanda, I won't let our team down." Claire replied with happiness as she was so excited.

"Yeah…let's see about that. Now give me ten laps." Amanda instructed.

"Sorry? But…what for?" Claire asked.

"To get started hmm? To warm you up, to burn some fat before the game. Now come on…don't tell me that you've backed down so easily." Amanda replied, feeling disappointed.

"No no…not at all but…the other players aren't doing any exercise to get started and besides, I'll get really exhausted after ten laps…" Claire tried to explain.

"Are you trying to give an excuse for your laziness? If you are so lazy to do ten laps and get exhausted after that, then how are you supposed to play in the game for two hours? I can see that you are clearly not interested. Now please don't waste my time and get lost." Amanda replied as she got angry.

"I will do it. Where's my shirt?" Claire accepted.

"Go there and pick one up. Be careful not to tear up my shirts!" Amanda replied rather harshly.

Claire picked up a team shirt and wore it on her. Luckily, it did fit but she was not able to breathe in freely.

"Please do you have an extra large size?" Claire asked Amanda who almost bursted out with laughter.

"Now you look like a hipp baby…oh come on! That's the largest size in the collection. Now go!" Amanda replied as Claire turned away, feeling disappointed. She started out her laps while the game went on. She so much wanted to join but not until she finished her laps. Her team failed and the match was over before she could join.

Feeling exhausted, she panted as she laid flat on the floor. Everyone had left already except one male student, who was watching her.

"Hey…what are you doing on the floor?" He asked her.

"Resting." She replied without caring to know who it was.

"Do you mind?" He asked as he stretched out a hand to her. He had a water bottle in his other hand. She turned to look at him as she got up on her feet by herself.

"Thanks." She replied and left.

"Hey…I'm Jack…I watched you and you were so amazing." He said to her,

"Thanks." She replied without any interest to talk to him.

"I was wondering if you'll like my offer to participate in the upcoming new selection of the cheerleading team for my friend's match. What do you say?" He asked her. Claire stopped in her tracks as she thought about it.

"No team needs an obsessed girl like me so I am just fine." She replied and walked away.

Jack had been pinging on her since then. He felt really bad for how the other girls treated her. He was having a soft spot for her but it was only as a crush.

"It's been long since I've set my eyes on you. How have you been? What are you doing now? Where do you work?" Jack asked Claire three questions.

"One question at a time silly." She teased as they laughed so hard.

"I work at a police station as a detective. You don't have to tell me about yours because I can see it already." She replied with a smile.

"Wow, that's a good catch for detective Evatt! Yeah…I work here with my brother. He runs a restaurant but is back to the company to handle dad's business…you know.. as the first son.. our dad is ill so Maxwell has to take care of a few things here before he gets back on his feet again." Jack explained.

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that. Hope he's feeling much better now." Claire inquired.

"Yeah sure. So what are you doing here?" Jack asked detective Evatt.

"I came to work." She replied simply.

"Pardon? I don't get you Claire…" Jack asked her again as the information reaching him was incomplete.

"Yeah…exactly what I've said…I came to work." She repeated herself as she sounded so serious just like a detective that she was.

"But this is not a police station…oh…you and for a job interview?" Jack asked her.

"Stop teasing me. Why will I need an interview while I already have a job that I love so much?" She asked him as she crossed her legs.

"So what kind of work did you come here for?" He asked her again as he leaned his elbow on the table.

"I came for investigation." She replied.

"Oh that's nice. Solving some crime huh? Hahahaha…so how's it going?" He asked her as he teased.

"Started today but I'll say it's pretty fine and difficult…" Detective Evatt replied.

"Sorry to hear that. Everything will be fine. So what police station do you work at? The one in town or?" Jack asked her, brushing off the discussion.

"Yeah. I'll be going back soon. I'm done here for the day." She replied as she got up to take her leave.

"Let me see you off then. Can I have your contact? Here's my phone, I'll beep you." Jack offered as they both got up and left the office for the elevator after Claire had put in her contact details.

On their way to the elevator, they met with Maxwell.

"Oh, Claire, this is Maxwell, my elder brother that I talked to you about. You can say hi to him. Max, this was my school friend back then." Jack introduced them to each other without him knowing that they had met before.

"Hi." Detective Evatt whispered to Maxwell but he only looked at her hair without replying. Jack knew how arrogant his brother could be so he didn't say anything again to him.

"Don't mind him, he must be having a rough day today. Please let's get in." Jack said as they got into the elevator. While they were going down, Claire's hair bleed into the face of Maxwell. Jack watched as he thought his brother was going to reprimand Claire but he didn't do anything.

Maxwell inhaled the scent of her hair which smelled like strawberry. He tried to brush them away from his face but it only blew harder into his face.

Maxwell opened his mouth to say something when her hair got into his mouth. Jack saw all of these and knew what was to follow next so he quickly decided to say something but Maxwell first him already.

"Don't you know it's rude to fly your hair? And how rude could it be for you to talk that way of your elder brother to a woman?" He replied, trying to get angry but it wasn't forthcoming with this beautiful lady beside him.