"How did he look like?"
"I didn't get a clear look but I noticed his eyes and hair. Black eyes, brown hair."
"It's not enough to distinguish one man in a crowd of thousands."
"Brown shoes, as well."
"Still not enough. Who's to say he works here. For all we know he could be a visitor or someone who doesn't come here often. It's not enough, Ms. Newton but we'll see to it," Officer Penton said as Nova nodded her head.
"I'll be leaving now. Thank you, Ms. Newton, we have a probable lead. Take care you two," he said as he stood up putting the empty tea cup on the table as he did.
"Its late now. Maybe you should stay the night," Officer Adams finally spoke up. He had been mute up until now.
"Yes, I really think you should, Officer," she pressed taking the cup from there and going to the kitchen to wash it.
"Oh, no, no. I don't think that's necessary. And you two have nerves to tell an MI-6 Agent to look out in the dark," he joked making his way to the door. Nova and Derek followed him, chuckling.
"I will do what I have to and you two be aware as well. Work starts from Monday, that's two days. You've got the weekend and the party, look out for that man and immediately inform the others. Ms. Newton, you let Adams know as soon as you can. Don't wander alone anywhere, be it in the office, at the party or outsideâ and Adams, fill her up on the media issue as well, will you? Tomorrow night is gonna be big, we can't afford a slip-up so bear that in mind."
Officer Penton was doing a great job so far, Nova had to admire him. He was like a father figure even while working; made sure of everything and everyone's safety.
After he left both Nova and Derek plopped down on the sofa in the living room, sighing sighs of exhaustion and slight frustration. Could be about today, could be about tomorrow, neither of them were sure as to which one.
"You could've told me," Derek said to her, his head resting on the head of the sofa, eyes closed, throat exposed and when he spoke his voice sounded hoarse.
Nova removed her hand from her temple and looked at him before answering, "But I did tell you."
"Before he vanished. As soon as you saw him, maybe I knew who he was," he said lifting both his hands to his face and rubbing it in a frustrated manner.
"Maybe then I wouldn't've looked like a dumb fuck just standing there." He almost whispered to himself but Nova had heard. And she had heard him perfectly clear.
"What? Wait â but Derek, it wasn't like that!" She tried to say, tried to comfort him. Why and what for, she wasn't quite sure.
"I'm going to bed, Ms. Newton. We have two days time and don't forget the party is tomorrow evening and I hope you won't take too long in getting ready as they say women do," and with that rather sexist comment he was on his way to the room when Nova spoke up again without actually being aware of it.
"But Officer Penton said something about media!"
"I hope you're not socially anxious, Ms. Newton or get anxiety by seeing lots of people â with camera â and shouting at you from all the sides because that's how it's going to be tomorrow night."
And saying that without stopping his route to his room, he disappeared behind the closed door.
*
"Come in," a reply came the next morning when she was on Derek's door after she'd knocked twice and had been waiting for a reply as she stood there with two hot mugs of coffee.
She pushed the door with her right foot and in she went. She had to admit, it was surprising when Derek actually answered her â invited her in even â because she thought he was angry with her. It was like office even in here; sharing a house, living like a couple who were 'madly in love'. For others at least.
But as she entered, the tray which contained the two mugs had almost slipped from her hands because... because Derek Adams had been taking a shower when she'd knocked on his door and had just now exited it with just a towel tied around his hips and another one in his hand. No doubt why his voice sounded far away then. Though she was fast to recover; she wasn't really in trouble for her little slip-up because half-naked Derek Adams was busy towel drying his hair.
"Oh I'll be back if you're busy right now it wasn't that important anyway, you can take your time, of course," and with that she went ahead to place his cup on his bedside.
"We're going for shopping afterwards, Ms. Newton, it's better if you get what you came for done now," he replied as he went in his closet and that relieved Nova a little bit.
Putting the cup on his bedside, she picked the papers that were there so that they don't get spoilt. They must be important after all for being on Derek Adams's bedside.
She was about to put the papers in his drawer when she noticed 'Watson & Co.' written on them. And after that her eyes couldn't be stopped from wandering everywhere on the paper and neither could her mind be controlled for it took everything that her eyes took in.
"Now you know, Ms. Newton," the sudden voice startled her, but she didn't let it show physically because she was trained not to.
She put the papers in one of the drawers the small furniture had and turned back.
"Black money." She wasn't asking because she knew that was it. She'd just read it and she didn't have to keep it from him because one, he had seen her read it and two, he wanted her to see them. Because if he hadn't he wouldn't have put them in clear sight.
"What was it you came here for, Ms. Newton? Except for snooping around of course," he said then, standing in front of her with his hands stuffed in his pants pockets which he'd come wearing out of the closet. He was wearing a shirt this time as well.
What was with him these days? She couldn't help but ask to herself. He had been acting strangely rude to her and then recovered from that rude behaviour pretty quickly too.
"You know as well as I do, Mr. Adams, that I didn't come here to snoop around."
He clicked his tongue to that making his way toward her. This was getting familiar now.
"Do I now, Ms. Newton?" He asked when he was almost touching the tray she was holding in front of her.
"Because it seems to me that snooping around is exactly what you are doing â that's what I deduce from this scene in front of me, at least." He takes the tray from her hands first, putting it on the bed and then he takes the papers from her.
"So what exactly did you understand from this?" He asked her taking a step back and putting his right hand in the pocket; the papers still in his left one.
"That Watson and Co. has been facing a downfall since the start of this year. And it's because of some disloyal workers and money laundering. They're suspecting human trafficking as well andâ"
"âperhaps they made a haste in choosing you, Ms. Newton," he said throwing the papers on the bed as well. Away from the coffee, of course.
Nova's face had undoubtedly become stoic. He knew what triggered her and he, more often than not, used it against her.
"And why would that be, Officer Adams?"
Well, she knew his too.
A special kind of glint was visible in his eyes now as he put his other hand in the pocket as well.
He needed to stop this pocket thing, she had no idea why that thought occurred in her subconscious but she did agree.
"Well, for one, Ms. Newton: you don't seem to remember one repeatedly pressed on mistake of yours," he said getting closer again.
"And secondly?" She wasn't backing off either.
"You don't just answer truthfully when you are asked a question out of the blue," he concluded.
Realisation did hit her. Realisation of the fact that he played her again after he swore he wouldn't. But Nova wasn't going to flip again. She was going to handle it the right way.
"But you do when your senior asks that of you and at this moment, Officer Adams, you are the one I'm assisting this case with."
That had to blow him, but he didn't let it show. His figure was unmoved, save for his gaze which was now on the carpet on the floor and a slight smile replacing his almost invisible smirk from earlier. He looked dangerous at that moment because Nova liked how he looked with that expression on his face. He looked... different. In a really good way.
He backed off again, this time he took the cup of coffee that she brought with her and stood taking a sip.
"Penton didn't notice the changes untill after two months because he was on his last mission. And I couldn't be there either because I was with him. The suspect here was the person who replaced us but before we could do anything about him he had been killed which made it even more complex. Of course, it wasn't that complicated at first because we reckoned it was just some bad blood between the lad who took the work and someone he might be knowing who worked in our companyvâ but it turned out that that wasn't the case.
"After going through the records and the police we noticed some unusual changes that linked with what went on with our company. It wasn't that big of money difference at first but then it became about trafficking and laundering. And to think that this company is run by two MI6 agents didn't really put much moral support on us."
So this was why they were to be at the company this much. To be vigilant about any unusual behaviour and look for suspects. This was not going to be easy because there were just too many possibilities. It could be a whole underworld who could have been doing this who held a bad grudge for something this company had done to them or it could be related directly to The MI6.
"Do we have any suspects as of now?"
"We do, actually," he responded taking the envelope on which the papers were. He opened it and took out two photographs; a man and a woman.
He showed her the photograph of a man who looked to be in his late twenties with brown hair and blueâ almost gray eyes. He wore a brown jacket on a red T-shirt in the photograph, his attire not exactly business like.
"Lee Hiram, works in the finance department which is on the ground floor, makes it easier to go unnoticed since no one realy sees what's going on there as most people have to work on the upper floors. He joined just before we left for the mission, didn't have much experience but was still hired by," he paused to take the other photograph from beneath the one he had been showing her of Lee.
The photograph now shown to Nova was of a woman who seemed to be in her mid-thirties. With her blond hair in a Bob cut around her oval shaped face and blue eyes twinkling through the photograph, she didn't really look like a suspect to Nova â especially with her white smile through the pink coat of lipstick that her lips wore. She wore a pink shirt, looking extremely professional and not at all like someone who held any sort of ill-will for the company that gave her money.
"She was the next in line for handling the work after Jordan â who was the guy who had been handling the duties instead. Now, we collected some information and according to them Tory is very competitive and secretive, doesn't really get along with people. Gossips around and is told to be manipulative. We wouldn't have her as a suspect on that basis except on the first night of us being away she was seen entering the finance department and then leaving with Lee."
All of the possibilities had started playing in Nova's mind as she took in all the information that she just learned about. But one thing was distracting her to completely focus on it and so she decided to just ask.
"Why was I kept from all this?" She asked him and he, just having finished the coffee, swiped his mouth with the back of his hand â which Nova found surprising, and kind of attractive â put the two photographs in the envelope with the papers as well. Maybe he didn't want anyone else to see them now so he put them in it this time and not on them on the side table.
"Because we thought it best for you to get familiar with the surroundings and the people and, not to mention the work first. We presumed it would be too much to give you all the burden at one time, though we weren't aware that you were curious enough to snoop around here."
Was that humour she detected?
But before she could call him out on it he was already speaking.
"Get ready, now Ms. Newton, we have some shopping to do. Also, Ms. Newton," he said pausing as he took the cup he drank from and the tray she brought with her along with her cup as well in his other hand. She thought he was going to take hers to the kitchen as well but he handed it to her before saying: "I preffer espresso."
And she was left blushing in embarrassment because, she had made cappuccino.
âââââââââ
A.N:
I know I'm very late but here it is! Hope you like it, I'll try to update faster which means write faster and then proofread faster but do remember I said 'try'.
Hope you liked it, please show some love and comment and vote.
Enjoy!
-Z.