Message: XXIV

Chyler was mumbling to herself, swearing on everything the world was built on, since she really had no idea how to talk with the person she had gotten as a partner. Callaghan was the type of person that was making her disturbed and furious even before she had opened her mouth. Nothing was working. Being snarky didn't manage to make her hold her horses, trying being nice didn't work either... was there any way for her to actually be able to get along with Aria without having to beat her up at some point?

"She'd probably ask if instead of crowbar I'd use a baguette." She snorted, shaking her head and opening her mailbox. She had to admit, though, all the nicknames Callaghan had given her... she bad been quite creative, since none of them repeated so far.

She started typing an e-mail to 'Saskies', as Aria was so kind to name them, but her phone buzzed in the moment she was in the middle of it. It was Courrier, their direct superior. Chyler doubted if Aria was aware about his existence and data at all, though.

"Toussaint." She said, pressing the phone to her ear with her shoulder and finishing the message she'd started. She hated leaving things half done.

"There's another victim." He stated with almost indifferent voice and she raised her eyebrow, not clicking the 'send' button yet. She swallowed.

"What...?"

"Second corpse, Toussaint. I'll send you the coords via text and you take your partner and go there. I want to see reports by the end of the day."

"Of course, sir." Chyler nodded, hanging up and waiting for the message. She smirked, thinking about forcing Aria to do the paperwork. She was wondering how much trouble would she bring to herself because of her probable inability to make things the way they should be done.

When her phone pinged, she took it, took her jacket and left her office, getting inside the one occupied by Callaghan. At the first sight, she saw an empty room.

"What...?" she raised her eyebrow, but then she saw a part of Aria's heavy boot that was visible on the side of her desk. When Toussaint approached, she saw her partner sitting on the floor, drinking something from a very colorful can, and flicking through some documents. Her legs were spread widely, and the papers were laying in the space between them.

"I still wonder how can you even fuck around about knocking if you don't give a shit about it yourself, Mille-feuille." She snorted, not even looking at her, still reading something. It was a wall of text, Toussaint wondered what was that about.

"I still wonder how can you not be ready to go to the crime scene." She bounced the ball, and then she heard a deep sigh.

Aria stood up, took her leather jacket, rolled the sleeves and put her hand into its pocket, looking at her partner, shrugging with one shoulder.

"See, I need literally five seconds to be ready. And I am driving this time." She stated, getting out of the room. Toussaint bent to see what Callaghan was reading when she heard from the doorframe: "You better hurry, since I can leave without you. You don't want that."

"No, I don't.", she admitted, almost running after her.

They reached Aria's RAM in silence and when they packed themselves in, Toussaint looked at her partner that didn't turn on the engine.

"You want to even move this cow?" she asked, trying not to pay attention to the mess that was inside. The car wasn't dirty, but it smelled like cigarettes and some very sweet beverage. Probably... energy drinks?

"I need to know where to go first." She scoffed, and then snorted with piercing laughter, seeing Toussaint's face. "Yeah, look in the mirror, that's an expression of a year. Nice to see you running after me, though."

Chyler didn't say anything, she just felt almost slapped into her face. And the blush that sneaked there against her will. She pulled out her phone and gave Aria the coordinates. Callaghan nodded, acknowledging them, and when she pushed the throttle, Toussaint felt her back almost becoming one with the seat.