Chapter Three

"Jade! A table needs the special!" Isa shouted, trying so hard not to chuckle. A sign that she knew what was going on.

"I'll be right there in a bit." She said while pushing Navy's head away from her belly and immediately fixing her hair. She would have been completely ready within 2 seconds but she couldn't do magic in front of a stranger. Yeah, even if he had almost gotten down on her.

"Can't someone else fix up this special?" He asked while he watched her dress up, looking almost frustrated.

"Why do you think it's called the special? It's my recipe. Very strong mix of raw gin, whiskey, some spices and ice. It's enough to knock any low head out." The spices were herbs she used to brew some potion back at home. Some of them were ingredients for calming potions while some were ingredients for fainting spells. She discovered that if you mixed some ingredients from this side and some from this side that she would actually get a knock out drink, cover it up with some ice and it was fantastic.

"I think you'll have to give me one of those for this guy's sake." He pointed at the throbbing mound prodding through his jeans.

She chuckled, then bit her lips and stroked it lightly, yet enough to get a few moans from him. "Come on, you really need that special."

The remainder of the evening they spent it apart – Jade was everywhere in the bar, taking care of drunk customers and handing out drinks where hands couldn't get to and Navy was watching her till, he got a call and left abruptly.

It was a Saturday night, so the bar wasn't as full as it was on Fridays and Sundays, which meant they would be closing early. She paid her workers for the night and had already locked the door behind the last person to leave when she noticed an arm sticking out of the corner where Gerald and his friends sat.

"They should have all gone by now." She muttered as she walked towards the table. She touched the guy and the next thing he slumped on the table. "Liam?" She called. He was not responding and she proceeded to check his pulse. Just then, the small door opened with a big push from the outside.

"Jade, I'm so sorry. I think I forgot my keys in here." Isa came in with her boyfriend right behind her. "What's the matter?" She walked up to where she stood.

"It's Liam. He's out cold. I can't feel a pulse." Jade said while she stepped away from the table completely.

"I'm calling 911." Isa's boyfriend offered without hesitation.

Navy raised his badge for the police officer to see as he stepped into the precinct. "I need to speak with the officer handling the Dames bar case."

He had gotten a call from the office this morning, their lead on a big-time syndicate case had ended up dead in Dames Bar. The order was simply close the case at the precinct, come up with the suspect and any witness to the office. A clean in and out operation.

"Agent Piper." The Officer in charge of the case, Officer Kowalski, said as he walked into the office. "I got a call from your head this morning asking me to let you take the suspect of this case and hand over the files at well, but I want a clearer story than what he told me."

"I believe Liam Handel was one of your field officers but he was also a part of a syndicate we have been on its trails for a while. Those trails went cold the minute he was killed." Navy explained not giving much and not saying much either. Officer Kowalski nodded and gave him the file.

"10:36pm. An unlikely time of the night for a bar to be closing. Witness who is a worker there said they didn't have a lot of customers on Saturday so they always closed early. She got paid like the rest of the workers and was on her way home after meeting her boyfriend in an alley close by. She goes back to the bar. Its locked already because her employer and owner locks it immediately they all leave. She can't call the owner because the owner never leaves her room with her phone for the evening. Said it's a distraction."

"It certainly is a distraction if you're getting a lot of calls and pure working in a bar as well. Where's she now?" Officer Kowalski led him out to the interrogation room.

"Where was the suspect found?"

"Close to the body. Witness 2 kicked the jammed small door by the side and they walk in to find Suspect standing really close to the body. Suspect steps back when Witness comes closer to her. She's shaken."

"Name of suspect?" They were close to the interrogation room now.

"Ramona Dukehead but she goes by…."

"Jade." Navy stopped as he looked at the suspect seated in the interrogation room looking as if she hadn't slept in days.

"You know her?" The officer asked, a bit taken aback.

"I've been to the bar following up on the case and I must say she's the most unlikely person to commit murder. She literally took car of he and his friends when they were stone drunk last night." He added.

"Yeah, the other workers mentioned that. Said she had a little scuffle with the deceased but someone was quick enough to intervene. I'm guessing that someone was you." Navy nodded but kept his eyes on the woman in the interrogation room as she was being questioned.

Somehow, she had gotten her prints all over the crime scene. She knew that she could just end the case with a snap of her fingers but, Liam was one of her fine regulars and he deserved justice, even if it meant going through the normal process.