Private Partnership

Elizabeth quickly rushed and followed after Dyson, "You and I both know that the space between those holes can't be caused by a mere fanged animal, if it was an animal, his neck would have been bitten off." 

Dyson stopped in his tracks and turned around, "It wasn't caused by an animal." He murmured a few words and continued walking.

Elizabeth did not follow after him this time, she merely spoke a few words, "You know something, right?"

Dyson paused again and turned to look at her, "So what if I do?" He furrowed his eyebrows and asked.

She paused to think, she knew fully well that she couldn't force him to speak, she took a deep breath and said, "So what if I say I can help you? I don't know what you're after, Inspector Dyson but I can help you. I'm more involved in this than you think."

Dyson stared at her without blinking for even a single moment, he chuckled and rubbed his nose, "What's your goal in this? I mean, what do you strive to gain?"

"Do you mean I can't help a partner? We're partners after all." Elizabeth made a straight face and crossed her arms.

"...privately." He muttered inaudibly.

"What?" She squinted her eyes, "I did not hear you, can you repeat what you just said?"

"I said we investigate privately, it wouldn't be part of the case and Chief Inspector Vans won't know about it." Dyson repeated, he clicked his tongue and walked away, leaving a few words for her, "Meet me in my office when you decide."

Elizabeth frowned, unable to think of a suitable reason why Dyson would want to keep Chief Inspector Vans in the dark or why he would want to investigate privately. But she threw these thoughts out of her mind, she only joined him to get to the root of all her problems and to look for a way to defeat Noel Cassius.

She sighed and scratched the back of her head. She needed to see Chief Inspector Vans now. She was worried since he's absent from work today and he was quite annoyed with her the previous day. 

"I'll be off." She announced to the detectives under her and left the building, heading straight for her car in the garage. As soon as she got into her car, her phone was the first thing that came into view. She thought about calling Layla but soon decided against it, a messenger is a messenger after all.

Elizabeth soon got to the address given to her by Dyson, she held a large teddy bear in her hand and pressed the doorbell.

The door opened and Chief Vans stood there in casual wear, his smile faded when he saw Elizabeth, "To what do I owe this visit, Inspector Brian?" He asked with a straight face.

Elizabeth winced internally at the coldness, she knew she did wrong the other day and she knew that he was beyond annoyed because he called her by her title which he never usually did.

She smiled awkwardly and slowly muttered, "Sorry." Her head dropped as she continued, "I was in the wrong, it was just a prank message like you said."

Chief Vans calmly stared at her for a while before pushing the door wide enough for her to go in.

She smiled in response and entered the house, a little girl with her hair tied into two buns was sitting on the soft carpets quietly painting away, she pouted her lips as she focused on whatever she was painting.

"Hello." Elizabeth greeted, drawing the little child's attention. She walked towards her and crouched down handing the large teddy bear to the little girl.

The little girl glanced at her father and slowly collected the stuffed animal from Elizabeth after receiving an affirmative nod from her father.

"Happy birthday." Elizabeth smiled. Though the birthday wishes were late, it was a way to reconcile for holding the young girl's father for no reason.

"Thank you." The young girl smiled and hugged the bear tightly, "What's your name?" She asked.

"Oh! My name is Elizabeth, What's yours?" 

"I'm Margaret but my friends call me Maggie." Her small voice was cheerful and her pure smile melted Elizabeth's heart.

"Margaret, I hope you weren't mad that your dad showed up late to your birthday party?" Elizabeth asked awkwardly, she wasn't used to kids and was bad at coaxing them.

"Daddy said he had work to do." Margaret innocently picked up her drawing and laid it properly inside a box.

"Well, little Margaret, I called your dad which made him show up quite late, I hope you'll forgive me?" Elizabeth pressed her lips into a thin line and turned to where Vans once stood but he was gone.

"Uhum." She nodded and added,"Mummy said that daddy saves damsels in distress just like Josie."

"Who's Josie?" Elizabeth squinted her eyes and asked.

"Josie adventures, mummy reads it to me every night." Margaret had a proud smile on her face when she spoke about her mother.

Elizabeth said nothing else after that but the awkward silence was beginning to eat her up, so she quickly blurted out the question that came to her head, "How old are you, Margaret?"

"I'm eight." Margaret answered while her gaze was still on the pencils she was playing with.

"My little brother would have been ten to eleven years old by now." Elizabeth murmured after a while, she glanced at the string that held the bracelet around her neck and sighed deeply.

"My brother would have been ten years old this year too." Margaret smiled and placed all her drawing equipment in the box, she turned to Elizabeth and smiled, "It's okay, mummy said big brother is in heaven now and your brother too, he's with grandma and God."

"Yeah…they are both in heaven now." Elizabeth almost choked on her breath as she said those words. She still did not know if her little brother really died in the fire, but the chances of survival were slim.

"Hello." A feminine voice came from the other side and Elizabeth turned to the voice.

"Inspector Brian, I've heard a lot about you." The woman smiled, the woman who spoke had a striking resemblance to little Margaret and Elizabeth quickly concluded that she was Chief Vans' wife.

"Hello, ma'am. Nice to meet you." She stood up and stretched out her hand for a handshake, which the woman took.

"It's so nice to finally meet you too, Inspector Brian." The woman smiled and took off her apron.

"You can just call me Elizabeth, ma'am." Elizabeth smiled politely.

"Alright, but you'll have to drop the honorific too, just call me Megan." The woman led Elizabeth to a chair and sat with her.

"I think Mrs. Megan would do nicely." Elizabeth replied, pressing her lips into a thin line. 

"Ah, anything you're comfortable with. My husband said a lot about you… Thank you, I know he might not have gotten that promotion without you." Mrs. Megan's eyes dropped and a sad smile graced her lips as she held Elizabeth's hands in hers.

The smile on Elizabeth's face faded, she still wasn't sure if the mysterious Noel had a hand in Vans' promotion or if the promotion came purely.

To Elizabeth's relief, Mrs. Megan soon diverted and talked about other things that did not concern the police department.