The beginning (part2)

Finally Charlotte said it in a gentle tone just as he asked her, Kaiser opened his hand and patted her head a little to calm her down, he already knew that she was very angry.

"It's okay. Think of it as the proper way to talk to elders. Look, I'm teaching you some manners. Don't I deserve thanks, huh? Huh?"

"Leave…"

"Huh? What did you say, oh my god, you're disobedient-"

"Leave quickly before I finish you off!!"

Charlotte's violent screams interrupted Kaiser's calm words, and she began pushing his back from behind and hitting him with her fists.

"Leave quickly! Leave! Leave!"

Kaiser's smile faded and he felt the size of Charlotte's tantrum, and apparently, Charlotte wouldn't talk to him for a whole week starting now.

"Alright, Alright"

He sighed and moved his feet to leave. Honestly, Kaiser wasn't hurt by her constantly hitting his back with her fist. That fist was too fragile to hit someone, even if she was in a state of rage and madness.

"You will thank me later because I taught you the lessons of good manners..."

Kaiser went to the door and went out, but before he closed the door he caught a glimpse of Charlotte's red face and her eyes tearing up with anger.

He sighed gently before closing the door.

"See you later~"

"I don't want to see you anymore!"

From outside, Kaiser heard Charlotte screaming.

He shrugged, thinking she was being unreasonable, so why would she be upset with him over something so trivial.

"That annoying, dirty, mean thing!"

Charlotte continued to vent her anger, until she fell next to her bedroom door, trying to suppress her desire to say more obscene words.

"I hate you so much! I hate you so much right now."

"Does she hate him? How very cute she is."

The corner of Leonid's lips rose sarcastically as he eavesdropped on Charlotte's conversation with Kaiser via the eavesdropping device planted in the sunglasses.

"Where are you now?"

"I'm almost there already."

Leonid continued driving while talking to the director Kozlov, while at the same time eavesdropping on Charlotte, who began to cry.

"Wow, this woman is so sensitive."

"Why do you say such things? Of course women are sensitive."

the director Kozlov rebuked Leonid's grumbling words.

"Also stop bugging her for fun, okay"

"Who said I was doing this for fun, director."

Leonid was very cold in his response. His last concern was eavesdropping for pleasure on a sensitive woman who was barely aware of her situation.

"That woman thinks she is a bad person, or as she said, 'evil', but in reality she is the worst good person I have ever met, good to the core in a way that disgusts me."

"I see you know her well."

"I've lived next to it for a month, shouldn't I know its metal?"

Leonid narrowed his eyes as he turned the steering wheel.

Behind the phone, Kozlov sighed. He was sure that Leonid's relationship with Charlotte Smith would be a bit bad. But since Leonid does his job of protecting and monitoring her perfectly, he is better than someone who just wants to build a private relationship during work time.

"Well, you're right on that point. But you still have to respect her emotions."

"Respect for what?"

"I won't repeat my words, so come here quickly, we have an urgent meeting."

Kozlov put his phone away and hung up without hearing any response from Leonid.

"You look bad, director."

"Vladimir, do you think that choosing Leonid as overseer of Charlotte Smith's life is a good choice?"

"In fact, you won't find someone more qualified than Leonid."

Deputy director Vladimir tidied his desk while stacking important documents on top of each other. His light blonde locks covered his black eyes as he looked down.

"But at the same time, you will not find anyone worse than him in dealing with women."

"my God… "

Kozlov sighed again and leaned back on the arm of his leather chair, gently rubbing his wrinkled forehead.

"I hope things get better with time, otherwise this could cause Charlotte Smith to commit suicide before the serial killer kills her."

"Do you think he will cause her to commit suicide? It is impossible for Leonid to treat her badly, so don't worry."

"Did you know he bought a puppy to keep her occupied all morning into the evening?"

Vladimir's eyebrow twitched for a moment, then he shook his head, while Kozlov continued to speak calmly.

"I didn't know about him until yesterday, and yet I discovered a lot of disgraceful behavior from him."

"Did he do anything worse than this?"

Vladimir asked in a cautious tone as he carried the documents to the conference room.

"Well he did, but let's not bring it up. As his father, I'm really ashamed of him."

"God, Commander, you're putting up with a lot for him."

"Thank you for your sympathy, Vladimir. Now let's go."

Kozlov got up from his seat and walked towards the door while Vladimir followed behind him.

In the rather narrow main hall, three people worked at their desks, there were four desks facing each other, and one of them belonged to Leonid, so it was empty because he had not arrived yet.

Kozlov stood in front of the three hard-working people and said loudly.

"Until Leonid arrives, let's move to the conference room."

"Your command, director!"

The team members answered simultaneously and got up from their seats. Next to Leonid's empty desk stood a young man with black hair that contrasted softly with his white skin. This was Vasiliy with the sleepy face.

While on the other side stood the woman with brave features and long blonde hair, Alia. It was clear that she was good at fighting.

Next to her is Dmitri, the forensic doctor and expert with brown hair, miserable features, and dark circles.

The moment everyone stood up, Leonid opened the door to the headquarters and entered with an indifferent expression, holding his coat on his elbow. He raised his eyebrows when he noticed their presence, and said questioningly.

"I'm not late, am I?"

"Of course you didn't, let's go now."

Leonid nodded at Kozlov's calm response, stood next to the rest of the team, and as soon as director Kozlov moved everyone moved toward the conference room.

This room is equipped with a large display screen and A conference table in the middle.

Vasili moved and stood next to the display screen, holding the remote control in his hand.

Today he was responsible for providing a detailed explanation of the case, which has now been named "The Eighth Floor."

"Okay, calm down."

Vasili clapped his hands and said, "Quiet." Even though they were already quiet, without stalling further he began to speak, boredom mixing with the clear tone of his voice.

"Everyone must remain silent and not interrupt until the question session."

He closed the curtains with the remote control, then turned on the screen.

The display screen behind him displayed several images, those images were divided into two groups, one of the living and one of the dead.

"As everyone can see, we have two groups, one for people who are still alive and one for people who are already dead."

The group of the dead consisted of images of the three women who had died in a gruesome manner, while in contrast it was the group of the living, or "those still alive." It included a photo of Charlotte and a few women from the eighth floor only.

"All of these women live on the eighth floor. Even the ones who lost their lives at the hands of the previously deranged killer lived on the same floor."

"And through observation."

Uncontrollably, Vladimir interrupted Vasili, who stopped for only a moment, and continued.

"We noticed that the killer's focus was on the eighth floor alone, and this was not a mere coincidence, but rather because it is the only floor that does not contain surveillance cameras, in addition to being the only floor on which he can carry out his heinous crimes because only single women live there."

Vladimir's intervention was calculated based on the information Leonid provided, and he was extremely precise in every word.

In response, Vasili nodded and then went back to finishing what he started.

"Well, does anyone know why?"

While asking the stilted question, Vasili moved his two fingers next to his head, in a sarcastic gesture.

"Absolutely yes. Because that's clearly the policy of the apartment building, in order to secure a way for the killer to escape from his crimes."

Vasili paused for a moment and then moved on to another slide.

"For families, they live on the lower seven floors, while as we said, the eighth floor is reserved for individuals only, or so-called singles."

"That means one thing, that the building is working with the killer, or maybe the other way around. Who knows?"

Alia shrugged, crossing her arms, while Kozlov's brow furrowed and he felt uncomfortable.

"That's right, who knows."

Vasili sighed and began to feel annoyed by others interrupting him while he was explaining.

"Each floor of the residential building contains fifty apartments for monthly or annual rent, and the number certainly varies from one tenant to another, in addition to the rental date, but after infiltrating their database, we discovered that each of the three victims started their contracts in the same month, and within days "Converged."

Vasili paused for a moment, displaying the leases that Leonid had reached through his own methods, on the screen.

"Victims number one, two, and three all had the same month. So we decided to look into the remaining leases for the eighth floor, and discovered that these could be targeted victims."

Vasili took a few steps back, while four images appeared on the monitor screen, including Charlotte.

"We may be wrong, but we only have this lead that might enable us to catch the killer."

"Basing an investigation on hypotheses without evidence is impossible."

Dmitri pushed up his glasses, which had slid halfway down the bridge of his nose, and added.

"As a forensic pathologist, I can confirm two things: the first is that your hypotheses have a bold touch, and the second is that the victims were in complete agreement with the killer, before they were killed."

Dmitri paused for a moment, darkness swirling in his eyes, which looked tired from lack of sleep.

"And perhaps more than that, like a love relationship for example."

He spat it all out at once, and suddenly Alia hit the tabletop with her fist.

"How can you say something like that, he is clearly mentally ill, no woman would dare to have a relationship with him!"

Dmitri furrowed his eyebrows in response to Alia's shouting.

"so what? "

He crossed his arms and leaned on the leather chair, his tone calm and dark.

"Yes, it is true that he is mentally ill, but he is good at manipulating others."

"Both a deranged and manipulative killer, well this is more fun than I thought."

The corners of Leonid's lips rose sarcastically as he leaned on the arm of the chair. He was starting to feel angry and wanted to vent.