Detectives!

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Ryan woke up with a jolt. Like the past few months, he immediately checked to see if he was hurt or not and sighed out of relief when he found out he was perfectly fine.

He automatically reached out for his phone that was lying on the night stand right next to his bed. He checked the time and it was just a few minutes past seven in the morning. It was a Saturday, so he didn't need to be in a rush. He had no where to go. He threw the phone on the bed and got up to go and brushed his teeth.

Ryan suddenly stopped in his track when he realized something. He turned around and saw his phone lying on the bed.

His eyes went wide when he saw the phone. The phone that he had lost together with his wallet was now lying on his bed as if he never lost it. His eyes slowly shifted to the nightstand where he found his wallet. He wallet was also lying there as if it never went missing. Ryan walked to the nightstand and picked the wallet. He opened the wallet and searched through it. His ID and everything else that was supposed to be in the wallet was in it. Everything except the money he kept in the wallet.

Ryan thought back to last night to see if he could remember how he found the phone and wallet only to find out that he couldn't remember. He remembered going to the club with Iris and Lenny and then going to Lenny's house in Dyker Heights and then him deciding to come back home. That was it. That was all he remembered. He didn't remember how he got home or how he found his phone and wallet.

"Strange"

He thought it was very strange. How did he find them? The fact that he couldn't remember was very weird.

Ryan put the wallet back on the nightstand. It was really strange to him but he wouldn't ponder about now. That was a thing he would do later. He walked to the bathroom and brushed his teeth before taking a shower.

-----

Lenny's hand searched the other side of his bed for the slap worthy face that usually laid beside him. He opened his eyes when he couldn't find it. Surely enough Ryan wasn't there. He must have slept on the couch downstairs, Lenny thought since his dad was occupying the other bedroom and Iris the guestroom.

Lenny let out a yawn as he sat up in the bed. He ignored the nasty hangover and stretched himself before dragging himself to the bathroom to brush his teeth and take a shower. He put on some sweat pants and a plain t-shirt and went downstairs where he found Iris watching TV.

"Good morning", Lenny said, making Iris chuckle.

"You mean 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑛", Iris corrected. It was already past noon, midday.

"Where's Ryan?", Lenny asked.

"He went back home last night", Iris answered. "Your dad also left just a few minutes ago".

Lenny nodded in understanding. He went over to the fridge in the kitchen and opened but found it almost empty. There was nothing in it apart from the half filled water bottles and some soda cans. He sighed and took out one of the sodas and down it immediately and still kept a straight face.

"I'm heading out to get groceries. Want anything?", Lenny asked Iris as he walked out the kitchen.

"Ooh, ooh, I want pop-tarts, and ice cream and...", Iris started mentioning everything that came to her mind like a kid.

"Text them to me", Lenny said as he left through the door to the store.

He took out his phone as he walked down the street and started fiddle with it. A minute later, Iris texted him the absurd list of sweets she wanted. Lenny couldn't help but smile. He wasn't rich boy Lenny for nothing, so he could buy them all. No fret.

Lenny suddenly stopped in his track and immediately sidestepped. He didn't know why he suddenly did that, when he realized that someone had just passed him and that he would've bumped into the person had his body not moved on its own.

That was pretty cool, he though as a smile appeared on his.

Just then he saw the police cars and the ambulances ahead and immediately became curious. He jogged over and joined the other curious onlookers.

It seemed he was lucky enough, cause he came just in time to see four bodies being wrapped in body bags. The four were all big and muscular men and they had been brutality murders. The trucksuits they were wearing had been dyed with the absurd amount of blood. There were also deep and gnarly cuts all over their torsos. It seemed they rather bleed to death.

Whoever did this must be really sick in the head, Lenny thought.

The four men - probably gangsters - were picked up and placed in the ambulance.

Since there was nothing else to see, Lenny went on to the grocery store and bought everything he need to fill his refrigerator, plus Iris's list before making his way back to his house.

*****

Ryan was reading a book with the sound of the TV in the background when he got a call. It was from Lenny.

"Hey Lenny, what's up?", Ryan asked as he pick the call.

"See you've found your phone", Lenny's voice sounded.

"Yeah. I found it this morning. I woke up and it was just lying on my nightstand. My wallet too", Ryan said.

"I'm glad you found them", Lenny said. "I just wanted to check in on you".

"I'm fine. Why?", Ryan asked.

"There was a murder over here", Lenny answered.

"Gosh, what happened?", Ryan asked, surprised.

"I don't know. The victims bled to death. The culprit must be really sick in the head", Lenny said.

Just then the doorbell sounded throughout the house. Ryan sighed as he got up from to the couch.

"I'll have to call you back later, Lenny. There's someone at the door", Ryan said as he walked towards the front door.

"Sure. See you later"

"Yeah", Ryan said as he hung up the phone.

He opened the front door to reveal two people. The first a woman with platinum blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She seemed to be in her early forties. The second was a man with black hair and blue eyes. He also seemed to be in his early forties.

The woman was wearing a brown overcoat over a white tunic shirt and black skinny jeans. She also had some converse on. The man was wearing a black leather jacket over a red buttoned shirt, neatly tucked in his black jeans. He was wearing black combat boots.

The woman was a head shorter than Ryan while man was just an inch taller than Ryan.

"Ryan Jackman", the woman, who was in front said.

"Yeah? Who's asking?", Ryan asked as he closely observed the two.

The woman took out her badge and showed it to Ryan. "Detective Hazel Carlos and this is my partner, Detective Dacre Montgomery...", she pointed at the man who waved at the mention of his name. "NYPD. Can we come in?"

"What exactly does the NYPD want with me?", he asked. Ryan's brows knit together in contemplation. It wasn't like he had done anything wrong, right?

"We just want to ask a few questions", the woman, Hazel or Detective Carlos said.

Ryan pondered over it for a second before opening the door wide and stepping out of the way. "...Yeah, sure. Come on in".

"Thank you", Detective Carlos said with a smile as he walked in with Detective Montgomery in tow.

Ryan closed the door and took them to the living room where he was reading his book and asked them to sit. Detective Carlos sat down to ask Ryan some questions but Detective Montgomery went on to look around.

"Ryan? Can I call you Ryan?", Detective Carlos asked.

"Yeah, sure",

"So Ryan, do you live alone?", Detective Carlos asked.

"Yep", Ryan answered. He didn't bother to say anything else.

"Why is that?", Detective Montgomery who had come by a framed photo of Ryan, his sister, Hayden and their parents, asked.

"Well, my sister's a junior at NYU and my parents aren't really, well, alive", Ryan answered.

"I'm really sorry", Detective Carlos said.

"Nah, it's nothing. It's not like I was even here when it happened", Ryan just shrugged it off but Detective Montgomery's curiosity was peeked.

"Where were you then?", he asked, his hands in his pocket.

"Oh you know. Purple dude decides he wants a stone collection and then kills half the population", Ryan said as if it wasn't any big deal.

"Uh! Been there", Detective Montgomery too shrugged it off.

Detective Carlos shot her partner a death glare making him shut up.

"Wait, you were blipped too?", Ryan was quite surprised about the male detective's revelation.

"You bet I was", Detective Montgomery said. "I was making out with my girlfriend, I start feeling weird, I open my eyes and I see myself turn to dust but then I come back together again and then the word start to change and the next thing I know, my girlfriend's gone and there are two guys getting it in my bed". He sighed. "I would've been homeless if I didn't have my wallet in my pocket", he added.

Detective Carlos suddenly cleared her throat and said, "As much as I'd like to listen to your blipping experience, we have our jobs to do".

Detective Montgomery nodded in understanding and went back to looking around, letting the platinum blonde detective continue the questioning.

"Did you go to Dyker Heights or anywhere near there yesterday?", Detective Carlos began.

"Yes", Ryan answered.

"What for?",

"A friend of mine lives there"

"When did you get back?",

"Around midnight, I think?", he wasn't really sure.

"On or way, did you happen to perhaps see anything or anyone strange...",

"Wait. Is this about the murder?", Ryan asked as he came to a sudden realisation.

"You know about the murder?", Detective Carlos asked.

"Yeah, my friend called to check up on me when you rang the bell. He told me about it", Ryan answered.

"So did you happen to see anything suspicious or just... anything?",

"No. Actually, I don't remember anything that happened last night. I don't even remember how I got home so I wouldn't remember even if I saw anything. I was pretty drunk last night", Ryan said. He couldn't remember last night just like he couldn't remember other times.

Detective Carlos let out a sigh of frustration. If Ryan couldn't remember anything then that meant that they'd been wasting their time with him. She and Montgomery were the ones on the case. They could've used this time to find clues or something. But still, she asked other questions to see if she could get anything before leaving.

Before she left, she took out her card and handed it to Ryan and said, "In case you remember anything, please call me".

Ryan nodded.

"See you around", Detective Montgomery patted him on the shoulder before leaving with Detective Carlos.

*****

Detective Carlos walked into the precinct with Detective Montgomery in tow.

"I can't believe we wasted our time on him", Detective Carlos said.

"Oh come on. At least he answered your questions without holding back the truth", Detective Montgomery said.

"Well truth or not, it won't help us catch whoever killed those four men", Detective Carlos said with a frustrated sigh.

"Detective Carlos. Montgomery". Just then a voice called their names. A woman in black women's suit and black stiletto heels walked over to them with hurried step.

"You two owe me big time for this", she said.

"What is it, Gomez?", Detective Carlos asked.

Detective Miranda Gomez seemed to be Montgomery's age. She had long black hair and bright green eyes.

"Take a look for yourself", she said as she handed the pad in her hand to Detective Carlos.

The moment Detective Carlos knew what was on the pad, she looked at Detective Montgomery and said, "Didn't hold back the truth, you said".