Chapter 43

*Ding! Ding!*

The café bells chime as the two men walk out of the door.

Looking up at the sky, Mihajl softly smiles and stops in front of a small garden.

"It's a beautiful morning today, isn't it? I'm constantly working, so it's kind of rare for me to see mornings like these."

"Yeah." Kazimir says.

Mihajl chuckles, before continuing to walk.

"Right, you probably want to know why I'm working for Merderaé. When I first joined the city hall, I was invited to different parties that would host other city leaders from all over the world."

Mihajl looks up at the sky again, sadly smiling.

"Well, I'll never forget the day I met this beautiful lady who would later become my fiancé. She made the first move, told me I was her type, and that she wanted to get to know me more. I accepted and ever since the night of that specific party, our relationship seemed to grow. Unfortunately, our personalities often spoke for themselves; she's very outgoing and liked to explore the city, whereas I'm a little introverted and preferred to read books. Nevertheless, I was convinced she was my dream woman and proposed to her a year later."

He walks over to a small bench, taking a seat and Kazimir sits next to him.

"Ever since the proposal, our relationship seemed to grow a bit, well, distant. We often did each of our favorite activities together, but I could tell she never really liked sitting by the fireplace to read or make dinner together. I still put up with it because I love her."

After checking the time on his watch, the man continues.

"One day, I got a call saying she hadn't shown up to work in a few days and was presumed missing. With some information from her friends, I learned she'd been fed up with waiting until marriage to have sex and went to see other men; ones that made more money than I. It turns out two of those men are in Merderaé and sometimes "shared" her."

Mihajl softly chuckles and sighs.

"Once I find her, I'm planning to call off the marriage. I really did care for her, detective. I just don't understand why hadn't she came to me and told me she was getting bored with our relationship."

Kazimir turns to him, before looking down at his hands.

"How much time did she put into the relationship?"

"I'd say as much as she could. She was very busy with work, well at least that's what she told me. Now I realize her being "busy" probably had nothing to do with work."

"Sorry to hear that." Kazimir says.

Mihajl smiles and shakes his head.

"Nothing to be sorry about. If anything, I'd say it'd made me into a stronger person. Yes, it did hurt a little once I found out she was being infidel, but I guess it's better to find out more about a person you're interested in than to just jump into a relationship."

He stands up and shakes Kazimir's hand.

"Oh, I'd like to ask you; how'd you find out I was associated with Merderaé?"

"The boss of group #4 told me." Kazimir replies.

Mihajl's eyes slightly widen and he raises a brow.

"You found one of the groups? How'd you do that?"

"It's a long story, but I basically stumbled across an abandoned hospital back in Japan." the young detective says, shrugging.

"I'm very surprised you made it out alive, they don't let people go that easily."

Kazimir chuckles.

"Yeah, that was clear. They're all dead now, though."

"It makes sense; either you or them." Mihajl replies, nodding. "Well, I should get going now, these documents won't fill out themselves. Here's my number and address, please give me a call if you ever find anything else important about Merderaé."

"Yeah, I currently have a co-worker who's doing some research. I think she can probably help more than I can." Kazimir says, looking down at the fancy script written on the paper.

"Really? What's her name?"

"Nia, Nia Ellison. I can introduce the two of you if you'd like."

The politician smiles.

"Of course. Once Ms. Ellison feels the time is right, just call me; I hope to hear from you soon. Goodbye for now."

Kazimir watches as the man walks off before walking back to his own car.

After driving for a little over an hour, the young detective finally makes it back to the Claiza City Special Forces Department.

Kazimir clocks in and walks into the main room, multiple detectives standing around and talking with each other.

"So what're we doing today?!"

Feeling an arm cross his shoulder, Kazimir turns and rolls his eyes at his partner, Pierre.

"Working, dumbass."

Pierre sits beside the younger detective, watching as he pulled a folder from his briefcase.

"Could you give me your girlfriend's address?" Kazimir asks, opening up the folder

"Which one?"

"Aria's. I'd like to discuss some things with her about Naydine's disappearance."

Pierre shrugs, taking out a sticky note from his pocket.

"Yeah, but why the hell did you come in this late?"

"I just did."

"You kids these days...I swear, you all get on my nerves." Pierre mutters, handing Kazimir the sticky note.

"You're 3 years older than me, not much room to talk."

"Good morning, Pierre. Good morning, Kazimir."

The two men look up, coming face to face with Nia.

"Would you two care for a croissant?"

"Sure." Kazimir replies, picking one up.

"I'll take two!" Pierre says, snatching two off of the plate. "I'll be back soon, I need to get some coffee with this!"

Nia softly chuckles as Pierre jumps over the table to refill his empty coffee mug.

"He's a bit wild, isn't he?"

Kazimir shrugs, taking a bite from his croissant.

"Yeah. He's a dumbass."

"You're not wrong." Nia replies, smiling. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I've talked to Lyndall Forest over the phone yesterday and he gave me an invite to a party at a hotel that some of the members of Merderaé are hosting."

"That quickly?"

Nia nods.

"Yes, I was surprised too, but I'm assuming he just thinks that I'm thinking it'll be a regular party of some sort; I can even sneak you in, if you'd like. Unfortunately, I'll have to go home with him to get the actual card that secures one's place in Merderaé."

"It's okay, I'll follow behind you two." Kazimir says, wiping his hands in a napkin. "But yeah, you can sneak me in."

"Thank you, Kazimir. I was planning to go with Caio, but he and Dayne got called in for an emergency mission back in the United States." Nia says. "Well, I should get back to handing these croissants out. I'll see you later!"

The young man waves and turns back to his work.

"Man, it's been a morning."

--- 8:00 P.M. ---

"Jeez, it's cold out there."

Kazimir walks over to the edge of a bed, taking a seat to tie his shoes.

Closing the window shut, Nia turns and walks over to the door, peeking through a small crack.

"Good, no one's on this side of the hall, but we'll have to move quick if we don't want anything to look suspicious."

"Hold on, hold on, I'm fixing my tie." Kazimir says, struggling with it.

Nia walks over and removes his hands from the thin piece of clothing.

"Here, let me help you."

The young man looks up at her as she fixes it to his comfort.

"There we are. Now, let's hurry!"

The two quickly walk out of the room and downstairs, where a large crowd had gathered.

"There's so many people here. Certainly, they all can't be in Merderaé, can they?" Nia says, looking around.

Kazimir shrugs.

"Who knows? Maybe there's some new recruits here. Oh, he's here."

Nia looks up at Kazimir and he grabs her hand, leading her over to the man he'd met earlier.

"Mr. Hatmanu."

The tall man turns around and smiles, looking down at Nia.

"Mr. Hatmanu, this is Nia Ellison, she's the leader of the Merderaé case for our department. Nia, this is Mihajl Hatmanu, he's the head of the board members for the city of Frelant."

Nia and Mihajl both give each other a warm smile as they shake hands.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Hatmanu." Nia says.

"The pleasure's all mine. You can just me Mihajl, I don't mind."

"Okay. If you don't mind telling me, how'd you get into this field, Mihajl?" Nia asks.

"It's quite a long story, why don't we all go on the balcony?"

"I need to make a call first, I'll join you two in a few." Kazimir says, walking off.

Nia and Mihajl watch as the young man quickly walks off, before making their way into the balcony, where Mihajl tells his story.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that." Nia says. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find the right one for you soon!"

Mihajl chuckles.

"I'd say so. Anyway, how'd you find out about Merderaé?"

Nia looks up at the night sky.

"I joined to get away from my marriage, it wasn't the best. Once I was hired, I picked up a case where a wealthy businessman and his wife were both murdered. After traveling deeper down the rabbit hole, I found out one of his closest friends was tied to Merderaé and now, here I am."

"Are you the only one working on the case?" Mihajl asks.

"I have some help from Kazimir and a few others from time to time, but mainly, yes."

Mihajl raises a brow.

"That big of a case? Doesn't it get stressing?"

"Sometimes, but it's fine." Nia says, with a small giggle. "I honestly like working on it."

Mihajl nods, looking down at his shoes.

"Do you read books, Ms. Nia?"

The young woman smiles.

"Yes, I prefer to read long novels, though. Like the ones with over 600 pages."

Mihajl smiles.

"It seems as if I've finally found someone with a common interest of mine. I can lend you some if you want."

"Yes, I'd like that, thank you." Nia replies, looking up at him.

The two new acquaintances smile at each other, before looking back forward at the night sky.