Flashback From The Future X

"*Sigh*" said Pete as he sighed, he looked stressed as he buried his face in his hands as he rested his elbows on his desk, he had been here all morning, with no progress at all, for the past three days, he had been trying to get something anything, but it was now that he realized just how slow the case solving process was.

Today was the day of Natasha's funeral, but he was not going, he just could not bring himself to go there, and see her, there in the ground… it would do more than break his heart, it would shatter him.

"Enter" said Pete as he sighed and he heard a knock on his office door.

"Good Morning Boss" said Morales as he walked into Pete's office and he closed the door behind him.

"Hmm Morning" replied Pete as he sounded tired, and he did not raise his head to look at Morales.

"Boss, I have the forensics report with me" said Morales as he placed a folder on Pete's desk as he sat down across Pete.

Pete finally raised his head to look up as he took the folder and he began to look through it.

"There were no signs of penetration" said Morales.

"Which means that we can rule this out as a rape case" said Morales.

"Hmm" said Pete as he went through the report, at least he was relieved that this was not some sort of sick, twisted serial rapist case, who killed his victims by a shot to the head after he was done with them.

"But there were signs of co2 in her blood at the time, which meant that the deceased had to be running for a long period of time" said Morales as he explained.

Pete sighed, he could only imagine how terrified Natasha felt, with no one in sight to help, and then, just like that, she was killed.

"Two bullets were found in the body of the deceased" said Morales.

"The bullets belong to a common firearm, so we have no specific make of gun to run through the database" said Morales as he was just explaining to Pete that they had a dead end, after one dead end.

"And is there any evidence at the scene of the crime?" asked Pete as he looked at Morales.

"No Boss, although the photographers did find a trail of blood, which eventually led to where the deceased's body was found" said Morales.

"Most probably the woman was shot once in her right abdomen, but she continued to run, and then she sadly could not run anymore as her killer lodged a bullet in her head" said Morales heartlessly as Pete flinched just by the thought, he had seen many dead bodies, heard many horrible crime stories, heck he had even investigated them, but this one hit too close to home.

"So you are saying we have no leads?" asked Pete as he looked at Morales.

"No, none, except for the fact that we were able to find the payphone where the person who reported used to call the Police" said Morales.

"And?" asked Pete.

"And well we were able to find nothing, no fingerprints, no traces of anything at all" said Morales as this was odd and puzzling.

"So the killer is also the one who reported the crime, what a way to wash your hands clean" said Pete as he scoffed.

"But this makes no sense" said Morales.

"Most probably the killer knew that the body would be left unfound for weeks, months even, so he decided to cut our search short by reporting the body himself" said Pete as he scoffed, of all the things, there were just some people who were that crazy, but the question was why?? Why?? Natasha never did anything to anyone.

"Sorry to say Boss, but we have no clues" said Morales as he sighed.

"Oh we do have a clue" said Pete as he sighed and he opened the right drawer of his desk as he brought out a phone that was tightly secured in a clear bag as he held it in his hand.

"Do you want IT to have a crack at unlocking the phone?" asked Morales.

"No need" said Pete as he removed the phone from the bag.

"I will do it myself" said Pete as he switched on the phone.

"With all due respect Boss, I think you are getting too emotionally attached with this case" said Morales.

"You seemed to have been very close with the deceased, and that is not good for the rationality of this case, emotional attachment can lead to recklessness" said Morales.

"And since when did I ask for your opinion Morales?" asked Pete coldly as he looked at Morales, he did not ask for his opinion.

"Boss I…" said Morales.

"You what?" asked Pete coldly.

"You are not my boss, and you don't tell me what I can and cannot do" said Pete angrily.

"I am sorry Boss, please forgive me, but you cannot possibly work this case in this state" said Morales.

"In which state?? In which state am I exactly Morales?" asked Pete as he scoffed.

"Boss, you are not in the right state of mind right now" said Morales, sure Pete was his boss, but he was also his partner, and there was no way Pete could handle a case in this state, he would end up making some rash decisions.

"Morales, I am sure that you have more important work to do than to be here and giving me your unasked opinion" said Pete as he sighed coldly.

"Sorry Boss, I will take my leave now" said Morales as he had never seen Pete like this before, he was always so calm, cool and collected, but now he seemed rash and in anger, the victim really had to be very close to him for him to act this way.

"Better" said Pete as he went back to looking at the folder as Morales stood up.

"Sorry for disturbing you boss" said Morales before he turned around and he walked away as the door closed behind him.

"Ahh" said Pete as he hit his fist against his desk, it hurt, but not as much as his heart right now, he did not know if to frown or to cry, this was all just too much for him.

Pete tried to calm himself down by taking deep breaths, he opened his eyes and he picked up Natasha's phone from his desk as he switched it on… it was locked with a password, which meant that he had to figure out the password.

"Just what were you doing there in the first place Nat?" asked Pete to himself as he sighed, Morales was right, he was not in the right frame of mind to try to do this right now.

Pete just looked at the phone in his hand, when suddenly his own phone buzzed as he picked it up and he unlocked his phone as he read a message.

"Son of a…" said Pete as he could not believe what he was reading right now.

It was a text, from Dom?? Telling him how Uncle Larry had passed away?? Why was he only hearing of this now?? Just how much of a coward was Dom that he needed to tell him this through a text and not a call or why could he not have told him sooner.

"I…" said Pete as he sighed, he put back Natasha's phone in the clear bag, he put it back into his drawer as he stood up and he took his phone, he had no other choice than to go to the funeral now, even though he knew he would regret this, he never liked funerals, and not especially the one of his best friend.

…

Sadness… that was what filled everyone's hearts, this was a day that no one ever expecting, laying to rest, both Father and Daughter on the same day.

Everyone was dressed grimly in black, as there was silence, Margaret could not stop crying while her husband tried to console her, but even he himself was finding it hard, it was clear that this affected him, Natasha was like his own daughter, and even though she had made some mistakes in the past, she did not deserve to die like this.

Joy was crying as she held on tightly to a young black haired woman as the woman herself was crying, and Dom, he was crying as well, with regret written all over his face, and Lia was crying as Nine tried to console her.

Ernest was the one most affected by this, he kept on blaming himself.

Pete walked to where everyone was standing as he was dressed in black, he looked at the gravestones, as he looked away, he could not bring himself to see her like that, already in the ground.. gone forever.

Dom walked over to where Pete was as he composed himself.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" asked Pete as his voice was cracked.

"I couldn't… it would be better for you to be here" said Dom.

Pete scoffed as he closed his eyes and he took a deep breath, he was not here to fight, he was here to pay his final respects, he was sure that Natasha would not like him to fight here, so he would do as she wished.

"You know… this is all your fault" said Pete as he managed to calm himself.

"I know…" replied Dom sadly.