Chapter 4: A Night at the Bar
After arriving at the bar, Caspian and Abby headed towards the private room Grace had told them to go to.
As Caspian opened the door, he saw his mother lounging while drinking a glass of wine. Caspian and Abby then entered the room and sat down while Caspian spoke, "Fancy drink, mom."
"Haha, I needed some wine. It's much better than drinking booze," Grace said as she sipped on the glass. "Hello, Abby! It's been quite a while since I talked with you! A couple of years, I think?"
"Yeah, about that time frame. How are you, Miss Grace?" Abby happily responded. She admired Grace and thought of her as her role model. Caspian couldn't help but chuckle after seeing Abby's fangirling face.
"I'm doing pretty well; I've been really busy, especially chasing after that murderer on the loose," Grace said as she sipped her wine. "How about you?"
"I'm doing pretty well myself, haha. It's been quite eventful in this city lately," Abby replied.
"Mom, after working for so long, don't you think you've lost your touch with booze? I bet you'd get knocked out with a couple of glasses," Caspian then decided to cut off their conversation and said to lighten the awkward mood.
"Ha, you think, kiddo. You'd probably get knocked out before me."
"I'll take that as a challenge," Caspian laughed as he stood up.
"I don't think that's a good idea, Caspian. You'll probably suffer from a severe hangover while I'm still fine," Grace laughed as she crossed her legs. "But if you're challenging me to a drink-off, I accept. No regrets if you lose."
"We'll see. I'll go get us some drinks," Caspian headed out of the room, grabbed a couple bottles of beer, and headed back. He then slammed the bottles onto the table while smiling widely.
"Are you joining, Abby?" Caspian looked at Abby and asked.
Abby laughed loudly as she said, "I'd rather not get absolutely hammered, thank you very much. If that's your guilty pleasure, go for it."
"How can you insult me so much in two sentences," Caspian said with a glare at Abby. Abby just leaned back as she said, "Don't worry, I'll be carrying you home if you get knocked out."
"Fuck you, fangirl."
"Your mom is cool."
"Aw, thank you, Abby," Grace said with a smile. She then turned her head to face Caspian while saying, "So, are we gonna drink straight from the bottle?"
"Of course."
Their drink-off finally began. Bottles upon beer bottles were completely drunk until not a single drop was left. Because of that, Abby had to get more drinks since the two still hadn't finished. Caspian and Grace both had flushed faces as they finished the last bottle. After that, they both slammed the bottle down.
"Seeee…! I told you…. You loost… your touuuu…ck," Caspian fell on Abby's lap, completely unconscious.
"Haha, I'm still not drunk, you brat," Grace had the widest smile on her face. She hadn't had that much fun in years. All she faced were cases after cases, simply tiring her out. "Abby, let's take him home."
Abby finished drinking the glass she was holding as she pinched Caspian's cheek, saying, "You look kinda cute asleep."
"Abby?" Grace had a stern look.
Abby laughed as she hung Caspian's arm over her neck. "Let's go, cap."
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Abby drove Caspian's car and drove it to his apartment. After that, Abby and Grace carried Caspian inside his bedroom and laid him on the bed.
"Good to see Caspian's eating well," Grace said with a caring smile while caressing her son's face. She absolutely missed him, but the person they were dealing with… was much trickier than they imagined. Thinking about that caused a frown to appear on Grace's face.
Seeing that Grace was enjoying her reunion with her son, Abby decided to leave the room. But before she could leave, Grace called out, "Are you leaving?"
"Yeah, I was about to go to my apartment. It's only a couple minutes away from here," Abby replied while turning back.
Grace smiled as she said, "You've really fallen head over heels, huh."
This caused Abby's face to turn red from embarrassment as she turned away. Grace had a light smile on her face as she said, "That's not something to be embarrassed about. Just remember to—"
Abby cut her off as she said, "Yeah, I know. Wait until this shit is over."
Grace had a wry smile on her face as she spoke, "You're a lot more expressive than before. That's good. I'd rather see this than the old expressionless you."
Abby smiled as she left the apartment and headed to her apartment.
Grace hugged her son tightly as he slept, tears flowing from her eyes. She then whispered, "Soon, this meaningless shit will end…. The bastards who killed your father… I'll fucking kill them."
She wiped her tears as she slept beside Caspian.
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As Caspian woke up, he had a severe headache. "Fuck, I shouldn't have drank that much."
He sat down, faced the wall for a minute, and stood up with a sigh. Caspian felt absolutely lazy today, but he couldn't just laze around for the day. He immediately headed to the kitchen and saw some food on the table and a note on the side.
He picked up the note and read it.
[Son, it was nice spending time with you. I loved every second of it, even if you got knocked out by drinking. After I wrap this mess of a case up, we can spend some time together, okay? I prepared some food for your hangover. You better get going, son. I hope to see you soon.
Love,
Mom]
Caspian simply smiled as he set the note aside and started eating the food with a smile. He then drank a cup of coffee and took a quick shower. Looking at the time, he realized it was already 8 in the morning, causing him to have a wry smile.
He immediately left as he headed to the station. Caspian already prepared a plan to do a secret investigation despite being ordered to drop the case. But before he could leave, someone suddenly called him. He peeked at his phone and saw it was Abby.
He answered the call, and Abby immediately said, "Hey, I left my car at the station; pick me up."
"Oh, right, I almost forgot," Caspian laughed as he ended the call.
He then drove to Abby's apartment, picked her up, and headed toward the station. As Caspian drove, he asked Abby, "We're going to the witness today, right?"
"So… we're actually doing this?" Abby couldn't help but be a bit nervous. They had never really done something that could get them in big trouble.
"Yeah…." Caspian was also nervous. He didn't know what came to him when he decided to go against orders and do an investigation all on his own.
"Okay… I'm with you all the way," Abby said with a smile. Caspian smiled back at her, causing her to turn her head to look out the window with a slight pink tinge on her face.
As they arrived at the station, Caspian added, "By the way, Doctor Bell, Scarlet, said that she'll also help us."
"Oh? When did you get so close to her to call her by her first name?" Abby asked with a playful grin.
"We're not really that close, but she said we shouldn't talk all that formally," Caspian got out of the car and fixed his appearance.
"I mean, I get her. You talk waaay too formally sometimes," Abby giggled as she also got out of the car. "Also, when will you get a haircut?"
"When I have time," Caspian smiled wryly as they entered the station to enter their names on the log.
"I'll finish some paperwork first, then we'll go."
"Good, that'll also be my time to patrol, so the schedule fits."
As soon as their conversation ended, Caspian entered his office and started to do his work. Before he could finish, a knock on the door was heard. A familiar figure then entered the room; it was the officer who he had caught watching porn on duty.
"Um… detective, can I get my phone back?" The young officer asked.
Caspian realized that he had forgotten to return the phone yesterday, so he apologized. But before he gave the phone, he warned the officer, "Don't do that shit again, please. Next time, I'd either have to break your phone or report you to the captain and get your ass booted."
"Sorry, sir, it won't happen again!" The officer saluted as he left Caspian's office. He knew that Caspian was serious, so he shut his phone down and returned to his post.
Caspian wrapped up his work and got ready to head to the victim. As soon as he finished, Abby entered the room and said, "You ready?"
"Yeah, let's go. Let's make sure that no one finds out about this," Caspian said as he and Abby left the station.
They quickly headed toward the witness's house, ensuring they were ready whether they got useful information or none. Most of the time, it would be the latter, so they didn't get their hopes up.
Abby then parked the car near the witness's house, and they went and knocked on her door.
"Who's there?" a voice came from beyond the door.
"Excuse us, ma'am, we're the police. We would like to ask a few questions about the recent murder."