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Is this everything? There is still a slew of security footage that I have to sift through. Karma, huh? Do you believe yourself to be Karma? Do you believe you are giving some sort of Karmic justice to people? You don’t even know these people, do you? Then do you know what you are doing? Do you actually understand the consequences of your actions? Do you understand your actions and their ramifications? What are your motives? Goals? What is your purpose? They are using relatively public information, so there is some level of research being done. But how extensive? There hasn’t been a death since Zoe. What are you waiting for?

This is looking like the time you find a 1,000 piece puzzle and think it’s a straightforward solution. Then you realize you only have the corner pieces laid out, but not the center. What am I missing then-

-Chills. I seize. Someone’s hand is on my shoulder. I reach for their hand.

“Be careful. This might look kinky,” Wolf remarks.

“I - sorry - was lost in thought,” I’ve completely fumbled every single word.

“Mhm, I see thought, lost in thought, or lost in your own head?” she ask handing coffee, “I unfortunately cannot punch the bad dreams away.”

“I am aware,” I respond, accepting the coffee, “I did, in fact, sleep.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I believe you,”

“You don’t,”

“Not at all. What do you nap, staring at your tablet with longing eyes?”

“Yes, in fact I did,”

She smirks, “Oo. The plot thickens. Secret love affair. Is it the data that gets you hot and bothered or putting the puzzle pieces together?”

Am I going red?

“I,” pausing, “This. We’re. Let’s keep this professional. You’re um. This is forward.”

“That’s a lot of words, for a lot of stuttering ,” she smirks while sitting on the couch in front of me, “Is this the briefing for the Oakside Police Department then, the one you promised our dear friend Florian Lysander you’d have by the morning?”

“Why say it like that?”

“I’m being professional now,”

“After you,” do I say it or put it aside, “Yes, it is the information that I promised Lysander this morning. Doing a more thorough overview of the case with the team he has assembled. I wish I had gathered more pieces before working in a team, though I suppose I cannot change that now. After you punched out the Director.”

“He was a vulgar man, and I was very much in my legal right,”

“I was trying to gather data,”

“And I was doing very much my job, yep me, Wolf the Professional,”

“I didn’t mean,” I’ve done it again, haven’t I?

“In all seriousness,” she drops the smile, and the glint in her eyes fades to seriousness. Not her usual cheekiness, “Did you actually get any sleep last night?”

I did. Some, I mean she wouldn’t approve of the amount of sleep I actually got. There are questions that haven’t been answered, and obviously I would never get them in a day of investigation. There are simply things that are bothering me about this case. And then there is the matter of her and I-maybe now isn’t the time to mix that in while working on a case. We should unpack that afterwards, I think.

Then again, it isn’t this case. I haven’t had an undisturbed sleep since-

“Yes,” I respond.

She seems skeptical, “You’re going to make me kill over.”

“No one said you had to sleep only for two hours,”

Attempting to juggling the coffee cup and the tablet in both hands, not my smartest decision. The tablet misses the edge of the coffee table, landing with an exhausted smack. Wolf stares at me, “Are you okay?”

“I need better hands,” I laugh.

“Do you need a handy-woman for now?” she asks, getting off the couch, leaning over to pick the tablet over.

“Is the screen good?”

“Wouldn’t that be a weird intervention from the universe if it did? Just before a big briefing with the Oakside Police,” she flips it over, “Looks good. All clear.”

“We should probably inform security we’re leaving the hotel,”

She nods with a small smile, “Just promise you’ll take a nap at some point?”

“Promise,”