With the evidence, Liam was going behind bars for a long time. So, a happy ending for everyone he tried to blackmail. Not so happy for Amy and Boyle since they had to file reports and considering the amount of footage, drives and other evidence they discovered at the second apartment...
Well, both of them were very busy.
Ray entered the evidence room with a smoothie bottle for Rosa, where Rosa, Hitchcock, and Scully were entering the old files into the server.
Rosa noticed the smoothie bottle immediately. Without a word, she reached out and snatched it from Ray's hand.
"Give it to me," she said.
Ray raised an eyebrow. "You're welcome?"
She didn't respond. She just opened the cap and chugged the entire thing in one go, finishing it in less than ten seconds.
Scully blinked. "Hey! What about us?"
Hitchcock frowned. "Yeah, did you bring us anything?"
Ray looked at both of them and then at the empty chip packs in the bin and the pizza box on the side of the desk. "Do I look like Postmates to you?"
Scully mumbled, "I'd tip."
Rosa slammed the empty bottle on the table and let out a satisfied sigh. "That's better. I've been staring at this screen for hours straight while listening to these two arguing nonstop about Doritos and pizza."
"We decided to call it Doritzza," Scully said with a proud expression.
"Pizza and Ranch Doritos. We are gonna try that tonight," Hitchcock said with a smiling nod.
"Arg!" Rosa groaned in disgust.
Ray glanced at the monitors. Rosa's progress bar showed 30% completed. Hitchcock and Scully's bars, however, hovered around a pathetic 1%.
"Wow," Ray said. "So, Rosa's carrying the team again."
Rosa smirked. "Always."
Scully crossed his arms. "Hey, it's not a race. I like to make sure every file is entered correctly."
Hitchcock nodded in agreement. "Yeah, precision over speed."
Ray leaned over and looked at Scully's screen. The file name read 'Old_Case_Stuff_FINAL_Final_REAL_ThisOne'.
"Uh-huh," Ray said flatly. "You renamed one file in four hours?"
Scully looked defensive. "It's a very important file!"
Rosa rolled her eyes. "You guys are hopeless."
Hitchcock tried to defend himself. "We're just pacing ourselves. It's called efficiency through patience."
Ray shook his head. "It's called doing nothing."
Scully shrugged. "Tomato, tomahto."
"Oh, oh, I got a good idea. How about we add some cherry tomatoes to the pizza?" Hitchcock said as if he had just discovered a secret recipe.
"I think you are onto something, Hitchcock," Scully said after thinking for a bit.
The evidence room door opened, and Amy walked in, carrying a massive stack of folders that looked ready to collapse. Boyle followed behind her with a USB drive hanging from a lanyard around his neck like it was a gold medal.
Amy sighed. "We're officially drowning in evidence. I've written so many reports, my hand is developing abs."
Boyle groaned. "I've been labeling footage folders for hours. If I see one more file named 'HiddenCam_Storage_04', I might scream. Oh my god! I think we are losing our sanity, Amy."
Rosa leaned back in her chair. "Welcome to my world."
Amy dropped the folders on the table. "Rosa, I know you've been busy and enduring two kids, but please, I need you to help me sort through the hard drive logs." She then looked toward the foodies. "Scully, Hitchcock... just try not to delete anything this time."
Scully raised a finger. "That happened one time. There was a drop of tandoori mayo on the key. Couldn't let it go to waste."
Hitchcock corrected him. "Twice." Then he looked at Amy. "And for the record, we don't waste food."
Amy rubbed her temples. "Great."
Ray smirked. "I think I'll go before the paperwork avalanche hits."
Rosa shot him a look. "Leave another smoothie next time."
Ray nodded. "You got it, boss." He turned to go, then looked at Scully and Hitchcock. "Try to reach at least 2% before the end of the day, alright?"
Scully looked at his monitor and said proudly, "Already at 1.3%."
Hitchcock raised his coffee cup. "Progress!"
Amy muttered under her breath, "Must finish these before the Captain arrives from his meeting. I can't let him down." She looked at Ray. "Oh, Ray, can you please go to Emma's address and tell her it's safe and we caught the perp?"
"Yeah, I'll give her the good news," Ray said. Then he leaned over to Rosa and they kissed. It was a little kiss.
"Oh, that's so sweet," Boyle said as he took out his phone. "Kiss again. I want to capture this scene for your wedding cards."
Both Rosa and Ray gave him death glares.
"Or, maybe not," Boyle quickly backed down, sensing the danger.
...
[Emma's new address]
Ray stood in front of the apartment door and took a deep breath. "Okay, Ray. This is it. Time to face your past and act surprised. Ah crap! Hopefully, she won't remember me. I mean, like it was just school days. There is no way she'd remember me." He pressed the doorbell once.
Footsteps approached. A few seconds later, the door opened.
Emma—or rather, Emily Jean—stood there. Her hair was loose, her expression tired, and she was wearing a pink sweater and black shorts. For a heartbeat, they both froze.
"You," she said, her finger pointing at him.
'Fuck! She does remember me.' Ray blinked once, pointing back. "You."
The word hung in the air, heavy with surprise and a dozen unspoken memories. It was like deja vu.
The noise of the city faded.
[Flashback]
The warm light of the old school library. Dust particles are floating in the air between tall shelves. A younger Emily sat at the corner table, her hands clasped tightly around a worn paperback, trying to steady her breathing. The quiet was her refuge from the noise of classmates and expectations. Well, the thing is, she suffered from panic attacks and was suffering from anxiety. So, her classmates stayed away from her. She was a loner.
Across the room, a boy with neat handwriting and a furrowed brow scribbled equations into a notebook. Raymond White. Everyone else thought he was strange—too quiet, smart, and serious. So, they stayed out of his way. And just like Emily, he was also a loner. But Emily had noticed how he always returned the books exactly where they belonged, how he always carried an extra pen even though he never lent it out.
One day, she had dropped her pencil. He had picked it up, set it neatly beside her, and said, "Good choice." His eyes had flicked to the book she was reading. "Pride and Prejudice. A classic."
She had smiled for the first time in days. "You've read it?"
"Yeah! I remember every single word," he said without looking up from his notes.
That was how it started. Small conversations between study sessions. Silent company on long afternoons and lunch. He noticed when she began to breathe easier around him. She noticed how he listened without judgment when her hands shook.
Weeks became months. They became friends. Two quiet souls orbiting the same still space.
At the junior prom, she wore a soft blue dress and laughed nervously as he handed her a single white rose. They danced awkwardly but smiled the whole time. For once, Emily didn't feel invisible.
But the following year, just days before senior prom, Ray was gone. No note or call. Just a rumor that he had enlisted. She had waited by the school gates during the prom night, dress pressed and hair pinned, until the music faded in the distance. Then she left, and soon after, her family moved away.
[Present]
They stood in the doorway, the air between them heavy with recognition and silence.
Emily exhaled slowly, the corners of her lips curling into something between disbelief and memory. "You're a cop."
Ray nodded. "And you're the victim I was sent to check on."
Her expression softened just a fraction. "Life's got a sense of humor."
"Yeah," he said. "Guess it does."
"I hope you've prepared your excuses by now?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Would you believe me if I said the football team planned to roofie your drink and take advantage of you, and I fought them and kicked their asses and in the process, got my ass handled to me?" Ray said after a sigh.
Emma blinked, trying to process what he'd just said. Her eyes softened, the sharpness fading into realization. "Wait... is that why the football team got arrested that week? They said it was for a fight off-campus, but no one knew who started it."
Ray rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, that was me. They were waiting for you in the alley near the small cafe, just outside the school. I overheard them talking. I tried to scare them off, but things got... messy."
Her lips parted slightly. But she didn't say anything.
Ray gave a half-smile. "I just wanted to make sure they couldn't hurt you. One of them tried to swing at me, so..." He shrugged. "Self-defense. The rest is history."
Emma leaned against the doorframe, arms crossing as she studied him. "You disappeared because you were protecting me."
He nodded slowly. "Didn't feel like much of a hero back then. I don't want to admit it, but I only broke three noses and after that... they beat the shit out of me before a patrol cop spotted us."
Her gaze softened further, the anger melting into something bittersweet.
"I tried to call," he said quietly. "You wouldn't answer my calls. I thought you hated me. And I was in the hospital, so I couldn't visit you. When I got better, I went to school and saw your name disappear from the school roster. I figured you wanted to forget everything. But I still went to your home and you weren't there."
"I should've picked up the call," She said softly.
"Yeah, you should've picked up the call," He said.
There was a long silence.
Emma finally sighed and stepped aside. "You'd better come in before my neighbors start filming us. I've had enough cameras in my life lately."
Ray chuckled lightly. "Fair point."
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[POWERSTONES AND REVIEWS PLS]
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[24 advance chs] [No double billing.]
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