Chapter 3. The Man in the Shadows

Amara wasn’t so shocked about this, but also didn’t like the idea, “Me? What is there to investigate, it is likely a poison or d**g that was distributed. The forensics should test them out first,” she suggested.

“Yes, but you have to go to the scene to see for yourself, find out clues,” Rohan said.

“I know, but I still have a murder case I am working on, If I work with this I will be killed off from stress, there are other detectives out there, why me all the time” The last statement came out of Amara’s mouth like a grunt.

Samantha let out a chuckle, “It’s because you are the best of the best.”

Rohan nodded his head in agreement, and they both escorted Amara to the President’s office.

Rohan and Samantha waited for Amara outside the office. After an hour, she came out of the office looking distraught. They rushed to her, “Are you alright?” Samantha asked and Amara nodded.

“My previous case was given out to someone else to continue from where I stopped, I am to hand in my reports soon.”

“What about this case?” Samantha asked.

“I’ll be working on it for now, he’ll send someone to me later on,” Amara explained.

“At least you won’t be alone,” Rohan pointed out and Amara shrugged.

“Your first time working with someone right?” Rohan asked.

“Yes,” Amara answered.

“Don’t worry, I am sure you will find it interesting,” Samantha reassured Amara, but Rohan clicked his tongue at her.

“Hey, Sam, you know that Detective Morgan is a lone wolf, she will definitely not find it interesting. Especially if the second person is just as good as her,” he said, but Samantha hit his head playfully.

“Lone wolf? She is just hardworking that’s all, no need to give her a title,” she said.

As the two finished their argument about whether Amara would like having a partner or not, they turned around to find out that Amara was already gone. They ran off to look for her.

Amara fetched all her reports of her previous case and was about to leave when something caught her eyes. She turned back to stare at the window. The reporters and journalists were still gathered there, but one person stood out. He stood with his hands in his pockets and face looking directly at Amara, although he wore a black hoodie and the hood covered his face so well that all Amara could see was darkness. She could feel his eyes on her, she could tell that this person had no good intention at all, and the part of him looking straight at her was deeply worrying. She decided to shake it off and quickly left the office.

Although she was out of the unknown man’s sight, she could still feel his eyes on her, like she was being watched by someone or rather something. It was maddening. Amara was used to this kind of sensation when she dealt with gangsters’ cases in Eastside Silverwood, but this was different. It was almost like a feeling straight out of a horror movie.

After walking for a while, she began to feel his presence getting closer and closer. She felt the urge to start running, but she could not dare to run around in the organization. She decided to take the elevator to the fifth floor, the president office’s floor. Amara’s office was on the third floor, so she usually used the stairs to the President’s office or any other office below the sixth floor, but she decided to use the elevator because of the man in hood after her.

She could not really tell if he was after her, but nothing seemed right with him. As the elevator opened, her eyes widened as she saw the man standing inside the elevator. It was just him, and him alone. If she got into the elevator, it would be him and her.

As fast as the speed of lightening, Amara turned around and ran all the way to the fifth floor, entering the President’s office and slamming it shut, making a loud noise.

Amara stood at the door, hands on her chest, panting profusely. After about a minute of silence in the room, she regained her composure and walked towards the President’s table. As expected, he held a disappointed look on his face.

“Sorry President, a reporter was bothering me so I had to run up here to avoid him,” Amara lied to ease the air between her and the president.

“Why did you not just shout for the security?” The President asked, his tone still held a little bit of anger.

“I forgot about that, my mistake, forgive me,” Amara pleaded and the President nodded. It was hard for him to get angry at his best detective.

“Good thing you came just in time. Have a seat let me introduce you to the detective you will be working with in this case,” the President said. It was then Amara noticed that there was a third person in the room. It was a gentleman. He didn’t turn back once to glance at Amara since she badged into the room unannounced. He just sat still and stared ahead.

The idea of having a partner troubled Amara, but what actually troubled her was that someone was the man in the hood that had been following her around and scaring her with his presence. She couldn’t be so sure, but as long as the President was there, she had nothing to be scared of. She was of course, fearless and had dealt with a lot of dangerous cases, why could the man in hood be any different.

She walked slowly to the desk and sat down next to him. Without glancing at him, she neatly placed her reports on the desk.

“My report on the Rick Valley’s case,” she said.

The President smiled, “Good, alright, Amara this is Detective Ethan Blackwood, he came all the way from Eastside Silverwood for the case.”

“Eastside Silverwood?” Amara called and turned to stare at the gentleman beside her, then back at the President, “There are Detectives in Eastside Silverwood?”

The President nodded, but Amara clearly wasn’t happy with this.

She turned again to give the man beside her another look. To her surprise, he was quite the gentleman, handsome and elegant, so much that it looked unreal. His shoulder length hair was packed into a tail. His eyes were glistening grey. You could almost get lost in them, but he stared ahead strictly without once taking a glance at Amara. His lips pink. He definitely looked like the gym was his everyday life.

Amara shook her head, “I don’t believe it.”

“What?” the President asked.

“I don’t believe it” she repeated.

“Believe what?”

“That he is a detective from the Eastside, I mean, look at him, that place is filled with gangs and violence and I am a number one detective when it comes to their cases. If he is so good that he is qualified for this, why didn’t he help his side with the violence, or rather, why didn’t I notice him during my time in Eastside Silverwood?” Amara questioned, followed by an abrupt silence.

The President looked like he was lost, confused and trying to remember something, but a strange voice cut through the silence.

“It is wrong to go around boosting about how good you are.”

The man beside her finally spoke, his voice was unreal, deep, soothing, although it was calm and warm, and it still had so much seriousness and authority. Almost like if he uses that tone on a whole congregation, he could easily brainwash and hypnotize them. He said this without looking once at the lady beside him.

Amara felt like she had being hit hard in the heart, she hated when people said that to her, that she boosted and carried herself with pride and arrogance because of how perfect she was, but this man said it calmly with so much elegance and it annoyed her even more. She instantly generated a dislike for the man beside her. He did not give her a glance at all, almost like she was not worthy of his glance.

“Oh Detective Blackwood, this is Detective Amara Morgan…” the President called, eager to break the eerie atmosphere that had just been formed between Amara Morgan and Ethan Blackwood “…she is indeed a perfect person—”

“No one is perfect,” Ethan cut the president short in his words with the same tone and an indifferent face, making Amara grip the hand of her seat tightly that her knuckles cracked.

The President looked from Amara to Ethan, the two clearly were not fond of each other, he did not know what to do about it, but he smiled, “since Detective Morgan have submitted her report on Rick Valley, you two can commerce this case now. The team is waiting for you at Farrow Street Westside Silverwood.”

They both nodded and stood up to leave. Ethan left first while Amara looked back at the President, he was still smiling at them so much that it started to creep her out. She exited the office and stood by the corridor. She had completely forgotten about the hooded man earlier, what bothered her was her so-called partner, Ethan Blackwood. The one person she did not want to work with at all, but she had no other choice. She walked back to her office to get her things thinking if her day was going to get better or worse.