JONATHAN'S POV

I entered the police station and greeted the officers on duty. Not to exaggerate, but I knew every single officer that had worked in this branch for the past three years or less. It wasn't a surprise, though; I had become a regular face that everyone around knew, with how often I visited.

"Hey, man." I greeted Fred, one of the officers on duty that evening and the officer who had been in charge of Ethan's death, and he looked up in surprise, having been bent down to a case file. He quickly closed the file and stood up.

"Hey, man. How are you doing? Business booming as always?" He asked, shaking my hand, and I laughed and sat in an empty chair in front of his desk. He sat down, and I saw the nervous glance he tried to hide.

"Of course. You know me. Anything new for me?" I asked, ignoring the nerves; all police officers had every reason to be nervous, and he shook his head.

"Since the last time we saw you, which was two weeks ago, there was nothing new. Don't you think there's nothing else you can do? There's no new thing that has happened, and you know me, I've not stopped checking." He entreated.

I smiled and stood up, not feeling the smile at all. "I understand your concern, but it's very strange. Can I see the files one more time?"

He sighed. "There's nothing new there. How many times have you seen it? You will wear it out."

I ignored him, and he, knowing there was no use arguing with me, went into the storage where they kept the files and brought everything on Ethan for me. This had become a routine. I was still strong in my belief that there had been a mistake. There was no way Ethan would have done that to himself. Most people, when depressed, would fake it for people that were around them, but I was certain, and I knew Ethan almost as much as I knew myself. There was no way he had to have been going through anything that would have pushed him to take that kind of decision. Plus, no matter how much they had checked, there had been no will left behind, but not surprisingly, it had been closed quickly and ruled a suicide case. Every other thing aligned, and maybe, he hadn't had the will to write a will (Pun intended)

I opened the files, seeing the pictures of the apartment as well as the body as it was when the police had found it. I went through the file again, trying to see if there was anything I could have missed in all the times I'd been going through it. I'd gone through my last conversation with Ethan in my head multiple times as well as all the reports on his death, but no matter how much I searched, there was nothing new that came to mind.

I tapped on the desk, where Fred was doing his own thing. "How about what I asked you to look for?"

He sighed and stood up, and after searching a cupboard and confirming no other person was paying attention to us, he gave me a flash drive. "This isn't exactly legal, you know. You can only take it out to your car and check it, but nothing more than that."

I smirked and collected the flash. I'd repeatedly looked for a CCTV recording or something closer of the house, but Ethan had unfortunately hated cameras, and there had been no recording of the day that showed his house from the other houses that had it. I'd then, luckily, discovered a few weeks ago that there had been a car near the house with a dashcam that possibly had recorded what had happened that day. Not surprisingly, though, the man wasn't willing to hand over the dashcam to me since he had been there cheating on his wife, and she was now looking for proof for divorce and to request all his assets. Not my business, but I'd found that all when I'd been searching for him to know how best to approach him.

No matter how much money I offered, he had refused to budge, believing I was a spy from his wife, and so I'd done the next best thing I could, sent the cops to request it, or else he would be in trouble for being in the way of an investigation. What civilian could say no to that, especially not one that was very close to a lawsuit from his wife filing abuse?

"Thank you. Did you go through it?"

Annoyance flashed through Fred's face. "Didn't get the chance to. I've been packed with three rapes, four robberies, and a child kidnapping within the space of forty-eight hours. I'm sorry I don't have time for a case that has been closed for a few years now. Look, a word of advice. Why not let your friend rest in peace rather than digging and digging through only to find nothing? There's no way you will find whatever you're looking for."

I narrowed my eyes. That statement had been said very confidently. "What do you mean by that?"

He sighed. "I just mean that we've done everything we can, even more than necessary, but you're still unable to let it go. I've allowed you for years to have your own say, but it's been years. I think it's time you accept it now."

I forced a smile. "Thanks for the advice." I closed the file and grabbed the flash drive. "Thanks for this as well. I'll go through it and return it. I'll also send some coffee tomorrow. Thanks for your service." I said and walked out of the station. Something had obviously gone wrong between the last time I'd arrived and now.

I went to my car, unlocked it, and got in, staring at the flash drive in my hand like it was a bomb about to detonate. I grabbed my system from my bag and turned it on, connecting the flash to it. The files on the flash drive flickered on the laptop screen and went off immediately, and I frowned, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Thankfully, this wasn't my work system or the one I used to do my investigations, so there wasn't that much risk if it was a virus problem.

I disconnected the flash and went back into the station, looking around for Fred, who was no longer in front. I went to another officer who nodded at me, knowing who I was looking for, and went towards the back. In less than twenty seconds, they were both out. The other officer stared at me in curiosity as he went back to his seat, and Fred put his phone into his pocket and walked towards me.

"Is anything wrong?" Fred asked, curious, and I handed the flash to him.

"Did you copy the dashcam videos here, or was this the file he gave you?" Fred collected the flash drive.

"I copied it. Is there nothing on it?"

"Where is the original?" I asked, and he shook his head, a frown on his face.

"We can't give you that. We've returned it to the owner, and we can't go back to collect it." He shrugged. "Perhaps the flash had been damaged before I used it. I'll go through it on my end, and if I'm able to retrieve it, I'll let you know." He replied and moved to his desk.

I followed him, suppressing my fury. How could he mess this up? "When will you do that?"

He shrugged. "I'm currently packed with work, so definitely not anytime soon. When I get time, I'll let you know." He noticed my sour expression. "Like I said, it's a cold case, and there are various new cases daily that are too much for us. I'll get back to you when I'm able to focus on it. I understand how important this is to you, but if I bent myself over for everyone that decides not to believe what a case has been closed as, I'll not be here now."

If he was trying to gain pity, he was with the wrong person. Before he'd agreed to work with me and given ear to my doubt, it had taken almost a year. It had not happened by bribing him, but I'd shown him some inconsistencies in the file, and when that didn't work, I'd momentarily become a part of the force by helping out in their investigations. I had the money and influence they needed to back them up when they were going on dangerous investigations, as well as when they didn't feel convinced about a case their higher authorities had ordered them to drop. When he had seen how determined I was, he had decided to work with me, but the thing that had sealed the deal was the fact that I had renovated their station as a community good as well as made more officers apply to that office.

"How about I try to figure out what went wrong and see if I'm able to restore the flash?" I asked him, trying to compromise with him.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Carter, that also isn't accepted. It's an official document that hasn't been documented yet. Do you know how much trouble I could get into if I did that? I'm sorry, but I rather love my job." His phone started ringing, and he threw a glance of annoyance towards his pocket, removed the phone, and his expression changed.

"I have to take this call. I'll hold the flash for now." With that, he left.

I scoffed and went back to my car, thinking of what else I could do. I turned on the car and started the drive home. It was time to focus on the mess that had happened earlier in the evening. How exactly had Lucas known about Ethan? Everything about it had been deleted from the internet. And how much exactly did Danielle know? Had I underestimated her? No way to know until I asked.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.