A r a k h i i n

“I don’t know Sebastian, maybe it’s time that you put yourself out there.” The cold mid-January air breezed past the two partners. It had been three years since Mobius, Sebastian took the time to recover from the surreal experience of both Beacon Mental Hospital and Union. Most of those three years were spent with Lily, helping her recuperate from whatever trauma she may had experience and help her prepare to adjust to a new life without Myra. Sebastian had also ceased his drinking habit and re-applied as a Private Investigator at KCPD, his old colleagues were more than happy to have him back. “I’m not forcing you, I just don’t think that going to work and hanging out with Lily 24/7 is healthy for both of you. You need a social life Sebastian.”

“You’re starting to sound like my mother.”

“Someone has to say it. Plus, I think a mother-figure is what the two of you really need right now.”

“Whatever happened to Joseph, Kidman?”

“We’re still looking into it. We’ve also made some discoveries relating to Leslie, but not enough evidence to go on so we’re keeping an eye on it.”

“Leslie? So it wasn’t just…”

“Like I said, we don’t have solid proof that he’s out there, but we’re keeping an eye out.” Kidman stopped in her tracks. Sebastian looked up to see that they were outside the police station “I’ll see you around Sebastian, take care.” With that she entered her car which was parked just outside and drove off leaving Sebastian under a single frosted lamp by the sidewalk.

Upon entering his dimly lit office, Sebastian hanged his old coat by the wooden coat rack at the corner closest to the only door in the room. The Detective chuckled at how his office looked like those typical film noir detective offices -a heavy wooden table slightly on the middle of the room, metallic cabinets lined against one side of the wall, large escape window with those annoying wooden blinds, papers everywhere-. Sebastian picked up his cell and called his daughter “Hey sweetie, you’ve finished your homework?”

“Yes Dad!” giggled Lily, despite it being over three years, Sebastian could still hardly believe that he could hear his little girl laugh again. Sebastian smiled and walked over to his desk “have you eaten dinner yet?”

“Yep! Mrs. Greta made spaghetti today then let me have ice cream for desserts.” Mrs. Greta was their next door neighbour, a sweet old woman who had no one left to take care of, her husband died a couple of months before the Castellanos moved in. “Alright, make sure you help Mrs. Greta clean up. I’ll be home by 11:30 so don’t wait up. I love you sweetheart…”

“I love you too daddy!” The phone clicked, Sebastian was once again alone in the dim office. With four hours left, he decided to finish up the reports as well as begin investigating his next assignment. Despite being the most talented detective in the team, Castellanos was assigned back to missing cases and catching paedophiles. “Detective Castellanos, my wife had been really sick these past couple of days and I was wondering whether you’d like to take on my assignment.” Another Private Investigator of the agency, P.I. Rick, a good man but not focused on his work. “I don’t know Rick, I kinda got my hands full at the moment-”

“It’s a murder case.” Sebastian’s ears pricked, he looked up from his workload and stared at the slightly chubby man. “Go on.”

Five days ago, a husband and daughter were brutally murdered, the man was stabbed multiple times on the chest as he prevented the murderer from reaching their daughter. The wife’s whereabouts are currently unknown, but undoubtedly, she was the main suspect. Sebastian stroked Lily’s soft black hair as she dozed sweetly through another peaceful night, Sebastian always had the urge to check on Lily, hoping to this day that this was not a dream. Before leaving his daughter’s room, he’d give her a quick peck on the forehead, tuck her in, close the light, then the door. Sebastian thanked Mrs. Greta for taking care of Lily, the old lady didn’t ask for anything but the Detective insisted on paying her for her time. Finally alone, Sebastian took a hot shower, the hot water running down his well-toned body helped him separate his consciousness from the cold pouring of rain and blood from Stem and Union, however, he could not remove the piercing gaze of Ruvik every time he closed his eyes. Breathing deeply, he looked towards the shower caddy where he’d leave his full-revolver when he bathed, ‘Need to get my mind off him’ thought Sebastian. Getting off the shower, Sebastian blow-dried his black hair, then he picked up a razor and brought it close to his beard. He stopped. He sets down the razor then checked out his beard “Doesn’t look too bad, maybe a little trim?” he said to himself.

In bed, Sebastian flipped through the files his colleague gave him, all background checks for each victim and suspect had been taken, contacts of witnesses and other important people were included, Sebastian rubbed his temples and sighed, there was barely any investigation done on the assignment. ‘I need to go visit the crime scene tomorrow, check with the pathologist, check with scheduled appointments with eyewitnesses.’ Sebastian set aside the documents at the end table then lied down slowly falling deep into slumber, unfortunately, tonight the nightmares were stronger.

“Detective Castellanos, why am I not surprised to see you here.” Detective Hansen stopped speaking to a forensic and walked up to the 43 year old man. Detective Hansen was that one douchebag that one workplace always had to have, he’s a great bad cop, and honestly that’s all. Sebastian glared at Hansen “You should be happy, that means you’ll be able to spend more time with Lacy Winters before coming home to your wife.” With a chuckle, Sebastian pushed past the man and headed straight to the living room. After collecting data and speaking to each personnel in the room, Castellanos was able to deduce that:

At 9:45pm, the child had retreated into her room after witnessing her mother stab the husband with a chef’s knife three times to the abdomen, twice on the neck. The father attempted to disarm the mother but died within 8 minutes due to asphyxiation. Mother easily went inside the girl’s bedroom as there were no locks, girl was hiding underneath the bed. At this time, neighbours have contacted the police. The girl unfortunately died due to blood loss as she was stabbed multiple times on the chest. By the time the police arrived on the scene, the wife had fled on foot with the murder weapon. As of now, there had been no reports of the woman and search will continue until case is either closed or busted.

Sebastian returned to his car and began to type up his report ‘Have a new case today.’ he texted Kidman.

‘Already? I thought you were demoted to searching for lost kitties?’

‘Har-har...’

‘My, my Detective. Losing your touch already?’

‘It’s been years, give me a break.’