Ninety Five

CHAPTER 95

"Born in Brooklyn, raised in San Antonia and moved to New York."

Noel opened a file in a folder on the computer. Noel and Nicholas had been sitting in Noel's new office for the past thirty minutes.

After being promoted to lead detective for the serious crimes division, Noel had received a set of perks from the New York City Police Department. Including a new room, new equipment, a new gun and of course a salary increase.

"Everything fits. Where did you get that information?"

Nicholas returned Noel's gaze to him. The man with a thin beard that filled the area of his chin and firm jaw mumbled for quite a while. He nodded and said, "I managed to get the information from Alicia. She told me herself."

"Did she say it, or did you provoke her?"

"I call it a 'big effort' that wasn't easy."

Noel snorted, then shook her head in disbelief. "You could say that you tried to lure her into a date."

"Damn, how do you know?"

"What don't I know about you, Nicholas Gray?" Noel shrugged, raising his face haughtily. "We've been friends for a very long time. I'm an attentive person and I know everything about you. So, tell me quickly, do you use dating as your primary means of getting information, or are you serious about dating her?"

There was a pause. Nicholas was silent. The man's brow furrowed, then whispered, "Should I tell you everything?"

"Sure."

"Ah, I don't want to tskck."

Noel rolled his eyes lazily. "You're such a pain in the ass, Nic."

"Call me 'Chief' from now on, Noel," Nicholas protested, teasing the man much younger than him. "I am now your chief."

"Never mind. Let's get back to the main topic." Noel pointed at the computer screen. "What should I write now?"

"Now we have to focus on Alicia's background. She has adoptive parents whose identities were deliberately concealed until this moment. Do you think... we can find out?"

Noel frowned. "Does she have a regular meeting schedule?"

"I don't think so."

"Does Alicia have certain times for family events?"

"I don't know," Nicholas said. He looked hesitant to continue, he knew nothing about Alicia.

"Well, you don't know much." Noel quipped at Nicholas and made the man snort angrily. But Nicholas let Noel continue, "If Alicia doesn't want her parents' identities to become public, it must be because she has an important reason. Maybe Alicia knew her parents would be targeted by bad people, or something, perhaps?"

"You're right." Nicholas tapped his finger on the table surface. "What if we just focus on checking Ace?"

"You mean... that young man whose sentence was just reduced?"

Nicholas flicked his finger in the air, then pointed enthusiastically at Noel's face. "That's him! Do you think all those remissions were only influenced by Ace's good behavior while in prison? What did Ace do to get his death sentence commuted so quickly?"

"Maybe he has the best lawyer in town?"

"Or... he used his money to make bribes?"

Noel gave a long mumble. "But if Ace can lower the sentence after the judge's verdict, doesn't that mean... he can do something else to get him off?"

"I'll look into it."

Nicholas stood up. He pointed at Noel who was still sitting in front of his new computer screen and said, "Save all the data about Alicia. Don't let any information leak out. Only the both of us know about this. Understood?"

"Okay."

----

Unlike before, Kevin looked at Alicia with no expression on his face. He seemed like a different man. And that made Alicia uncomfortable.

Alicia cleared her throat, trying to break the awkward atmosphere created by Kevin's surprise appearance a few moments ago.

"I thought you had left with Brittany."

Kevin sighed, then suddenly smiled. It was like he was letting go of a heavy burden that had been bothering him since the beginning. The man put his hands in his pockets, and began to open his mouth. "Brittany asked me to talk you into coming back. So, I followed you. But it looks like you and Luke were just talking about my relationship with Brittany."

Straight to the point. Kevin was asking things that Alicia felt didn't need to be said in such an honest way.

Alicia looked at Kevin straight on. What Luke had said about Kevin's strange 'personality' could be true. Or... maybe it was wrong.

"Yeah, Luke wanted to know if you were taking good care of Brittany." Alicia shrugged, trying to look as calm as possible even though her heart was racing. She didn't know how, but Kevin managed to make her feel cautious now. "I think you're the best man for Brittany."

"Are Luke and Brittany still hooking up behind my back?"

Alicia began to feel strange. She crossed her arms over her chest and replied, "It's none of my business, it's Brittany's personal thing. So, you can ask Brittany about it." The girl stepped forward. "Oh, and, I won't be going with you and Brittany. Give her my regards. I'm busy here. So, bye."

And Alicia walked past Kevin who stood in front of her.

Kevin didn't move even though Alicia had already passed him. Even peeking around, Alicia could still see Kevin standing where they had been talking. He was creepy.

But Alicia didn't want to bother. After getting past the people who were busy with the graduation ceremony, Alicia arrived at the university office. Some of the women who worked as university staff were busy even though it was the students' graduation day. The tall girl then walked up to one of the female staff in her white formal attire.

"Excuse me, ma'am."

And the woman looked up, seeing Alicia. "Yes? How may I help you?"

"I'd like to take care of my university papers. I took some time off, and I plan to resume next year."

"Oh, sure. You can wait, I'll look into it. You can use that sofa to wait.”