Evie
Evie Stiles’ desk was a mess. It was covered in documents, information and background research on the current case she had. She couldn’t figure out how everything linked together and it was leaving her exasperated. She had found a possible weapon at the scene earlier but was yet to get her partner to examine it. She pulled apart papers frustratedly, looking for anything to organise.
“There’s the weapon...and there’s the autopsy report...and there’s the time of death. Okay, that goes in one pile.” As usual, she was muttering to herself in German. Evie stacked the papers and put a bulldog clip around them all. She then grabbed the recording device from nest to her computer and pressed it. “September 23rd, 9:08am. We suspect that the victim, Helena Corbulo, bled to death from a wound to her stomach. It was initially thought that it was trauma from fall off Grenway Bridge into the River Oslo. However, nearby investigation revealed no rocks or sharp objects to cause such a wound. The weapon used is thought to be a knife that was found thrown in some bushes near the crime scene earlier this morning. Estimated time of death remains the same: 4:55pm, September 9th 2058. That’s all for now.”
She ended the recording and put her head in her hands. She had no idea how her mentor had been completing cases nearly weekly. She had barely finished a two-week case the day before and now it seemed like she’d be on another long one - unless, of course, the police had found the murder weapon in the morning. She was still annoyed by the fact she had been called out at 4:30am to take the evidence.
Evie made a mental note to call Dr. Kimishima later and left her office. She needed a drink.
***
Refreshed by the water she had got, Evie decided to pay a visit to her protégé. Apparently being 32 meant she was old enough to have protégés. She wasn’t that confident in her abilities but she couldn’t say no to the chief.
Evie opened the door to her student’s office. He was on his phone, swinging around on the office chair.
“Sam!” Evie scolded. The younger man immediately put his phone by his side and stood up.
“Oh, Dr. Stiles!”
“Why were you on your phone, Dr. Blaylock-Vaughn? Don’t you have that file to chase up for me from the police?”
“Yeah I’m sorry, I’ll get back to it. My little brother called and asked me a favour.”
“Ach, you’ve sorted it out?” Evie asked skeptically.
“I’ve sorted it out now, yeah.”
“Okay. Back to work please, Sam. If I catch you on your phone again I will remove it from your possession during your shifts. Understood?”
Sam gulped. “Yes, Dr. Stiles.”
Evie turned around and left. She had no idea what she was going to do with Sam. From what she had gathered about his brother and sister, he was the most wild out of the three. Still, he worked hard and wanted to solve the cases. He had his mother’s passion to thank for that.
Evie looked at her desk and the array of papers. Signing, she picked up the ‘Victim’s relations’ sheet and began scouring through it. A message bubble popped up on her computer.
“Oh thank gott, Ainsley.” She clicked on the bubble and waited for the call to connect.
“Morning Dr. Stiles.”
“Hey Ainsley. Look, I have something for you to analyse. The police found it this morning,” Evie yawned. “Really early. How quickly can you get it back to me?”
“Depends. You’re going to have to be less vague Evie. What kind of ‘stuff’?”
“Evidence. They found a bloody knife in a bush next to where the victim’s body is suspected to have started going down the river. I need the blood analysed to see if it’s actually the victim’s, and then I need it dusted for fingerprints.”
“Okay. I’ll need a couple hours to get the lab tests done. It’s crazy down here.”
“How come?”
“Some big-shot got murdered - poison. I don’t know the whole story but it means we have people running left, right and centre trying to analyse stuff and get leads before the press get wind of it.”
“You are kidding. Ach, I was going to try and get this done by the end of the week!”
“Wow, so adventurous. Trying for your mentor’s record,” Evie could hear the sarcasm dripping from Ainsley’s voice.
“The knife is a really good lead!”
“If it has any connection at all.”
“Thank you, liebling. And yes, if it does have the victim’s blood then there’s a good chance the fingerprints on it belong to the killer.”
“Yep. Please don’t over exert yourself, Eves. I don’t want you to be absolutely exhausted when you get home, I wanna talk to you.”
Evie grinned crookedly. “No, of course I wouldn’t. I would like to ‘talk to you’ too.”
“You- you’re smiling, aren’t you?”
“No! Go and get those tests done, Ains. Pleaaaseeee .”
“Fine, because I don’t want to be fired. I’ll get back to you in a couple hours. Give me a call if you need anything else.” Ainsley ended the call. Evie moved the ‘Victim’s relations’ files to the side and brought out the recording device that had the witness testimonies. Looked like the afternoon was going to be dull.
***
Evie unlocked the door to her apartment. She walked inside and through to her bedroom, putting her bags away and taking her shoes off.
“Evie, you’re an idiot,” Ainsley called from the living room. “Incredibly smart, but also incredibly dense.”
“Am not!” Evie yelled back. “And besides, even if I was, I’d be a very loveable idiot.” She collected something papers and walked onto the living room, sitting next to Ainsley.
“Work? Really?”
“Yes, I can’t afford to fall behind.”
“It’s after work hours. We are at home.”
Evie put the papers down and tackled her wife into a kiss. Ainsley scrunched her fingers on Evie’s stomach and began tickling her.
“Mmph, get off - Ains, aha, STOP! Oh, sweet gott!”
Ainsley pushed Evie off her triumphantly. “And that is why I win and you aren’t doing work this evening.” The woman knocked the papers to the floor. Evie pulled a face.
“I had those organised.”
“You can organise them tomorrow.”
“I hate you.”
“You don’t.”
“Nein, ich liebe dich nicht.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing, liebling.”
“I’ll call Angie.”
“She’ll chatter down the phone at me for an hour, talk to me about how she wishes I became a surgeon for half an hour and then talk to me about you and having grandkids for another half hour. I can’t be bothered with that today, and I don’t think you can either.”
“Okay fine. One question: what language would you speak?”
“Depends. Sometimes it’s English, sometimes it’s German. Sometime’s it’s a mash of both.”
“She does that?”
“Nein, we do together. Like I’ll speak English and she’ll reply in German or vice versa. Or I’ll be speaking in German and just blank on whatever the word is. That’s seriously annoying.”
A smile found its way to Ainsley’s face. “I can only imagine.”
“Anyway, wanna watch a film?”
“Sure, hon.”
“What do you fancy? We have Men in Black, No Time To Die, the revamp of Mulan-”
“Let’s watch Mulan,” Ainsley took the disc from Evie and put it in the DVD player. When she sat back on the sofa, Evie curled into her side. She could imagine their future: their children curled up between them, cold feet kicking warm legs under the blanket. Evie would smile at Ainsley who would be playing with the children. Maybe she should...no, not yet. She could save that for another day.
“Evie? You okay?” Ainsley looked at her.
“Ja, just tired. Work gave me a headache today. I caught Blaylock-Vaughn on his phone again.”
“Did he say why?”
“His brother called for something. No idea what.”
Ainsley pulled Evie closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Just try to relax now, Eves. It’s done for the day.”
“Ach, you’re right.”
“You’re cute when you use German, even if I have no idea what you’re saying.”
“Well, schatz, you’ll have to learn this one: ich liebe dich nicht.”
“You used that earlier!”
“It means ‘I love you’ Ains. Relax.”
“Oh,” Ainsley kissed Evie’s cheek again. “Well in that case, ich liebe dich nicht too. Now, shush. I wanna watch Mulan.”