BELLA’S POV
“ Aish, this condominium is too high. Is this how high maintenance reaches people?” I could not help but complain while staring in awe at this high condominium where Mr. Ramirez was residing. It is somehow a relief that no one beside me was here because if there were, they would indeed judge me as an insane one because of speaking out of nowhere.
I let out a sigh before entering the main entrance of the condominium building and immediately proceeded to the reception desk.
“ Good morning, Ma’am. How may I help you?” the receptionist polity greeted me while smiling widely.
“ Good morning. I am actually looking for what floor and room number Mr. Christopher Ramirez lives in,” I straightforwardly told her after greeting back. I did not really have the time and energy to have a long conversation with her, and it seemed that it was confirmed on her side too.
The receptionist seemed shocked because of what I said. After a while, she awkwardly smiled at me and responded,” I am sorry Ma’am. We are not allowed to disclose that kind of information here in the building, especially information about our high profile customer.”
“ Is that so? Is there any way I can do to get the information I needed?” I smiled at her.
“ I am sorry, Ma’am, but I am afraid there is no other way. If you want, I can make a call to Mr. Ramirez’s room to inform him that he has a visitor,” She politely explained.
“ Actually, he does not know that I will be visiting. But thank you for assisting,” I thanked her before I turned my back to her. I started walking away from her and advanced to the elevator.
When the elevator opened, I instantly went in and hit off the number ten button. Actually, I know what the floor and room number of Mr. Ramirez's condo unit were. I get it from the files we have in the headquarters. I just wanted to send a message to Mr. Ramirez that I was here through the reception desk. However, it would be more accessible to me if I could just go to his unit. Unlike if I wait for him to answer the call of the receptionist and allow me to go to his unit. I also did not want to let the receptionist know that I was a detective.
When I went outside the elevator, I took my phone to double-check the room number of Mr. Ramirez. After doing so, I hurriedly walked towards his unit. Before I tapped the doorbell, I looked around because I felt someone was watching me. However, as I looked around, I did not see anyone. Weird! I shrugged those thoughts off and hit the doorbell. After a few minutes, the door opened, and Mr. Ramirez appeared in front of me.
“ Mr. Ramirez, I am Detective Amabella Soriano from the Homicide Department. May I talk to you?” I politely introduced myself. His calm face was immediately changed to a shocked one.
“ Bro, is that the d---“
The guy approaching us did not finish what he wanted to say when he recognized me. If I am not mistaken, he was the one I met at the police station when Ryle was in trouble. From what I remember, his name was Andrew. More lines were drawn on my forehead when I noticed he was also shocked to see me. Do I look like a ghost, or is something wrong with my face?
“ Ahem, Mr. Ramirez?” I called his name once again while my eyebrow raised on its own.
“ A-ah, a-about w-what?” He asked while stammering.
“ About the case you are in,” I seriously replied to him.
“ Miss beautiful, I think you were somehow in wrong timing. My friend here just got home earlier. Maybe you can let him rest,” Andrew interrupted us while walking towards the door.
“ Sir, with all due respect, if your friend wants to rest here in his beautiful condo rather than in the cold bed in prison, we need to talk right now.” I tried not to sound rude by pausing between my words, but of course, with authority in my voice.
“ Toph, Drew, why you are taking so long to come back?” I heard someone ask. His voice seemed familiar to me.
“ Oh, Ms. Soriano, what brought you here?” He asked in a serious manner.
“ I just want to talk to your client,” I straightforwardly told him while imposing a straight face.
“ I believe my client already said everything to your team,” He responded. Aish, this guy!
“ Well, you know the drill. I will talk to him as probably the sole witness of the crime,” I arrogantly told him while looking into his eyes. These guys were testing my patience. A few minutes passed before our eyes looked away from each other.
“ We should be leaving, Toph.” He spoke after he removed his gaze from mine. Mr. Ramirez gently nodded. It seemed like they understood each other.
“ Will you wait here for a while? “ Mr. Ramirez asked when his attention went back to me.
“ No problem, sir,” I politely responded.
He just gazed at me before closing his unit door. Their friendship seemed weird. They exchanged meaningful looks with each other. I simply shrugged off those thoughts as I leaned on the wall outside Mr. Ramirez’s units and took my phone from my pocket.
CHRISTOPHER’S POV
After my unit’s door closed, Rex suddenly appeared in front of us.
“ What took you so long?” Rex protested. Bryle, Andrew and I exchanged looks at each other.
“ Ohh, what does that look mean? Are you hiding something to me?” He asked once again while his left eyebrow raised. I could smell possible trouble. How can we tell him that the person he was irritated at is currently outside my unit?
“ Miss Beautiful is outside,” Andrew replied in a simple manner. I could not help but hit my forehead when he answered while Bryle shook his head.
“ Who is Miss Beautiful?” Rex asked while frowning. It seemed like he could not understand us.
“ Detective Amabella Soriano,” Bryle replied in a calm manner. I glared at him.
“ What? Do you think we can avoid what is happening by not telling him? Things like this will be inevitable even in the future,” Bryle sentimentally replied to my death stares.
“ Psh! She is really brave to be here,” Rex irritably stated while closing his fist.
“ Relax, she is here for me,” I tried to calm him. I know Rex so much. He can even hurt a woman if he is really irritated with her.
“ Relax? My father is not relaxing in prison, bro!” He almost shouted at me. Rex looked like he was going to explode at any moment because his veins were visible under his neck.
“ Stop it, Rex. It will not be helpful to Toph’s case if you do something bad to Bella,” Bryle seriously warned while exchanging looks with Rex.
“ Psh, do whatever you want in your life! Curse this life!” Rex shouted in anger while walking out of my condo. It seemed like he diverted his rage to the door because the sound created when he slammed it was like telling me it would be broken. That idiot! Will he change my door once it is broken?!
“ We should be going, bro, so that you and Bella could talk comfortably. But remember, do not tell her things you do not say to me yet. It is for your own good too,” Bryle advised while tapping my shoulder.
“ Why are we going home? I still want to be with Miss Beautiful.” Andrew protested, so Bryle glared at me.
“ You are really a playboy. She is not like the girls you met in club. You will surely regret it if you tried to hit on her,” Bryle remarked. Wait? Why did he know a lot of things about that detective?
“ Do you know her personally?” That question comes out of my mind on its own. Maybe because a lot of question is running through my mind right now. Bryle seemed shocked about what I asked.
“ What do you mean? You are overthinking things. Let us go, Andrew.” Bryle stated and hurriedly pulled Andrew towards the door.
I let out a heavy sigh when my condo door closed again. What was happening in my life?
BELLA’S POV
“ Oh, what the—” I exclaimed in shock when I heard a loud sound coming from the closing door of Mr. Ramirez’s unit.
I stood properly when I noticed a guy exit from Mr. Ramirez’s condo unit. Geez, his aura was terrifying. It seemed like he would eat someone alive. My hair skin went up when he looked at me with a death stare while he was passing me through.
“ Detective,”
I almost jumped off when someone held my shoulder from behind. I was also automatically become alerted and was about to punch whoever grabbed my shoulder, but he immediately avoided my hands.
“ Geez, Ms. Beautiful, calm yourself down. We are good boys,” I heard another guy say. That is when I realized that the one who called me was a friend of Mr. Ramirez.
“ A-ahem, I apologize to what happened. It was my instinct,” I apologized to him and bowed down.
“ That is fine. Thankfully, you are beautiful even if you seemed like a scary woman earlier,” Andrew commented. Tsk a playboy trick.
“ We just approached you because you seemed scared about something,” Bryle remarked in a serious manner.
“ Ah, the guy who went outside Mr. Ramirez’s unit before you guys, is he your friend?” I asked in wonder.
“ Who? Rex? Why? Did he do something bad to you?” Bryle asked. I immediately shooked my head.
“ Nothing. He seemed angry about something when he passed through me,” I replied.
“ Do not pay too much attention to him. Anyway, we should get going. I need to go to my fiancee’s house,” Bryle said with emphasis.
“ That was TMI, bro,” Andrew added while gently tapping Bryle’s shoulder. Bryle simply looked at him before speaking again.
“ See you around Ms. Detective,” He said and passed through me. On the other hand, Andrew winked at me before waving his hand. My eyebrow raised because of what he did. It seemed like he became nervous about my reaction because he hurriedly ran towards Bryle.
I shook my head because of what he did. I fixed myself first into the remarkable detective many people knew. After I ensured that my aura as a detective was back, I tapped once again on the doorbell of Mr. Ramirez’s condo unit. Not long had passed, and the door opened.
“ Come in,” He simply said before opening the door widely.
I nodded before entering the condo. After he closed the door, he walked inside his condo towards the living room, maybe.
“ Have a seat,” Mr. Ramirez instructed after pointing out the vacant seat parallel to where he was sitting right now.
“ Thank you,” I formally replied before taking a seat.
“ I will quit beating around the bush and just get straight to my business with you since I have a lot of things that need to be done after this one. Aside from the information you gave to the police officers when they asked for your testimony. Is there something you did not give to them that we can use to a new lead as we attempt to resolve this crime?” I straightforwardly asked him.
“ Is that how detectives approached people? A bit cold and impatient,” He commented while leaning his back on the chair.
“ Well, that is who I am, so if you do not mind, please answer my question,” I frankly told him, which made him smirk.
“ You are really something. Anyway, I do not remember anything about what happened. I just woke up next to a corpse and was accused to be a murderer,” Mr. Ramirez seriously narrated.
“ Why did you not remember anything? Are you drunk? Or maybe you were using drugs?” I bravely remarked. The smirk on his face was immediately removed after he heard what I said. He also looked at me intensely.
“ Be careful with your words, detective.” Mr. Ramirez threatened me. I also saw how he clenched his jaw. It seemed like I offended him.
“ I apologize if I offended you, I did not mean it that way. However, if you could not control your anger issue in me, it will be difficult for you more if you already faced the court,” I seriously told him.
“ Tsk, as of now, I do not really know why I could not remember anything. Yes, I had alcohol that night but not to the point that I got drunk. Also, I am not using any kind of drugs, for your information,” He responded with grumpiness. More lines were also drawn from his forehead.
“ Do you have any history of being violent if you were drunk?” I asked once again. I really did not want to offend him by any means, but I was simply doing my job.
“ I---”
*bang*
TO BE CONTINUED!