Chapter Text
Roman had been working in the investigative police department for a long time. He liked to think he knew what he was doing. After all, he was the lead investigator in the CSI, he loved his job. As much as some decisions were the worst choices he'd ever made, he loved doing good to help people. Even if it meant bending the rules a little to find the real guilty people.
Logan was glad to finally get to work in the field. He had been working a few years for the CSI but had always been stuck behind a desk doing mainly paperwork, not that he minded the paperwork. He would have stayed there if not that he wished he would be taken more seriously within the team.
He wanted to be able to offer valid input for cases without being brushed off as simply being a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast. So when a job opened up for the investigation department, Logan decided to take a chance and applied for it. Now he finally had his chance to make a difference, to set things right, the right way.
…..
Logan was always a punctual person. He was even more so on this first day working in his new position. He arrived early to scope out the place. The office was simple enough but had everything that they needed. Logan was directed to his desk and he started setting up his things. He organized the little he had for the moment and started mentally preparing for the day. As he surveyed the office, he couldn't help but notice the desk adjacent to his. Cluttered would have been an understatement. Logan knew that he could be a bit of a neat freak, but this desk was ridiculous. He was still staring at the desk in disbelief when the person whom it belonged to strode in and sat down. Oh no, Logan thought, what have I done...
As Roman got settled with his work for the day, he couldn't help but notice the neatly set up desk opposite his, but he knew better than to inspect the new in such an obvious way, so he ignored him. After a while, he started getting looks, peeks at what type of person he was, what his mannerisms were. He looked the man up and down every so often being very discreet, as he flipped through the case files, inspecting each one and scanning over it with trained eyes. He wasn't going to speak first, and he didn't intend to.
Logan had heard of this investigator. Despite not being remotely interested in gossip, news travelled fast in the precinct. He felt like he was back in school in the nerd vs jock dynamic, and he was not pleased with that. Logan wondered if he should speak first, being the new guy and all. Then again shouldn't he be the one receiving the welcome? Despite his best efforts, Logan was not a people person, and he wasn’t this type of people person. He looked around wondering what in the world he should do now. He had just gotten there so he didn't have anything to attempt to look busy.
Roman smirked, this guy was doing this. The smaller man was sitting at his desk and occasionally he would make a face of distaste or sigh. He picked himself from the chair and walked out into the main office to get some more information on the case that piqued his interest the most. As he did this he casually glanced back and caught the confused half-glare on his new partner’s face. This was going to be great.
Logan hated that he probably looked like he didn't know what he was doing, even though it was completely true. Seeing the other guy get up and leave, Logan got even more nervous. Should he follow him? That would look weird. Then again he couldn't wait around all day for something to happen. So he also walked out into the main office. The captain was there to greet them. "Officer Logan, all settled in I presume," the captain said. "And I see you've just met Officer Roman."
"Um well not exactly..." Logan started but was promptly cut off.
"Great," continued the captain. "You two will be working together now, so Roman get settled on your case and get started chop-chop."
Roman smiled at the captain. "I'm getting right to it, Jim, don't worry yourself too much." Roman then sauntered out, sitting back at his desk with a triumphant smirk. His boss didn't seem to like Logan too much, and to him, this was hilarious. It had taken Roman a while to settle, but he loved this department and intended to stay here. He had picked up a case file on a homicide case with next to no leads, it had everyone else stumped. The types of cases he loved were the ones no one else could figure out. He smirked lightly as Logan wandered back in, looking lost.
"Okay, so, could we properly introduce ourselves or are you going to stand there smirking at me all day?" Logan asked, feeling irked. He missed his old job already. He had known it would take a while to adapt, but he hadn't thought he was going to feel so miserable this early on. It didn't help that he was paired with the all too well known, cocky and impulsive investigator. Logan wasn't the best at reading people, but he didn't like the vibe he was getting from this guy.
Roman looked up and for the first time got a proper, full look at him. He would be lying to say he wasn't attractive, but that aside, he seemed just as tidy, as his desk suggested. He had calculating, green eyes and still held a rather irritated look on his face.
"Sure, I'm Roman, and you're Logan right?" Roman was being witty and overconfident as he typically was because he didn't like to work with people in general, especially ones he didn't know, he missed his old partner so much right now. "I hope you like to work hard, I don't appreciate it when I have to pick up people’s slack. Also, just a word of advice, be nice to me. It'll work in your favour." He handed Logan a case file and turned back to his computer. "Read this over for me, tell me what you think."
Logan took the case file from his hand with a frown. He didn't like arrogant people, and Roman had the air of someone who thought way too highly of themself. He tried to clear his mind, putting aside his disdain for his new coworker and sat down, attempting to focus on the file he'd been given. There wasn't much to go on, but Logan had a feeling this Roman personage already knew that and expected him to come up with something.
"So?" Roman asked with a hint of a smile, he was curious to see Logan's thought process, his way of thinking. "Any ideas?" Roman asked, angling his head to the left slightly as his eyes flitted from the case file to Logan's face. This case was interesting, he already had three theories to look into. A girl had been found dead and Roman thought her case could be related to multiple other murder-homicides, as it fits with a potential serial killer Roman had yet to pin down. He thought it could have been her brother and his friends as they had no appropriate alibi so he immediately looked into it. It could have also been a suicide, likely assisted or staged. He was buzzing, would Logan come to the same conclusions?
Logan looked up, unsure whether this was a test or not. "Um..." Logan started. "Well, there is something I don't get here." He was afraid to offer much input for the moment, he didn't want to look too stupid on his first day. Especially since something in this case just didn't add up. "It looks like the victim's clothes were changed, but I don't see any mention of that in these records."
Roman’s eyes widened at this, despite his initial scepticism of Logan he had to hand it to him that he’d made a decent observation.
"I'm surprised you picked up on that. I think it has something to do with a cover-up, someone here, covering for-...well what's your input? Who did it, at first glance?" Roman quirked an eyebrow, his face still holding a certain judging look, but he at least seemed open to listening to Logan’s ideas.
Logan started feeling a tiny bit better, he hadn't made a complete fool of himself yet so he continued. "I.. I'm not sure... I mean a first of the obvious potential explanations is that she committed suicide, or was made to look like that. The brother and his friends sound pretty suspicious, that's for sure, but I'm guessing you already knew that." Logan scrunched his eyebrows trying to put his ideas into order, to connect any dots that hadn't been linked.
"Huh, interesting idea Logan, not bad. I'm thinking we should talk to her brother, bring him in and interview him, it would give us some great possible leads, maybe we should interview his friends too. It might give us a more clear idea of what happened." Roman commented at Logan.
"I think that would be the smartest and most logical place to start at least." Logan couldn't believe that Roman could be even remotely impressed with anything he had said up until now, even despite the dismissive tone. "I see here in his friends, a certain Thomas, that I remember seeing recently in the archives at least 3 other times."
Roman smiled at him and walked out of the room, his hips swaying confidently as he walked. He could then be heard picking up the phone and speaking into it before having a quiet word with the captain. He then trailed his hands along the edge of one of the desks, leaning over and quickly saying something into one of their co-worker's ears before heading back to Logan. "The captain said he'll get someone on it."
"Okay, sounds good". Logan had to keep himself from staring. Roman exuded this charm that was irresistible to everyone, though Logan tried to convince himself he didn’t find himself even slightly impressed by it. "So what now?” Logan asked. “Should we be making a list of questions or..?" He pulled out a notepad and a pen to keep his hands busy.
Roman stared into space for a second, making no sign to show he had heard him. Then, still staring off into space, he started speaking. "The interview should have structure, though if we over plan it, it'll be uncomfortable, obvious of what we're trying to do. We need to know, but make sure they don't know what we're doing, the balance is important." He sighed and turned to his computer, typing out something. "You can suggest some questions, maybe I’ll use them."
Logan stared down at the notepad he had put down on his desk. He was a little miffed at this point. The whole reason he left his other job was that he was tired of the condescending attitude he kept getting from everyone. If Roman wanted structure he was going to give him structure. He would leave the spontaneous aspect to Roman since he knew more about it than Logan did. He started jotting down some potential questions and then tore another page away to write some notes of his own. He made a summary of the case details so that he could keep all the information in order.
…..
About an hour passed and their captain walked in, announcing that they had to interview three of the friends. However, the other two and the girl’s brother had yet to be found. Roman waved for Logan to follow him as he walked out of the quiet room into the bustling larger section of the office. They headed towards the interrogation rooms, which were just past the holding cells where three teenage boys were standing at varying degrees of anger and discomfort.
Roman rolled his eyes before he turned to them, eyeing each one, scanning their clothing, posture, body language. He needed something to go off. He then whispered to the officer on guard. "Bring me the one in the red hoodie, he looks a little unnerved." He then moved forward and waited as the boy was taken into the quiet interrogation room. He then followed in after and sat on the chair opposite the teenager, who was shrinking in on himself.
Logan was in the room opposite to the interrogation room watching Roman through the two-way glass, the captain standing next to him. "Take notes, Logan," he said to the rookie. "Roman is one of our best guys." Logan rolled his eyes and watched as Roman questioned the young man. He had a way of alternating between bad cop and good cop, manipulating the situation to get the information he wanted. Logan noted down the answers they were getting, not much of which wasn't information they already knew, but he decided to write it all down nonetheless.
Roman was done and soon the second teenager walked in. He got similar, but different stories from all of them and through body language, he could tell where the lies were. Once he was done with his questioning, he would have to look through Logan's notes and decipher a story. He walked out and into the room where Logan sat scribbling and finalizing his notes. Roman barely said anything after that, leaving as soon as he was off the clock without so much as a goodbye.