Archive of Our Own

Where Their Paths Meet

Maya pushes away from her latest bedwarmer and picks up her ringing phone. She grunts at the headache that is piercing through her skull, but that’s not important right now. It’s almost time for work and she’s still in bed, it’s probably her partner calling in to ask her whereabouts.

“Bishop speaking,” Maya says into the phone.

Her Wednesday groans from beside her and Maya slaps a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. She can’t have her partner know the reason she’s about to be late is because she’s still in bed with her newest one-night stand.

“Bishop, where the hell are you? We have a big case coming in.”

Maya jumps out of the bed, pulling the sheet with her. Wednesday groans from the bed, moaning about the morning chills as she curls further into the pillow.

“I’m sorry, I had…” Maya pauses and looks at the naked woman in her bed, “…things.”

“Maya, stop calling your Wednesdays as ‘things’. It sounds wrong. And I thought you stopped?” Andy sighs into the phone. “Anyway, it doesn't matter. Just get your ass here quickly!”

“I’m coming now, just give me a few minutes.”

Maya ends the call and throws her phone onto the bed. It bounces a little and hits Wednesday on the back. Wednesday groans and opens her eyes.

“Maya?”

Maya ignores her and quickly cleans up herself. Popping two painkillers into her mouth, she prays they are enough to keep the headache at bay for now. She swiftly puts on her clothes, gathers Wednesday’s in her hands, and dumps it on the bed.

“Umm..” What’s her name again? “Here’s your clothes and it’s already morning. I have to get to work now and you should go.”

Wednesday glares at the clothes at the foot of the bed to Maya. Smiling, she crawls closer to Maya before kneeling on the bed so that she can look into Maya’s eyes properly.

“Why so hurry? We had a good time last night. I can give you more than just this,” Wednesday runs her hands over Maya’s front to grab at her jacket lapel.

Maya groans and rolls her eyes. Headache is now announcing itself louder.

“Please. Last night was just me having fun, trying to forget things, and I’m not looking for anything at this moment. And I am really late so if you can please get dressed. I need to lock the door,” Maya says, taking a big step backwards so Wednesday’s hands fall away.

“You’re so cold,” Wednesday says, huffing as she puts on her clothes begrudgingly.

“You didn’t think so last night,” Maya says under her breath, not wanting Wednesday to receive mixed signals.

Maya didn’t mean for last night to go this way. She was grieving and just wanted to drown herself in the warm and bitter comfort of alcohol at the bar alone. But then things got blurry, and when this Wednesday stranger approached her, Maya forgot about her sorrow.

Sure, they had fun. There were a lot of alcohol, dancing, body colliding, and roaming hands before Maya took her back to the apartment for more rounds of hot, sexy times. But Maya did explicitly mention that this was just an outlet for her—something easy and casual, and that she wasn’t looking for anything serious. Wednesday seemed to understand that last night, but now she wants more? Does she already forget about what they talked last night?

Having fully dressed—Finally! Maya thinks—Wednesday grabs her bag and walks to the front door with Maya following closely behind. Wednesday walks out first and Maya is about to close the door behind her when Wednesday suddenly turns around, startling Maya a little.

“You shouldn’t do this, Maya. It’s not healthy and not good for you.”

“Well,” Seriously, what’s her name? “Wednesday…” she makes a face when Maya calls her that, “I’ll decide what’s good for me.”

Wednesday’s face contorts with anger. “I hope you’ll find someone you really want, and realise you can’t have them. Goodbye, Maya. I hope our paths won’t cross again.”

Wednesday turns around, her bag swinging wide and hitting Maya in the chest.

“What a weird thing to say,” Maya says to herself.

She locks her apartment door as she watches Wednesday stomp away towards the elevator and decides she’ll be taking the stairs down to avoid sharing the same elevator car with the angry woman.

Her phone rings again halfway down the stairs. She picks it up and without looking at the caller ID, she yells, “I’m on my way!”

Apparently, there was a collision between two trains this morning that killed fifteen people including the train conductor. It is bizarre that things like this happened because the conductor was supposed to change tracks after that one stop, but didn’t before the train rammed into an empty train stationed for service.

When Maya arrives at the scene, the first car is badly damaged. Bloods are splattered on the windows and floor, splintered metal rails and shattered glass are everywhere—some of which are also stained with blood, and the broken overhead lights flicker now and then, sending waves of shadows skittering across the wreckage. Good thing they already moved all the bodies to the morgue. Maya can’t imagine how the initial scene would’ve looked like right after the crash. She isn't so sure either if her stomach can handle seeing those bodies.

Maya walks further into the car, taking in her surrounding, looking for something she doesn’t know yet. Something shiny on the floor catches the light. She stops in front of it and bends to pick it up with her gloved hand. It’s a gold pocket watch—though Maya isn’t so sure if it’s real gold or not. There’s an insignia on the back of the watch with what Maya presumes is the year of its production, placing this watch around three hundred years old.

“What’s that?” Andy comes from behind her, nodding at the watch in her hand.

“It’s an old pocket watch.” Maya opens the case cover, surprised that the clock hand is moving despite the obvious age and crash. “Still ticking too.”

“Can’t say the same about whoever owned that thing.” Andy looks around her, grimacing. “No survivors in this car.”

Maya bags the pocket watch and hands it over to the forensic scientist to catalogue the evidence when her superior comes over.

“Detective Bishop, Detective Herrera.”

Maya and Andy turn to face their lieutenant, their expressions serious.

“Lieutenant Ross, what do we have?” Maya asks, taking lead.

“The medical examiner on site believed the conductor died of a heart attack. There are evidence that showed he died before the impact.”

Maya nods. “Where do you want me?”

“I need you to go down to the official medical examiner’s office, get them to sign the cause of death, and pray that they find no alcohol in him. Because if there is, this becomes a manslaughter and we’re looking at fourteen homicides.”

Maya exchanged glances with Andy, who just lets out a long exhale.

“Got it.”

Lieutenant Ross nods her head at the two detectives and turns around to walk away from the scene. Maya looks around the wreckage. She sure hopes that this conductor really died from a heart attack because if it isn’t, things are going to be a lot messier.

Maya drives straight to the medical examiner’s office. In the car, she calls the office once to ask if the medical examiner has already identified the cause of death of the conductor, but the medical examiner that answers tell her the primary examiner on the case hasn't even arrived nor started yet.

Maya groans. Why can’t people do their jobs well? Okay, she did let her Wednesday tryst run over this morning, but that was because she had a little too many drinks in her last night. And what is the examiner’s excuse? The body was sent to their office almost three hours ago and the autopsy still hasn’t begun. It’s a time-sensitive case, they should’ve been informed about it.

When Maya arrives at the Coroner's Office, she shows her badge at the front desk and is shown inside, where two women clad in long white coats are standing over a dead body that Maya recognises as the train conductor. As Maya walks closer—they both haven't noticed her presence just yet—she catches the end of their conversation.

“…put his early diagnosis as heart attack,” the short brunette says.

“Lucky man,” the other one says.

That piques Maya’s interest. She decides to cut in.

“How so?” Maya asks.

The shorter brunette, whose white coat bears the name Dr Shepherd, M.D. embroidered on the left chest, steps aside to reveal the other woman with a scalpel in hand, midway through cutting into the conductor’s chest.

That must be the primary examiner, Maya thinks. The one who was late.

The taller one looks over at Maya, pauses briefly, and resumes her incision. She doesn’t even flinch as she makes the cut and Maya finds herself slightly impressed. Dr Shepherd turns around to properly face Maya.

“Detective Maya Bishop, SPD.” Maya pulls out her badge for the two to see.

“I’m Dr Shepherd.” She nods and twists her body to point at the other doctor. “That is Dr DeLuca, the one in-charge.”

“Do you have the cause of death yet?” Maya asks, even though she can see very clearly that nothing is done yet to the body, other than that initial cut over the right chest. “Please tell me he died from heart attack.”

Dr DeLuca stands up, the scalpel still in her hand. “We’re about to begin, you are welcome to join us. Amelia can get you some coffee.”

Dr Shepherd—Amelia turns back to Maya. “Yes, are you a latte type of girl or do you prefer black? We also have pressed juice, if you want.”

Maya’s stomach churn uncomfortably. She just smiles. “No, thanks. I’m good. I’m just going to stay here.”

Amelia nods. “Very well. I better get back to my work.”

Amelia leaves and Maya turns to focus on Dr DeLuca. She has a huge shear in her hand and doesn’t even blink as she cuts the chest bone open. Maya thinks it’s probably going to be a while for her to finish with her autopsy and slightly regrets her decision to stay here where the lights are very bright.

“I’m sorry for your loss, detective,” Dr DeLuca says.

Maya frowns. “I’m sorry, Dr DeLuca. I think you’re mistaken. I don’t know any of the victims.”

Dr DeLuca looks up. “The ring on the necklace around your neck.” She looks down again to resume her work, replacing the shear with the scalpel. “You don’t wear accessories other than your black digital watch and the necklace. There’s no tan line or indentation on your left ring finger, so it’s not a wedding ring. That thick bulky ring is usually worn by men, so I assume it’s someone close to you though. Family, I guess. Sibling, perhaps. I put his death anniversary is recent.”

Maya blinks. “How do you know that?”

“I guess you went out drinking last night to forget, but got carried away. Squinting suggests sensitivity to light. You take careful shallow breathes through your mouth. And your mascara on your left eye is crooked.”

Maya touches her left eye. “I was in a hurry this morning.”

“And there’s none on your right eye. Also, you got some bite marks there on your neck that you forgot to cover,” Dr DeLuca says.

Maya’s hand flies to her neck and she curses Wednesday under her breath. She remembers telling Wednesday not to bite there!

Dr DeLuca bends down to look at the body, but straightens a little to add, “And please call me Carina.”

Maya watches as Carina pries open the body’s chest and hums.

“Your conductor didn’t die because of a heart attack,” Carina says, eyes still looking into the dead man’s chest cavity as if the answer is written there.

Maya takes a step closer and regrets it immediately.

“Why do you say that?”

Carina calls her closer and Maya does as told even though she really doesn’t want to. But curiosity gets the best of her, so she peers into the chest cavity. Pink frothy fluid spills out from the incision Carina made on the lung tissue.

“Pulmonary edema. The lungs are heavy and enlarged, spongy instead of the usual airy, and there are fine froths in the trachea as well, suggestive of acute edema.” Carina looks up at Maya. “I believe this man is poisoned.”

“That’s your official diagnosis? That it’s a homicide? And you can get all that from just… looking?”

Carina turns away to pick up a glass bottle on the shelf behind her. She shrugs. “Well, it’s my assumption. I still need to send some samples for tox screen to confirm. And it’s going to take at least three weeks for the result to come back.”

Maya watches as Carina takes a huge syringe, fills it with the pink frothy fluid from the lungs, and places it in the glass bottle.

“But I’ve got a pretty good track of record if you want to get started on your investigation,” Carina adds, a little smug smile on her face.

“It’s crazy,” Amelia chimes in from behind Maya, “that she can sometime tell the cause of death even without opening them up. It’s kind of awesome. And a little creepy.” Amelia makes a face and turns away to resume documenting something on her clipboard.

Maya turns away to face Carina again. “Do you realise the gravity of what you just said?”

“Yes.” Carina leans against the metal table and smiles. “I realise you now have fifteen homicides on your hand and a mass murderer to catch.”

Maya gapes as the turn of event slowly dawns on her. How does she go from an accident to a mass murder? Last night, she thought today is going to be another normal day. How wrong can she be.

The landline telephone rings from somewhere behind Maya. Someone picks it up.

“Carina,” Amelia calls out. “This is for you. Says it’s a friend.”

“Excuse me,” Carina says politely. Maya nods and watches Carina take off her gloves and walk over to her desk to answer the phone call Amelia just redirected there.

“That’s weird,” Amelia says. She walks closer to Maya, both are watching Carina.

“Which part?” Maya asks humourless because a lot of things that happened since she walks into this office have been very weird.

“Carina doesn’t have any friends. Other than me, of course.” Amelia leans closer to the body, a clipboard in one hand, a pen in the other as she marks down the injuries she finds on the body onto the case sheet on the clipboard.

Maya looks at Amelia, an eyebrow shoots up. Maya thinks that is the last one on the list of weird thing about today and turns to watch Carina. One minute, Carina is talking softly and she is smiling. Then, the smile drops like a hot potato and she turns away, her back facing Maya.

That’s a little weird too, Maya thinks, but decides that everything about Carina is weird, if not a little intriguing.

Maya thanks Amelia, she would’ve thanked Carina too if she isn’t still on that phone call, and she leaves the building to the station. She calls Andy and her lieutenant to update on the preliminary findings of the autopsy and walks in to find her team is already busy scouring the CCTV for leads.

Maya bee-lines to the coffee pot, pours herself a generous amount of coffee into her mug, and takes a sip. She grimaces at the taste of ash water, and wonders if she could be drinking better coffee right now had she not refused Amelia’s offer for drinks earlier. She sighs and resigns to continue drinking this for the rest of the day and walks closer to her cubicle.

“It would be easier if I know what to look for,” Travis says, typing on his computer. He looks bored as if they don’t just have a case of mass murder on their hands right now.

“Anything that look suspicious. Anyone who’s getting on and off the train behaving suspiciously. The medical examiner thinks the conductor may be poisoned, so starts from there,” Maya replies.

“Sure. With that kind of information, I’ll be sure to find it in no time,” Travis says flatly.

Maya rolls her eyes. She knows that he is tired of looking for something he doesn’t know what, so she says nothing. They have been at it for a few hours now and still have nothing to show.

Travis seems to realise his tone and sighs. “Sorry, Maya. But it could take days. Why don’t you just go home and take some rest? I’ll call you if I find anything.”

Maya's hand immediately flies to the ring around her neck. She doesn’t need his pity. She already wallowed in her self-pity yesterday.

“I’m fine, Travis. I just need this to be done with,” Maya says, her eyes scanning the computer screens in front of Travis.

Something on one of the four CCTV feeds playing simultaneously on the screen of Travis' second monitor catches Maya’s attention. She leans closer.

“Pull that one up.” She points at the right top corner, where a woman in long black coat is standing by the stairs next to the railway.

Travis does something to enlarge the black-and-white feed. The feed is grainy at best, but they can still make out the woman pulling out a pocket watch from her long coat. The faceless woman—because she still hasn’t looked up and her long dark hair is covering her face—opens the case cover, runs her thumb over the face, and pockets the watch before moving out of the frame.

“Follow that woman with the pocket watch. I can’t make out her face,” Maya says.

The screen changes to the view of the woman from behind, standing by the railway track. A train passes by and Maya can almost see the face of the mystery woman. Something about her looks familiar.

“Back up. Pause right there,” Maya asks urgently. "Can you zoom in over there on the reflection?"

Travis pauses the video feed and zooms in closer on the reflection on the subway window. He types something to enhance the image. There it is. As clear as the sky on a good day in summer is Carina’s unassuming face as she waits for the train to stop. The train that later would collide into an empty train—an incident that killed fifteen people. And Carina was on that train.

It suddenly makes sense for Maya how Carina can quickly know the cause of death just a few minutes into the autopsy. That just paints Dr Carina DeLuca as the primary suspect of a mass murder.

Maya reports in to Lieutenant Ross immediately and they quickly process for a search warrant for Carina’s residency. Andy drives to the address logged into the car’s system while Maya can’t stop sighing in her seat for not seeing the signs earlier.

“Don’t beat yourself up yet. We don’t know for sure that she is the killer,” Andy says after Maya sighs loudly for the tenth time. “Look, we got her. We’ll book her in before she can do anything else.”

Maya groans. She hopes for the sake of everyone else that Andy is right.

When they reach the building, Maya realises it’s an antique store that conveniently belongs to Carina. That should explain the old pocket watch Carina carried before the accident and her taste in immaculate choice of clothing, judging by the way she dressed from the CCTV feed. Carina seems to carry this air of posh and mystery around her, though Maya realises many serial killers have the same quality to them too, and she shudders. Is Carina a serial killer?

Two squad cars join them, and Maya takes the lead. She knocks on the antique store door, but no one answers. It’s not very hard to assume that there’s no one home because all lights inside are out. Can it be that Carina found out that they knew about her and she fled?

They ram the door open and everyone moves in one after another in a practiced sweep. Maya checks the store with Andy and another police officer while the others go upstairs to where Maya assumes is Carina’s apartment. But over time, multiple successive loud Clear can be heard as they clear out each room, and yet still no Carina in sight.

Maya lingers in the back storage room that looks suspiciously empty for a storage room. Several thin carpets lie scattered across the floor, looking oddly out of place. Maya walks closer, and she hears the sound of her footsteps shifts from dull to hollow. She peels the carpets away and finds a trap door.

She looks up at Andy, who meets her gaze with interest and nervousness.

“Here goes nothing,” Maya says.

She pulls the trap door open. The lamps on the stair leading downstairs immediately light up and Maya slowly makes her way inside, acutely aware mid-way down the stairs that if Carina is down there waiting to ambush her, Maya probably can’t defend herself on this narrow steps. Luckily—or unluckily, depending on which side you're on—there's no Carina down there.

What she finds down there shocked her even more that finding out that Carina could be the killer.

Multiple glass jars lined up one wall with human organs floating inside clear liquid—a complete heart, a lobe of liver, one half of lungs, kidneys, and many others she can’t name. A tall cabinet holds things that Maya doesn’t want to see—a metal handcuff, a thin leather bondage, several full face masks to name a few. There’s a reclinable table-slash-bed on the other side of the room and a small rolling table with a tray of assorted sharp knives and instruments on it, that immediately solidifies her theory about serial killer.

In the middle of the room is a large mahogany desk with bindings and notebooks nicely stacked on the side. One notebook is open and Maya leans down to read what is written there.

There’s an outline of a body with a single marking on it right on the left chest, just above where the heart should be. There’s a writing next to it too, slanted and cursive.

Death by impalement. Pain score 8 over 10. Death is not instant. Heart still beating for at least ten awfully long minutes. Not recommended.

Wow, Maya thinks to herself. Carina is more twisted that she thought.

She calls her lieutenant to update on their raid and walks out of the store to let the forensic photographer to process the area. As soon as she ends the phone call, a car stops by the shop and Maya immediately recognises Carina in the passenger seat, looking baffled. Maya smiles at her.

Carina gets out of the car and Maya walks over to her. She takes her handcuffs from her pocket, pushes Carina lightly against the car door, and reads her the Miranda rights.

“I can explain,” Carina says.

“You can explain more at the station, DeLuca.” Maya shoves Carina to walk towards one of the squad cars, where Andy is already waiting by the open passenger door. Maya admits that she not-so-gently shoves Carina’s head into the car, but this is the prime suspect and a possible serial killer, Maya doesn’t want to be kind and gentle. She slams the car door loudly and tells the officers that she’ll meet them at the station.

Andy doesn’t say a word to her. Not even when they arrive at the station. Maya goes straight to her cubicle where her lieutenant and Travis are standing by her desk. Travis hands her a stack of photos, already processed from Carina’s little experiment room. Maya files through the photos to see.

“She’s already in the interrogation room. Are you ready?” Lieutenant Ross asks. Maya nods.

When Maya enters the interrogation room, Carina is already sitting in a chair, waiting. Maya doesn't notice it earlier, too caught up in her head to realise that Carina's hair is looking slightly damp as if she just got back from a swim and didn’t have the time to properly dry it. She has her hair pulled into a loose bun, and her neck slightly wet from the moisture gathering there. The handcuff is gone, now that it’s confirmed that she’s not a flight-risk.

Maya slides a bag of evidence across the table. It’s the gold pocket watch. Carina looks at it, a flash of recognition crosses her face briefly before she tries to school it.

“Recognise this? I believe it belongs to you.” Maya drags a chair to sit opposite Carina. “It didn’t occur to you to mention that you were on that train when I was standing in your office?”

“Oh, it did occur to me. I just didn’t think it’s relevant to mention it to you. I didn’t want to waste your time. Also, I’m a very private person,” Carina says.

“Oh I can see why. You see we had the warrant to your place and we found your little secret room.”

“You mean my personal laboratory?” Carina smiles.

“Quite a collection you have down there. We got some human organs…” Maya places several photos from the scene showing the organs in the jars.

Carina hums.

“Some torture devices.” Maya places another few photos, this time images of the handcuffs, bondage, masks, and the sharp instruments.

“Oh, those are for sex,” Carina says so calmly that has Maya blinking in disbelief. Carina smiles at her. “I am a very sexual woman, detective.”

She is trying to throw Maya off her balance and she did manage to do it successfully for a few seconds. Maya takes a deep breath to centre herself. She can’t afford to lose herself, not when her superior and colleagues are watching from behind the one-way mirror.

“So what happens if the tox screen report comes back and I can link you to the poison?”

“You won’t,” Carina replies, looking confident for someone who is accused of homicides. “Based on my findings, if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it was… aconite.”

Maya tilts her head and blinks, trying to control her face. Carina continues.

“It’s something I haven’t experimented with for many years. If I was going to kill somebody, I’d use thallium. Death won’t happen in weeks, it’ll make for a much better alibi,” Carina says. She leans forward in her seat, looking rather excited talking about these poisons. “Aconite, on the other hand, is extremely fast-acting. The killer would’ve had to get up close to the—”

Carina pauses suddenly, her eyes wander away from Maya’s to look at somewhere in the distant.

“What is it?” Maya asks, feeling intrigued. Somewhere in the middle of her rambling Carina must have realised something and Maya desperately wants to know.

Carina tilts her head down. “I suspect the killer was on the train at some point or another.”

Maya smiles. “Now, we’re on the same page.”

“Okay,” Carina says softly. She turns to face Maya. “I did it.”

Wait, what?

“Is this a confession?” Maya frowns. She can imagine Andy and Lieutenant Ross are looking at each other in similar confusion behind that one-way mirror.

“No. It’s a hypothetical. Work through it with me.” Carina shifts again in her seat before she pushes herself up to pace beside the table. Maya just blinks slowly. “You’re a homicide detective, I’m sure you have pretty good powers of deductive reasonings.”

Maya’s hand goes to her head and runs it through her hair. She sighs.

“Okay.” Maya folds her arms loosely across her chest, interested to see where Carina is going. “You got on that train, poisoned the conductor. The motive—we can work that out later.”

Carina pauses her pacing to gesture vaguely at Maya. “Okay, fair enough.”

Maya doesn’t want her to think that they don’t exactly find her motive for the killing for now, so she quickly resumes, “You knew he was going to die, so you went into a back car and braced yourself. Then you piled out with the rest of the crowd. A few hours later, you got to work like nothing ever happened.”

Carina stops to face Maya and smiles. “Where I was lucky enough to meet you.”

Maya frowns. She doesn’t like the smirk on Carina’s face. Not at all.

“You should’ve seen the look on your face, detective. You were literally praying it was a heart attack,” Carina says, and something suddenly falls to its place.

“But you were the one who suggested poisoning,” Maya says slowly, the realisation dawning in.

“So, detective, what conclusions can you draw?”

Maya looks up to face Carina, who is still sporting a cocky smirk on her pretty pink lips. “Either you are a complete sociopath who wants to be caught—which I’m not ruling out,” Maya says to which the smirk on Carina’s lips only grows bigger, “Or… the real killer is still out there.”

Carina tilts her head, looking amused with herself. “Sounds logical to me. We can both agree that you don’t have enough to hold me.”

Maya stands up as well. “That is true. You’re a free woman, Dr DeLuca. Do not go far.”

Carina nods. “You have my word, Detective Bishop.”

And then she pivots away to the door, where the officer from outside holds it open for her. Maya watches as Carina goes out of the door without looking back and disappears from her sight.

A day has passed since Maya interrogated the only suspect for this case, and yet they don’t have anything new to go with. It’s frustrating Maya because she used to be very good at this. But since three years ago, she feels like a part of her—the one that usually strives—died with him.

Maya clutches at the thick ring around the necklace on her neck, her thumb rubbing the gem stone there. She takes a sip of her stale coffee, winces, and turns away to pour it down the sink. She fills her mug with cold water instead and walks out to her cubicle where her colleagues are apparently talking about Carina.

“Do you know what Carina DeLuca used to do before she became a doctor?” Andy asks from her desk, where a file on Carina’s background fills the screen of her computer. She turns to look at Maya who just joins their circle. “A grave keeper. She worked as a grave keeper in her early days.”

“Wow,” Travis says, head nodding with both disbelief and amusement, “can she get any creepier?”

Maya leans over her desk that is directly opposite of Andy's, and places her mug down. “If we look at the evidence we have against her, we basically have nothing. What is her motive? Where's the poison?”

“Come on, Bishop. You have to agree that this woman is a total freak,” Andy rebuts. “For someone who’s innocent, she knows a lot about poisons. Who knows what else she’s capable of?”

Maya doesn’t want to defend Carina, but they all know the evidence against Carina are all circumstantial and she’s basically innocent. Maya knows when to accuse and when not to. It doesn’t matter how creepy Carina can be with her abundant knowledge of deaths and poisons, she is still an innocent citizen.

“I’m not saying she’s not capable. She is—without a doubt—the weirdest and the most unusual person I’ve ever met.” Andy and Travis are not looking at her anymore, in fact they’re looking somewhere behind her, which isn’t good because that means they’re not listening. But Maya resumes anyway. “I’m simply saying that if she’s our only suspect, we should start looking for another.”

Andy and Travis don’t have anything to retort and Maya is feeling a little smug at her little speech for successfully shutting them down, until she hears someone speaking from behind her.

“I couldn’t agree more, detective.”

Maya straightens up, her lips press into a thin line. She slowly turns around to look at the newcomer behind her as Andy and Travis try so hard to stifle their laughter. Carina is standing there in her long coat and maroon scarf around her neck, looking too stylish in this police station. More stylish than a model, Maya thinks.

“Dr DeLuca,” Maya greets her.

“Can I have a word, detective?”

Maya turns to her team, who is suddenly busy with paperwork and disperses from the table. Maya turns to walk closer to Carina, who is smiling that little smile of hers.

“When I say ‘weirdest’, I meant it in the nicest way possible—"

“Detective, I can assure you that I’ve been called much worse.” Carina pulls something out from the inside of her long black coat. It’s an envelope. “Here.”

Maya takes the envelope. “What is this?”

“It’s a fingerprint I lifted off the conductor’s body, right next to the poison entry point. I believe it belongs to our killer. I thought maybe you could run it through your system.”

Maya pulls out the fingerprints tracing and stares at Carina. Who is this woman?

Carina, as if sensing Maya’s reluctancy, holds out both her hands in front of her. “Look, if I’m wrong, you still have one very legitimate suspect for this case.”

They exchange a long stare—though both are hiding different meanings. Carina is smug that she is right, and Maya is wondering how can someone so pretty, who used to a grave keeper—a fact that Maya still can’t wrap her head around—can become this cocky.

Without turning around, Maya holds out the envelope behind her.

“Travis, get this run through the system now,” Maya calls out and Travis immediately jumps out to grab at the envelope. “Thank you, Dr DeLuca.”

That should be the cue for Carina to leave, but she is still standing in the same spot even after Maya has turned away to sit at her desk. Maya raises an eyebrow, silently probing.

“I’d like to wait, if that’s okay with you, detective.”

Still looking directly into Carina’s brown eyes, Maya tilts her head towards the empty meeting room. “Make yourself comfortable, Dr DeLuca. It’s going to take a while.”

Carina nods politely and goes off towards the meeting room, not sparing Maya another glance. Maya goes back to her desk to resume her many backlogged paperworks, though her eyes do wander and find Carina every now and then.

Around an hour later, Travis comes back with another folder in his hand and he hands it to Maya with a smile. Maya opens it to reveal background details on a man who doesn’t look like he has ever killed an ant before. But then again photos can lie, Maya learns it early in her career.

“Is that our guy?” Carina’s voice from behind Maya startles her out of her reading. She jumps slightly in her seat and turns her chair to glare at Carina. “My apologies, detective. I thought you can hear me.”

Maya closes the folder, grabs her car keys, and starts for the door. Another set of footsteps is following her closely behind. Maya stops abruptly, prompting Carina to bump into her from behind. Maya sways forward, but Carina’s arms catch her before she meets the floor.

“Careful, detective.”

Maya takes a step back and rubs away the invisible creases on her jacket. “Thank you. Though I might ask, why are you following me?”

“Well, we’re going to see the guy, aren’t we?”

Maya shakes her head. “No, no. I am going to see the guy. Not we. Besides, he could be armed and dangerous. You could be harmed. So it’s best if you go back to your office and I’ll update you on the case later, doctor.”

“I was a dancer,” Carina says and Maya tilts her head, slightly curious and maybe a little thrown off by the non sequitur, wondering how that fact can come handy in any dangerous situations at all. “That means I am very agile and flexible. It helps me a lot especially when I'm in tight spaces.” Carina ends it with a wink.

Maya can feel her face slightly flushed at her comment, but she shakes it away.

“No, you’re not coming with me.” Maya turns around, intending to put an end to this conversation. She walks out to her car, trying her best to ignore the persistent click-clack of boots against the floor.

When Maya reaches her car though, Carina is also reaching for the passenger door handle. Maya pauses.

“Dr DeLuca, this is an official police business and you cannot join me to see a potential suspect.”

“Detective Bishop, I can assure you that my expertise will be very much useful for you.” Carina leans against the car. “Will you be able to identify aconite in its powder form or even better, can you recognise Aconitum variegatum by looking at the flower?”

Carina has a point, though Maya is not about to admit it out loud. She narrows her eyes over the car to a smiling Carina and huffs.

“Fine. You can follow, but only I ask the questions,” Maya says and unlocks the car. “Has anyone ever told you you’re stubborn?”

“Trust me, you won’t be the first,” Carina says and gets into the passenger seat. Maya rolls her eyes and gets into the car, and starts driving away.

Their man is a David Myers and has no priors. He used to teach at a local middle school until a year ago and mostly stays in his home in a quiet neighbourhood. When they arrive at his house, Maya parks the car and turns the engine off. She looks at Carina.

“He is not an official suspect. Let me ask the questions and you stay here in the car.”

Carina shrugs, and even though Maya isn’t convinced, she lets it go. Maya gets out of the car and turns around when she hears another car door slams heavily. Carina stands by the car, smiling. So much for listening, Maya thinks to herself.

“Dr DeLuca, I said stay in the car.”

"Just consider me as a silent observer. I’ll be a few steps behind you.”

Maya takes a deep breath. She turns to face the house and walks up to the front door. Carina, true to her words, stays a few steps behind, though her head and eyes are moving around already, searching for something.

Maya knocks on the door and waits. Their man is supposed to be home right now, judging by the car parked in the open garage.

From the corner of her eyes, Maya sees Carina slips away to the side of the house.

“Hey, hey. Dr DeLuca, where are you going?” Maya steps away from the door to follow Carina, who disappears from her sight within seconds. “We don’t have a warrant. We cannot just go looking inside his property.”

Carina doesn’t hear her.

“Dr DeLuca.”

Oh she hears Maya. She is smiling, Maya can see the upturn of her cheek when she tilts sideways a little. She just chooses not to respond and continues walking further around the house.

“Dr Deluca.”

Carina stops in her track. A huge, grey dead rat is at her feet.

“Oh look at that. A probable cause,” Carina says.

“Yeah, a dead rat.”

“No. Foaming at the mouth, distended abdomen. Suggesting it died from something it ate.”

Maya shrugs. “It could be from a rat poison, you can’t know that.”

Carina walks to a small makeshift greenhouse at the back of the house. Without a warning, she pushes the door to the greenhouse wide open, revealing rows of potted purplish flowers. She turns to Maya, that familiar smirk is on her lips again.

“Or maybe it was munching on some of these. Wolfbanes a.k.a Aconitum variegatum.”

Maya peeks into the greenhouse carefully. She agrees with Carina, she wouldn’t be able to identify this flower on her own. Maya pulls out her phone, snaps a photo to update Andy, and hopefully Andy will inform their lieutenant and get some reinforcement to this place quickly.

Carina is already moving again, this time, towards the shed behind the greenhouse. Maya groans.

Can this woman stay put for more than a few seconds?

“Dr DeLuca,” Maya calls out a warning before the doctor can push open the shed door. “Stop.”

Maya pulls Carina’s arm, yanking her backwards. Carina glares at her.

“This place could be filled with poison. It’s dangerous. I’ll go in first, you stay behind me,” Maya orders her. Even though Carina shrugs, she lets Maya step in front her, gun already poised in her hand.

Maya turns the doorknob carefully. “Mr Myers?” She calls out. No answer.

The shed is dark. Maya pulls out her small torchlight from her pocket and walks inside to find the light switch. The overhead lamps flicker before they switch on to reveal rows of beakers, glass jars, bunsen burners, and more complicated science tools that Maya couldn’t name on a long table. One of the burners is still lit, meaning David is probably nearby, though what a reckless thing to do, leaving a lit burner unattended.

Confirming that it is safe for Carina to enter, Maya turns around, only to find Carina is already moving towards another table, where a small beaker of fine purple powder is sitting on a tripod. Carina leans closer to the beaker and takes a small whiff. She hums.

“It’s aconite,” she says, already turning around looking at the flasks hanging by the neck on the tripods on the long table behind her.

Maya pulls Carina’s arm slightly. “Okay, don’t touch anything. Let’s back out and wait for reinforcements.”

But Carina isn’t listening. She is looking at the flasks and the liquids inside with a serious expression, and Maya doesn’t know what is going through her mind.

“Dr DeLuca?” Maya calls again, trying to get her attention.

A crash can be heard from outside. It’s the sound of the door swinging open so quickly that it slams against the wall loudly. It can’t be her team. They would’ve announced themselves first. Maya pulls Carina away from the desk to hide beside a tall cabinet that holds all sorts of gardening tools. Maya slaps a hand over Carina’s mouth, urging her to keep quiet. Carina nods. Maya takes a peek to look at the door.

David Myers appears at the door of the shed, holding a large metal device in his hand. Maya squints to see, but fails—the flasks on the table are obscuring her view. She watches as David walks into the shed unassumingly and places the device on the floor. He is facing the wall, meaning his back is on Maya, and Maya realises that this is her chance.

“Stay put,” Maya whispers to Carina and walks slowly to where David is standing.

Still not noticing her presence, David moves about, putting on thick gloves.

“Freeze! SPD!” Maya calls out, her gun is pointing at him. David slowly turns around, but his hands are still down. “Hands where I can see them. Nice and slowly.”

She almost gets their suspect. But then, something else happens.

It’s happening too fast. One second, David is obeying her orders, but Maya doesn’t see the beaker in his right hand. The next second, pain shoots through the back of her right hand as the fine purple powder lands on it after David throws the beaker at her. Maya tries to run after him, but the pain is so intense that it’s practically paralysing her.

Maya doesn’t know if that is one of the effects of the poison, though. All she can feel is burning pain in her hand and the fear that grips her.

No, she can’t die.

“Detective, your hand!” Carina is quickly by Maya’s side, holding the injured arm. Maya winces.

“The poison,” Maya says through gritted teeth. She looks at the shadow of David who is now in the wind. “Ah, it hurts.”

Carina stabilises Maya’s hand by the wrist. Maya stares at the dark purplish skin discolouration that is rapidly forming on the back of her hand and gasps.

“The poison is working its way into your bloodstream.” Carina pulls her inside. “We need to neutralise it quickly!”

“What?”

“Here, ethanol.”

Carina picks up a wash bottle and pours a clear liquid onto the back of Maya’s right hand. It’s painful when the liquid hits the raw areas there, and Maya winces, trying to pull her hand away. But Carina is apparently stronger than she looks. When she holds Maya’s hand over the lit burner, Maya is helpless and can only watch as her hand catches fire.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Maya yells.

Maya looks at her burning hand. She just can’t believe that Carina decided to hold her hand over the lit burner—her hand that is doused with ethanol, a flammable liquid—and surprise takes over. She panics and tries unsuccessfully to pull away.

Carina pulls Maya towards a basin of water under the leaking tap and dunks both their hands into the cold water, immediately extinguishing the flame. Carina pulls her hand away while Maya keeps hers there for a few more moments, relishing the cooling water.

Both are panting. Maya looks up at Carina.

“I’m sorry,” Carina says, still catching her breath. “But trust me, aconite is a terrible way to die.”

Maya squints her eyes and frowns. What a bizarre thing to say.

Carina turns the tap on, letting more cold water to fall into the basin, replacing the slightly warm water there. “Let’s keep your hand there until the help arrives.”

Carina turns away and whips out her phone, probably to call for an ambulance. Maya just watches her walk away, her mind already racing with thoughts about Carina and the things surrounding her.

Not long after that, reinforcements arrive. Maya cradles her hand ro her chest, careful of the raw skin there and walks to meet the paramedic halfway. Carina is leaning against the wall, watching the greenhouse and the flowers inside it with careful, serious eyes.

The paramedic asks Maya a few questions and reassures her that the fast thinking with poison neutralisation is probably what keeps her alive right now. The paramedic carefully wraps her hand in a snug bandage and while he does that, Maya looks over at Carina. She won’t lie, she does find Carina interesting—if not slightly mysterious. She seems to know a lot for someone that young, though Maya guesses she’s probably around her age, and Maya doesn’t know as much as she does.

When the bandaging is done, Maya thanks the paramedic and walks towards her partner and lieutenant. Carina pushes away from the wall and joins them.

“Get this, David Myers used to be a chemist. And a year ago, his wife had an accident falling onto the subway tracks. The conductor of the train that killed her? Is the same conductor that was poisoned,” Andy updates them.

“So this guy has been planning this for a long time,” Lieutenant Ross supplies and Andy nods. Maya notices Carina turns away and sneaks off into the shed.

Maya excuses herself and walks to Carina.

“Hey, Carina. Are you okay?” Maya asks Carina, who suddenly looks pensive. “You seem confused.”

“Myers’ motive. It doesn’t make any sense. He killed the conductor because he killed his wife.”

“Don’t sound so shocked. People kill for a lot worse reasons than revenge,” Maya says.

Carina turns around, facing her, and nods. “Yes. I just thought that he was after…” Carina looks at something in the distant, “…something else. I was wrong.”

Maya tilts her head and smiles, not really understanding what Carina is trying to say. Carina takes a deep breath and smiles.

“You want a drink,” Carina states.

Maya blinks. She opens her mouth, but immediately closes it back.

“Don’t worry, detective. I’m not hitting on you. I am merely stating a fact. You want a drink because it’s has been a long day,” Carina explains with a smile.

Maya can feel her face warm. For a second, she thought Carina is really hitting on her. And then she recalls the last drinking she had that ends with a Wednesday in her bed—something that Carina caught on the first time they met, and her face warms even more at the thought of Carina as another Wednesday.

No, Carina is never going to be just a Wednesday.

Carina walks closer to her and leans in. “Don’t worry. I’m the least judgemental person you’ll ever meet,” Carina whispers. Then she steps back and shoots Maya a smile.

That damn smile.

Maya smiles and follows Carina’s retreating figure to her car. The ride to the nearest bar doesn’t take that long. Maya looks over a few times, trying to engage in a conversation, but Carina seems to find the lights outside far more interesting.

They order their drinks at the bar. White wine for Carina, whiskey for Maya. Carina takes a sip, hums, and fiddles with the stem of her wine glass. Maya takes a sip of her drink and leans her elbow on the table, tucking her bandaged hand away.

“How’s your hand, detective?” Carina asks carefully, eyes on the hidden hand below the table.

“It’s still sore, but I’ll manage,” Maya dismisses her, not wanting to put more attention to herself.

Carina seems to understand and hums, taking another slow sip of her wine.

“So, Carina DeLuca,” Maya starts. “You studied medicine in Italy, carry around a three-hundred-year-old pocket watch. You used to be a grave keeper before becoming a medical examiner. What’s your real story?”

Carina smiles crookedly while staring into Maya’s eyes. She doesn’t blink and Maya doesn’t too, and suddenly they’re in a battle of a silent stand-off. Carina looks away first and sighs softly.

“My story is a long one, detective. I won’t bore you with the details, but the watch was actually a gift. The legend says it had belonged to a doctor seeking passage on a ship. It was given to him from his mother,” Carina launches into a story and Maya listens intently, intrigued by the way she speaks. It’s not that obvious, but if Maya listens very carefully, she can actually hear the soft Italian lilt in the way Carina speaks.

“Anyway, it was lost at the bottom of the ocean and later was retrieved by a team of treasure hunters. It was bought at an auction and given to me,” Carina finishes and takes a sip of her wine.

“Wow, that is a very generous gift. That person must be someone special to you,” Maya says.

“She was. But then she left, so…” Carina just gives her a small smile, one that lacking her usual smugness and brightness.

“Yeah, people do that," Maya says softly.

Maya looks down at her drink, watching it swirl around in the glass. Some soft music is playing in the background, soft enough that she can’t properly hear it over the conversations of the other patrons in the bar.

“What happened to your brother?” Carina asks softly.

Maya’s hand absentmindedly goes to the chain around her neck, finding the thick ring there. She rubs the gemstone a few times, smiling.

“We grew up with a difficult father who was very controlling about what we could and couldn’t do. After his death six years ago, everything suddenly got better again, including my relationship with my brother. He was about to pursue art again and I helped him look into options,” Maya smiles sadly, recalling the last few years with Mason.

“He was flying to Paris when suddenly his plane—“ Maya pauses and looks away.

Carina makes a knowing face, probably because she knows where this story ends. It was all over the news three years ago. Back then, Maya couldn’t go about her day without hearing people talking about it. A terrorist attack, hijacking a plane that crashed in the middle on the ocean. No survivors. Maya buried an empty casket, grieving a lost connection she had just recovered.

They were great together, Maya and Mason. But their journey was cut short.

Previously, their father forced them apart. When her father died, Maya felt slightly guilty when she felt happy to be able to hold Mason again. No more father to keep them separated. Then, he was taken away again, this time permanently. You’d think time will make things easier. If anything, it only makes it harder.

“Sometimes I have a hard time whenever I remember him, especially around his death anniversary,” Maya finishes. “I just want it to go away and feel better.”

Carina is looking deeply into her eyes, as if staring straight right into Maya’s soul. It’s a little unnerving, but Maya can’t look away.

“It won’t,” Carina says and turns away to look at her wine.

Maya is a little taken aback. She huffs lightly. “Well, thank you. I feel so much better now.”

Carina smiles and Maya just rolls her eyes, though she can feel the corners of her mouth twitch to smile too. Carina takes a sip, and Maya follows.

Her phone rings. Andy H. lights up the screen. Maya places the glass carefully before taking the phone as quickly as she can, a little awkward working with her only functioning left hand.

“Bishop, you need to get back here. We found more poisons in Myers’ house,” Andy starts. “He could be planning for an attack.”

Maya feels a rush of nerves going down the back of her spine. “I’ll be right there.”

She ends the call and gathers her bag. Carina looks up, puzzled at her rushed movement.

“Myers may be planning an attack.” That is all Maya needed to say for Carina to abandon her seat, leaving behind half-full glasses.

Luckily they haven't gone too far from the house. They reach back the crime scene not long after Maya ends the call. They walk towards Andy, who is waiting by the shed with a forensic investigator dressed in third-level PPE, though he already pulled his mask and protective eyewear off. Andy nods at the forensic investigator. He shows them two large metallic containers on the table.

“These vats were full until a few hours ago. Preliminary testing shows that it was aconite. Based on the volume, I’d say there were about two gallons,” the forensic investigator explains. “We also found traces of ethanol. I guess he wanted to clean the casks.”

Carina shakes her head. “Or… he wanted to make it soluble.”

“Why would he do that?” Maya asks.

“To produce a mass quantity. Perhaps he’s looking for a bigger audience,” Carina finishes and shoots Maya a look.

“I’m getting the homeland security on this,” Maya says, turning away. Her left hand is already fishing for her phone to make an important call.

Carina looks on the table where blueprints are scattered on it. She walks closer.

“What are these?” she asks.

“We found those in the trash. They look like schematics,” Andy replies, moving closer to Carina. “There’s a note here that we couldn’t decipher yet.”

Carina picks up the paper to look closely. Written there is a cryptic sentence that won’t make sense to other people.

The boulevard that becomes a throat.

Carina smiles. “He’s going to Westlake Station.”

“How do you know?” Andy asks, just as Maya joins them, having finished making the phone call.

“Back in the 1950s, Westlake area still had looser urban flow with its older downtown corridor. But in 1960s, Seattle began pushing for modernisation urban redevelopment, making way to massive transformation of the area by creating the transit spaces and reshaping the district into pedestrian-slash-transit nexus,” Carina explains with a smile.

She turns to Maya and Andy, who are watching her with questioning eyes.

“By 1988, Westlake literally turned into a tunnel, like a throat,” Carina pauses. "Throat here also, in some way, symbolises the foaming in the lungs and throat that victims can develop due to severe poisoning."

Carina turns to Andy again. “Where was his wife killed?”

Andy fumbles with her notebook, flipping until she finds what she’s looking for, and sighs heavily. “She fell at Westlake Station.”

There is a collective heavy sigh that follows. Carina bites her lip.

“I could be wrong. But if I’m not, we’re all going to be very busy,” Carina looks around and stops at Maya.

Carina rides in the back, slightly unhappy that Andy joins in with them. Andy insisted that Maya shouldn't drive because of her injured hand and Carina doesn’t own a driving license—something that Maya finds a little odd, but then she remembers seeing someone drove Carina around the other day, so she keeps her mouth shut—so Andy volunteers to drive them all to Westlake Station, where they’ll reconvene with the rest of the task force.

It’s all-hand-on-deck kind of situation. David Myers is in a possession of two gallons poison that they believe he’s going to use it tonight. Maya and Carina’s sudden appearance at his house this afternoon may have accidentally accelerated his plan, but they are glad that they catch on early. Though the best possible outcome would’ve been catching him at his house before he fled with the poison.

There are probably thirty officers on the scene when they arrive and Maya sighs because despite the numbers on their side, Myers could be anywhere. He could already have the poison in place, ready for his attack. Or worse, he already did.

Maya meets with the man in charge from Homeland Security.

“We should shut this place down, and get these people out of here,” Maya tilts her head at the people walking around her, hurrying to get to places, unaware of the danger that is looming above their heads.

Carina moves away from the rest of them, walking further inside and looking around the place. She gazes at the ventilation system overheads and frowns. She walks closer to one on the nearest wall and holds out her hand, frowning deeper. Maya looks on as something begins to click in Carina’s head.

Suddenly, Carina turns and walks away from the station. That spurs Maya to catch up with her.

“Carina? Carina, where are you going?”

“I realise something. It’s a little too chilly tonight,” Carina says as she walks away quickly, with Maya struggling to catch up.

“Oh, that’s very observant, Carina.”

“It’s because the air conditioning is on. He made the toxin soluble so it could be airborne. He’s planning to release the poison into the shared ventilation system, that is located on the rooftop of the Westlake Center,” Carina finishes and they both run out and up towards the rooftop.

Armed with her gun, Maya pulls Carina to stand behind her. Maya tries the door handle, but it’s locked, so she kicks it open, earning her an impressed look from Carina. Maya smiles back, though it quickly drops. There’s no time for smiles.

The rooftop is empty. Well, other than the bulky ventilation units and rusting ductwork forming a maze they need to navigate. Massive HVAC systems hum across the rooftop, intensifying the already intense moment.

David is hiding here somewhere, Maya can feel it in her guts.

They walk further into the maze of ductwork and units. Maya carefully turns sideways at every corner, trying not to get ambushed. Not when Carina is trailing behind her. She can’t afford to get a civilian injured while under her watch.

But they look around and David isn’t there. Carina finds the shared ventilation system and sees the padding locks on the cover. She tugs on each of them, making sure they are secured, and sighs.

She stands up to face Maya, looking a little guilty.

“Perhaps I was too ambitious,” Carina says. But then, her face instantly shifts into shocked and she tries to reach for Maya.

“Detective!”

A loud bang echoes from behind her, cutting through the buzz of a Saturday night. Maya feels the burning pain on her right shoulder and falls to her knees. Carina pulls off her scarf from around her neck and presses it to Maya’s shoulder, making her groan in pain.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Carina says.

Maya’s vision is swimming with mixture of adrenaline and pain, and she can barely make out David pointing his gun at Carina. Maya can’t hear properly, everything sounds muffled and she’s getting dizzy. She watches through her blurry vision as Carina holds up both her hands to walk closer to David.

No, Maya wants to say, but nothing comes out of her mouth. Not Carina.

They are talking, but Maya can’t hear anything as she is getting dizzier by the seconds and feels like she’s underwater. She tries to hold out her hand, as if telling Carina to stop, but the doctor isn’t looking at her way and is facing the gun pointed at her temple.

No, please don’t.

And then, there is a scuffle as Maya watches hazily Carina lurches forward, struggling to take the gun away from David’s hand. Maya shakes her head weakly.

No, Carina is strong, but not that strong.

Then, there’s another loud bang, and Maya can feel her heart rate shooting up, though she isn’t so sure if it’s because she worried Carina is injured or because of the blood loss. Carina falls to the ground.

Oh, please god, no. Help her.

Before Maya closes her eyes though, she swears she see Carina stands up, cradling her abdomen before she leaps forward towards David and they both fall over the ledge, and disappear into thin air.

And then everything goes black.

The first thing that registers in her mind is pain.

Her right hand is aching, though the pain is much duller than the one in her right shoulder. She groans a little as she shifts, trying to find the next best position to make the pain go away.

Maya opens her eyes slowly, squinting slightly when the sun rays from the window hurt her eyes. She groans again and closes her eyes back.

“Hey, look who’s awake.”

Maya opens her eyes again and Carina comes into view. With the window behind her, it makes her look like she’s literally shining and out of this world. Maya blinks slowly, gathering her bearings.

“What happened?” Maya croaks and Carina helps her take a few sips of water. She thanks her.

“Well, the short story is that you got shot in the right scapula—that’s your shoulder blade, and Myers decided to take his own life.” Carina places the cup on the cardiac table in front of Maya, and adjusts its height so that Maya can reach the cup easily. “He jumped off the roof.”

Maya frowns. “What about the poison?”

Carina shrugs. “I guess he thought better of it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. He planned the attack meticulously and right when he’s about to do it, he backed out?” Maya pauses, her mind is running.

“Okay, then. What do you think happened, detective?” Carina asks, taking a step closer by Maya’s bed. She is smiling, though Maya feels like she’s asking that question as if to gauge something.

“I think I saw you both fell off the roof.”

Maya feels ridiculous the second that sentence came out from her mouth. Because Carina couldn’t have fallen off that roof. She would not have survived such a fall from that height because she’s standing here by the bed, talking to her right now.  

Unless…

Maya holds out her left hand and Carina looks down at it for a second before she takes it in her hand. The warm skin underneath her own proves that Carina is very much alive and breathing. She isn’t just an illusion that the morphine in her system conjured to appease her. Carina’s thumb rubs small circles over the back of Maya’s hand. It feels comforting.

Maya blinks slowly at Carina.

“There’s something you’re not telling me, Carina,” Maya says.

They share a long look that carries different meanings to each of them. Maya doesn’t know what Carina’s look is trying to say, but hers says, I’m trying to figure you out, Carina DeLuca.

As usual, Carina looks away first, pulling her hand away. “I better go. I hope you’ll get back on your feet soon, detective.”

Maya watches Carina turns away slowly, her face looks pensive and distant.

“Carina,” Maya calls out. Carina pauses by the door. “Are you okay?”

Carina faces her to look into her eyes and she smiles. “I’ll survive.”

And then Carina disappears, bringing along the air of a secret and thought she won’t share.