EPISODE 07

'cordelia song'

"THERE'S SOMETHING MORE about the body," Dr. Hamel announced, knitted eyebrows with his coat ready on one arm.

James swallowed his water, wiping his mouth with his fist. "Gotta drop a bomb just before we leave, I see."

Dr. Hamel glared at him. "I was going to send an autopsy report, but the video made me want to look at everything again. And don't make a comment." James closed his mouth, nodding. He turned to Leon, ever straight-faced. "Dominic may have died with the gunshot wound, but there were traces of potent poisons in his bloodstream. I could identify two, but I think there are more. One of those, coke, had a weird insertion. Traces were found on his nose, which means he inserted that most likely, a very faint amount, but more was found on his stomach."

"Two different entries of a drug?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Dr. Hamel nodded. "Somehow, he was still alive with the small traces through his nose, which may be recreational, but then there was a small time period before the ingested one occurred where he ate a lot of it enough for it to be deadly."

"Imagine having a room full of murderers and they can't even coordinate their murder weapons," James grumbled.

"What were the other poisons?" Leon asked.

"One was cyanide, a very, very potent one that had a weird consistency. Almost as if it was old. Ingested close to his time of death. And something that was different - something that clotted his blood and affected his nerves. It may have affected his head. The results of that, if it didn't kill him, may have given him hallucinations. It affected his nerves too."

James rubbed his face. "Jesus."

"There's more. I don't know if you noticed his side, but he was pierced deeply by a jagged object that may have been a large serrated knife and twisted it. It hit his kidney. That's also another thing I found, Dominic only had one kidney when I opened him."

"Alright, stabbed, poisoned, shot and now missing a kidney. Great. I'm going home to drink myself with a whiskey until I pass out," James declared. "Anything else we should know? Maybe he was punched as well. If nobody did, I could start."

Dr. Hamel ignored him and faced Leon. "I'll send you the second autopsy once I get my signatures. Don't... fixate on this too much, okay?"

Leon nodded. "I'll be fine."

"And I can't believe you're sleeping here." James made a face. "You too, Wendy."

"Victim's orders," Leon reminded him. The other video of Leon's had a note where Dominic opened half of his place to Leon and whoever he deemed necessary which apparently meant me.

"And I'd really like to find out how he knew me or what part I'm playing here," I said. I didn't like the idea of playing in a play where I know nothing about the events or the character I was supposed to fill. I feel like a wild card with no lines or goals. A wild card who could tip any scale.

"Alright then, just don't touch much of the crime scene, I'd really be pleased with that." James saluted just as the elevator opened. "I bid you all good night."

"Easy on the whiskey," I called out. He smiled. The video had left him irritated and exhausted, making quips left and right whilst massaging his face. Now he was just worn.

Dr. Hamel nodded to both of us before joining James, no goodbyes, no senseless fanfares. The metal doors closed and we were alone once more.

"Well." Leon exhaled, smiling tiredly. "I hope you're alright with sleeping in a dead man's house, Wendy."

I chuckled, stretching. "Kind of late to say that when my ride just went down the elevator. Who'll most likely drown himself in whiskey."

"I'll call him tomorrow to ensure he hasn't been swimming in it, though I can't make a promise. He needs it." Leon clapped his hands. It echoed amongst the empty tiles. "Well, I'm sure we can find decent spots in this shabby little place."

"I think the panther just glared at you. How gold do you want me to be?"

He laughed, a first since all of this. That warm, buttery laugh. I felt relieved. "Good enough."

I'll need to text Quinn to make an excuse for me tonight. And for the next few days.

— — —

A predicament came not a second after as we tried all the doors in the penthouse and realised a lot of things.

One, only three rooms could be open. The office space and the dinning room where a bunch of yellow tape and markings were set. The other room were the double doors that led to the master suite.

Two, there was absolutely no way we could go through the other rooms without kicking it down using one of the gold panther statues that I'm not even sure we could carry,  much less rip it off its pedestal. We checked. 

And there, there was a cheeky note left at the foot of the bed of the master suite.

accumulated stress should always have a good place to unloose. You're welcome ;)

A hand went up my mouth while Leon hung his head, a hand on his forehead like he wanted the floor to swallow him. His ears were burning.

"I hate him. I hate him so much I could actually kill him again."

— — —

It was an odd business, but when Leo absolutely refused to let me sleep on the floor - because of course, the room the size of a small ballroom was rid of any other furniture apart from the king's sized bed and an uncomfortable set of seatings where it was more wood than pillow - and I told him I couldn't bear to let him sleep on the cold tile either, we compromised with both ends of the mass of space and a fort of pillows between us.

"Suddenly, I feel like a five year old when it was still allowed to have a co-ed slumber party," I said out loud, fascinated by the turn of events.

"Well," Leon called over from the bathroom. "You'll find this another level." He went out and he was in pajamas whilst holding a box. His hair was wet and shaggy, a towel on one shoulder.

He offered me the box.

"Thanks?" I took it, tracing my name embossed in gold with an arched eyebrow, before I flipped it open. A matching set of pajamas - silk white - to Leon's rest underneath another note.

Just in case you're too shy, Miss Cain. Or Leon's too much of a gentleman.

"Wow."

"I know." Leon shrugged. "It's not so bad as the bed situation. I would've thrown it but still..."

"Better than sleeping in jeans." I pursed my lips. "You think he investigated me didn't you? Right after the library incident?"

"Yes. He must've had someone monitoring all of us. Something that would change my routine would no doubt attract him. And as a true gambler, he hedged his bets that you were coming with me."

"A pretty good gamble. But that's obvious."

He smiled. "I'm glad you're here either way."

My returning smile was soft. "Of course." His eyes were warm. Brown and soft, eyelashes long enough to touch his cheek.

His hand reached over, brushing against the side of my face as faint as a feather, before tucking a curl behind my ear. The whole process made me shiver.

His eyes weren't on mine anymore. They were lower. My breath stilled.

"Stray curl," he murmured. Then he cleared his throat, straightening up while my whole face lit up like a Christmas tree. Just like the strike of midnight, all sensations were gone and we're back to reality. Poof. "Best get changed."

I took the box, stood up and nodded. "Right. Right." And almost ran to the bathroom, locking it behind me and leaning against it, eyes closed, heart hammering.

"Oh no. Oh, no, no, no."

— — —

The next morning after a surprisingly sweet slumber despite having a hard time calming down and knowing precisely who was the reason for all the heart palpitations, it wasn't the London sky that awoke me. Or the London traffic that you couldn't hear this high up and by, most likely, thick glass.

It was Leon's angry voice in a foreign language, Korean I gathered, and a softer, stronger voice of a woman with a lilt to her tone.

I sat up, blinking, dreary. Dominic's place, the video, his wrecked body. I opened my eyes, the bed was in disarray, especially Leon's side with the tossed comforter and pillows strewn on the floor, but our pillow fort held strong. Four layers and just about covered our heights.

The argument went on, Leon's voice growing against the quiet with the door slightly ajar. They were inaudible, but the sound of a rigid argument was unmistakable.

I set my feet down the tile, shivering immediately at the frozen touch, before following the voices with extreme caution of my own sound.

As I round down the stairs and the hallway, there was Leon, hair mused, same white silk pajamas, face contorted in a swept of anger and irritation. Despite gesturing wildly, and his face twisting, he still somehow looked too good. It didn't help that the silk thing worked well for his body either.

The woman... I peeked further and blinked. She was gorgeous. She looked like the epitome of a doll; porcelain skin as white as snow, a waterfall of black hair, and soft features that sharpened around her eyes. Either just because they were really shaped that way or her cat eye was that good.

She had on a colourful dress that looked beyond expensive, a pastel pink leather jacket, and pointed heels with that familiar red below to recognise its expense.

She exuded rich and famous, daughter of someone most likely important.

And she caught my eye.

" - let's talk about this later," she said abruptly in English, cutting off Leon who stuttered and glared, but her eyes went straight for mine and smiled brilliantly.

Leon turned and the irritation drained. He exhaled, running his hands through his hair several times. "I'm sorry, did we wake you?"

"No, not all. I'm sorry I just -" I shrugged, wanting to hide but thought better of it and walked towards them. It helped that Leon looked to be so relieve by my presence that I took more steps forward until I was before them. Two very gorgeous people. One who looked like she needed to be in a fashion spread stat, and another one who just woke up but looked ridiculously gorgeous just as is.

And me, who hasn't brushed her hair or did anything with the morning breath.

"Not at all, its very nice to meet you, miss...?"

"Wendy, please. Wendy Cain." I offered my hand and she took it, a jungle of bracelets shook on her pale, skinny arm. A mixture of gold and diamonds.

"I'm Cordelia." Her smile was curved, pretty and distracting. "Cordelia Song."

I blinked.

"My older sister," Leon grumbled. "Who said nothing of her arrival nor involvement. Who waltzed in with not only the password, but as a Harbringer."

She ignored this with a roll of her eyes and instead, showed me an envelope that looked painstakingly familiar.

"Dominic sent for me. I'm 'The Amen'." 

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NEXT

EPISODE EIGHT

FAMILY MATTERS

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LEE SUNMI AS CORDELIA SONG

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I'm going to be honest, apart from the plot point that was supposed to occur in this chapter, which is meeting Leon's sister hello, everything else is pulled straight out of my arse. As always, I'll fix everything after the first draft, but for now all of you will have to suffer through this with me lmao, I apologise in advance.

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