It was January. The air was frosty, and fog covered the mountains. The sun had yet to rise, and the streets and roads were mostly empty, covered in snow. Yet, there was someone who chose this early hour to take a walk in the cold. The man was tall, around one hundred ninety centimeters. His attire was elegant, wearing brown leather shoes, black cotton trousers, a long brown trench coat, and a black-and-white checkered scarf. His eyes were concealed behind a black, round-framed sunglasses, hiding scars on his left eye and parts of his face. Bare hands tucked into his coat pockets, he walked through the streets with a bored expression.

Beneath his soles, the freshly fallen snow crunched loudly. He pulled his hands out of his pockets, reaching into the inner pocket of his coat, taking out a cigarette case and a lighter. Opening the box, he took out a cigarette, stashing it back without the lighter for now. Placing the cigarette in his mouth, he lit it, feeling the hot smoke scratch his throat, then soothing his lungs. The buzzing thoughts in his head seemed to dull, a sudden relief, as if his mind had freed itself from its own shackles. Inhale after inhale, he progressed towards his destination, resembling an old locomotive in the cold.

He smoked until he reached a house cordoned off with tape, where perhaps more familiar faces than necessary were present. As he approached the tapes, more and more police officers and detectives greeted him. Eventually, a taller figure blocked his path. The man was about two meters and ten centimeters tall, with black hair and seemingly violet eyes, exuding a constant air of danger.

"Well, look who we have here! Finally, Detective Harley?" A cheerful voice sounded as he looked down at the arriving Harley. His muscular figure seemed threatening, but at the moment, it didn't bother our detective. Casually, he flicked the burnt cigarette stub towards the towering figure.

"To you, I'm just Detective Lawson, Mr. Helion... We're not on such good terms for you to call me by my first name," Harley replied, making no effort to hide his bad mood. After all, early mornings weren't his strength, and he hadn't even had his first coffee.

"Hmm... Too bad. I told you, you can call me Isaac. I don't mind," the man replied as he brushed off the ash and dust that clung to him after the cigarette fell off.

"That's your problem... You never regret anything," grumbled Harley, then glanced towards the crime scene where three bodies lay on the ground. "Since you seem eager to talk, tell me what you found."

"Ah... Always the same with you... You're not one to make friends. Anyway... As you can see, three bodies, all males between thirty and fifty, based on their IDs. All three committed suicide," Isaac replied nonchalantly.

"Suicides?" Harley asked, slightly surprised. When he received the call in the early morning, he thought it might be for a more significant murder case.

"Yes, according to the evidence, they all took their own lives. And before you ask, no... They didn't know each other, just chose the same place and time for their actions," Isaac explained, uninterested.

"This doesn't add up... How do you know they were suicides?"

"Oh, that's simple... We have a witness. She was quite shaken by the incident, but I managed to have a chat with her. She's smiling now!" Isaac emphasized with a bit more cheerfulness, while his sly smile continued to grace his face.

"That doesn't help me at all!" Harley ran his hand through his hair in frustration, then, avoiding Isaac, headed towards one of the police cars where another colleague was holding the distraught witness. The giant left behind just shrugged and went back to the bodies. He really wasn't interested in all this. A mistake on his part.

Harley approached the police car at a slow pace, giving himself time to clear his mind. He never liked talking to Isaac, and this time was no different. He found the man's behavior odd and incomprehensible. His reactions were always completely different from what one would expect. The hypocritical smile on his face always irritated Harley. With a deep sigh, he stopped next to his colleague and looked down at the only witness who could know something about the case. He carefully observed the frightened girl, approximately in her twenties, short, creamy-blond, long-haired "angel." Presumably, she hadn't seen much daylight. Her pale skin betrayed this, while her sky-blue eyes looked confused, alternating between the bodies and the freshly arrived Harley. The detective sighed again. He knew he had to somehow reassure the shocked girl. So, as an act of kindness, he stepped aside a bit to block her view. This forced her to look only at him. Harley opened his mouth to speak.

"Greetings, miss. I..." Here, he was interrupted. The girl opened her mouth, and in a cute but trembling, shy voice, she spoke.

"You're Detective Harley Lawson... Thank you for being here. My name is Delayna Davis..." The girl shivered as she spoke.

"So, you already know my name... I'll take that as progress," Harley said, genuinely unsure of what to say. Rarely was he interrupted like this, and it surprised him that Delayna knew exactly who he was, even though they had never met. At this point, Harley turned his head and gave a sidelong glance to Isaac. He was convinced that Isaac was behind the revelation of his identity.

"Oh, this is amusing," said the officer who had been silent until now.

"What do you mean?" Harley turned to him with a questioning look on his face, then looked back at Delayna.

"Mr. Helion never mentioned your name in front of the witness," the officer said, scratching his three-day-old beard. It probably itched, as he lowered his hand and looked at Harley.

"I don't understand this. How...?" Again, he was interrupted during his statement.

"I just know..." mumbled Delayna, then lowered her head and started to focus on her feet. "I... know too much." She said, and a small smile appeared on her face.

|Hi! I'm alive again. I have a bit of time now. I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. The continuations will be uploaded slowly because, despite breathing a sigh of relief amid work and school, I still don't have much time for my hobbies.

Happy reading!
Sienna Read|