"Can't you wear something more—more appropriate?" Eric whispered, his eyes drifting to the deep V of Candice's shirt. It was a burgundy satin number, paired with skinny jeans and her pair of party heels. All in all, it wasn't exactly a conventional outfit to wear to the police station. But Candice wasn't here for a conventional reason.

"Hi, may I speak to the detective that's in charge of the charity ball robbery case?' Candice asked sweetly at the police officer on duty. The man, who looked to be in his late thirties with a giant belly, blinked at her as though he wasn't really quite there.

"What?" he drawled slowly, eyes also focused on the v of her shirt. Candice coughed a little and his attention returned to her face momentarily.

"The detective in charge of the charity ball robbery and shooting case? I'm the daughter of Richard White," she asked again, keeping her voice preppy. The man gave one last lingering look at her cleavage before pressing a button on the phone next to him.

"Detective Wallace, there's a girl here asking about the case. Said she's Richard White's daughter," he said in a bored tone, his eyes back to her shirt front. Candice resisted the urge to huff in disgust, especially when he pointed them down the hall.

"Thank you, officer," she said. Eric was trying to put on a poker face behind her but failing. Candice gave her a glare and marched down the corridor towards the door it was pointed at.

The plaque at the door read Detective Wallace, and under normal circumstances, Candice would be excited to meet a real-life detective. Especially because the face behind the door was a handsome one.

"How might I help you?" the man who must be Detective Wallace asked. He was a different kind of handsome to Eric, with blond hair and hazel eyes. He looked to be in his thirties, but the athletic thirties, unlike the desk front police. Candice noticed that his gaze didn't stray downwards. Crap.

"Hi, I'm Candice White." Candice decided that she needed to go down another route and stuck out her hand. Detective Wallace gave her a quick assessment, stepping sideways to take stock of Eric, too.

"Hi, please come in," he said. Candice stepped into his small office, noticing that it lacked the file trays and ominous window blinds that you often see on cops drama on TV. There was only one chair, so they all remained standing.

"How might I help you?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Candice tried to think of something to say, this wasn't really going how she'd hoped.

"We want to ask about the bodies," Eric stepped in. Candice's heart clutched tightly at the moment, both in guilt and in shock. She hadn't thought of her parent's bodies. Surely the police had them.

Oh my god. Was she going to see their body?

"We do have them in custody," Detective Wallace said, but more gently. Eric had taken a step closer to her and held her shoulder in support. Candice's keens felt weak and she could feel the two men staring at her in concern. She realized that this was the perfect opportunity.

"I think I'm going to faint," she said. Sure enough, both of them looked at each other in panic. Eric held her more tightly while Detective Wallace ventured outside to make her a cup of tea. As soon as he was out of the door, Candice stood up straight and dived towards the pile of papers on his desk.

"Candice!" Eric whispered furiously behind her, shock evident in his voice. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for information, duh. Now why don't you help me stand guard?" she whispered back without bothering to look behind her. She heard Eric's feet moved away, which meant that he was doing as he was told. The first few files she opened were of missing people's cases, but the fifth one was what she was looking for.

"Bingo!" she exclaimed, making sure to keep her volume down. She fished out her phone. Since she'd taken out the sim card, it had been useless as a way of communication, but the camera function still worked. She snapped photos of each sheet before carefully putting the file back where she found them. There were a few gruesome photos in there, but she shoved away her feeling of dread.

"He's coming back!" Eric squealed. Candice quickly leaped back into position and almost knocked Eric over in the process. But luckily, Detective Wallace was too busy holding the mug of tea to see their fumble.

"Here." he handed Candice a cup. Candice's heart was racing but she did her best to fit back into the role of a shocked family member. "I'm afraid it's going to be a while before we can release the body. The investigation is still ongoing."

Candice grimaced. She felt like a bad daughter for not thinking of her parent's body and the funeral, letting her inheritance consumed her thoughts. It was true that her father would have wanted her to secure their legacy since the dead will remain dead. But still.

"Are there any leads?" she asked offhandedly. Detective Wallace's mouth tightened into a line, and it was pretty clear that he wasn't going to let a word loose.

"I'm afraid that's all classified information. But if we have any leads, we will let you know," he responded with a blanket statement. "We don't believe it's a targeted attack, so you won't be in any danger."

Candice stiffened. It was funny how he had added that. Because that was exactly what was happening. She was being targeted for whatever reason, and she was sure to the bones that her parent's death was the cause of it. They nodded thanks to the detective before leaving the room. And Candice hadn't touched a drop of that tea.

"Well, that went well," Eric surmised. That got a laugh out of Candice, even if it was short and dry.

"Let's go back and go over the photos," Candice whispered. Then she looked down at her footwear. "But maybe we should get some new clothes first."

"With what money?" Eric teased. Candice gave him a wicked smile. Eric stared at her in alarm as she pulled out a plastic card and waved it at him.

"Whose is that?" he asked, making a grab at it. Candice danced out of his reach and giggled, tapping on the credit card and waving it at him.

"Bianca's, I borrowed it from her saying that I've left mine at UCLA," she explained. Eric's eyes widened. Candice guessed that it wasn't common upon his peers to loan each other credit cards.

As Candice dragged Eric towards the high street, neither of them noticed that a man in a leather jacket was following them.

"We have clothes from Bianca, what else do we need?" Eric asked, exasperated. Candice ignored him, already conjuring up a mental list of essential in her mind. She would need a set of toiletries, of course, and it seemed that she'd be better off getting sneakers, too. A couple tens of outfits were also in order, and she was in serious need of some leave-in conditioner.

"Hey!" a scream behind them caught their attention, and they both turned to see a man in leather jacket running towards them, a bright pink purse in his grasp. A woman was chasing after him but to no avail.

Candice reached for Eric's arm, but the latter was so tensed that he didn't seem aware of her gesture. The man was steps away from them when suddenly, he flipped the purse open and sprayed something into their face.

Surprised, Candice gripped Eric tighter and squeezed her eyes shut. But she wasn't fast enough. Whatever it was, it stung like hell and Candice swore loudly. She felt a tug on her other arm and tried to pull away, but it was hard to do that while suffering from blinding pain.

"Let go of me!" she screeched. Bianca's card was still held firming on the hand she was being taken hostage on, and she decided against dropping it. Instead, she pulled back, surprising the person and kicked him hard at where she hoped was between the legs.

A tell-tale grunt sounded and the arm around her slacked. She kicked again and the grip finally loosened enough that she was able to break free. Eric was shouting something indistinct next to her, pulling her backward, and Candice didn't need any more encouragement.

"What is going on?"

She could hear shouts from around. By now, her eyes had finally readjusted from being attacked, and it took her a second to comprehend that they were surrounded by some sort of mist. Eric was tugging her hard and she could just make out the street before them. The sound of coughing and sneezing around them continued and Candice couldn't help but wondered what was causing the mist.

"We need to go, now," Eric stated. Candice slipped Bianca's card into her jeans' back pocket and broke into a run next to Eric.

"Go where?" she asked. Then it dawned on her that Eric meant they needed to get out of the city altogether. "What? No! I need to get—"

"We don't have time to get silly things. We'll buy you some shoes and we'll get going," Eric cut her off. His face was flushed and there was a finality in his face. Candice opened her mouth to argue but thought better of it. The man was trying to drag her somewhere, and he would have too if she hadn't reacted quickly.

"To where?" Candice asked. They had come to Sacramento seeking answers, but they had been here for barely 12 hours and now they had to leave.

"I don't know yet. Let's find you some shoes first and we'll have a look at what's inside that file," Eric commanded. Despite the situation, Candice couldn't help but found this Eric extremely attractive. But her heels were beginning to throb and it felt like it might blister.

They were now speed walking down another street and Eric wasted no time in pulling her into the first sportswear store. Within minutes, they found a pair of study sneakers her size, purchased a few pairs of socks, and were out.

"You need to throw that away." Eric pointed at the bag that Candice was carrying and she shook her head firmly. There was no way she would throw away her Jimmy Choo. She fished out her phone and handed it to Eric to shut him up.

"Let's take a look at what they found," she offered and Eric sighed. The two of them headed to a Starbucks and found a seat by the door but turned away from the window. They bent their head over Candice's phone and began to scroll through the pages she had photographed.

"Yuck," Candice screeched and leaned back from the phone. The gruesome photo included on the page. It was the crime scene, no doubt, littered with people in pools of blood. The image of it was ingrained in Candice's mind, as well as the knowledge that her father was likely to be in there.

Perhaps he had sensed her discomfort, Eric pulled the phone closer to him and zoomed in to inspect the photo more closely. Candice watched him closely, scrutinizing his face as he scrutinized the content. His brows were furrowed and his mouth was gaping slightly, obviously deep in concentration. Studying him made Candice relaxed a little, but the back of her mind was still burning with the fear of what they might find inside of her parents.

Their autopsy report would be there, too.

Candice gulped and closed her eyes, her interest in the file waning quickly. Eric could read through them and tell her what he learned.

"Is there anything useful?" she asked him. Eric didn't answer immediately, scrolling through the other photos. Candice remembered the file being quite thick, but she was so pumped up with adrenaline during her raid that she hadn't paid much attention to the actual content.

"It's mostly just record of the crime scene, I think this is an early report," Eric surmised. He swiped in the other direction, no doubt having gone through the whole lot and now doubling back.

"Well, anything good in there?" Candice asked again then winced at her own words. It was of dead people, perhaps the use of the word "good" wasn't the best choice. Eric, fortunately, didn't seem to take offense or even notice.

"There is four more death other than your parents, and a few amount of people were injured, too. The witnesses stated that the robbers had come in with the guns, and only started shooting when Richard White, who was on the stage, tried to talk them down from the robbery."

Candice grimaced. That certainly sounded like her dad. Always trying to take control of the situation, even at a robbery. Couldn't he had just ducked and handed over his watch and valuables?

"The robbers hadn't finished taking everyone's valuables before they retreated. The police said that their operation was well-timed, likely professionals," Eric continued.

All in all, there was nothing that would help them. If her parent's death were just unfortunate circumstances, then she must look somewhere else. But it would make so much more sense for her parent's death to be related to whoever was chasing her down. After all, the timing was just too perfect.

"We need more time to go through the details," Eric announced. None of the information inside was particularly useful, but at least now they have something to pour over.

Candice pursed her lips. Had her parents mentioned anything about their plans? She could vaguely remember the charity ball, but her parents attended about one of those per week. She had last seemed them during the last few days of her summer holiday, where they had vacationed at their summer house at Carmel by the Sea...

The property, though theirs, was under their butler's name. It was their gift to him for years of service, though they still used it as a vacation home from time to time. Candice had a spare key, and since it was in the opposite direction of White Falls and where they came from, it was a good place to lay low until they could figure it out.

"I know of a place," Candice quickly filled Eric in. He nodded in agreement, but she could see the hesitation in his eyes. Her excitement wavered for a second; she kept forgetting that Eric wasn't really invested in this.

She kept meaning to think of a way to make him stay with her through this for good, but whatever ideas she had kept falling short. She thought of seducing him; she certainly liked him enough. But after yesterday night at Bianca's, she wasn't sure if he did come along because he liked her. He had slept on the sofa, just as he had promised, and that didn't seem right. None of the boys she knew would be so gentlemanly.

The other side of the coin was that she could offer him money. She would have plenty of that once she got her inheritance back. But that seemed rather cold, too.

Before she could muster up enough words to speak, Eric had nodded and gathered up their things. "We need to find a way there, then," he said. Relieve flooded through Candice, and Eric seemed to have noticed her tenseness.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm not going to leave you to handle this alone. Somehow I was caught up in it, and my conscience won't allow me to leave you to the wolves," Eric promised. Candice felt truly relieved for the first time since she was chased down the campus and offered him a grateful smile.

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Hi guys! I've made it past 10k words 2 days later than the schedule, but I'm hoping I'll catch up in time. I'm not posting them here fast enough but hopefully I'll catch up :)