"You're sittin' in your chair by the window looking out at the city and I bet sometimes you wonder about me, and I just wanna tell you, it takes everything in me not to call you, and I wish I could run to you. And I hope you know that every time I don't," I Almost Do, Taylor Swift

Two to three days had passed by since I last spoke to Nishan and last texted Travis. I was a bit bothered by it, but what could I do about it? Nothing. The ball was in their court and it was up to them to decide whether or not they wanted to talk to me. I was worn out, trying to sort through my own problems and I needed to do that first before trying to help anyone else.

Maybe not.

Either way, I had to act because the hits were becoming harder on Nishan after the mayor went public about him being fired and why he was.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Andrew flicked his gaze to me as I sat down next to him, pulling my chair closer to him. "So we're looking for anything suspicious in this video," I pointed to his laptop screen as he began to click through the video that Michael gave me. Turns out, the security team complied with his wish of giving them the footage from the day and night the package was delivered. No one knew of the camera at the gate, so I was going to use it for our advantage.

"Try around 8:30, 9ish," I mumbled, trying to recall the time. I had Andrew here in the computer lab for help because as good as I was with technology, he was better and I was going to need his skills if we came across anything good. "Okay," He replied with a nod, using the arrow buttons to fast forward through the time. I appeared on screen, letting myself in as I dialed the code, completely unaware of how stupid I looked. Whatever. "This is nothing important," I blushed as Andrew chuckled, increasing the tempo of the forward motion.

"Okay, we're getting closer," I said as I looked at the timestamp, seeing that the time was getting closer to 8:30, no one on the camera. I had no clue what I was looking for, but it had to be a man holding a box that resembled the box that Nishan received. I didn't even know why I stayed after my classes ended just to do this for him. That ought to teach him a lesson and realize that no matter how much he tried to push me away, like a brick wall, I wasn't going to move or budge just a bit. Maybe even give him a little time to think about what he was going through, but I wouldn't abandon him like that.

I rolled my eyes, snorting to myself. He was a fucking idiot and if he just thought about it for two seconds, he would see that there was something off about this picture. "Oh!" I blinked at the timestamp landed on 8:46:06 and a man with a black hoodie covering his face appeared on the screen. "There!" I pointed to the computer and Andrew zoomed in a little closer, allowing me to see the color of the person's skin at least. "Hold on," Andrew muttered before typing in code on the software, brightening up the quality of the footage. "Come on, come on," I bit my lip, waiting for him to look up at the light that was disguised as a camera. The dude looked around the area, making sure that he was alone before opening the package carrier that was attached to the wall of the gate.

"Come on..." I clicked my teeth and all of a sudden, the dude looked up and stared into the camera, uncertainty written in his eyes as the light disclosed his features. "There!" I screeched and Andrew paused it on sight, taking a screenshot of the man's face. "Can you check your email?" I asked and he nodded. "I sent you a picture of Diego Tatum," I thought back to the picture that I found when I went through Nishan's old room, seeing a picture of the two on their first day in the force.

"This it?" Andrew asked as he pulled it up next to the screenshot of the man. "I want to see if they are the same person," It looked like it was, but we had to be sure. "Yes, sure, gimme one sec," Andrew said as he tapped away at the keyboard, typing in a series of codes as the two pictures began to light up on the screen. I really enjoyed the fact that I could count on him for doing this, no questions asked. He didn't even seem the slightest concerned, but it was probably because he knew that I had some role with the whole Easton case.

When the two pictures were done getting analyzed by his facial recognition system, the word 'match' popped up on the screen in big letters, confirming that this was indeed the work of Diego Tatum. "But it doesn't make any sense," I shook my head, trying to find the missing link. "Why would he target Nishan and why would he frame him? Why would he leave?" I mean, it made sense because Nishan was on the case and if he was truly the missing fifth leader, he could've had someone else take the fall instead of Nishan, someone he was supposed to be protecting. 

"Why come back now?" I asked out loud. The case had already been closed and nothing had happened since. "Maybe the closing of this case makes or breaks things for him," Andrew surmised and I shrugged, wondering what he would have to gain. Sure, the city was still in fear because that person was lurking out and about, but it made no sense. "Hold on. Try to take a still picture of their face and plug it into google images to see what you get," I pulled out my phone, going to my google. I typed in Diego's name and I was met with nothing but the same picture and an article talking about the arrival of the new cadets.

There was next to nothing about this dude and it was odd.

"Ezra, look what I found," I looked up to see that Andrew had clicked on an article from six or seven years ago about the inauguration of Joey Padilla. "Oh yeah?" I started reading along with the article, that Joey, his wife Marissa, and their son Reuben were very excited and happy about this opportunity. "That's not it," Andrew whispered cautiously before scrolling down to a big picture of the mayor and his family smiling at the screen.

Oh.

Oh wow.

I gulped, the pieces slowly clicking together in my mind. "So...Diego Tatum," I pointed to the picture of the partner on the computer before pointing to a picture of the mayor and his family to the right of it. "Is Reuben Padilla?" That was shocking, but it would explain why there was no information about who Diego was, which I found odd considering that he worked for the police at some point. "But that doesn't add up, though," I huffed, looking at Andrew.

"You know how the mayor is running again in the election next month, and he needs as many votes as he can get. Since he's been in for so long, his popularity has gone down since he didn't do much about that big crime scandal," Andrew thought deeply, referring to Nishan's case. "By doing this, he would have the entire public vote if he fired Nishan and blamed him because now the citizens feel safe," I said out loud what was going through his mind. "Couple that with the fact that he's protecting his son, we have our answer," My brain was hurting because this literally meant war. 

This wasn't just some lowly official that we could just go in and throw out. No, this was Joey Padilla, San Antonio's very own mayor. We had to think rationally about this. "Can you print out everything for me please?" I asked. "Looks like I got a case to plead," I checked my watch, seeing that it was 2:57 pm. I still had time to go to the city hall and talk with the Mayor Pro Tem, Alex Everhart, and tell him what I found. Hopefully, he'd hear me out.

"Here," Andrew said as he walked back from the printer, handing me some papers. "Come on," He said closing up his laptop bag. "I'll walk you out," I nodded in reply as I grabbed my things, following him out of the computer lab. "Seems like you got yourself in something once more, Ezra Moore," He teased as we exited the entire building and I pushed him with a scoff, garnering a howl of laughter from him.

"You're a dick, Andrew," I rolled my eyes, finding myself smiling as he looked over at me. "I aim to please, your highness," He winked and I shook my head, watching him look in the direction of the parallel parking spots across from where we were headed. "Hey," He grabbed my attention as he nodded over there. "Isn't that your boy toy's car?" I frowned, eyes landing on the exact same color of Nishan's Mercedes Benz, with the same green and blue hubcaps and I just knew who it belonged to.

That and the fact that I felt a burning stare.

"Let's make him jealous, shall we?" Andrew chuckled mercilessly as he threw an arm around my shoulder, inching in closer to me and I couldn't hold back my blush. "Don't you like Korina?!" I sighed heavily and he smirked, whispering in my ear, but it looked a lot more suspicious from a far angle. "I'm a straight man with one girl on his mind, what he doesn't know won't hurt him," I snorted, shaking my head.

"You're relentless, mofo'," Though, I didn't push his arm away. "Hey, it'll teach him that pushing you away won't help," He did speak true words though, so I couldn't deny that notion. He really had the nerve to come out here and sit here for as long as he did, and for what purpose? Fear that his partner was going to attack me to get to him? If he wanted, he had ample time, but it wasn't as if he knew who I was. I was just confused. 

"And now for the final act," Andrew smiled with glee as we neared our cars, the sound of chirping filling up the day silence as we pressed the key fob. I was completely caught off guard when he grabbed my face and pulled me towards him, eyes wide and mouth open and all of a sudden, a loud and wet kiss was plastered onto my cheek. "W-what?" I stammered with a terrible blush, feeling an intense glare into my body as Andrew ran off in the direction of his car. 

"Call me later! Love you!" He cackled and I stared dumbfoundedly as I walked up to my car, not daring to turn around. I just knew that that Benz was going to be caught on fire if I didn't leave within the next 30 seconds. 

What Nishan didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

Once I was situated, I pulled out behind Andrew, making my way downtown towards the city hall. I could see Nishan trailing behind me as far away as he could and while the idea made me happy, I was still mad at him. Even we were unknowingly trailing down memory lane as we drove down the same street he pulled me over on. I hated that I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I thought about it and somewhere along the way, I hoped that he was thinking of it too.

"And when I see you, all I remember is how you make you wanna surrender," I sung, tapping my fingers along to the beat of the song that was playing on the radio. "Damn your eyes..." I trailed off, thinking about how ironic it was that this song was playing. It was true because damn those mismatched eyes for drawing me in without fail. "Damn you, Nishan," I gritted my teeth, knowing damn well I was far too gone to come back up.

I snorted in mirth as I pulled into a parking spot out of the Metropolitan city hall. I had no exact plan, but if I saw the right person, everything would fall in place. I got out, ignoring Nishan's car parked a few feet away from mine. He had to be dumb if he didn't think I didn't see him. I was sure all of San Antonio could see him with how obvious he was being.

But it was cute.

I walking inside the posh building, looking for a reception desk or something like that. "Can I help you?" A lady came up to me and I nodded. "I'm looking for Joey Padilla," I asked carefully and she shook her head. "He went out for the day, would you like me to bring you to Alex Everhart?" I nodded as she requested for my ID. "This way, please," Within two minutes, we were on the second floor as the city council, standing in front of Everhart's door. "Mr. Everhart?" The woman knocked tentatively. "You have a visitor."

There was a cough and then a 'come in', and she motioned for me to go in, so I did. "Hello," I waved to the man with salt and pepper hair, seemingly tan and youthful skin and a bright smile. "My name is Ezra Moore," I said as I closed the door behind me. "Please take a seat. What can I do for you today?" He tilted his head and I pulled out the file of the stuff that I found today, handing it to him as I sat down.

"As you know, our Chief of Police was terminated because of being a suspect for the murders of all of those people five years ago," He nodded and I continued. "However, even I knew something was amiss because if he truly was, the police department would have arrested him years ago instead of now," Alex seemed as if he knew where I was going with this, deciding to open the file.

"Nishan is someone that I know well, and I'm going to do everything in my power to help him, regardless of what happens. As you can see, I did some research," I didn't have to explain because he seemed to be having the same doubts as I was and it seemed to be clicking for him. "I kept thinking that it was convenient timing for all of this and Nishan would have nothing to gain from it if he was indeed the true perp." I concluded my thoughts, unsure if I did the wrong thing or not.

"This would make much sense," Alex mumbled to himself as he sighed, shaking his head. "We all knew, but we didn't have the evidence," He whispered in the confidence of this room and I gulped, wondering if this was the piece of the puzzle they were missing. I wasn't going to ask because it wasn't my job.

"Thanks for bringing this to me, Mr. Moore," Alex clenched the papers as he gritted his teeth. "I'll give a call to the sergeant and we'll get this processed as soon as possible, so we can have our chief of police back," He sounded like a no-bullshit type of man and he seemed like he would do right by the law, so I knew he had it under control. "We can't have someone like this as our mayor," He stated adamantly and I internally grinned, satisfied with my doings. "Thank you," I shook his head and proceeded to leave the building, done being captain-save-Nisasshole for a day.

"What bullshit," I breathed heavily, needing a nap with Jigglypuff. When I walked outside of the hall, Nishan's car was gone, so I just continued on with my trek, when all of a sudden, a voice called out to me. 

"Hey!" I turned to see a black-haired woman with striking amber eyes running towards me. "You're Ezra Moore, aren't you? I'd recognize that face anywhere," She mused with a chuckle and I stared, wondering if I should bolt to my car or not. "And you are?" I asked cautiously, questioning her business with me.

"Oh, I'm Rylee Grant," The pretty woman held out her manicured hand, suggesting that I take it. I frowned at the suspiciously sweet attitude of hers, wondering what she wanted. "I'm an old friend of Nishan's," She tilted her head and a dark pang of jealousy shot through me. The words coming out of her mouth sounded simple enough, but her tone implied so much more and I was a bit concerned.

"We go way back."