The salon door opened as Nadia entered the empty shop floor. Today was a fortnightly day off for her employees so that they get that much-needed time to themselves. It was a perk that she was happy to offer because the shop did so well, and her girls worked hard, so she believed they deserved it.

She looked at her phone to see if Shante had seen her message earlier for her to come over. She was still feeling bad about what she had said a month ago, and this was the longest they had gone without talking.

Nadia desperately wanted her friend back, especially after coping with the heartbreak. Who knew that a man who was both younger than her and her deceased brother's friend would have this profound effect on her?

His words still cut like a knife, telling her to consider the possibility that she knew could be true, but that didn't mean that she had to accept it. Jordan was her brother, and there was no way that she would stop her investigation to find out who did this to him. The lack of not knowing tormented her enough.

There had to be a silver lining.

But before she could get that, she heard the door unclick and saw the person she had been waiting for. She made her way towards her, hoping that she would accept her apology at least.

" I just want to start by saying that I'm sorry that I accused you of being involved, grief or not, you didn't deserve that and I know that you would never want Jordan to get hurt like that. Please forgive me?" she looked at her with puppy dog eyes, and Shante instantly fell for it, holding her friend tightly.

" I know you didn't mean it, but you needed a month to realise your mistake, so I do forgive you." Shante smiled at her, rubbing her shoulders.

" Thank you for being here and accepting my apology and also supporting me through this. I hope you know I do love you like a sister,"

" Always and forever. Now, what's going on? Did you find out more about the Maya girl?" Shante sat on the sofa, patting the space next to her.

Nadia sat next to her, thinking about how much transpired only 24 hours after Shante stormed out, she held onto the information with the sole intention of telling her in person and now she had the opportunity to do so.

" Where do I even begin? I find out Kane knows who Maya is very well after he stayed over the night you left." Nadia stopped herself, realising what she had said.

" Wait, what? What do you mean he stayed over? For what?" Shante exclaimed before seeing the guilty look on Nadia's face.

" Bitch, you fucked him, didn't you??? I knew it! You couldn't help yourself. " Shante pushed her a little as she smirked.

" It was a momentary slip-up at best because I  haven't seen him since our argument a month ago. You know he had the cheek to tell me that I should consider that Jordan's murder could be unsolved." She expressed, feeling frustrated at what he told her.

" While he's not wrong, hear me out." Shante held her hands up and gestured for Nadia to calm down. "He knew better than to say that to you when everything is still so fresh, I mean Jordan only died a year ago. The way Kane is talking,  you would think Jordan had died years ago. This and his knowing Maya makes me believe he knows more than he's letting on. It's getting weird now. He's being way too defensive." Shanted expressed, finding his behaviour strange.

" Would it be far-fetched to believe that he is directly involved? He is saying a lot with his actions but complete nonsense with his words. You get me?" Nadia explained.

" Nah, I don't think that you're being far-fetched. I just wonder if it was him or someone else."

" Yeah, I'd started to feel conflicted about everything, especially since I slept with him too. Ugh, what am I going to do?"

Nadia felt like she had gotten in her way a little. It was beyond foolish for her to sleep with him as well as develop feelings for him. This was all derailing her investigation. She had a sudden realisation.

" Was this his plan along?" She queried softly

" What plan?" Shante responded curiously.

" To derail this whole investigation by seducing me. I mean, it would make me less likely to believe he was involved.  He did give his alibi something about a bowling night with Jay and some other people. But then again, he never told me what time it was. It could've been earlier in the night, giving him enough time to kill Jordan. " Nadia blabbed.

" Ok, that is very possible. What could be used against him? Where's the evidence, Nads? Because him knowing Maya doesn't mean he did nothing," Shante argued.

Nadia knew that Shante was right. Hearsay wouldn't be enough to get him arrested. She needed something fast.

In a strange twist of events, her phone pinged with a message notification with the exact information she would need.

Unknown number

The information you're looking for will be where Jordan's body was found.

Nadia was completely flabbergasted by the timing and information.  She simply showed it to Shante, who read it instantly and shared the same confused expression.

" Do you think it's legit?"

" There is only one way to find out," Nadia stated, grabbing her bag.

" We're going now?" Shante followed the determined Nadia out of the salon. After locking up, they made their way to the place where Jordan was found.

Unbeknownst to them, the intruder watched them leave, anticipating their return.

They made it no time as they approached the back of the shop where Jordan's lifeless body was found. As they got out and approached the particular area, Nadia remembered the crime scene photos that DC Isley showed her at the police station.

She remembered a distinct pipe near the body with a weird dent, and it wasn't long before she noticed it again. She looked around it, seeing if anything would pop up. 

For now, there wasn't much she could see as she continued to search with Shante. She looked around, crouching down to see if anything was there until something reflected off the nearby street light.

It blinded her a little as she got up to see what it was.

" What is it?" Shante asked, noticing it too.

" I don't know, I guess we'll find out soon enough"

Nadia got closer and realised it was something that she could've never imagined: a bloodied knife.

"It's a knife with dried blood"

"Woah, do you think that's what the text was alluding to?" Shante questioned, getting closer to see it.

" It has to be right? Why else someone text such an ominous message?" Nadia expressed. It was weird how convenient it was to find it but for now, it made sense to find out if this was linked to Jordan's murder.

" If this is a possible murder weapon, then what the hell does the police have in their evidence room?" Nadia asked.

" Something isn't right, we should take this police right away."

" How can I be sure they can be trusted after everything? Since all the evidence has come back inconclusive" Nadia mentioned.

" You're not wrong. If not the police, then who?" Shante queried.

" Let me call Nate" 

Nadia made the call and Nate picked up instantly, he listened as she explained to him the current situation.

He was able to call on a friend who worked in forensics who wouldn't mind helping and she sent the details of her salon for them to meet up there. Carefully grabbing the knife with a spare handkerchief she had, she put it in a random plastic bag in her bag and she and Shante made their way back to the salon.

 They arrived to see Nate and another black guy standing outside of the shop, waiting patiently.

" Nate"

"Nadia, good to see you. This is Aaron, the forensics guy I mentioned" He hugged her before introducing his friend.

"Hi Aaron, nice to meet you. This is Shante"

" Nice to meet you both"

" We should probably get inside" Shante suggested.

Nadia unlocked the salon door, letting everyone in and locking it up again to see if there was any suspicious behaviour. Nothing caught her eye as she made her way to her office to see that Nate had set up on her computer and Aaron set up his forensic station.

" So do you have the item?" Aaron enquired, putting his gloves on.

" Yes, I do" Nadia carefully handed the knife over to him, watching him take it out and place it under the microscope. He looked at it and inspected the blood to see possible fingerprints.

While that was going on, Nadia remembered the strange number that texted and decided to let Nate know.

" So Nate, a random number texted me the info to find the knife. I don't recognize it, you think you can trace it for me?" She showed him the number on her phone.

" No problem, should take a couple of minutes" Nate grinned, typing away.

She sat next to Shante as she sighed deeply, the day had been quite eventful so far and was about to be even more eventful after she got the necessary information.

She finally felt like she was making traction in her investigation and she really couldn't have done without the help of the people here. She knew that initially, she wanted to go this alone but her pride and hard-headedness would have prevented this progression if she hadn't put it to the side.

She was happy that she was inching closer to the truth and hopefully, it would be sooner rather than later.

" So unfortunately, I couldn't trace the phone because it's probably a burner but I got a location. Do you know this area?" Nate showed her on the computer.

" Yeah,  it's a rougher side of South London. I may have been there a couple of times but I don't think I know anyone from there" Nadia scrunched her face in confusion, this wasn't adding up. 

"Maybe it was someone who knew your brother then. Did he frequent this area?" Nate asked.

"Possibly given that his friend Kane might live in this area" Nadia stated, she couldn't be too sure but the possibility was there.

"This is strange, there's no way to pinpoint whose phone  it might be at all?" She queried, genuinely baffled at the results.

"Nah, Shan. This is the best I can get. The location is pretty accurate, it hasn't given me an address, but I do at least have some coordinates that might be useful. I can search those and see what I can up with." Nate suggested.

" Yeah, do that," Nadia confirmed. At least then they would have somewhere to start from in terms of location.

"Hey guys, I was able to get a partial print, but unfortunately, I don't have access to a database to match it too," Aaron stated sorrowfully.

" What will we do now?" Nadia asked.

" I suggest you take it to the police. They should be able to get everything necessary from it, including a DNA  match. If only you had someone's DNA, we could match it and I could tell if it was that person. But I think you should do what I said before." Aaron stated, putting the knife back in the bag and handing it back to a dejected Nadia.

She looked to Shante and already received a knowing look that meant she had to call DC Isley again. That was not something she wanted to do.

" The coordinates lead me to these two roads. It seems like the location has to be around there so I would go there if I were you" Nate handed a note with the street names on it.

" Thanks, Nate and you too, Aaron. Your help is much appreciated" She said somberly.

" Happy to help" Nate hugged them after packing his things up and switching her computer off.

"Nice to meet you both, I hope you get the answers you're looking for" Aaron reassured her.

"Let me walk you out," Shante said, escorting them out of the office as Nadia pondered her next move.

This had been a rollercoaster so far, every time she thought was close to cracking the case, something came to ruin her chances and it was starting to get a little irritating.

She placed the knife back in her bag as she put her back towards the door, not noticing the intruder somehow slipped in through the back way of the salon.

She felt a hard body against her as she pushed her bag underneath the desk, away from the perpetrator.

" You've been snooping around too much so I'm here to send you a message: Stop looking before I come back and make sure you end up in the hospital like the last time" He threatened, holding her by the neck in a headlock.

" Who are you?" She asked, trying to keep her composure.

" Doesn't fucking matter. Follow the message and you won't see me again, understood?" He tightened his hold around her, making her gasp for air. She hit him with her fists but it was no use.

" Yes, I understand" She pacified him to which he loosened his grip before groping her body.

" I never knew you were this sexy" He uttered, grabbing a hold of her breast, and rubbing inappropriately. She tried to push him away but his grip was too strong.

She had to do something.

Seeing a stapler on the table, she barely got it before slamming it against his head repeatedly.

" Owwww" he groaned, a little dazed before he stalked towards her but he was unable to reach her as Shante hit him with the nearby fire extinguisher twice, making him pass out.

" Are you ok?" Shante ran towards Nadia who just got her breathing back.

"Yeah, this was the guy that attacked me in Jordan's room" She barely got her words out.

" Fuck no way, I'm calling the police" Shante got her phone as she proceeded to make the phone call.

Nadia wanted to protest but given how dire things had become in such a short time, she just let Shante do what was best.

She hoped that the police would be more helpful not just for Jordan's sake but hers too.

................................................................................................................................................................

Another chapter!

This one is quite juicy.

Who do you think the prints belong to?

Who do you think the killer might be?

Let me know in the comments and vote.

Love, Tam x