"She would eat you alive."

☆

"So, what did they say?" Jojo asks as the passenger door opens and Detective Wilder gets in, he closes the door and accepts the pastry in the paper bag being offered to him. 

"She has been in contact this morning. Emergency leave they said. They wouldn't tell me any more." He pulls down the paper a little to reveal the Danish as he takes a bite. 

Jojo looks at the man, feeling a little frustrated before her attention turns towards the big blue sign of the city hospital. "She's not on leave. She can't be. It's just too coincidental don't you think?" 

"Maybe, but you can't charge people for coincidence." The detective splutters, with flakes spraying from his mouth. Jojo looks the man up and down, who seemed completely unaware of his manners. "You can't arrest someone for being a pig either." She utters under her breath. 

"What? I didn't quite catch that?" Detective Wilder begins, but Jojo looks out of her own window, in order to refocus her mind. "Someone has to be pulling some strings. Made her say it." 

"You're thinking Ms Matheson right?" The Detective says, as he tries to get in tune with his superior. 

"I'm running out of time. Soon it will be 48 hours and I will have to make a public appeal. Everyone will know the facts so far and without concrete evidence,  whatever I suspect will have to come to an end."  Jojo's sigh weighs heavy, as she drinks her bitter coffee, before placing the reusable cup into the car's holder. "I need to pay Chanelle a visit. I believe I have enough in my own mind to go on." 

"What. Now?" The Detective sits up a little in his seat. 

"Yes now." Jojo frowns at the man for the second time that morning. She switches on the ignition, causing the man to buckle up, as they head down the street.

"I've never been to the Matheson mansion before. I hear they have such extravagant parties. The food… hey!" 

Detective Kim pulls abruptly into the side of the road and turns to the man. "Whose side are you on?"

Wilder looks at Jojo with surprise.  "Your side Ma'am. I've already said I'm on the side of truth and Justice " 

"Swear to me." 

"What? I just said." 

"Swear to me that you are on this case with me, because if you're lying to me right now…" she begins. "I will do this alone if I have to."

"You can trust me I swear." The detective holds up a palm. "I trust you are right on this. I would do anything for you." He looks at his superior emitting the smallest of smiles. His heart skipping the smallest of beats as she glared at him with fire through her metal framed glasses. 

Her stare softens as she looks ahead once again pulling away from the roadside. Possibly ignoring the small suggestion that the man had some kind of feeling for her. Something she wouldn't entertain. "That's good to hear," she says with a calmness as they now continue their journey. "It's true that the Matheson family home is impressive, but we're not going there today." 

"Why not?" With the Detective now having his turn to frown. 

"If I know her, she won't be home. We are heading to her place of work, you see not everyone knows her dark side, but what they do know is that she won't miss a day of making money. She likes to show a presence with her legitimate line of work. Show the world what a hard working woman she is. Plus, she wouldn't dare do anything stupid. Her company's reputation is everything. We are safer having a conversation at her work." 

"You sure have done your homework." The man looks at her with a new found respect all over again. "You know her so well."

Jojo's stare stays fixed on the road ahead. She didn't want to think about how well she actually knew Chanelle Matheson. "Too well." She says rather tight lipped. 

They soon pull up, across the street from a very smart looking high-rise building. The car had been filled with silence on the journey, with Detective Wilder too preoccupied in finishing off his pastry, as he washed it down with a take away paper cup of weak tea. 

Jojo's eyes turn to the revolving door at the front of the Matheson enterprise. She switches off the engine as she relaxes back in her seat. A moment of doubt fills her mind as to whether she should enter the place at all.  To everyone around her, Detective Jojo Kim was a force to be reckoned with. A strong female who stood her ground, who fought for what was right when no one else would dare. She would challenge convention where others would simply accept. That was the Jojo almost everyone grew to respect and was what earned her her badge. Not the naive, nerdish, innocent, young girl inside of her, who wouldn't say boo to a goose. Who in that moment, was in danger of rearing her timid head. This was a part of her she had managed to keep hidden deep inside, where no one would see. But one person had witnessed this side of her. One person knew how to manipulate her, was calculating and if she let her, would have Jojo on her knees. That person was Chanelle Matheson.

"I'm done. Let's go." Detective Wilder pushes the paper bag inside his teacup and undoes his seatbelt. 

"No." Jojo replies with authority as she turns to look at her colleague, frozen in place with an undone seatbelt in his grasp. "I'll speak to her alone." 

"But wouldn't it be better if we both confronted her?" He lets the belt retract all the way as he turns a little in his seat to face her. 

"David, she would eat you alive. I know how she operates." Jojo looks back at the imposing building. "Her opinion of men has gone down over the years. You stay here and just keep a lookout." She thinks no more, not waiting for another response as she undoes her own seatbelt and exits the car….