The puffiness under my eyes is clear as day, it's what happens when I'm running on very little sleep. I'm not one for working when it's still dark out but if something comes up and I'm needed, well I can't argue with that. Besides, I want to see for myself that nothing was missed and I don't have to worry about anything. I park my car in front of the precinct, the cold air brushing my cheeks as I briskly walk inside the building. I nod my head at the officer sitting at the front desk before walking to Jason's office. 

"Good morning Chief," I call out enthusiastically as I slam Jason's door open. Now I may be running on little sleep but that doesn't mean my energy levels are low. He looks up from his computer rolling his eyes before going back to whatever he's doing. I mentioned offhandedly to him yesterday through text I had to talk to him about something for the case and I'd be here early for my shift. I'm not a morning person so me being here this early for what I have planned better pay off. 

"What is it that you wanted?" he questions as I close the door behind me before moving to sit in front of him.

"I need the key to Lucas's bar," I tell him getting straight to the point. When he hears that his fingers stop moving and he turns his whole attention to me.

"What do you need it for? We already did a sweep while you were off work last week," he answers and looks like he wants to roll his eyes but is stopping himself.

"I know but I wanted to double-check and make sure nothing was missed, you know, do one more sweep," I answer with a shrug. He observes me for a couple of seconds before rolling his eyes.

"Even if I say no you'll still go and break down the doors yourself won't you," he sighs as he turns to reach the cabinet behind him, unlocking it before pulling out a key. "Sometimes it feels like I'm working with a fucking child," he says to me as he hands over the key.

"But you wouldn't have me any other way would you," I chuckle as he laughs. "By the way, I'm also going to temporarily take down the feed for the cameras in the bar. After what happened last week, I'd rather not have the feed being tapped into and anyone seeing if we find something."

"If you stop the feed for the cameras and let's say one of those people comes to finish the job, what then? We'll have no proof of a crime," he says frowning, immediately disagreeing with me. 

"I know, that's why you'll have Felix checking the cameras if anything happens to me. If anybody goes in he'll know," I reason with a shrug of my shoulders. It's still dark out, the sun hasn't risen yet so I have roughly two hours to find anything, when have I ever come back empty-handed when doing solo investigations," I question, a wide grin on my face. 

"Go do what you need to do but be careful," he warns me before turning back to his computer.

"You got it Chief," I say under my breath before walking out and closing the door behind me. I go back out of the station, seconds ticking by at my time limit. My boots crunch in the snow as I make my way to my car and I feel my phone buzzing in my pocket. 

"Nash? What's wrong?" I ask as I slide into my car, keying in the ignition.

"Just checking to see what Jason said about you going to the bar," he answers. 

"Did you think he'd say anything but no?" I counter as I pull out of the parking lot. 

"I'd be surprised if he did. So what's your game plan?" he chuckles and from the sounds in the background, he must be making a cup of coffee.

"Search around the bar plus inside and leave before sunrise. I'm cutting the feed inside the bar in case whoever was at the warehouse has the ability to hack into cameras and before you say anything, Jason is going to get Felix to check the cameras if anything happens to me," I tell him as I make the quick drive to the bar. With no one on the streets, it takes me less than fifteen minutes to reach the building. 

"Alright be careful, I'll see you later," he tells me.

"Yeah, tell Jade hello for me and I'll see her after school," I tell him before cutting the line. I turn off the engine, stepping out of my car, the dark building looming in front of me. As I'm walking to the door, I hear a cough from behind me and I turn my head finding a young woman wringing her hands nervously. 

"Is there something I can help you with?" I ask turning to face her properly, a polite smile on my face.

"You're a police officer right?" she questions, and I raise a brow silently as she shakes her head and I hear her muttering under her breath 'of course she is stupid, look at her uniform'. "I own the cafe across the street and during the week we're open the whole twenty-fours in the day. Anyways, I saw the police going through here during the week but on Saturday around two in the morning, there was someone that looked like they were breaking in. They weren't successful since they saw me and then took off after." I frown when I hear that and immediately pull out a small notepad from my pocket and a pen to take notes.

"Can you describe what he was wearing, facial features?" I ask her and she shakes her head.

"It was hard to make out his face, but I do remember what he was wearing. Grey denim, a black coat with a hoodie underneath. He had the hoodie on his head, but I did see he had dark hair," she answers. "I have a picture right here," she tells me before pulling out her phone from her pocket. For an amateur photo, it clearly captures who was entering the bar and we can estimate the height and weight of our suspect. I pull out the business card for the precinct and on the back I write my work email before handing it to her.

"This is my email for work, could you please send the photo to this email? Also what is your name in case we need to ask you further questions," I ask her as she looks at the email, typing it away on her phone.

"Evelyn Harper," she answers just as I hear a ping from my cellphone. 

"Evelyn if you have anything else you remember from Friday, please contact me," I tell her as I close my notepad.

"I will, thank you for taking the time to listen to me Officer Sanchez," she says with a smile before crossing the street back to her cafe. I walk back to my car, popping the trunk open to grab my laptop and wires. I didn't plan to go through the video feed in the bar but with the chance of someone trying to break in, it seems I don't have a choice now.

I unlock the front door before locking it behind me and have a flashlight in my hand to guide me through the bar to the back office. I turn on the lights and whoever broke inside definitely knew whatever they needed was here. I guess they tried again and this time they were successful. Files, papers, and other junk lie all over the floor with the computer monitor blinking. I place my bag on the table, shrugging off my jacket as I sit in front of the monitor cracking my fingers. Alright, time to get to work. 

✘✘

Nothing, not a single thing. I've gone through the video feed from the cameras of the last three weeks plus the feed from Saturday has been wiped clean, only restarting after whoever was here left.  I've even gone through all the cabinets and read every single paper that was trashed on the ground but I'm still coming up with nothing. I rest my palms on the floor, my head tilted back as I stare at the ceiling in exasperation, my mind already thinking of my next move but my eyes narrow when I notice one part of the tile near the corner is slightly shifted.

"Well well well, maybe this trip won't actually be a waste of time after all. Did the officers they sent here really miss this? Jason needs them to get re-trained in observation, Nash included," I mutter to myself as I stand up and push the tallest and of course heaviest filing cabinet right below the tile.

I get up on the desk before carefully making my way on top of the cabinet, careful not to slip on the small stepping space. I slowly move the tile before pulling it down and stepping on the tips of my toes I flash the light from my phone into the darkness of the ceiling. I don't see anything to my left but as soon as I shine the light to my right, my lips twist up into a smirk. Jackpot.

"Looks like I found what I needed," I say to myself as I pull out two thick manila folders and next to them a laptop. How it didn't fall through the ceiling is a miracle with how thick the files are plus a laptop sitting on top of it. I hold them in my arms as I carefully step off the cabinet and back onto the desk before jumping down to the floor. I put the laptop in my bag but keep the folders out. It'll definitely take more time to break into the laptop and considering it's almost sunrise, I'd rather get out of here before this area gets busy with people.

I start sifting through the papers dating back to twenty nineteen when Lucas started receiving the pills, around ten to twenty every month for the first year, by the next he was getting double the amount and now here we are twenty twenty-one two weeks before he was arrested he got over a thousand that were kept at the warehouse we were at days earlier. The next thing I notice is the names of people Lucas gave the pills to, some of them were people I've seen at the bar.

There were times regulars I'd normally talk to whenever I came for a drink would stop showing up and I'd assume life just got busy for them. Turns out they might be six feet under for taking this poison thinking it'd give them a high. Just how many people did Lucas give this out to unknowingly or knowing it'd be killing them, that he's committing murder. Now, this opens up a new investigation on the side as to whether these people are dead and what kind of additional charges will he get plus the person who started this fucked up shit. I sit back down in the chair pulling my phone out of my pocket.

"You found something, Natalia?" Jason questions as soon as he picks up.

"Do you know the number of pills we got the day we caught Lucas?" I ask him as I close the folder.

"Around three-hundred, why?" he questions cautiously. "You found something?"

"There's around seven-hundred more of those pills in another warehouse or somewhere on the street with someone dealing them," I say in a dry voice.

"Fuck, did you find anything else?" he questions and an empty chuckle escapes from my mouth.

"I've got a whole bunch of shit that needs to be looked at and we need to open a separate investigation for this, get another team to work it. I found a laptop but I'll be taking that with me to work at home since someone broke into here on Saturday night," I tell him as I pack the folders into my bag. "Whoever came here was probably looking for the computer so the fewer people who know about it the better. Only you, Nash, and I will know about this."

"Fine, the fewer people who know the better," he says in agreement. "You coming back to the office now?"

"Yeah," I answer as movement on the camera feed catches my attention and it seems the person from Saturday is back again. "I'll be at the precinct in the next fifteen minutes and maybe with another suspect," I tell him as I slip my bag onto my back and turn off the office lights.

"Natalia, is someone there right now?" he questions and the casual Jason from before is replaced by Chief Jason.

"Outside of the bar? There is but I'll take care of this, see you soon," I tell him as I hang up on his protests. I pull my gun out of my jacket unclipping the safety lock as I slowly open the door, my eyes glancing outside. I keep watch for another two minutes but don't see anyone so I cautiously open the door, looking up and down the street for whoever was here. 

I close the door behind me, locking it when a white envelope on the sidewalk catches my attention. I bend down to  pick it up, the words on the white envelope saying, "To the female officer." Seems like someone wants to get in contact with me and they sent a messenger to deliver this. I unseal it, pulling out a single sheet of paper written in the most perfect cursive writing I've ever seen in my life. 

My eyes scan the words on the letter and I let out a chuckle when I read the words, "Stay out of our business, this is much deeper than you think and from here on things will be messy."  I fold the paper and put it back in the envelope, I wonder if we can find fingerprints from this.

"Alright you pieces of shit, challenge accepted. I'll find every single one of you and haul all your asses to jail," I call out into the empty street not sure if whoever is still nearby but they can let their boss know I'm personally going to be coming for them.

✘✘

A/N IT'S BEEN FOREVER!! I think the last time I updated was November last year so it's been a while. I know you all have been waiting for a update and yes it's finally here! One thing I wanted to explain was Natalia's dynamic with Jason. Back in The Officer, they were just co-workers and we only saw her in a working setting. But after she helped save Victoria back in the drowning car (refer back to bonus 2 and 3 from The Officer) After that event I wanted I changed their relationship from a working one to a friendship one, like an older brother younger sister kind of vibe. 

But anyways, back to the actual story. Who was at the bar on the weekend? Who was there when Natalia was investigating? Be sure to leave your thoughts of the story in the comments!