Einar

Will was scratching the back of his head while arguing with the other two officers trying to understand what happened. Cat took advantage of his lack of attention towards her and tiptoed to the girl's room. She got in and closed the door behind her. When she turned around, a blonde lock of hair was pouring down under the white sheet that covered her face. Cat revealed her face with shaky hands and she gasped when she recognized the victim in front of her. She was going to her high school, one year younger. She covered her body again and walked over to the window. She tried to look outside but the window was dirty, it was like a car window after you draw something on it with your fingers. As she lifted her hand to touch the window, Will burst into the room.

-Cat! What on earth are you doing here?

-I wanted to know who she was.

He walked closer to his daughter, frowning when he looked at the bed on his left.

-So... you knew her?

-Not really. Never talked to her, but she went to my school.

-Sorry.

-You don't have to.

Soon after, a nurse came into the room, telling them to leave so she could take the girl to an autopsy. Will left the room first, leaving Cat to explain to the old woman who the girl was.

-Oh. And you should clean that window.

The nurse looked confused at her and then to the window.

-I cleaned it last night, before you brought her in.

That window couldn't get that dirty over night. It didn't rain or anything.

-Hey dad! Where's David?

Cat ran down the hall to her dad.

-Well, right there, he said pointing to the man's direction. Why?

-Nothing important. You should go talk to Lee, see if he saw anything last night.

Will nodded and walked away, while Cat turned to the opposite direction towards David.

-Hi, babe! How are you feeling?

David was like 25, a lot younger than Will even if they were best friends and let's just say he had a special interest in Cat.

-Hi. Stop calling me that. I need you for a sec.

-Well, I mean, if you insist...

He rolled his eyes like it was the hardest thing and the most annoying one to follow her into the room. Cat just scoffed at him and dragged him after her.

-Sorry to interrupt you again, she said to the nurse. We just need to take a look to that window.

-It's alright, just don't take long.

Cat showed David the window, but he was not sure what she meant by that.

-You want to do it under the sky, is that what you're saying?

-Oh shut up! It's dirty.

-Yeah I know, he said with a smug smirk on his lips.

-You doofus... I'm serious. It was cleaned last night before we got here and now it looks like it's a part of a forgotten building.

David frowned and looked closer at the window. She was right. It was odd...

-Get me a black plastic. Anything made like that.

Cat looked around and she spotted a black garbage bag in the bin.

-Sorry again, she said to the nurse before she turned the bin upside-down and took out the garbage bag.

-What do you think you're doing?!

The old woman raised her voice, but Cat didn't seem to care. She took the bag to David and Lee came into the room.

-What are you doing here?

-What are YOU doing here?

They both looked at each other and frowned, but Cat just rolled her eyes at him and continued to walk to David. She handed him the bag and he opened the window placing it on the outside to completely cover it. He then closed the window and took a step back.

-Now what, smart-ass?

Lee wasn't really in a good mood when David was around.

-Now this, he answered and a blue light came in contact with the window.

A few letters showed up and Cat took a few steps closer.

-What's that, asked Lee.

-RANIE, M-.

David took a few steps closer and dragged his finger down the window, but the letter wasn't erased or anything.

-What the fuck, he whispered to himself.

Lee pushed him aside with a grunt of pain when he raised his hand.

-Step aside, Sherlock.

He did the same move as David and turned to face him with annoyance written all over his face.

-It's written on the outside, detective.

He rolled his eyes at him and pointed his hand to the window grunting again.

-Age... You're getting rusty, said David still holding the light on the window.

-It's not RANIE, M-. IT'S EINAR –M.

As the words slipped from his tongue his eyes darted up to Cat's who was already looking at him.

-M?

-Maniac?

-It's this supposed to be a gift or something?

She turned to face the bed and her hand drifted to her necklace in an instant. David was the one to talk as the total dumb-ass he was.

-A fucking gift? That's what this looks like to you?

-Can I kill him, asked Lee with a stern voice.

-No. We might still need him around, Cat joked along.

-...Not even just a little bit?

D rolled his eyes in annoyance then turned off the light and uncovered the window. He gave the plastic to Cat who watched it with confused eyes.

-You made the mess.

She scoffed, but he was right. Cat grabbed it and started cleaning up the garbage from the floor as David left the room to look for Will. When she finished she sat down on the floor, leaning on the wall facing the bed, her fingers playing with her necklace. Lee took a place near her with a long grunt and a hard breath.

-What do you think this means, he finally spoke eyeing the floor, not able to look at the body.

The nurse left soon after Cat threw the garbage on the floor, so there were just the two of them and a body in the room.

-It might mean a lot of things.

-Start with the worst scenario.

-They're all bad. I can't tell which one is worse. It might mean that he was in here, or he has someone in the hospital. This we need to check out later. It also means that he knows me or my dad. And...

She turned to look at him and he caught her gaze.

-It might mean that one of us in next.

Lee gulped when he heard that idea coming out of her mouth. It was natural instinct to think like that and he thought about it too, but it really hit him hearing it out loud. He searched her eyes, trying to decipher her emotions, but he didn't find fear, sadness, anger... not even a slight avoidance. She was not scared of dying. In her head and heart she didn't care what happens to her as long as she knows it happened for a good reason.

-Why aren't you scared?

-Scared? Of what?

-Oh, I don't know Einar. Death?

-I'm not scared of dying because I already did.

At first he was casual about it, until he understood what she said. He raised his voice and turned his body completely to face her.

-You did what?

-When I was 13. I had a heart attack. I was playing around the house with Amy's dog and a tall man walked in the garden. Will went out to him, I don't really remember everything that happened. I know I wasn't paying attention to the dog anymore and he sat on the grass, crunching like something was hurting him from the inside. I called my dad and he came and then I remember the dog coming at me, fast with foam coming out his mouth. My dad shoot him on the spot and he never got to bite me. But I got so scared about the dog, the man, the gunshot. I fell to the ground and my heart ached. I woke up at some point in an ambulance with a woman telling me to stay with her, asking me about my name. I closed my eyes and I felt my body relaxing. I felt every muscle in my body giving up. I heard muffled voices around me, but not as you hear them when you sleep or when you pass out. I don't really know how to explain it. It just felt actually good. My heart stopped for 2 or 3 seconds and then I started breathing again.

She looked at the ground remembering the events, still playing with her necklace. When she raised her gaze to Lee she saw tears sparkling at the corners of his eyes, but they never rolled down his cheek. Or she never saw them do so.

-I was fine after a while. That's when I realized how precious everything is and that I have everything I need. I used to think a lot about my parents back then, but that's when it hit me that I'll always have Will by my side and that's all I needed. The doctors said I inherited the weak heart from one of parents most probably.

Lee just looked at her. Not knowing what to say or do. He just sat there letting her words float in the air a little bit.

-What next, he asked finally looking up at the bed in front of them.

-We need to check the video tapes. My dad won't do that without a warrant and if this Maniac is as good as he wants us to think he might delete those soon.

-I don't think we need to go through all that trouble.

As he talked Lee pointed up at the single camera in that room. It was broke. It hanged there on one cable. Cat scoffed and Lee stood in front of her with more than just one grunt. As he got to his feet he looked down at her.

-You look good from up here.

A cheesy smirk made it's way to his face. He gave her his hand to help her stand and Cat crossed her arms at her chest.

-You, son of a-, she was interrupted by her own laugh. You? Help me? Have you seen yourself, Pinky Pie? If I touch you, your hand might fall flat on the floor.

Lee frowned at her and that made it harder for her to contain her laugh. She was a noisy person, but they had a body in the same room. It was creepy and weird to laugh near it. She stood shoving away Lee's hand and left the room.

-Wait. Have you seen my dad, she turned to ask the boy.

-No. Why?

-He was supposed to come to you and ask you a few questions.

-Well he must've change his mind because he never got there. That's why I came here in the first place. You left me to call your dad and neither of showed up.

Cat was confused and her eyebrows met in a deep frown.

-Come on. Let's look for Sherlock. He must know where Will is.

Cat nodded and they walked down the hall. She picked up her phone and called her dad, but nothing. She, then, called D.

-Cat... I can't talk right now... Um... Go and stay in Lee's room. I'll come over in 5.

That's all he said and he hung up.

-Wait, D-. He hung up. He never hangs me up.

She started tasting on her phone with an angry speed.

-What are you doing?

-If that mother...hugger...won't come to me, I'll go to him.

She was trying to find his phone location, but instead she saw her dad's on the screen.

-What the hell...

-What?

-My dad. He's moving. He is almost out of the village.

-How on earth do you know that?

-He made me do this thing on my phone so he can see my location all the time if I need it like I did last night. As he does too, I get notifications whenever he leaves the village and right now that's exactly what he's doing.

-Why would he leave all of the sudden?

They looked at each other and started walking down the hallway to find David. When they finally reached him on his way to them Cat was the one to talk.

-Why is my dad leaving the village?

-Wait what? How do you know that?

He was nervous and it was easy to notice. The girl handed him the phone and he looked careful at it.

-Cate. I love you, do you know that?

He ran down the stairs talking in his walkie talkie.

-Get in your cars. Now.

He told everybody what he saw on the map Cat gave him and adrenaline ran through her veins.

-Sit the fuck in place and tell me what happened!

-Remember the Einar sign?

That's all he had to say for both Cat and Lee to understand.

-No. No, no, no... Tell me he didn't kill him.

-We don't know... But we know where he is now thanks to you. You have to let me go look for him, Cat. You have to stay here with Lee and you two have to protect each other.

Cat turned on her heels and she felt herself bumping into Lee's chest. He held onto his grunt as her body hit his and embraced her in a hug. A few sobs left her lips as Lee felt the hot tears coming out of her pretty eyes. It hurt him. More than physical pain. Hearing her cry, feeling her crumble in his arms, hurt him more than he wanted to. Only about three weeks he knew her and she affected him more than he'd like to admit. Lee caught David's gaze and he pulled her closer to his chest giving D a sign with his head for him to leave and look for the missing one.

-Let's go, C.

He let her go and his hands made their way to cup her face and swipe the tears away.

-Don't think about the worst. He is alive until proven wrong, ok?

She nodded at him and let him lead her to his room. Lee let her sit on the bed and covered her with the blanket she had earlier on her body.

-You should get some rest you know?

-Yeah... You should too.

He smiled at her and looked at the chair near the bed. He wanted to sit, but he knew the movement would hurt and he didn't want to show her how much pain he was in.

-Come here, she said with her eyes nearly closed and her hand lifting the blanket.

He looked at her, his cheeks getting pink along with his nose.

-Come on Hunter. It's not a first, she giggled and he nervously got under the blanket scrunching his eyes trying to contain the grunts. 

She placed her head on his chest as she did a couple more times before and he held her body close. Closer than usual. It didn't mind her, thought. The sound of his heartbeat calmed her down and before she knew it she fell asleep.

-You know Cat...

Lee started to talk to her but when he looked down he noticed her sleeping. He smiled to himself and stroke her hair a couple of times. He placed a kiss on the top of her head, her scent invading his nostrils, a tear rolling down his eyes. A thousand of thoughts passed through his head. What if he is dead? First of all it's Will out of all people. It wasn't hard for Lee to attach to him since he took him in, fed him and talked to him like he was his own son. But than what would happen to her? He's the only family she has. She would brake on spot. What if that heart thing happens again? She is still 17, what if she is taken back to the orphanage for the rest of the year? Would he be able to get her in his custody? Or maybe David? Where would she live? How would she pay for everything? His thoughts got louder and louder in his head and his arms tightened around her small body. He took a sharp breath and his eyes let another set of tears to roll. He looked down at her again and admired how calm and peaceful she was. Lee kept her eyes on her, until they started to zone out and he felt his eyelids harder by the second until he too fell asleep.