Hate (I Really Don't Like You)

Most people walking around this office that look like this guy are usually in handcuffs, but this guy is not. He’s attractive sure, but he doesn’t look like a cop.

His hair is dark black and extremely ruffled, and his eyes are a dark brown, dark enough that Gerard can tell from his distance. He’s wearing a very casual getup, with a dress shirt and dark pants, but it’s all black except for a red tie. He’s got mascara, and pale skin, but the thing about him that sticks out most is the scorpion tattoo creeping onto his neck. He’s got a piercing in both his nose and lip, and altogether, the guy is just kind of an odd sight. Maybe not anywhere else, but in an FBI office... just weird.

Gerard’s boss, Mr. Reyes, is the one leading the tattooed guy around the office, and he raps his knuckles against the glass door of his individual office. Gerard sighs, but looks up, and gestures for them to come in.

“Special Agent Way, I’d like you to meet your new agent,” he says, “This is Frank Iero.”

The tattooed guy, Frank apparently, corrects Mr. Reyes’ pronunciation of his name, and then looks at Gerard with a face that yells ‘unimpressed.’

“Hello,” Gerard says, barely looking up long enough to acknowledge Frank before he returns his head back down to the file in his hand.

“I’ve already shown him around, but I’d like you to debrief him in and explain to him what you’re doing with your case,” the Director says, and Gerard sighs, but nods.

“Alright, thank you sir, I’ll get him caught up,” Gerard says, and he waves a finger for Frank to take the seat in front of his desk.

Mr. Reyes leaves casually, and the glass door falls shut behind him. For a long time Gerard forgets Frank’s even there, as he studies the paper in his hand, and only looks up when the guy clears his throat.

He looks up a little shaken, and eyes at Frank again. He’s a very good person to see up close, and much more attractive than Gerard had originally given him credit for, but he brushes this off, and stares at Frank, annoyed.

“Frank, was it?”

“Yep,” Frank says, crossing his arms.

“Right, well...” Gerard tries to think. What was he meant to say again?

“Oh, well um, you’re the new guy then. I’m Gerard, your boss. Um, if you look out there,” he waves at the rows of cubicles outside, “is the rest of my, or, I should say, our team. Find Patrick and ask him what you’re meant to do.”

“Is that it?” Frank says snootily.

“Not having fun, are we?” Gerard asks, not really eager to put up with his attitude.

“Whatever man. You’re the boss,” Frank says, and his eyebrows raise when he says the word ‘boss’ while he stands up.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gerard asks.

“You look like you slept in a dumpster,” Frank says, not bothering to sugarcoat it.

“That’s nice, I love it when people have manners. You’ll get here too though, just you wait,” Gerard says, and he yawns widely.

“Get where?”

“Work all night on a case that you’re getting nowhere on,” he replies.

Brendon jumps into the office just after Gerard says that, looking forlorn and upset.

“What’s up?” Gerard asks. Frank is still standing right next to the door, and looks surprised at Brendon’s arrival.

“Bad news. One of that schoolteachers’ students, has just been called in as missing.”

“What?” Gerard asks, dumbfounded and he takes the file Brendon hands him.

“Shit!” He says, looking down at it, but it’s quicker to ask Brendon than read the report. “What’s the story?”

Brendon disregards Frank’s existence and explains, “Little girl didn’t come home from school yesterday, and the mother’s been ignored by some numbskull for the past few hours because she had to wait twenty four hours to file the report, by law. That is until someone made the connection that the missing girl was Lizzy Carmycle’s, our dead teachers, student.”

“Jeez,” Gerard groans, angrily. Three days on a murder case and now it’s turned into a possible kidnapping.

“Do we have a ransom yet?”

Brendon shakes his head.

“Alright fine. Well, I’ll head over to talk to the mother,” Gerard says, lazily getting up.

He remembers Frank still standing there and says, “Uh, kid, try to... just stay out of peoples way for now.”

“You kidding me?” Frank asks, looking mad, and he follows Gerard and Brendon out of the glass office.

Gerard stops in front of Patrick’s desk and gives him an ‘I want to kill the newbie’ eye roll that Patrick laughs at.

“This is Patrick,” Gerard says, and he gestures to the bleach blond man at the desk beside him, “Patrick will keep you busy. I hope you like looking through security camera feeds.”

“No way am I looking through another forty hours of that,” Patrick says, looking desperate.

“Nope, Frank is,” He says cheerily, and Gerard walks away with Brendon, leaving Patrick with the grisly task of instructing the noob.

Brendon drives down to the house, given the fact that Gerard really shouldn’t be behind the wheel for now in his tired condition, and he glances over the file to see what the details are. The little girl’s mother called it in, but just about everything they know, Brendon had already said.

“So what do ya think of the new guy?” Brendon asks.

“He’s short.”

“Wow! That was deep man. I understand why they say you’re so good at profiling now.”

Gerard scowls, “I don’t know. This is my third day without sleep, I’m just all torn up! He seems easily annoyed and he’s got an attitude. There, happy now?”

“You are tired, I’ve never seen you so grumpy.”

“And sleepy. I’m down with two fucking dwarves now.”

“Certainly not bashful, but I’d give you dopey as well.”

“Fuck you,” Gerard says, for a second time today.

“Here we are,” Brendon says a minute later, and they pull into the small parking lot for a relatively upscale condo building.

“Uniforms are already here,” Gerard says gesturing to the marked car outside. He slams the door and follows Brendon to one of the condos. The entrance is on the parking lot so it’s actually a pretty nice building because they don’t have to deal with grungy hallways.

“What’s the little girl’s name again?”

“Lily. Lily Rosessen,” Brendon replies.

Gerard rubs his eyes and sighs before knocking on the door to the victims’ parents’ house. Brendon gives him a concerned look that he ignores. It's not that he doesn't appreciate Brendon's concern, he just doesn't need it. He's a grown man, and he can handle himself.

The woman that answers the door, which Gerard presumes to be Mrs. Rosessen, appears to be in her late twenties, early thirties. Her eyes are red and puffy; most likely due to an entire night of crying.

"Hello ma'am, I'm Special Agent Way and this is my partner, Special Agent Urie. We're here to ask you a couple of questions about your daughter," Gerard says formally. The natural policeman inside him is coming to the surface, even despite his exhausted state.

One of the uniforms inside, a curly headed guy who is not a huge fan of Gerard’s, gives him a glare.

“There are already people here, I-” she looks confused.

“We’re with the FBI,” Gerard says and he pulls out his badge to show her.

Mrs. Rosessen nods shakily and opens the door wider to invite them in.

Gerard immediately takes notice of the warm feel of the home. The walls are a nice faded yellow and a lot of them are covered in papers with what are obviously a child's drawings. There are dolls lying in random places of the house, no doubt left there by the missing child at hand.

Brendon eyes the two police and says, “We’ve got it from here, this is our case.”

The two men, the curly haired guy and a dark skinned man that they’ve never met, look annoyed, but walk out anyway.

Mrs. Rosessen leads them into the kitchen and asks them both if they want anything.

"A coffee, if you have it, please," Gerard says, jumping at the chance to have any sort of caffeine in his system. Brendon refuses with a polite shake of his head and she gets to making Gerard's coffee. The next few minutes are filled with painful silence, the only noise in the air is the soft sounds of her preparing the caffeinated beverage. Once she is finished, she sets the mug in front of Gerard and sits down in front of them.

"What do you want to know?" She asks them politely, folding her hands out in front of her.

"Yes well, as you know Mrs. Rosessen, we are here to investigate the likely kidnapping of your daughter, Lily. But in order for us to be able to help you, we need you to be fully cooperative with us, do you understand ma'am?" Gerard asks seriously, his hands wrapped around the mug.

Mrs. Rosessen nods and Brendon takes that as an initiative to begin questioning.

"Mrs. Rosessen, do you and Lily have a good relationship?"

Mrs. Rosessen nods, tucking a strand of unruly hair behind her ear, "She is my only child! Of course we have a good relationship."

Brendon nods, "Have you two get into a fight or an argument recently?"

Mrs. Rosessen shakes her head with her eyes brows furrowed and asks icily, "What are you trying to insinuate officer?"

"Well you see Mrs. Rosessen, we need to make sure that this case is in fact, a kidnapping, and not a runaway," Gerard says trying to ease her mind. Instead, Mrs. Rosessen takes offense as she glares at both of them.

"I'll have you know, officer, that me and my daughter have a wonderful relationship, and for you to imply otherwise makes me sick. Lily is a good girl! She would never run away from home. Never!" Mrs. Rosessen clenches her teeth, her voice rising at every word.

"Mrs. Rosessen, it's just standard procedure to ask these type of questions, and if you took offense, we apologize," Gerard states calmly, not surprised by her overreaction. It tends to happen when a relative of a victim hasn't had enough time to sit and think rationally about their certain situation.

Mrs. Rosessen slowly unclenches her fists and nods, wiping her wet eyes once more.

"Now, is Lily's father in the picture?" Gerard asks once he's sure she's not going to attack him. She silently nods without adding anything else.

“And how is your relationship with your husband?”

“It’s fine. We’re perfectly happy. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Again, it’s standard procedure and parents fighting can be a cause of kids running away as well. I’m not trying to upset you.”

Mrs. Rosessen looks unconvinced, but sighs.

"Can we speak with him?" Brendon asks this time, and again she nods, standing up and disappearing into a hallway. Mrs. Rosessen comes back shortly with a man taller than Gerard by a few inches who has sandy blonde hair. His eyes, as well as his wife's, are red rimmed and swollen. He takes a seat next to his wife, and nods his acknowledgment to them.

"Mr. Rosessen, do you know anyone that would want to hurt you or your daughter?" Brendon asks.

Mr. Rosessen thinks for a short while before slowly shaking his head, "No, my daughter got along with everyone in school and I don't have any enemies at work."

Brendon nods and shuts his eyes. If they don't find anything in this interview, they're not going to be any closer to finding this little girl.

"Mrs. Rosessen," Gerard starts suddenly, "Do you know of anyone that might want to hurt your little girl?"

Before Gerard finishes his question, Mrs. Rosessen is already shaking her head.

"Are you sure-"

"Yes. Now officer, if that's all the questions you have for us, I would like to show you the door," Mrs. Rosessen cuts Gerard off, standing up from her seat, which is an obvious sign that they aren't welcome anymore.

“Well there are more-” Gerard pauses at the evil look on her face, “yeah, we’re done.”

Gerard and Brendon slowly stand up from their seats, Gerard leaving his coffee mug on the table.

"Thank you for your time," Gerard barely has time to get out before the door is slammed in his face.

“I’d like to show you something to,” Gerard says to the closed door, and he flips off the piece of wood.

“Well that went well,” Brendon says jauntily.

Notes

We're only publishing the first two chapters today, but more will come (hopefully) daily.

Please review, we spent so much time on this!