LANCE'S POV:
The only thing lighting up the room was the damn monitor.
Cold blue light against tired eyes. I leaned in, elbow digging into the desk, jaw tight, watching, no, dissecting the footage for what had to be the fourth time.
There.
That shadow in the hallway outside the BGC rooftop lounge.
Third damn time something like this showed up.
First, the guy with the tattoo. Second, someone slipping past Luis just before the lights flickered.
Now this, this thing on-screen that looked intentional. Calculated.
A thin guy. Could barely make him out. But it wasn't just him.
There was someone else. A woman.
Taller than Aurora.
Shoulder-length hair, might've been brown or auburn, I couldn't tell under the artificial lights.
She turned her head slightly, just enough to dip her face out of frame every time.
"Come on," I muttered under my breath, dragging the cursor back again.
Paused.
Rewound.
Still a damn blur.
Useless.
But i knew better.
This wasn't nothing.
I dropped the clip into my secure folder, renamed it Hallway Luis Encounter 02, then zipped and encrypted it.
Standard protocol.
Muscle memory at this point.
I fired off two emails.
One to Nico Mendoza, used to be my classmate in law school. Now, a cyber investigations guy with the NBI. Sharp, trustworthy, and just paranoid enough to work fast.
The other, to Fiscal Valencia.
Subject: New Footage from BGC Rooftop — URGENT
Found a new clip.
Possibly related to earlier sighting with tattooed man.
Timestamp: 11:39 PM. Hallway leading to lounge. Two individuals seen speaking to Luis.
IDs not confirmed.
Sending file separately via encrypted folder.
—Lance
Sent.
I leaned back, finally, shoulders aching.
Exhaled like i'd been holding it in for hours. Probably had.
The coffee next to me had gone lukewarm. I drank it anyway.
"Too damn clean…"
That's what bothered me.
Everything was too clean.
Like whoever planned this had studied the venue. Knew the blind spots. Knew the party crowd. Used the chaos to cover every move.
The bartender? Gone. Poof. Didn't even show up for questioning.
Five-minute gap in the bar's CCTV. The exact window when Aurora took her last drink.
Luis?
Dead.
And that tattooed guy, still a mystery. No face match. No trail. No credit card. No real existence. Now this new guy and girl? Just more ghosts. Just more mud in already dirty water.
Why was Luis always the one talking to them?
Why were there always witnesses around him, but not around Aurora?
And why the hell was it always her left holding the blame?
I pushed myself away from the desk, stepped out into the hallway.
The lights were dim outside. Quiet.
Couch: empty.
She hadn't gone back to the guest room. I already knew that, but the silence confirmed it.
My bed still had a dent on the right side.
I remembered waking up with her curled against me.
Her breath warm against my skin.
Her arm across my chest, like it belonged there.
I didn't want to move.
Didn't want to ruin it.
She shifted a little, and i pulled her closer instead of letting her go.
That might've been the only time i slept straight in weeks.
She pretended to be asleep. I let her.
Slipped out of bed like it didn't mean anything.
It did.
God, it really did.
My phone buzzed.
Nico.
Got the file. Pulling metadata and frame enhancements. Will update in 2 hours max.
But Lance… you were right to call this out. Something's off.
Another buzz, Valencia this time.
Received. This lines up with new witness info from a waiter. Will call.
Witness?
The phone rang almost immediately.
"Lance," came the voice of the Fiscal.
"Yes, sir?"
"One of the waiters from the BGC party came forward this morning. Said he saw Luis arguing with someone outside the lounge. Tall, thin guy. Snake tattoo around his wrist."
I froze.
That was him.
The same guy from the first footage.
"That matches the one we're tracking," I said.
"Looks like Luis was in deep," Valencia replied. "Either trying to silence someone or being silenced."
I swallowed hard. "What about Aurora?"
"She's still the primary suspect. But if this footage checks out and the witness confirms what you just described, we might reframe the case. Especially if the timeline proves she left before the incident."
"She did." My voice didn't even shake. "She was gone by midnight."
"You'll need to testify to that. Prelims start next week. She might be summoned again to clear up inconsistencies in her earlier statement."
I felt my jaw lock. "She didn't lie. She just… doesn't remember everything clearly."
"That's why she needs people who can speak for her."
After the call ended, I stood there for a moment. Let it all settle in.
Then i saw her.
In the kitchen.
Hair tied up.
Quietly placing dishes in the sink.
"You're still awake?" I asked.
She turned around, looking surprised. "Couldn't sleep. You?"
I shook my head. "Same."
She gestured toward the table. "Want me to make you something?"
"No." I hesitated. "Just… sit?"
We sat across from each other.
Comfortable silence.
The kind where you don't need to fill the space with anything.
"I sent a new clip to the NBI," I told her. "You were already gone. Luis was talking to a guy and a girl. We're trying to ID them."
"Do they know who they are?" she asked.
"Not yet. But the guy matches the build of the one who gave you your drink."
Her eyes shifted away. "So it wasn't just my imagination."
"No," I said. "You were right."
She paused.
Then, softer "Do you think Luis was involved?"
"Maybe," I admitted. "Or maybe he figured something out too late and tried to fix it."
She nodded slowly. "I remembered something today."
I waited.
"That third drink… it smelled weird. Sweet. But not like fruit. More like… medicine?"
I straightened. "Like cough syrup?"
"Maybe. I didn't finish it. But after that, everything got fuzzy. My body felt heavy, but my heart wouldn't slow down."
I was already typing notes into my phone. "You need to tell the investigators that."
She looked nervous. "Will they even believe me?"
I looked at her and said it like it was the easiest thing in the world.
"I will. I already do."
She didn't answer right away.
But something in her face shifted.
The tension eased.
Like a weight she didn't know she was carrying finally dropped.
Later, when i went back to the study, Nico had messaged again.
Used heat mapping.
That woman? She shows up in two other angles before the hallway scene. Might be tied to your original bartender. Same build.
Sending stills now.
I clicked the file.
The images were grainy. But familiar.
The posture. The hair.
And the face—blurred, but there.
I knew her.
Not personally.
But i'd seen her.
In articles.
In Selena's press runs.
The rising star girl-next-door who'd been trying a little too hard to stay relevant lately.
My blood ran cold.
No.
It couldn't be.
But it was.
It was her.