Chapter Text
Hank knew it’s going to be a shitty day the moment he opened his eyes.
His head was throbbing from a hangover and he felt like the sun behind the window was trying to burn him, even though it was autumn. When he finally forced himself to get up and started to dress up he realized another thing - he run out of coffee. Great, another sign to stay in bed.
And then he discovered that Sumo pissed in his favourite shoes. It’s not like it was his dog’s fault, he needed to take break in a bar after a nasty case and come back home really late yesterday. He didn’t have the time to take Sumo for a walk, hence the piss, but seriously, why he had to choose his shoes for god’s sake?!
“I swear you did it on purpose!”
But the dog only barked and went to sleep. Yup, he was definitely pissed at him. Great, even his dog was angry at him.
So Hank put on other shoes, took his keys and he went to get his coffee at a nearby gas station.
But of course, it wasn’t over.
Walking slowly towards his desk at the Police Station, late as always, Lieutenant Hank Anderson greeted some of his friends, told Gavin ‘fuck you’, as always, and he sat down to start working, already feeling better. Thanks to the coffee he didn’t feel like somebody was hitting his head with a hammer.
“ANDERSON! My office! NOW!”
And the headache was back again.
Hank grunted when he heard Fowler. Hearing his boss shortly after he arrived at work was never a good sign. He threw an empty coffee cup to the bin and went towards Jeffrey Fowler’s office. It was a room with walls made of glass but Jeffrey rarely had his office visible and preferred to cover it with blinds.
Hank opened the door and quickly realized that Jeffrey was not alone.
Inside was a man (boy?) with brown, slightly curly hair, dressed in a white shirt and jeans. He looked at Hank with goofy brown eyes (Hank immediately thought that he looked like a poodle) and slightly nodded at him.
Hank ignored him and looked at Fowler instead.
“What do you want Jeffrey? I just came to work and you’re already giving me another headache.”
“You wouldn’t have had it if you had gone home rather than to a bar yesterday! You’re late again!”
Hank only cursed and crossed his arms. He didn’t like where it was going.
“You know I’m never on time. Cut the crap, what do you want?”
Fowler looked like he wanted to add something, probably remind Hank who the boss was, but instead he looked at the mystery guy in the room.
“Hank, I wanted to introduce you to your new partner. Meet Connor, you will be working together from now on.”
“Nice to meet you Lieutenant Ander-“
“For fuck’s sake Jeffrey! Tell me you’re joking!”
He didn’t even let Connor finish his sentence when he roared at Fowler. He gave him a partner?! His boss knew that Hank preferred to work alone, preferably away from all the detectives and definitely not with a fresh guy.
“You know I like to work alone! I don’t need a partner, especially a young one! What do you want me to do?! I’m not a babysitter!”
“Hank! We have more cases now, everyone is involved in the drug case and we need someone to look over other crimes. You’re the only person free at the moment and I think Connor will learn a lot from you.”
Hank snorted.
“We both know you’re not serious.”
“Alright, I’m hoping that he will be a good influence on you because your disciplinary folder already looks like a fucking novel, Hank! And let’s finish it here before you say too much!”
“Shit, I knew I should have stayed home,” Hank said while he left the office, not even looking at Connor.
***
When Connor woke up he was excited to finally start working at Police Department. He put on his best shirt, styled his hair and left his apartment. He couldn’t wait to meet his new coworkers.
He wished now he stayed at home.
Lieutenant Hank Anderson was definitely not happy about the fact that they were partners now. Before his arrival, his new boss, Jeffrey Fowler, briefed him with his new duties and only gave him a few words about Hank.
“He’s a difficult man…but a really good cop. You will learn a lot from him.”
The only thing that he learned from Lieutenant for now was the fact that he hated him. The question was, why?
The detective side of Connor was already curious but he was also…a bit hurt? He didn’t do anything and his partner was already throwing knives at him.
Connor exchanged goodbyes with Fowler and went towards Lieutenant. He only hoped that the man won’t kill him in an instant just for talking.
Hank was sitting at his desk, opening some case files and cursing under his nose.
“Lieutenant, I think I didn’t introduce myself properly. My name is Connor, I was assigned as your new partner.”
Silence. Okay, that was better than shouting.
“I’m really looking forward to our cooperation and I hope I will learn a lot from you.”
Lieutenant ignored him again and Connor was quickly looking for other clues how to force this man to talk. He looked at the empty desk near Anderson.
“Is this my workspace?”
Finally Hank looked at him and pointed his hand at the empty desk.
“Sit there and don’t bother me. I still don’t like this idea and I’m going to deal with it later but for now shut up and do…whatever you have to do.”
Connor nodded and sat down. There was only a computer, few files and a nearly dead cactus, probably left by the last owner of this desk. He placed his phone down and opened the first folder.
“So, what is the case we’re working on right now?” Connor asked while the computer was turning on and Hank glared at him again.
“You mean MY case? Not your business, ask Fowler.”
Working with Lieutenant will be definitely hard, thought Connor, but he was not going to give up so easily so he gave Anderson a serious look.
“Lieutenant, my duty here is to work on the cases with you and it’s an order given by our boss so I hope you won’t hinder it.”
Hank finally looked at him with a surprised look, murmured something like ‘motherfucker’ and threw him a folder. Connor quickly grabbed it and opened it.
“The case I’ve been working on is finished. Only a report left to do so it’s not that I’m hiding anything from you. You can read it, study or whatever. Suit yourself and don’t bother me!”
Connor smiled lightly and thanked him. It was definitely a progress. He opened the file while Hank was typing a report on the computer.
It was a homicide. A man was killing young girls in their twenties. Each of them he met on the internet and then he lured them to his house, only to kill and then bury in his garden. Definitely a nasty one but Hank, after months of investigating ,finally caught the man and found the bodies of these poor girls.
Learning at the University or simply reading about cases like that in news was different than reading a report with the actual photos. Connor knew what he signed up for when he applied for a homicide department. It’s not like he had a weak stomach. He wanted to become a detective for a long time.
“Lieutenant, I must say you did a really good job there.”
“Oh god, now he’s trying to be nice to me.”
***
Just when Connor thought that his first day at work will be boring, not to mention all his failed attempts at conversation with Hank (the fact that he had problems with social skills was not helpful), they were called to a homicide.
Lieutenant Anderson grabbed keys to his car and Connor followed him, putting on his leather jacket. Finally some work to do.
To his surprise Hank used a rather old car but charming in his own way. As Hank was turning on the engine, the loud music in the car started playing. Connor recognized it as heavy metal music, band unknown to him as he preferred rather…quieter tunes.
“I’m surprised you like that kind of music, Lieutenant,” he tried to start a conversation but Hank only snorted.
“What, you thought I’m listening to some classic music? Country maybe? “ he said ironically and Connor looked at him.
“I’ve never said that. I couldn’t deduct that provided that you didn’t tell me much about yourself, Lieutenant,” he said with a bit of a sass and looked through the window to avoid Hank’s eyes.
“And now he’s a smartass. Great.”
Connor decided to take a chance to get to know better his new partner so he looked again inside the car. He suddenly saw a toy. A ragged bone. Definitely a dog toy.
“You have a dog Lieutenant?”
“How do you know that?” Hank gave him a brief, curious look, as he was still driving and Connor pointed to a toy under his feet.
“There is a toy here.”
Lieutenant only snorted and looked at the road.
“I really like dogs,” Connor said. He must admit, it was a bit desperate way to hold up the conversation but he told Hank the truth. He was really fond of the animals.
“Sumo…That is his name.”
Finally Hank didn’t grunt or snort at him. He finally spoke to him in a normal way and Connor considered it a successful mission. It was a small progress but he couldn’t push more as he saw the lights of police cars in front of a house. The policeman were everywhere and small group of people were there, as well as journalist. Connor wasn’t fond of them as they were always asking too many questions but he understood that it was their job.
Hank stopped the car and looked at Connor. He probably wanted him to stay there but Connor only looked at him innocently and Hank sighed and opened the door.
“Come with me smartass,” he said quietly and Connor followed him.
They quickly avoided the crowd and went towards other detectives.
“Look who’s here!”
A rather young man left the house. He was wearing a hoodie and a jacket, and crossed his arms with a smirk. He had a small scar on his nose and Connor immediately knew that they won’t get along well. Connor may have a problem with social skills but he can recognize such type of person simply based on the body language.
An asshole.
“Gavin, go fuck yourself, I’ve got a job to do.”
“Just like me. We’ve just arrested victim’s wife. Probably the culprit so I don’t know what you’re looking for, old man.”
Hank showed him a middle finger and Gavin looked at Connor instead.
“So, that’s him. Your new errand boy?”
Connor decided to ignore that as he didn’t want to start an argument here, so he only looked politely at Gavin and decided to introduce himself properly.
“My name is Connor-“
“He looks like a poodle. Have fun babysitting, Anderson!”
Gavin didn’t even let him finish as he bumped into him, hitting his arm, and went away.
“Ignore him, we’ve got job to do.”
They went inside. It was a nice house, modern and a rather new one. Inside there was already a lot of other officers and there, in the middle of the living room, was laying a body of a man. Hank went towards one of the detectives and asked about the case.
“Homicide. One of the neighbors called the police. He said that he heard some shouting from inside as the man here, Mark Newman returned from work. He was living here with his wife, Aurelia. They were married for 3 years and the neighbor said that they were rather sweet couple. Yet, here we are. The husband is dead. When we came the wife was sitting on the sofa with blood on her hands. She probably killed him but we still don’t know the details and what had driven her to kill him.”
Hank nodded and went towards the man. Connor followed him and looked too. The man was killed recently, probably an hour ago. He was pale and he had three stab wounds in his stomach. The blood covered the white carpet, as well as the sofa in the living room. Probably it was thanks to the wife sitting on it.
“Any clues?” Connor asked the officer, and he looked at him curiously.
“We’re still investigating. We have her phone and the neighbor is in the kitchen.”
Connor went to the kitchen. Inside sat a man, probably in his fifties.
“Sir, good afternoon. I wanted to ask you few questions.”
The man looked at him an nodded. He looked tired, probably from all the questioning.
“How long did you know these people?”
“For two years. I’ve been living here for years and they moved in two years ago. Such a sweet couple. They were really nice to me. We lived close by and Mark sometimes helped me at home because I live alone. I couldn’t believe when I heard them shouting at each other. And then the scream. God, I‘ve never herd Aurelia screaming so loud.”
That was interesting. Connor noted it mentally. Why was she screaming?
“You said that it happened after the victim came from work?”
“Yeah, I saw him coming into the house and then heard the argument, and then the scream. I called the police. I wanted to come here but you know, I’m an old man. You never know what was happening there so I decided the police would be the best option. God, I’m glad I did that. Who knows what that crazy woman did to him.”
Connor thanked the man and went to Hank. He was still searching the living room and Connor joined him. It was a room painted in bright colours. Simple couch, few book shelves and some photos from the wedding on the walls. In the middle, in front of the TV was a coffee table. A remote control was there, as well as some newspapers and a bottle of wine with two glasses. Connor looked at the table curiously, especially at the glasses. Both of them were nearly finished. One of them had a trace of red lipstick. The bottle was nearly empty.
“Lieutenant, look here.”
Hank gave him a curious look and went to him.
“What did you find?”
Connor pointed at the glasses.
“There are two glasses of wine, both being used. There is a lipstick on one of them and the bottle is open, nearly finished. Definitely two people were drinking wine.”
Hank looked at it with a frown.
“Maybe they decided to drink and then they started arguing under the influence of the alcohol?”
Connor shook his head.
“Doesn’t make any sense. The neighbor said that they started arguing after the victim came home. There was no time to open a bottle and drink wine.”
Hank nodded and crossed his arms.
“So, the wife was not alone here.”
“There is a possibility,” Connor looked around again but couldn’t find any more traces to confirm his theory. He also saw a crushed vase in the corridor. A trace of a struggle? Hank went back to the kitchen and asked the man if he saw another person, besides the wife, inside but the man didn’t see anything. He only saw Mark entering the house.
Connor went towards the officer who briefed them at the beginning.
“Can I see the phone that you found?”
The officer nodded and gave him the phone in a plastic bag. Connor asked for the gloves from another officer and he pulled the phone out from the bag. He put it under the light and squinted his eyes.
“What are you doing?”
Hank joined him and looked curiously at Connor.
“I’m looking at the fingerprints to see how to unlock this phone.”
Hank gaped and wanted him to explain more but Connor saw the pattern quickly. It was an easy one, simply letter ‘L’ and he quickly unlocked the phone.
“If I did it wrong, I could lock the phone.”
“Okay smartass, show me what we got,” Hank said but this time Connor recognized there was more…fondness in his voice? Anderson didn’t say that to offend him.
Connor looked at the phone. It had a photo of the garden as a background image (rather odd, don’t couples always set up their own photos as a background?) and a new message, still unread. It was from her husband, saying that he will be back earlier. He looked at another messages. The other recent one was from ‘Anthony’.
“’I’m coming, wear something nice’, there we have it. She was having an affair,” Hank said out loud and Connor gave back the phone to the officers. He went back to the man in the kitchen.
“Sir, do you know a man called Anthony?”
The man thought for a bit.
“Anthony…yeah! I know him! It was Mark’s friend. He was his best man at the wedding.”
Connor quickly returned to the living room and looked at the photo. There it was. A tall man with dark hair, standing near the couple. Was he the culprit?
“Officer, please tell me, what was the wife wearing when you came here?” Connor asked again the officer and he told him that the lady was wearing a rather pretty, red dress. Connor looked at Hank suspiciously.
“So, it might not be her, although she had blood on her hands.”
“She could have panicked and went to her husband in his last moments, sill shocked.”
“So, what is your theory, kid?” Hank looked at him and Connor thought about it for a bit.
“The wife had an affair. She thought the husband will be late today, hence the wine and the date with Anthony. The gap between the two messages is two hours. She might have gotten carried away a bit and didn’t realize that her husband was coming back. The husband came, saw his best friend and his wife making out and the argument started.”
“They fought a bit,” Hank said and pointed at the crushed vase. Connor nodded.
“Makes sense. Then the argument heated and someone killed the victim. The question is, who?”
“Where is the knife?” Hank asked the officer and he answered him, that it was already taken for a fingerprint check.
“So, it’s either the wife or the mysterious ‘Anthony’,” Hank stated and Connor nodded.
“We caught the wife…but where is the other suspect?”
They both stared at each other and Hank went again to the men in the kitchen.
“You said that you saw Mark entering the house. Did you see anybody leaving it?”
“No, no one left the house. Since I heard the beginning of the argument I called the police and I was observing the house to see any progress. I heard the scream and the police came. No one left the house.“
“Did you checked the basement and upstairs?” Connor asked officers.
“We secured the area, checked the first floor but there was also an attic. We didn’t check it and the basement yet.”
Connor shared a look with Hank and nodded.
“I’m going to check the attic,” Connor said and he took out his gun. He waited for this moment for such a long time.
He crossed the room and started walking slowly up the stairs. Hank went downstairs to the basement. They had to be quiet to not alarm the other man if he was indeed here. Connor tried not to make any sound. The sun was slowly setting and he didn’t have much time. The lighting was already quite dim but he had a rather good sight. Well, almost. He only used his glasses to read.
Connor slowly opened each room. Empty like the officers said. He looked at the ladder to the attic. There was no way that the man wouldn’t notice him opening the door to the attic so he decided to do it slowly, just for safety.
He opened the door and the darkness in the room welcomed him. He shuddered a bit but he wasn’t that scared. He had his gun in front of him and he looked around. There were some furniture, boxes and a lot of places where said man could hide. Great. He scanned the room, slowly pointing the gun in each direction. He checked the old wardrobe and behind the curtain and he almost gave up when suddenly somebody run at him from the other corner.
It was definitely Anthony and he tried to startle him but it was unsuccessful.
“POLICE! Freeze!”
But of course he didn’t listen to him. Seeing that Connor had a gun he went towards the window. He broke the glass, jumped at the roof of the porch and jumped into the garden, running away.
Connor didn’t hesitate for a moment. He did the same thing as Anthony.
Only…his landing wasn’t that graceful and he almost slipped when he jumped to the ground. Great, he hoped nobody saw that but of course the officers gave him a look and Hank was there as well.
“CONNOR! The fuck is going on?!”
He heard Hank as he started running after Anthony.
“I found him Lieutenant!”
“DAMN IT-!”
He didn’t hear him finishing. Maybe Connor wasn’t the best at parkour but he was a quick runner. He quickly started running after the man.
Anthony was running fast but Connor quickly caught up and tried to catch him. The man tried to mislead him in the streets but Connor already heard the sirens of the police cars. Either he would catch him or the police. The man didn’t have a chance.
Anthony tried to push a trash container at him but Connor simply avoided it and he heard the man cursing. That didn’t work out.
He was already slowing down so Connor knew it was just a matter of time.
In desperation Anthony turned towards smaller alleys where car couldn’t fit but Connor was familiar with these streets. He was from Detroit after all.
So he decided to take a risk. He turned to another alley, knowing it will be a shorter way, and decided to go ahead of him.
He sped up, feeling his lungs were burning, turned right, then again. He arrived at the end of the alley few seconds before Anthony and he jumped at the man, taking him by surprise and throwing him on the street.
Anthony tried to fight back, but Connor was already sitting on him, pushing him to the ground. Anthony didn’t have a chance. Connor was one of the best fighters and Anthony had to give up.
“DPD, you’re under arrest!”
“Fuck! I didn’t do anything!”
“You’re under arrest on a suspicion of killing Mark Newman!”
“Fuck!”
Connor was cuffing him when he heard Hank’s car and the Lieutenant himself. The other police cars were there in an instant.
“Jesus Connor, what the hell was that!”
“I didn’t want to lose him,” Connor said innocently as he was still holding the culprit. He was breathing quickly and his hair was probably a mess but he did it. He caught him.
He thought Hank would be pissed at him but the old man only sighed and patted his arm.
“Good job kid.”
***
Connor’s day started really bad and he didn’t expect that a homicide case would bond him better with his new partner. Guess that’s what working at DPD looks like.
In the end during the interrogation the wife admitted that it was Anthony who killed her husband. Anthony was reluctant but after it was proven the fingerprints on the knife belonged to him he didn’t have a choice but to cooperate, so he admitted that he killed Mark.
Connor was proud. His first case. He almost smiled when he left the interrogation room with Hank. Too bad it cost poor Mark his life.
“So, smartass. Your first case,“ Hanks said to him after following him
Connor smiled a bit.
“I must say, it was an exciting one.”
Hank nodded and stopped.
“Listen kid…I know I was an asshole this morning…I still don’t like this…partner thing, ’kay? Just…so you know, I’m not angry or anything. Don’t be a pain in the ass and we might…survive this ‘partnership’.”
Connor nodded as Hank was avoiding his eyes while scratching his head. Hank definitely had a difficult character but Connor knew he wasn’t a bad person and he was looking forward to working with. He wanted to add something but then he heard someone.
“Lieutenant Anderson! It’s good to see you!”
Connor heard another voice, a new one.
“Oh, it’s you kid! Another new pretty drawing of some psycho?”
The stranger laughed a bit and Connor finally looked in their direction. He saw a tall man, his height, maybe a little taller, with a dark skin and…Oh god ,his eyes. One was blue and the other one green. Connor has never seen eyes like that before.
Simply saying, he was gorgeous and Connor was fighting with himself to not stare too much. Suddenly it was so hot in here. What was happening to him?
“So, who’s that?”
“Ah, this is Connor. Connor, meet Markus. He’s our criminal sketch artist.”
The handsome man (Markus, Connor corrected himself) smiled at Connor. Why was it getting hotter in here?
“Nice to meet you,” Markus extended his hand and Connor for a moment stared at it, still startled.
Hank gave him a suspicious look and finally Connor cleared his throat and shook his hand.
“Um, hello…”
That sounded so weak. Connor was so screwed.