Blocked the information

"Hey," Alvarez called when he noticed that Lanie was spacing out. "Lanie?" he called again. She looked at him. "Is there a problem?" he asked. 

Lanie cleared her throat before shaking her head. "Nothing. I am just t-tired." she said in a weak voice. Lanie couldn't understand why she was reacting this way just because she didn't see him today. Maybe because she expected that he would come to the hotel for her but it only led to disappointment. Who is she for him, by the way? And Tyler, for all the people know, he only focuses on his works and maybe, by now, he is with his fling. What happened last night… affected Lanie without her noticing it. What did Tyler do to her? 

"Oh, we forgot to buy dinner." Alvarez spoke after parking his car. Lanie went out of his car and so did he. 

"Don't bother. There are still stocks in my refrigerator. You know how to cook?" she said. Alvarez shrugged before smirking at her. When Lanie opened her apartment, she opened the lights. Her eyes surveyed the whole apartment. She sighed, it was still the same when she left. Lanie raised her hands ato signal Alvarez to do whatever he wanted as she walked to her room to change quickly. 

When she went out of her room, she immediately smelled a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen so she quickly went to the kitchen while drying her hair with a towel. She saw Alvarez putting pasta on plates. He cooked spaghetti. Lanie slightly smiled as she sat down on her seat. A familiar scenario for her. 

"How was it?" He asked. She was nodding while chewing. 

"Not bad. So, you know how to cook, huh?" Alvarez felt relieved after hearing what she said. 

"Ah, no. I am bad at cooking actually." he answered then flashe a shy smile at her. 

"Yeah, that's why you used the ready to eat spaghetti, right?" she replied, still eating, without looking at him. Alvarez looked at her sarcastically because of her tease to him then, shook his head before continuing eating. 

"I'm gonna wash the dishes. Shoo!" Lanie then pushed him in the direction of the living room. 

She washed the dishes and… cleaned her kitchen because except that Alvarez's bad at cooking, he also didn't clean up what he used earlier. She wiped her hands then went to the living room and saw Alvarez lying on her couch like he owned the apartment while holding the remote control, picking a nice show. She raised her brow before sitting on the single couch. 

"Are you here to explain your side or planning to stay like that here the whole night?" she asked while crossing her arms to her chest. Alvarez pouted at her and sat.

"I am. You and your temper." he said. "I really filed a report saying that Mr. Lopez's case was a murder and not a suicide. I also stated there about the poison, the motive and of course about the last will testament. I filed all of that and submitted it to our chief but…" he sat properly and looked seriously at Lanie who was listening to him attentively. 

"Remember the former chief I told you last time?" Lanie's brows furrowed. 

"That chief who became a senator?" Alvarez nodded and sighed. 

"Yeah. Well, he went to our station and had a talk with our Chief then, the last thing I and my team knew, all our submitted files became trash and completely ignored." he explained. Lanie let out a heavy sigh. 

"What did your Chief say? Did you talk to him after that?" 

"Yeah. He said he can't do anything about that because he was threatened. He can't be jobless, Lanie. He still had a family to support and feed." She gritted her teeth and brushed her hair. 

"So, they fabricated the evidence. And use their power to make the people who know the truth shut their mouths and do nothing" she said. Alvarez didn't say a word. 

"The Hosslers… they don't have a child?" she asked carefully. He looked at her curiously.

"As far as I know, they don't have a child. Why?" She shook her head and focused her eyes to nowhere. She still felt Alvarez stare at her. 

"What are you planning to do?" she asked lazily. She heard him sighed. 

"I still don't know. We still need to solve and close each case… that I think will take too long to solve because of them. For sure, those people have their eyes on us now, so we need to be really careful with our operations." he said and let his body fall down to the couch. They didn't speak and let the silence consume the whole apartment. 

The enemies are now alerted to the operations of Alvarez's team. That will make it hard to process the cases quickly because they will block all the reports and files that contain their names. She needs to be careful now, also. Because she knew Alvarez and he also knew her, there's a possibility that the enemies will run a background check about her… or maybe not? Because one of them is Jake's father.

"Aren't you planning to go home?" she asked after opening her third can of beer. He ate chips before shaking his head. Lanie raised her palm to attack him so he dodge. Lanie gave him a glare before continuing drinking her beer. Alvarez chuckled. 

"Can't I stay here? I don't want to go back to my place. My landlady was knocking on my door every three hours." he said. 

"You didn't pay your rent?" she asked him, quite shocked. He scratched her nape before nodding. "Then, where do you spend all your salaries?" 

"On my food then, I also send half of my salary to the orphanage I am supporting," he said. Lanie's face softened after hearing what he said. He's… supporting an orphanage? When she didn't speak, Alvarez looked at her and smiled.

"I'll bring you there some other time. The kids there were all adorable. You will love them for sure and maybe, you will be convinced to support them too."