Chapter 73

Everyone turns to Dayne, who nods.

"Caio's right. I was the one who initially made the assumption that Kazimir murdered that officer."

The young detective chuckles and balls his fists together.

"So you two idiots made the assumption that I killed a man without thinking about how I currently have to watch a small child as well as complete detective work, right? RIGHT?!"

Getting up from his seat, Kazimir quickly climbs over the table and punches Caio in the face.

Feeling Dayne grab his arm, the young detective swings his fist as Dayne dodges the punch.

Throwing Kazimir to the floor, Dayne crosses his arms and shakes his head.

"Keep this up and you won't be watching Khristina anymore. I dare you."

Kazimir's jaw clenches and he looks up at the older male.

"I dare you to go sit the hell back down before you turn up dead next."

Watching as the young man's red eyes seemed to glow a bit, Dayne raises a brow.

"Will you all please stop?!" Nia screams. "We're supposed to be working together, but as usual, you men have to act like wild animals!"

The three males turn to the young woman, who furiously crosses her arms.

"Caio and Dayne, it was wrong of you to assume Kazimir was the killer. He's a sweet, young man trying to help the department as well as take care of a little girl on the side. However Kazimir, it was wrong of you to try and fight the twins. You've just gotten out of a trial, don't put yourself in another one."

She sighs and looks down at her tablet.

"We'll all meet here again before our shifts end. Please try to stay out of trouble for the time being. Please."

Watching as both Nia and Kazimir walked out of the room, Caio looks down at Dayne.

"That's just given me more reason to suspect that damn Chihuahua."

"He said that you already hated him, though. Does it have something to do with Nia?" Dayne asks, throwing his blueberry muffin wrapper in the trash.

"No."

"Caio."

The older twin sighs.

"Okay, I might've made a few threats here and there, but it's not that serious."

"Clearly, Chihuahua doesn't take jokes or threats lightly, so will you be more careful around him?" Dayne asks. "I mean, he's still kinda young. That's not really an excuse for what he's done, but the kid's got a lot to learn; either the easy or hard way."

Caio shrugs and groans.

"Fine. But if he tries something funny like that again, I'm not just going to stand there and let it happen."

-------

"Hey."

Looking up from scanning a piece of cloth for DNA, Kazimir watches as his former partner, Kenneth, walks over.

"I heard about your trial win, son. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

Kenneth shrugs and looks down at the cloth.

"You seem busy, so I'll just let you go back to whatever you were doing."

"Uh, before you go. You're partnered with Milette, correct?"

Turning back to the young detective, Kenneth nods.

"Could you give her a message for me?"

"Sure."

"Tell her that I don't know if she likes me or not, but I'm not looking for a relationship right now." Kazimir says, putting the cloth in a plastic bag.

"Well, I think it'd be best if she heard it from you, kid." Kenneth replies. "That's all she's been talking to me about; both you and her being together."

Throwing the bag to the side, Kazimir washes his hands before walking over to Kenneth.

"Then take me to her."

The two men walk down the long, quiet hall and turns into a small room where Milette sat writing something.

"Milette?" Kazimir asks.

The young woman looks up and smiles, giving him a hug.

"Kazimir! Congratulations on your big win!"

Reaching into her bag, she pulls out a plastic package of onigiri.

"Here, I made these just for you! Please enjoy!"

"Uh, thanks. But I was just wondering; would you like to go out with me?"

Milette blushes and looks down at her shoes.

"Um, yes. I'd like to-

"No. I was just wondering." Kazimir interrupts, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Milette, don't get me wrong, you're a kind girl and everything, but I'm not looking for a relationship right now. I'm just not, uh, what's the word? Stable. Yeah, I'm just not stable enough for one as of now."

The young woman gives him a slight smile.

"I understand, it's alright. It's best if you focus on yourself first so that you can love others next."

"Thanks for understanding." Kazimir says, walking out of the room.

Walking back over to her notebook, Milette looks down at it.

A teardrop lands on the paper, smearing some of the ink.

"Hey, don't cry over that." Kenneth says, squatting down next to the young woman. "He's just not the one for you, Milette."

"I knew he was going to say no, but I didn't want to actually hear it come from his mouth." she replies. "I'm going to get a bit of fresh air, I'll be back."

Making her way out of the room, the young woman walks outside and sits on a bench in front of the department. She watches as a white car speeds in and quickly parks.

Looking back down, Milette sighs, kicking a rock with her shoe.

"Back to my fantasy relationships I guess."

"You're too pretty to be looking this down."

Looking up, Milette watches as a tall young male with dark hair, brown eyes, and roundish glasses smiles down at her.

"What's wrong, babe?"

"It's just—male issues." she replies. "Uh, are you looking for a job here or something?"

The young man shrugs, taking his glasses off and placing them in his pocket.

"If we're being honest, nah. I'm a junior in college, so I just might wait a few more years to get one. Anyway, don't stress too much over your issue. We as men just have a complicated time figuring things out."

Milette nods and stands up.

"Thank you."

"No problem. Can I ask you a question, though? You know if a man named Kazimir Cizetto is on duty right now?"

"Why?" Milette asks in a snappish tone. "Is he your best friend?"

The young man laughs.

"Well, damn. You sound like you had more than just a run-in with him."

"Oh no, I'm sorry! He's a nice man, but he's actually the one who I was having issues with."

"Yeah, that's Kazimir. That boy doesn't know how to get a girl even if somebody led him step by step. You know where to find him?"

Walking forward, Milette enters the building and leads the man to a semi-large room.

"Just don't touch anything he's working on. He tests items for DNA."

"Thank you, sexy. We should get together for dinner sometime."

Milette laughs and shakes her head.

"Then you know where to find me."

Knocking on the door, the young man enters and smiles.

"It's finally nice to see you, cousin. I haven't gotten to spend time with you since we were in middle school!"

Looking up from scanning a small child's toy, Kazimir chuckles.

"Hey, Christian. Long time, no see. How's life been?"

"It's been good. I heard about your court case! Congrats, bro!"

"Thanks. But how the hell did you even get in here?"

"I asked a girl and she led me to you." Christian says, looking out of the window. "Where's your car? Aunt Yuriko said you were gifted a car and in her words it was kinda sporty looking. Maybe we should have a race."

"Racing never left your body, huh?" Kazimir asks, looking up at a clock on the wall.

"Hell nah."

"Alright, Chris. Let's have a race then. I'll just finish the rest of this tomorrow."

The two young men walk out of the room and down the building's steps, out to the parking lot.

"Where's your car?"

"It's right there."

Kazimir watches as his cousin walks over and taps the hood of his car.

"No way in hell you drive a GT-R, too!"

Pointing at the end of the parking lot, Chris turns to Kazimir.

"Meet me at the very end. I'll give the go. We'll race all the way to the Rosefield shopping center area"

Getting into his car, Kazimir starts it and drives to the end of the parking lot.

Hearing the rumble of a car next to him, Kazimir turns and watches as his cousin puts up three fingers.

"3...2...1...GO!"

Stepping on the accelerator, Kazimir and Chris each take turns moving ahead of the other, cars beeping at both of their careless passing.

Making a sharp yet quick turn into the shopping center's entrance, the two quickly park before jumping out of their cars and running over to each other.

"I WIN!"

Realizing they shouted simultaneously, Kazimir and Chris laugh while congratulating the other.

"I thought you could only race like that on Forza Horizon." Chris says, locking his car door.

Kazimir shakes his head and chuckles.

"I gotta admit, you put me fucking through it. Let's get something to eat, I think it's a little past lunchtime now."

The two enter the shopping center and order a pizza.

"And I'll have a small cheese with extra pepperoni to go." Kazimir says, handing the woman his card.

"Awww, is that for me?" Chris asks.

"Fuck no."

Taking the two pizza boxes from the cashier, Kazimir places them on a table.

"Then who's it for? Wait, don't tell me you finally got a girlfriend?!"

"No, it's for a little girl I'm taking care of while her brothers are-

"Kazimir, you have a daughter?! Aunt Yuriko never told me about that!"

Taking a slice of pizza, Kazimir groans.

"Can I finish explaining? She's not my daughter, I met her on my first official case. Her parents were murdered and since her two older brothers are busy with school, I decided to take her in."

Chris laughs, taking a bite of the pizza.

"You? You're taking care of a small child? She must be old enough to walk to school alone, because how the hell-

"I can't let a 6-year old walk to school alone, Chris." Kazimir interrupts. "It sounds like you're saying I'm not capable of taking care of her."

"Because you're not! How long has it been since you've taken her in?"

"A month and a half."

"Yep." Chris says. "After three months, you'll be done."

"No, I won't. She's just like Camille and my own daughter rolled into one, you know?"

"Nope. What's her name?"

"Her name's Khristina-Bella, but everyone just calls her Khristina for short." Kazimir explains.

Chris smiles as he picks up another slice of pizza.

"Hey, we share a name! When can I meet the kid?"

"MR. KAZIMIR!"

Hearing a pair of tiny footsteps run over, Kazimir smiles.

"Right now."

Hugging the young detective, Khristina happily jumps up and down.

"How's your field trip going so far?" Kazimir asks, helping the small girl into a seat.

"Good! We got to look at dinosaur bones and I even got to touch one, too! And then we stopped here to get food!"

"So you're Khristina?"