Chapter 89

"We've finally made it."

Stepping out of the SUV, Kazimir stretches his arms and walks over to his partner.

"Well, well; we've got security, how beautiful." Alexei says, looking at the group of armed men. "Anyway, the meeting starts in 30 minutes. For now, why don't you take that girl to get something to eat?"

"The name is Ellie." the woman replies as she walks up next to the two men.

"Yes, yes. Run along, dear."

Making a "hmmph" noise, Ellie gets back into the SUV as Kazimir follows.

"Any place in particular that you'd like to visit?"

"I don't even know this city, Kazimir." the woman says, sighing as she looks out of the window. "But why is your friend so rude?"

"Well, his younger sister, along with some other kids, was kidnapped and almost trafficked. And since you worked for a trafficking business, I'm 110% sure that's why he may not like you."

"Oh, I didn't know of all this. I'm sorry to hear that. Is she alright?"

"She's fine as far as I'm concerned. Now, what're you craving-

"Let's go to the beach." Ellie interrupts, as she points ahead. "But first, swimsuits!"

"Fine with me."

Exiting the vehicle, Kazimir and Ellie begin to browse a couple of stores before finding one which sold swimwear.

"Do you think this one looks nice?" Ellie says, spinning around.

"You look as if you can go up a few sizes." Kazimir says.

"It's supposed to look like this, dummy."

"Whatever. Just pick one before the water gets cold."

Playfully hitting the young man, Ellie steps back into the dressing room and Kazimir goes to sit down.

"Tired of your girl too, huh?"

Turning to a boy that looked the same age as him, the young detective shakes his head.

"Uh, she's not my girl. I actually don't have a girlfriend."

The young man smiles and chuckles.

"They can be a pain in the ass, but once you get one, you'll love her to death."

"I guess." Kazimir says, watching as Ellie waved over to him. "Have a nice day."

After purchasing the swimsuits, Kazimir hands Ellie her bag.

"We need to find a laundromat to quickly wash these." the woman says, skipping forward. "Oh! Here's one!"

Entering, the two make their way over to a washing machine and quickly place their new swimwear in.

Ellie walks over to a window and looks out of it, smiling.

"It's so beautiful here. You know, I'd like to live here someday."

Shrugging in agreement, Kazimir takes his phone from his pocket and dials Dréy's number, hoping to hear from Khristina.

"Aye, wassup?"

"Nothing at all, Dréy. Is Khristina around? I meant to call yesterday but I completely forgot."

"Yeah, hol' on."

Hearing a pair of loud footsteps in the background, the young man chuckles as he stares at the washing machine.

"MR. KAZIMIR!"

"Hello, Khristina. How has your day been?"

The little girl laughs as she happily spins around in her pajamas.

"It's 3 in the morning!"

"Oh." Kazimir replies. "Well, have you had some good dreams so far?"

"No. I had a dream that you didn't come back home, Mr. Kazimir. Are you gonna come back home, Mr. Kazimir?"

"Yes, little Khristina. I'll be back soon."

"Do you pinky promise?" the small girl asks as she leans against her eldest brother's arm.

"I pinky promise."

"Thank you, Mr. Kazimir. Can I talk to Alexei?"

"Alexei's currently in a meeting but once he's finished I'll let him know to call you."

"But he's always in one!" Khristina says, sighing. "Can you sing me a lullaby, Mr. Kazimir?"

Watching from a small distance, Ellie listens in as the young detective slowly sang Khristina to sleep before hanging up.

"I didn't know you could sing."

"Doesn't mean I like it." Kazimir replies as he places the clothes in the dryer. "But for Khristina, I'll make some exceptions. You know, she reminds me of my older sister and my own daughter rolled into one."

"Is this the same girl you were telling me about earlier?"

"Yeah, she's very adorable and sweet. It's impossible to say no to her."

Stopping the dryer, Ellie takes the swimwear out and hands Kazimir his bathing shorts.

"No use in completely drying this since we're going to be in the water anyway."

Walking out of the laundromat, the two head towards the beach, Kazimir watching as Ellie happily runs forward.

"Hey, Kazimir! Catch me if-

*BUMP!*

Landing on the ground, Ellie looks up at the man who she accidentally bumped into.

"Damn, I'm sorry girl."

Sighing, Kazimir rolls his eyes and walks over as the man helps Ellie up.

"Oh, we meet again. What was it again? Kenny? I don't know. Something along those lines."

"Are you following me around or something, Brent?" the young detective asks, crossing his arms.

"If I was to follow somebody around, I'd follow someone who can benefit me, son. You can't do much of that, can you?"

"Uh, do you two know each other or something?" Ellie asks, looking at both Kazimir and Brent.

"Yep. That bastard had a son who used to date my older sister."

"Ah, you did say something about having an older sister! What's her name?"

"Her name was Camille." Kazimir replies, looking over at the ocean. "Listen, can you just leave us alone to enjoy our time at the beach?"

Brent chuckles and turns to Ellie.

"You hungry, babe? I've been here a couple of summers and I can take you to the best eateries in the city."

"Well, now that you mention it, I am a bit hungry."

Kazimir shakes his head.

"So now you're hungry?"

"You can come along too, Kazimir." Brent says, as he takes Ellie's clothes from the young detective's hands. "I don't mind."

"I'll get something later."

"Suit yourself, son."

"See you, Kazimir!"

With a small yet quick wave, the young man begins to walk around the beach.

"Hey, Mr.! Could you catch our frisbee?!"

Turning to the sound of the voices, Kazimir raises his hand, a green frisbee flying right into it.

"Thank you, sir!" a little boy says, smiling.

"You can be on my team!" an older girl who looked to be in middle school chimes in.

"Hey, you two. He may not want to play."

A girl who looked to be around Kazimir's age walks forward and shakes his hand.

"I do apologize for my little siblings annoyingness."

"Kids'll be kids. I guess playing for a few won't hurt. I'm not doing much anyway."

The young woman smiles and looks down at her younger siblings.

"Now, this nice young man has decided to join in. Tell him your names."

"I'm Zoe!" the youngest girl says.

"I'm Marcelo!" the little boy says, shaking Kazimir's hand. "I like your hair! It looks very cool."

"And my name is Yasmine." the older sister says.

"It's nice to meet you all. I'm Kazimir. And thanks for the compliment, Marcelo."

"No problem!" the little boy happily replies.

"A pleasure to meet you, Kazimir." Yasmine replies, watching as her siblings ran off. "We have an older brother named Sebastian but he's currently running a few errands right now. How about you? Do you have any siblings?"

"An older sister. Her name was Camille."

Yasmine tilts her head at Kazimir's mention of the word "was".

"She was murdered 5 years ago. I don't really like talking about it."

"I'm so sorry."

Feeling a frisbee hit his torso, Kazimir softly smiles as he picks it up. Tossing the frisbee back, the detective watches as Yasmine's younger siblings chase after it.

"So, um, what brings you here?" the young woman asks.

"I'm on a business trip."

"Really? That's the same reason my siblings and I are here, too. We mainly came to support our brother."

"Stop flirting with Kazimir, Yasmine! Or I'm telling Maximillian!" Zoe yells.

"Zoe, watch your mouth! Don't mind her, she's always talking foolish. Maximillian's my boyfriend and he's really sweet."

After playing 25 minutes of frisbee, the small group decides to grab something to eat.

"Let's get enchiladas!" Marcelo says, walking beside Kazimir.

"That's cool. I'll just change first and meet you all back here."

——————

"So where're you from, Kazimir?" Zoe asks, reading the menu. "We're from Venezuela, but since Sebastian's adopted, he's originally from Bolivia."

"I'm from Claiza City."

Yasmine raises a brow.

"Wait, isn't that the place with all of those murders going on?"

"Yeah."

"Do you ever get scared that you might get killed, too?" Marcelo asks, taking a sip of his soda.

"As a detective, yeah. Not much I can do but hope to find the guy before he gets to me next."

"I wish you luck in finding him before he moves onto innocent civilians." Yasmine says. "He's a deranged psychopath who deserves the death sentence. Some of those people had families to provide for."

"Mommy said she won't let us visit until that crazy person gets caught!" Zoe says, sighing. "And I wanna visit 'cause I hear there's a fun amusement park there!"

"It's decent, but it's kinda overhyped." the young detective says.

Zoe shrugs.

"I still wanna go!"

"Well to make up for it, why don't we tour the city?" Yasmine asks.

"Yay!" Marcelo says, jumping up. "Can we go now?!"

"Let's finish our lunch first, Marcelo." Yasmine says.

Zoe slides her empty plate towards the middle of the table before turning to Kazimir.

"As a detective, how many dead bodies do you see in a day?"

"Either up to 20 or none."

"Have you ever had to kill somebody?"

"Zoe!" Yasmine says, hitting her sister's hand.

"It's alright, Yasmine. Only once, Zoe. Turns out the house I was assigned to wasn't clear like the police initially said and next thing I know, I'm being chased with an axe."

"I wanna be chased by an axe so I can go toe-to-toe with the man who's chasing me!"

Yasmine sighs and shakes her head.

"Marcelo, that is really insensitive to say. Kazimir's job isn't all fun and games. Now since we've finished our lunch, we can go tour the city."

Exiting the restaurant, the group begins to walk down the sidewalk.

"Once again, I apologize if Marcelo and Zoe said anything that may have triggered something."

"Nah, it's fine." Kazimir says, playing with his earring. "They're just kids after all. Hey, is that a flower stand? I was hoping to find one."

Walking over to the stand, Kazimir looks at the bushels of flowers and points at a bushel of pink tulips, sliding $10 onto the counter.

"Can I get those?"

The woman nods and hands the flowers to Kazimir.

"Thanks, miss."

"You may want to put those in water before they dry out in this heat." Yasmine suggests.

"Yeah, I'd hate to disappoint her. Is there a toy shop around here?"

"I'm not sure. You know, you don't come across as the type to have a child."

Kazimir chuckles and shakes his head.

"She's not my child, I'm just taking her in. I met her on my very first official case. Her parents were murdered and since both of her brothers are busy with school, I just thought that'd be the right thing to do."

*BRRRRIIIINNG!*

Reaching into his pocket, Kazimir swipes the green call option before hanging up after less than 30 seconds.

"Well, I hate to cut this short, but my business partner has some new plans. It was very nice getting to meet you, though."

Pulling a tulip from the bouquet, Kazimir hands it to Yasmine.

"That's for keeping me company. And here's one for Zoe, too."

"You don't have to do all of this, Kazimir." Yasmine says, looking down at the two tulips.

"No, just take it as my way of saying thanks. Most people often look at me strange because of my different features, but I want to thank you and your siblings for being nice to me."

Reaching into his pocket, the young man hands Yasmine a pack of gum.

"And that's for Marcelo. See ya."

Watching as the young detective walks off, Yasmine sighs.

"I wish he was Maximilian."