Chapter 3: Doubts
"Somewhat introverted, fairly handsome, and has a decent amount of money. He's definitely…I mean he's probably the type that women like."
"That's your point, isn't it?"
"Umm…"
Alia murmured and closed her eyes, thinking deeply. As the only female on the team, she has the responsibility of searching for the closest person who might become the psychopathic and manipulative killer they want to catch.
But unfortunately, in her opinion, she does not have the advantages that enable her to see the truth of men, or to use her mind better.
"Maybe, I mean, I don't know."
"Then find someone else."
Leonid's tone was the same as usual, except that it seemed more annoyed and cold.
He threw the tenants' personal data sheets onto Alia's desktop and immediately retreated towards his office.
Alia's soft blonde locks fell over her face, she sighed, and got to work.
From the end of the meeting this morning until noon, Leonid continues to move from one office to another, exchanging information about his target.
Leonid's goal this time was to reduce the number of suspected men and women as much as possible while finding out the reasons. Fortunately, the majority of the tenants left for an out-of-town vacation.
"Does the director know what Leonid is doing to us?"
"i don't think so."
"I'm curious why he's being so cruel."
"The director's son has always been cruel."
Dmitri's piercing, dark eyes followed the form of Leonid returning to his office, having broken Vasiliy with his harsh words.
Those eyes were watching Leonid very carefully, and Dmitry noticed that Leonid had not taken off his Bluetooth headset since his arrival until now.
"I can assure you that the reason he was upset was being watched by a woman named Charlotte Smith."
Alia raised her eyebrows and reviewed the personal data until she found Charlotte Smith's file.
The general information was very ordinary: just a woman who lives alone, far from her family, has not completed her university studies, and her accounts on social media sites are closed.
There was no violation or complaint from her, a very upright citizen, nothing unusual about her, in fact she was more than just ordinary.
"Is he suspicious of her or is there something wrong with her?"
Dmitri understood the meaning behind the phrase 'there's something wrong with her'. Alia was trying to convey her words without sounding like a harsh person.
Before he could answer speculatively, he took off his glasses to clean them, saying:
"There is no need for such speculation. This Charlotte Smith is a woman of perfect mental and physical health."
Dmitri paused for a moment as he remembered Charlotte standing in the hallway after she had accidentally bumped into him.
"I met her once when I came to visit Leonid at his apartment in order to discuss some matters that concern men like us, and in my opinion she is only different from Leonid's standards and nothing more."
"What do you mean by things that concern men like us?"
"Is this what interested you most in my speech?"
"Well, I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity. Anyway, tell me about this Charlotte. And why Leonid asked to keep a special eye on her, even though the commander didn't order it."
Alia lowered her head slightly as she stared at Dmitri.
"Actually, I've always wanted to know why Leonid does all this."
After examining Alia's expression, Dmitri shrugged as he cleaned his glasses and put them on immediately.
"I don't know. "
"What do you mean by I don't know?"
Alia narrowed her eyes and moved a little closer to Dmitri's desk.
"Tell me what you know and I'll pay you."
"No need, I get double my salary with my bonus."
Dmitri straightened his suit after getting up from his seat. He was very calm. On the other hand, Alia was a little shocked.
"Hey wait!"
Alia tried to cling to Dmitri, but Dmitri avoided her hands as he raised his arm and headed towards Leonid's office.
"Wait and tell me what you mean by that!"
Alia screamed loudly, but that didn't stop Dmitri from leaving to get some rest.
With slow steps he walked towards Leonid's office, and stopped and said.
"Give me the key to your apartment."
"Huh."
Leonid furrowed his eyebrows, looking as if he was separated between two worlds.
"I said give me the key to your apartment, I will sleep there."
Dmitri repeated his request, extending his hand towards Leonid. He was committed to his request and had no intention of backing out of it. In fact, it would be better for him to go to Leonid's apartment, since it was the closest to headquarters.
"Okay."
Leonid's response was full of annoyance, he took out the key to his apartment and handed it to Dmitri saying.
"Don't sleep right away and get Hunter back first."
"Don't worry, I'll return Hunter as you want, anything else?"
Dmitri smiled as he held the key and asked Leonid in a nice way after he got what he wanted.
"nothing…"
Leonid paused for a moment. In fact, he wanted to say that he should be a little mean to Charlotte, but he refrained from doing so at the last moment. He waved his hand in Dmitri's face.
"Just be nice to her about taking Hunter back, leave now before I change my mind."
Dmitry nodded, smiling and somewhat amused by Leonid's unexpected kindness.
"Okay, okay, I'll go, see you later~."
Dmitri left immediately. He knew Leonid well. If he had talked more or asked questions, Leonid's opinion would have changed in the blink of an eye, and Dmitri would have been forced to sleep in his distant apartment and bear the costs of fuel in addition to wasting time.
Charlotte: [Natalia, have you seen Kaiser today?]
Charlotte closed her phone after finally sending her friend a message.
As time passed, she felt some guilt about what happened between her and Kaiser this morning.
"Maybe I should have respected him or ignored him, but I was too rude."
Charlotte admitted her guilt and sighed. Kaiser may have been extremely rude and deserved a beating in her eyes, but he was still her only kind friend.
As she struggled, Charlotte felt her phone shaking in her grip. When I scrolled through the notifications, I found a response from Natalia.
She pushed her chestnut locks back and carefully opened her eyes to Natalia's response, which was just a picture.
A picture of Kaiser getting a new haircut, and the person cutting his hair was Daniel.
The younger guy who live on the eighth floor.
"An i wonder if Daniel is 21 or is he still 20 years old?"
While Charlotte was wondering, Natalia suddenly sent another message.
Natalia: [Kaiser may look very cool in the photo, but he keeps complaining about what happened between you two.]
Natalia smiled, turning off her phone, while correcting her position in the chair next to Kaiser, who was still depressed.
"Daniel, who do you think is wrong?"
Kaiser continued to complain to Daniel, who in turn listened quietly as he expertly clipped the ends of Kaiser's red locks.
Suddenly Daniel pinned Kaiser's head with his hand.
"Please don't move your head suddenly."
As usual, his voice was low, as his front hair covered his eyes.
"Okay, I'm not going to move my head, so answer my question."
"In my opinion, you are definitely wrong."
"Oh my God, you're an idiot. You should have asked someone else who wouldn't stand by Charlotte, like me."
Natalia sneered at Kaiser, getting up from the chair after the hairdresser finished styling her golden hair and making it wavy.
"It has nothing to do with you so stop interfering. And as for you, Daniel, why are you siding with Charlotte? Is she better than me in your opinion?"
Kaiser crossed his arms under the black apron, staring at the reflection of Daniel's cold, gentle face in the mirror.
"First you have to know that I will never take your side when you make a problem with Charlotte."
"You dare say that to my face? How rude."
Daniel raised his eyes and stared at Kaiser's dark, serious face, then went back to working on his hair.
"Please, everyone knows I prefer Charlotte more than you do."
"You prefer her over everyone else."
Daniel shrugged as if he didn't care about Kaiser's dark expression reflected in the mirror.
"By the way, stop threatening me with those looks, or I will make a fool of you tonight."
Daniel pointed his scissors toward the mirror, then went back to combing Kaiser's hair and trimming some corners.
"Tsk! The whole world is against me."
Kaiser clicked his tongue and turned his eyes away, then his eyes settled on Natalia.
Natalia was in her own world, tapping on her phone screen to talk to Charlotte. She was all dressed up today for tonight's party she's attending with Kaiser.
"Are you done, Natalia?"
"Yes~."
"very good."
Kaiser's amber eyes remained staring at Natalia and did not budge.
In his piercing gaze, Natalia was beautiful as usual, but today she looked even sweeter, as her green eyes sparkled under her thick golden eyelashes, and her wavy golden hair looked healthy and shiny.
"Oh sweetheart, you look so pretty~"
"Really? Good to hear that from you."
Kaiser smiled and felt his discomfort melt away after flirting with Natalia and seeing her attractive smile.
"By the way, did Charlotte text you?"
"so bad. After everything you did to her, would you ask about her again?"
"You said before that you are always by my side, or have you changed your mind?"
"Of course not!"
"So tell me. Just so you know, Charlotte blocked my number before I sent her anything."
With a slight movement, Kaiser lifted his leg, crossed it over the other, then leaned on his elbow. As for Daniel, he continued his work without paying attention to Kaiser's sudden movements.
"Did you really do that?"
Kaiser nodded slowly in response to Natalia's question.
"Actually, I don't understand. Was it bad in her eyes for me to ask her to ask me something nicely? It's not like she hasn't always been nice in her own right, so why is she suddenly angry with me?"
Kaiser returned to complaining mode after closing his eyes, while Natalia stared at him silently. Then her phone beeped, and she read Charlotte's message.
Charlotte: [Someone's ringing my doorbell, it's not Kaiser, right?]
Natalia: [No. Kaiser still cuts his hair.]
Charlotte: [I'll go see who's at the door, talk to you later.]
Natalia: [Okay, tell me later who they are.]
Charlotte: [Okay.]
Charlotte turned off her phone, threw it on the pillow next to her, got out of bed, and headed toward the door.
On her way, she combed her long hair, straightening her skirt and cardigan.
She grabbed the doorknob and turned it without asking who knocked on the door.
"Hello~"
As soon as Charlotte opened the door, she was greeted by a tall, strange-looking young man with brown hair. She blinked her eyes for a moment as she looked at him, then thought about closing the door again, but that man's foot stopped her just in time.
"Wait, ma'am."
"Wait, what?...Move your foot away, please."
Dmitri laughed after hearing that sweet tone asking him to keep his foot away from the door. If he had been a thief or a criminal, Charlotte would certainly have been his best victim.
"Ma'am, don't you know me?"
"Huh? Do I really know you?"
Charlotte stopped closing the door and looked at Dmitri's face, pale and rather handsome, but not in Charlotte's eyes.
In Charlotte's eyes, this man with dark circles was suspicious, like a drug user.
"I don't think so."
She answered quickly and tried to close the door, but Dmitri's foot still blocked her.
"That's a little mean, but it's okay. I'll forgive you."
"What?"
As time passed, a feeling of fear took hold in Charlotte's heart. She tried to close the door more violently, but Dmitri stopped her completely as he approached and put his arm on the door frame and leaned towards her.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone