Blessed by Night

74  The Culprit

Sei took several deep breaths to calm her raging heartbeat as she stared at the police station that was only a few feet away.

A few hours ago, she had received a call from the local police department saying that there had been a development in her case.

She had hardly expected the investigation to bear fruit this soon, and she would be lying if she said that she did not wish for it to take a bit more time so that she could mentally prepare herself.

As such, she really had no other option but to bring in some reinforcements for moral support.

A large and warm hand suddenly wrapped around her own and her mood immediately showed signs of improvement.

"We're here for you, love. Let's just go and hear what they have to say." Malachi comforted.

"Thank you, honey... I know that I'm being silly." Sei said with a helpless smile.

"Don't worry, mom!" Serana piped up from the back seat. "Hopefully they'll tell us that they caught the bastard and we can have Mal set HIM on fire as payback!"

"Did you just volunteer me to roast a man alive?"

"Yea, why? Did you want to shock him to death instead?"

Sei smiled and held in a laugh that she felt would be inappropriate.

In all honesty she wasn't expecting her daughter to be interested in coming after everything that she had gone through today, but after Anna left Serana decided that there was no better placed for her to be than by her mother's side.

"Excuse me, but... should I really be here for this?"

All eyes drifted towards Luna who was sitting awkwardly in the backseat next to Serana.

"W-Well I know it might seem strange but you are sort of my only friend. I was just sort of desperate to have all of the support I could get." Sei said sheepishly.

'Friend...' That one word seemed to echo in Luna's mind endlessly.

How long had it been since she'd had a genuine friend?

Had she ever had one?

Sei's warm and gentle demeanor had completely melted away all of Luna's hesitation with minimal effort.

"I see... I am happy to support you then."

Even though she appeared to be rather aloof on the outside, both Malachi and Sei could notice a twinkle in Luna's eyes that conveyed how pleased she was with this situation.

She didn't even seem to care about the massive pile of paperwork at headquarters that was waiting for her patiently.

Sei finally let out one final sigh before she gave everyone a small nod and stepped out of the car.

She and Malachi walked through the parking lot hand in hand, earning a look of jealousy from Luna and a look of disgust from Serana.

Needless to say, as soon as the group entered the police station they immediately had every pair of eyes glued to them.

It wasn't every day that two of the world's most famous blessed walked into your job, and the sight of Luna in street clothes was more than enough to give most of the male officers nosebleeds.

Luckily, one officer was not as scatterbrained as the rest and immediately ran up to the visitors once they recognized Sei among them.

Chloe Espinosa was the lead detective on this case and she was the one who had contacted Sei earlier.

She was a woman of average height and build with a stern yet slightly attractive face and blonde hair that was restrained into a ponytail.

"Ms. Aihara? We spoke over the phone earlier, I'm the detective in charge of your case."

"Ah, right. Hello."

Chloe briefly glanced at Sei's entourage and wondered if she should ask for a photo.

But since she was nothing if not professional, she elected to forgo such unnecessary things and led her to an empty room and had her take a seat.

Under the detective's left arm was a folder containing a stack of papers and she seemed rather reluctant to give them to Sei.

"I should start by saying this, discovering the identity of the culprit was rather easy since he didn't avoid traffic cameras, and his crime was recorded by your neighbor's doorbell camera."

Sei nodded slowly as she tried to calm her thumping heartbeat.

"Alright... who is the culprit?"

Detective Chloe sighed and glanced at Malachi and Serana to gauge what their reaction to this news would be.

Mal seemed to only care about Sei's wellbeing, meanwhile Serana had been cracking her knuckles this whole time as if she was ready to retaliate.

"It was your ex husband... Minoru Aihara."

The silence was deafening.

Absolutely no one had expected this answer, and the shocked looks on each of their faces were downright identical.

"That fucker!"

Bang!

Serana was so enraged she was trembling as she lashed out at a nearby wall.

"I knew I should have done more than just kick him in the nuts! I should have ground them into paste!"

'She did what now?'

Chloe decided to overlook Serana's admission of assault since she was clearly in great distress.

She took glance at Sei and saw that not only was she frozen, but she was staring off into space as well.

Chloe looked at Malachi and Luna for help, and they immediately shook off their own stupor and placed a hand on Sei's shoulder.

Finally, she seemed to regain some sense of clarity as she realized that she had indeed been spacing out.

She met the eyes of both Luna and Mal and gave them a reassuring smile that neither of them believed.

Sei turned back to face the detective and tried her best not to show just how much this news was getting to her. "I-I see... then... have you already arrested him?"

"I hope you stuck him in a cell with the biggest inmate in here and gave him the slipperiest bar of soap you got!" Serana yelled.

Luna decided that maybe it would be better if the young girl wasn't present for this conversation and took her hand to guide her outside.

"Come on, kiddo. We'll step outside and take a breather for a minute."

Despite her fuming, Serana did not resist Luna's grip and followed her outside quietly.

That left the three rational adults in the room alone, embroiled in an even greater silence than the one that plagued them before.

"Regarding the arrest of the perp..." Chloe sighed when she realized they'd gotten to the part of the meeting she'd been dreading the most.

"We... cannot do that."

"What? Why?"

Malachi had done remarkably well so far, he hadn't said a word and he hadn't showed any traces of anger, only concern and disbelief.

But he had finally slipped up, and his teeth had lengthened and become sharper like that of a wild animal.

Even though his demeanor was still nonthreatening, the sight of his wild teeth and eyes sent a wave of fear down Chloe's spine and she simply tossed them the folder she'd been holding on to all this time.

Malachi and Sei opened it together, and when they saw what was inside their hearts simultaneously dropped.

"We can't arrest him because he's already dead... I'm sorry."

I wanna watch your lie in april, but my girl told me it's too much for me and I'll want to take a toaster bath after it's over. 

Is she being fr or is she just being overdramatic?

AnathaShesha