BlueDiamond

Kram decided to take the whole pot of coffee with him. Digging around in his kitchen for fifteen minutes he found his biggest thermos, no point in letting it go to waste. It was late almost midnight so the traffic was clear, his trip back to work was relatively quick and on the upside, there were also tons of available parking. Almost every space in the parking garage was free, including Nohs, he smiled as he slid the black SUV into the space, one of the luxuries of being head of the unit was special parking, right by the elevator. Kram smugly laughed in his head, knowing Noh would be so angry to find him parked there. Pressing the lock button on his key fob, he strolled nonchalantly to the elevator, his bag slung over his shoulder and giant thermos of coffee in hand.

Krams steps echoed off the polished floor of the atrium, an officer was waiting outside the office with a file. Kram took it saluting the office before he badged into the office. Hed look over the file before going down to interrogation, they had taken his prints, he would know if they matched his case soon. Kram poured some coffee flopped down in a chair and opened the file.

Wasapon Sumanpinat, nothing particularly remarkable, some assault and battery charges, mostly bar fights, drunk in public. Nothing to suggest he is a criminal mastermind. Kram flipped the page, his military service record, held some interesting information, he served two years, as a military police officer mostly stationed on the border with Myanmar, the only thing of note in his record was disciplinary action for failure to obey orders. That was a vague charge it could be anything from being late to your duty station or something more serious such as deciding to take action when he was ordered not to.

Kram drained the rest of his coffee and poured a fresh cup before collecting the file and badging out of the office. He took the elevator to the basement it seemed to take longer in the absolute silence. He checked his watch, it was two am. Walking past the guards he turned into the room next to interrogation he wanted to get a look at the guy first, his was covered in blood and he was grimy as though he had rolled around on the street, he was tall at least 1.83m. Which meant he towered over Hart. Kram couldn tell if he looked tired or drunk either way coffee would help. Leaving he went across to the break room and poured a cup of the oldest coffee in there, the consistency was somewhere between sludge and used motor oil, this asshole didn deserve fresh coffee, he threw in some cream and grabbed a few packs of sugar, finally he walked into the interrogation room. Tossing the file on the table he slid the coffee in front of the slumped figure.

”Coffee? Im going, to be honest, you look like hell, you smell awful, its late, my patience is thin and I need you sober. ” said Kram. The person before him didn respond.

”Oi! ” Kram slammed his hand on the table spilling some of the coffee. ”Do you understand me, Mud? ” Kram raised his voice.

”Its Múd, like mood, not Mud. ” the man finally spoke.

”Ok Mud whatever you say, Id think you would be more concerned with the fact you are being charged with assault on a police officer, but sure lets focus on how I say our name…Mud. ” Kram made sure to pronounce it wrong, every time he said it the vein in Múds temple jumped.

”So what happened? Did you see your ex with someone else? You can take no for an answer? Your mom didn hug you enough? ”

Múd didn respond. He was clearly used to being goaded. Kram would have to try something else.

”Are you an artist too? ”

Múd finally looked up.

”What? ”

”I asked if you are an artist? Hart owns an art gallery, you dated, so it isn a stretch to assume you might also be involved in art. ” Kram said slowly. Shit, this was like pulling teeth.

Kram rubbed his forehead he hated stupid people they gave him migraines.

”Lets talk about Hart. How long did you two date? ”

”Uhhh, like six months or so I guess, maybe a year I don know. Why do the police want to know how long I dated my boyfriend? You don have anything better to do? ” Múd scoffed kicking his foot into the table leg.

”Ex. ” Said Kram

”What? ”

”Ex-boyfriend, you said boyfriend but Hart broke up with you right? ”

”I broke up with him! ”

”Sure you did, ” Kram smirked. ”Heres the thing I don care who broke up with who what I care about is who is murdering people connected to the art district.

”Wait, what! ” Múd jumped to his feet!. ”I thought I was here cause I spit in that fuking cops face! Fuck this I didn kill anybody. ”

”Thats lovely. ” Now sit down. ”Thanks for confessing that you spit in detective Loves face, youve saved the taxpayers so much money. Now what I want is to show you some pictures and I want to know if you recognize anyone in these photos. ” Kram laid out the photos of Kisa and the unidentified man.

”They
e dead! ” exclaimed Múd.

”Yes, thats what murdered means. Nothing gets past you does it. ” Kram replied drily.

”What I want to know is if you recognize them. ” He said through gritted teeth trying to muster even an ounce of patience.

” I don know, they
e dead! ” Múd said again as though Kram hadn understood him the first time.

”Weve established that they are dead but they still have faces! ” Kram jabbed at the photos ”Do you recognize them? ”

”No. ”

”No? ”

”Well I mean, I don recognize him but I recognize her. She wrote for some magazines, I worked with her a few times taking photos of the art she reviewed. Im a photographer you know. ”

”Is that so. ” Kram wanted to strangle the man across from him. But at least the last two hours hadn been a complete waste. This idiot connected Kisa to Hart, maybe, just maybe he knew something useful. Whether or not Kram could pry it from his useless head was another matter altogether.

”Ok, so you do know Kisa, did you ever see Kisa and Hart together? ” Kram asked slowly.

”Sure, ” he shrugged, ”thats how we met. Kisa was sent to cover this up and coming star of the art world at Harts gallery and I was sent as the photographer. I heard the review she wrote was brutal. ” He laughed.

”Do you remember the name of the artist? ” Asked Kram.

”Uh, no. Why would I? Do you know how many suposdedly up and coming artists their are? There is a new one like every five minutes. ” Múd rolled his eyes.

Kram couldn argue with that. The world was full of people who thought they were talented and short on those who actually are.

”Ok look at this photo one more time try and remember if you have seen him at any events. ” Kram said, weariness creeping into his voice. Múd glanced at the photo.

”Nope ” Múd shoved the photo away and leaned back in his chair.

”Great well thanks for your help, you can go now its not like I can find you again if I have any more questions. ” Kram stood and picked upt the file and photos.

”Wait, I can go? ” Múd said excitedly.

”Of course you can go… to jail, you assaulted an officer remeber. ” Kram nodded to the guard on the way out, he didn bother to look back.

He sent a text to Love while he waited for the elevator.

—-He recoginsed Kisa, she knew Hart, she wrote a bad review of an artist exhibited there, Ill go back through the reports—-

It was almost four, when Kram flopped back into his comfy swivel chair in the office fresh coffee in hand. He spread out the files the forensics department had packed from her condo, he sorted the photos and articles that were printed looking for any mention of Harts gallery.