She was exhausted and more than a little irritated at being summoned on her day off. When she arrived at the scene with a cup of hot coffee in her hand and a glare on her face, a rookie quickly lifted the yellow tape for her. She snatched the cigarette out of his mouth as she passed him and stomped it out on the pavement.

“That’s bad for your health!”

Copious amounts of caffeine and negativity are bad for your health too, he thought as he watched her stride away rather dramatically, but he didn’t say it out loud. That would be bad for his health...

Her partner breathed a sight of relief and annoyance at the sight of her. She glared at him too, while a more logical part of her mind informed her she was making that expression far too much. She knew she was a sight to behold, wearing a grey sweatshirt and blue jeans, flip flops and her long tawny hair still bedraggled.

“You just woke up.”

He accused. She looked up at the taller man, acutely aware of his 6’3 to her 5’5. What she lacked in height, she made up for in sarcasm.

“What? No ‘hello Taylor, how are you?’ Im fine, by the way, thanks for asking,Connor!”

“It’s 1pm!”

“It was my day off!”

He let the matter drop and simply rolled his eyes as he handed her the paper jumpsuit. It matched his own and as she bundled her unbrushed hair inside the hood he told her what they knew.

“Laini Brown. Age 46. She lived alone in apartment 3b, found by one of the neighbors with a bullet in her head. They all say they never heard anything. Looks like a suicide but you said to alert you if there were any.”

He long ago learned that when she wanted something, it was for a specific reason, even if she didn’t disclose it at the time. This was a weird city and you couldn’t be too cautious. She was a difficult partner to work with, she knew, but she was just too good at her job. She finally found a partner that was willing to put up with her and actually could keep up with her.

“Well let’s go take a look at Ms.Brown.”

The apartment was odd and dark. There were windows but heavy black out curtains had been pulled over them and each lamp was turned on but thin scarves had been tossed over the shades, making the light dimmer and more colorful. A mug sat on the island, a tea bag seeping. The tea was long cold but the microwave was still open. A ‘Better Homes and Gardens’ magazine sat on the arm of a chair, open to page 5, showing a recipe for some sort of chocolate monstrosity, ingredients circled in black ink, the pen on the left side of the page still uncapped.

“What did she do for a living?”

The bookshelves were lined with dictionaries and history books.

“She worked at a museum. A curator for ‘Ancient Empires’.”

She was in the bedroom, laid out on the white sheets. The gun lay in her right hand and as I studied the weapons, something seemed off. The gun was quite obviously fully functional, that wasn’t what was wrong. Taylor left the body and went over the the desk. Photocopy’s and translations littered the desk, yellow highlighters marking points of interest. She sat in the deceased woman’s desk chair and she heard Connor’s sigh at the breach of protocol. He worries too much. Her computer was still open, simply needing to be woken up. The screen lit in a flurry of color, showing old crowns from the Ottoman Empire.

“It would seem... she was in charge of the exhibit... and protecting said exhibit...”

Ms.Brown had been entrusted with such precious gems. Her responsibility.

“What was the time of death? Estimated?”

“11:30ish. That’s all we’ll know until the autopsy. Why?”

“Because something was downloaded off this computer at midnight...”

She spun the chair around and met her partner’s eyes.

“Laini was left handed. The gun is in her right hand. She works at the museum, in charge of certain valuable exhibits. She dictates the security protocols around anything in her jurisdiction. The Ottoman Jewels are a traveling exhibit, visiting for the next two weeks.”

She peeled off her rubber gloves as she left the room,Connor on her heels.

“This wasn’t a suicide! This was murder!”