the pattering claps of rain colliding against cement rang throughout the flooded streets as streaks of flashing lightning cracked in the dark, murky skies. "you're late," a voice smirked through the audio of the ongoing thunderstorm.

"whatever," the brunette scowled in response, his hands shoved in his pockets as he resentfully skulked towards the ebony-haired man. "why are we here, anyways?" dan questioned spitefully, though phil could tell he had immediately recognized the area. they were on the corner of fourth and main where an closed down gym was located.

also known as the place where the first case recognized as curare's handiwork was documented. "we're here to investigate," phil smirked, trying to seem more in control than he felt; but, with the knowledge of troye mellet's burial grounds, he knew dan wouldn't risk killing him.

"and how're we supposed to do that? curare's case here was closed down three years ago, there can't possibly be anything you can use," the man rolled his eyes, starting slightly upon hearing the shattering sound of phil's fist through the window. "aren't you a cop," he scoffed, shoving past phil and stepping over the thousands of shards of glass that now coated the floor.

"ex cop," phil grinned, following after him and flicking on his flashlight. "are you trying to blind me?" dan scowled upon the light being shown in his direction, but phil didn't bother to respond. "the body was in here, shoved in this locker," he proceeded, walking past dan and creaking open the crooked blue locker. his eyes skimmed along the corners of the locker, seeing traces of cracked crimson speckled around it.

"his name was jake," dan muttered under his breath, before quickly shrugging off his initial feeling of nostalgic sickness. "what're we even looking for?" he added with a mocking tone. "anything, anything that we can use to track curare," phil hurried, frantically scanning through every locker in the gym in search for something.

"wait, wh-why do you even want to kill him?" dan spluttered questioningly, giving phil a confused look. "do you even need to ask that?" phil spat, before staring at the man in front of him for a second. "why aren't you looking?"

"i want to know why i'm looking, first," dan shrugged, looking into the multifaceted, blue irises of the man expectantly. phil let out a resentful sigh, "he killed my fiancé." dan bit down on the insides of his cheeks, eyeing him oddly for a brief second before walking to the other portion of lockers and complying to phil's requests. "what was his name?" he inquired with a quirked eyebrow.

"pj ligouri," phil answered. "the da? well, you're just dripping in law enforcement and look at you know," the brunette said with a half-hearted chuckle in an attempt to keep his sarcastic demeanor. "things change," phil muttered, running his fingers through his hair stressfully. "anyways, if you were so close with him, why don't you know where he is?" he added resentfully.

dan remained silent for a second, causing phil to turn around questioningly. "things change," the brunette mumbled quietly, just barely loud enough for phil to hear. "i don't even know what you're expecting to find here," he scoffed, slamming another locker door shut and slumping against it. phil sighed, "well, got any better ideas?"

dan reluctantly exhaled, scratching the back of his neck. "i don't know where he's at." phil bit down on his lip as he thought, before his gaze shot up from the blood-freckled floor to meet the multifaceted, chocolate irises of the brunette. "i know what to do, but first, do you have some cash on you?" dan scoffed, "phil, i'm not paying for a prostitute so you can just fuck your problems away."

phil rolled his eyes. "no, i have an old friend who might have an idea as to where curare is, but she won't give up information without a bottle or two of tequila," he shrugged as he stepped across the broken glass and back out into the weighing downpour of rain. dan scoffed, following behind him. "who is this, anyway?" he inquired, flicking up his black hood over his head.

"her names zoe, zoe sugg."