"You look stressed." Those were the first words Henshaw said to Belle the moment he sighted her alight her Uber.

"You look even more stressed," she rolled her eyes, walking towards him with a slight smile on her face. "Here's your evidence." She handed him the briefcase.

"Thanks."

"Have you spoken with his wife?" She asked, walking into the brightly lit station with him. She followed him into his office and sat on the chair opposite his desk. His fellow policemen barely acknowledged her, rather they made murmurs of irritation at her presence. Suddenly they seemed to be more productive, passing files over the shared table, whispering to each other, typing away on their computers. Belle only smiled in amusement.

"No," Henshaw heaved as he sat too. "But we have no choice but to contact her since it's probably her husband."

"Yes, she'll be able to identify the body and I do believe she needs to be questioned."

"The police will handle all other investigations, Belle."

"I'm just saying." Shrugging, she looked around her office. "You should ask her for his phone or any device. Go through his emails and stuff. Maybe we can get a lead on who must have killed him."

"The police are handling it, Belle," Henshaw said. "Seriously, don't try to meddle. This is dangerous."

"I'm not meddling. I'm just giving my opinions."

"I appreciate it but you should stick to your job," Henshaw sighed. He felt the need to protect Belle from the criminal world, he did not even like that she had to investigate crimes in the lab.

"Whatever, I'm off."

"Hey, do you mind hanging out later tonight?" He scratched the back of his head nervously. "We could grab dinner or something."

"Yes, I do mind."

"Oh, you're busy?" His disappointment was evident on his face.

"Yes." The only thing she was busy doing at home was to brainstorm on the crime and then get some sleep.

"I was hoping to discuss more of the briefcase with you as well as the body," he sighed, knowing that it would get her interested.

"Shouldn't you be discussing with your fellow policemen?" Her eyebrows were lifted comically.

"My men didn't perform the tests, you did," he smiled wryly.

"I'll see if I can free up my schedule and let you know."

The truth was Belle did not have any plans of going to dinner with him. He had been trying to ask her out for years but she always refused because they worked together on several occasions. Moreover, she did not like how he always told her to stick to forensics.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

"We've spoken to his wife," Henshaw said with a small smile on his face. Belle had showed up and that meant a lot to him.

"Why are you telling me this?" She picked up the menu and put a frown on her face. "Is that not information meant for the police and not a forensic scientist?"

"I thought you might be interested in that," he shrugged. "Don't be like that to me."

When she said nothing in response, he continued. "She'll come to the morgue tomorrow to identify the body."

"Why didn't you take her to the morgue when she arrived?"

"You had closed from work. I didn't want to call you back to the office."

"Oh. So did you ask for his phone?"

"Yep. It's missing," Henshaw sighed.

"If I were you, I'd get his mobile number and see if I can track it." She signalled for the waiter to take their orders and then continued speaking. "There's a possibility that it would have been destroyed but I have this feeling that the killer might keep the phone around."

"Why?"

"Look at the way Steve died, come on." She looked up and smiled politely at the waiter. "I'll have a chicken quesadilla with just water."

"I'll have the same," Henshaw said.

"What was his profession?"

"He was a lawyer."

"Did he have any case he was working on before he died?"

"Well, it was something confidential or so his wife said. Something about the government."

"Okay, so there's a possibility he was killed by the government."

"The government wouldn't kill a man who works for them and even if they did, they'd go for a bullet instead of completely destroying his face."

"I'm just saying," Belle replied. "Because it makes perfect sense. Something about the government does not mean he was working with the government. It could have been against them."

"And again, they wouldn't kill him that way."

"What if they wanted to disguise his death like he was killed by a psycho? And hey, let's not forget that Steve's fingerprints did not show up in the government database," she pointed. "That might as well be their way of hindering investigations. It throws suspicion on them. Only the government can add or remove people from the database and they don't even do that."

"Well," Henshaw drawled his words. What she was saying made sense but he did not believe that the government would do that. "What if his killer is just a really good hacker?"

"That's a possibility," she agreed. "But do you realize I've tried hacking into the system before? If I couldn't do it, then I don't think any hacker can."

"Oh my goodness, Belle!" He exclaimed. "That's dangerous. The government can easily track your I P address and find out you tried to hack their database."

"They won't be able to," she rolled her eyes. "I know what I'm doing Shaw."

He smiled when she called him that. No one has ever given him a nickname and it felt nice to hear it from her first. "That's new."

"Henshaw is too long," she snorted.

"You never had a problem with it before."

"Oh, I always did," she laughed. "As I was saying, I'm confident that it might be the government. Or at least, his death will have something to do with the government. Even if not directly, someone who works with the government might be responsible."

"The body was bathed in Formaldehyde," Henshaw said. "The government would not do that."

"For the same reason his face was mutilated, he was bathed in Formaldehyde," Belle said. "Any leads on his car? You have men working on that right?"

"Yeah, unit one is working on that." He took a sip of water and relaxed a bit into his seat. "You know, I have this bad feeling about his wife."

"Why?"

"She didn't seem too shaken up when she heard he was probably dead. She wasn't surprised, it was more of...her expecting it?"

"Do you consider her a suspect?"

"Maybe," he shrugged. "There's a motive, he is rich. She might've wanted him dead to get his money. He's a lawyer, so I'm pretty sure a divorce won't work to get money from him."

"I wouldn't say that until I meet her." Belle shrugged. "Maybe she knows what he was working on. And she knew his death was going to happen."

"I'd say so too. We want to search the house tomorrow for anything but we'd have to get a warrant from the judge."

"That's going to take a while," Belle grinned. "It's wild though. You need a warrant from someone high up, how long it takes will tell you what you need to know about the case."

"I realized. In the meantime we'd be looking into past cases. Talk to people who have known Steve personally, clients he represented... That sort of thing."

"Nice, I really hope it's the government though," her eyes gleamed mischievously. "It'll be fun... Only for you and your team though."

"No, it won't be, because then our efforts will end up being futile," sighed Henshaw. "If this ends up being the government, it will be hard for us."

"Of course, the government is a possibility but we can't rule out other suspects." Their meal came as she said this. Belle took a sip of her water. "There will be other people who may want him gone. What type of lawyer is he?"

"A criminal lawyer."

"Look into his cases Shaw, the really dark ones," advised Belle. "Is he a prosecutor? Or a defence lawyer? The cases he has taken, how sensitive are they? Has there perhaps been anyone that has been sentenced to life imprisonment of death because of him?"

"Those are really good suggestions, Belle, I'll look into them." Henshaw was not surprised that she had already thought of all the possibilities as they sat. Sometimes, he wondered why she had not become a private investigator or something along that line and had opted for forensics. However, her skills in the lab were also too good. She was perfect at everything.

"Thank you," Belle smiled and began to eat her quesadilla. Henshaw's heart melted as he looked at her.

"Your name suits you," he said. Belle was the definition of beauty; her hair was a striking red colour that was often in a messy ponytail or bun. She had large doe green eyes that lit up whenever she talked about her passions.

"Why'd you say that?" She asked.

"You are beautiful Belle."

"Where's that coming from?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"I'm just saying." Awkwardly, he began to eat his meal, his cheeks feeling hot suddenly. "I find you attractive. I mean a lot of people do." The last part of his statement was rushed because he did not want to make her uncomfortable.

"Oh. I see," she smiled tightly and then looked up but avoided his eyes. "Thanks."

"Do you think there's a way to bypass the lock on the briefcase?" He needed to change the topic since it was getting a little awkward.

"There is always a way to bypass such security but it's not going to be easy," Belle replied. "Your best bet will be to try to narrow down the list of suspects and then try to know your killer."

"You think if we know the killer, we have a better chance?"

"Probably. If you can study his lifestyle, then you have a chance but here's a better option, if you can catch the killer; you can get the briefcase combination."

"Yeah, only that I don't think it will be easy. There are no fingerprints on the body remember?"

"You're talking like a rookie," Belle chuckled. "Most murderers don't leave fingerprints, and hey! This is not the first murder case you're working on. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Yeah, it's not the first but this is the strangest. I wouldn't be thinking too much about it if the body wasn't bathed in Formaldehyde."

"Well, I'm here to help you," she offered him a smile. "Just get to know the cases he has worked on, it'll be a great starting point."

"Thanks for this," Henshaw smiled. The truth was he had already thought of those possibilities other than the government being guilty, but he knew Belle loved talking about crimes so he let her.

"We should do this more often," she smiled. "Hang out and talk about your job. Even though you don't like it when I meddle."

"Yeah, we should." He was happy when she suggested it. Maybe he had been silly all the while for always telling her to stick to forensics. Now that allowing her to meddle in his job seemed to bring her closer, he did not mind it. He just had to make sure she did not snoop too much in a way that would put her in danger.

When the bill came, Belle was adamant about splitting it but Henshaw refused.

"I invited you to dinner, I should pay."

They walked out of the restaurant together, the cool night air nipping their skin gently. "I'll drive you home, yeah?"

"Thank you," she smiled at him. One thing Annabelle had no plans of owning was a car because she had a phobia of large vehicles on the road. She usually relied on an Uber or the bus whenever she was going anywhere.

"So what do you usually spend your free time doing?" He asked, opening the door for her.

"Read books, watch shows or sleep," she said. "How about you?"

"I love cooking," he shrugged. "And dancing."

"Really?" She laughed. That was something she had not expected from Henshaw. He looked like the type of man who spent his free time gaming.

"It's shocking, I know," he laughed. "I was the only male in my family and all my sisters cook so I just picked it up."

"You can come over tomorrow after work," he suggested. "I'll cook something for you."

"No thanks." She put on her seatbelt and then pulled out her phone. "You'd be too stressed after work."

"Cooking helps me to relieve stress."

"Trust me, you'll be too busy these days and cooking will become stressful."

"Maybe," he shrugged. "It's crazy how we get too busy to do what we are passionate about because of our jobs."

"You're not passionate about your job?" She asked.

"I am, but it's beginning to bore me sometimes."

"Happens to me too. Maybe we should swap jobs."

"No thanks," he laughed. "I'm not keen on touching or performing surgeries on dead bodies all the time."

"Hey! That's not the only thing we do."

"Seems like it to me."

"There's a car following us," Belle commented. She had noticed a black car that left the dinner at the same time as they had but thought nothing of it until she noticed the driver had been going in their direction "Check your rearview mirror but don't make it obvious."

"What car is that?" Henshaw asked.

"The black one. The plate number is T H Y 7 2 4," she said. "I saw it at the restaurant."