Chapter 9- Home Sweet Home

“Here we go,” Tristan mumbled as he pushed through his front door.

I was met with a beautifully decorated foyer that really impressed me. A huge chandelier hung above me, and the carpets were clean and beautifully decorated. He led me further into the house, where we appeared in his living room.

I wasn’t surprised, having seen the foyer, I knew this wouldn’t be different. It all looked bigger than I assumed from the outside, but it was surprisingly spacious.

“Thank you” I told him as he helped me shrug my coat off. I continued to take in every corner of the room.

“You have a beautiful home “ I finally told him after recovering from my shock. Hell, it was even nicer than my house.

“Thank you. This is where I grew up. My mom always liked to keep things tidy and neat, so I held up that legacy.”

“Well she has great taste. I’d vacation here” I mumbled that part mostly to myself, but his chuckling made me know that he heard.

“I’m sure she would appreciate it. She was indeed the designer “

“Was? “ I asked as my heart hurt a bit.

“Yea she died when I was young, about ten. My dad followed five years after, died in the field” He explained, looking torn for a second.

“I’m so sorry” I said sincerely, holding his hand. “Was he a cop? “

He nodded, answering my question. But he seemed quite at peace with the topic. If my dad died, I’d be torn—even if it’s ten years later.

“Let me take this for you” He offered, reaching out for my duffle bag. I smiled gratefully and handed it to him as I readied myself to be led to where I’d stay. But instead, he seemed to have had a different idea.

I yelped as he placed two warm hands over my eyes as he led me somewhere. The scrumptious aroma of food filled my senses, and that’s when I realized we were either in a kitchen or dining room.

“Tristan? “ I called out just as he removed his hand, making me gasp in shock yet again.

The dining room was dimly lit with candle lights, and there on the table sat food of all kinds, making me realize just how hungry I really was.

“Tristan what is this? “ I breathed out, barely sounding like a whisper.

“This is our date before our date.” He beamed as he led me to the table. “You can call it our pre-date.”

“I don’t know what to say,” I mumbled as I sat in the chair. My chest erupted in emotions that I didn’t even try to suppress. This was just all so lovely.

“I know how stressed you’ve been, so I prepared this before I came to pick you up. I also want you to feel at home here. I know it wasn’t your most comfortable decision “ He added, making my feelings soar even more.

Gosh I’m falling too fast.

“Thank you” I was genuinely grateful. “I really appreciate this “

“Anytime, Cianna.”

I said a little grace in my head for the meal and this wonderful human being before digging in. He surprised me even more by the second, since the food was literally the best thing I’ve ever tasted.

“You did not cook this,” I accused playfully as I scooped another fork of mash potatoes in my mouth.

“Nah I ordered it from my favourite restaurant “ He said with a light chuckle.

“Really?”

He shook his head with a small smile as he met my eyes “No really I made it. Like it? “

“Like it? I freaking love it! Are you sure you’re not low-key grooming me into falling in love with you?” I joked, even though it had a little truth behind it.

“I just genuinely like to see you smile, Cianna. No alternative motive behind it.”

I searched his eyes for any hint to untruth, but found none. I quickly shifted my eyes back to the dinner, because if I spent another minute looking at him, I’d jump him right there.

“So how was your day?” He asked, shifting the conversation to a more casual ground.

I shrugged. “It was alright. It’s been a month now since I started working from home and I am loving it. I also saw Jessica; she’s getting better... How about you?”

“Same old dead ends. “ He sighed simply, but I could see that it was bothering him.

“Tell me about it, maybe I can help” I offered, even though I knew I had zero knowledge about investigations.

He chuckled lightly before looking up to me again. “You want me to talk about your ex-boyfriend’s murder case on our pre-date? “

I pondered for a while, but I also knew that maybe, just maybe, if he talked about it out loud, he might be able to see something he might’ve overlooked. Besides, I really wanted Sheldon’s killer to be found. Cheater and liar or not, murder was never suppose to be his fate.

“Yes tell me what you already got. Maybe I can help a bit” I concluded confidently.

He regarded me for a while as he slowly chewed, as if reading me from the inside out. I tried to avoid how incredibly sexy he looked, and he wasn’t even trying.

“Okay “ he finally agreed as he got up and headed to the next room.

I peered over my shoulder in the direction he went, and seconds after he reappeared with a human size dummy and a lot of files.

Damn we’re about to go full on detective in here.

“Okay so this is what we know” He started as he opened the files to the case. “Sheldon was killed in his home around 9 in the night by some unknown person” I nodded slowly, urging him to continue. “We also know that there weren’t any eye witnesses nor surveillance in the building. They magically stopped working only three hours before the murder”

“Can’t be a coincidence “ I mumbled.

“Exactly... Everyone that I questioned from the doormen, janitors, even down to the residents all testified that they didn’t see any strange person come in and out of the building “ He explained further.

“So the murderer was a neighbour? “ I asked in confusion.

“It could be easy to assume that, but without facts we can’t tell. Every neighbour had very positive things to say about him”

“But if the cameras magically stopped working that same night, no unknown faces weren’t spotted and it was obviously someone who knew what they were doing, isn’t that kinda obvious?” I tried to comprehend; I wasn’t getting his logic.

“I get where you’re coming from Cianna, I do. But since we know nothing about the killer, we can’t just narrow the investigation down to this building. That can cause the wrong person being persecuted “

“Options open, got it” I sighed, readying myself to hear the rest.