Mira stood in the exact spot where Diane had been placed, with Chen beside her, they gazed at the no-entry ribbon and the marble floor, as if the scene might somehow reveal its secrets.
"Talk it through." Chen broke the silence.
"Diane worked on her own case, one she knew would come after her inevitable death, with surprising professionalism, she knew far too much for someone of her experience and age."
Chen's expression flickered with a mix of emotions, "Diane had someone on the inside of the oversight committee?"
"Someone nearby must have trained her well; there's no way she learned all this just by asking questions to someone she trusted, it's almost as if she grew up in an investigative environment." Mira glanced around, Platform Nine, the 'Do Not Cross' tapes, the stairs, the spot where Diane's shoe had been found, everything looked the same, yet somehow different.
"You want me to go through case from scratch?" Chen asked.
"I came here, asked for details, checked out the crime scene, then got a call from Miller, he told me the exact location of Diane's missing shoe, I found a key in the shoe, retrieved evidence from the locker and went to meet Miller, he shared more about the case, saying he was too late to save Diane." Mira looked at Chen again, "What question would come to mind in the entire scenario?"
"Exactly when did Diane place her shoe where we found it and when did she talk to Miller about it? Did she just leave her shoe there and wait for the enforcer to come kill her, or was the enforcer skilled enough to pull off a crime like this saw Diane standing there with one shoe and thought it wasn't suspicious? After all, people wear one shoe to the railway station all the time." Chen shrugged.
"Exactly." Mira pulled out her phone and dialed Arthur. He answered on the first ring and they sat in silence for a moment until Arthur finally spoke, "Mira, I love you!"
"Arthur, I..." Mira was caught off guard; she stuttered for the first time; she didn't know what to say and kept staring at Chen as if he had done something terrible.
"What? Why are you staring at me like I'm a criminal?" Chen asked nervously.
"Miller and Morse are fine?" Mira steadied herself.
"Yeah, Miller's resting, Morse keeps staring at me like he's inspecting me, but he's still sitting close by." Arthur chuckled.
"Arthur." Mira paused as the rain began to pour, the gentle drizzle exactly what she needed at that moment.
"I'm listening." Arthur held his breath, absentmindedly patting Morse while his thoughts drifted toward Mira.
Mira didn't respond right away, her mind was on Diane lying on the marble floor, she thought about Jones, she thought about fifth man that wasn't fifth man according to Jones.
"There's a nice restaurant just north of the river, after work, you and me."
"You're taking me on a date? I'm in." Arthur looked at the call as if it wasn't just Mira's voice on the phone, but Mira herself.
Mira smiled and hung up, she gave Chen a quick glance before stopping at the spot where Diane had been found. She scanned the surroundings from every angle, then quickly returned to her car, "We're going back."
"Where?" Chen kept pace with her.
"I'm not sure yet, just know we are." Mira slid into the driver's seat and drove off.
"What's going on with you today? You nearly drove off while I was still halfway in the car." Chen silently thanked God for keeping him alive.
Rain hammered against the windshield hard enough to blur the city into streaks of silver and black, the station disappeared behind them.
"Mira... Miraaaaaa..."
"What?"
"You're driving like a heartbroken lover trying to commit suicide, just so you know, I don't want to die this young." Chen grabbed the door handle tightly.
"Something's wrong." Her eyes stayed fixed on the road.
"We accepted the wrong sequence, no, not we, I did. I, Detective Mira Cooper, saw the evidence laid out right in front of my eyes and took it seriously, a fucking stupid decision." Mira tightened her grip on the steering wheel, "Miller called me with the precise location of Diane's missing shoe right when I was searching for it, almost too perfect."
"Mira you are too fast." Chen leaned slightly backward.
"Diane wasn't dragged, no defensive wounds, no signs of a struggle. The way her body was placed, it was like she trusted the person next to her and the person killed her in seconds."
"Or maybe she had no choice."
"No, fear leaves traces, no one in this world is brave enough to face their own death without feeling it, even for a moment, the scene was just too clean." Mira took a narrow road along the river, water reflected fractured neon beneath the storm clouds.
"You called Arthur." Chen watched her for a moment.
"What?" Mira blinked twice, she was caught off guard.
"At the station, you looked like someone unplugged your brain."
"He surprised me."
"He said he loves you." Chen smirked, "You know most people respond to that with words."
"I was busy thinking about murder."
"That makes it worse."
"He chose a strange moment." A reluctant smile almost appeared on Mira's face.
"Maybe he knows there aren't any normal moments in the near future?"
Mira shot a glance at Chen, a sarcastic remark was about to escape her mouth, but it vanished as she glanced at the rearview mirror, where two headlights of a car appeared from behind in the rain.
"With a deadly driver and a car tailing me, there's no way I'm making it out alive today." Chen muttered.
"You're so dramatic, they're not going to kill me; they want me to find the hidden evidence from Diane's case." Mira laughed and drove off north.
"Where are we going? I know you said you don't know but just in case you'd figured it out by now." Chen asked.
"Going back to the station to get some work done, then heading home." Mira drove back to the station.
Chen watched Mira with a puzzled expression as she got out of the car, worked on something until it was time to leave and then headed home right on time, leaving Chen confused the entire time.
The smile on her face stayed the whole time as Mira drove home, got out of the car and climbed the stairs. Arthur opened the door the moment she knocked, Miller and Morse were sleeping peacefully, Arthur kissed Mira as soon as he saw her and then headed home, "I will see you at the restaurant."
Mira nodded and watched him walk away until his back disappeared from view. For a moment, she forgot about everything else and thought only of the lovely night ahead with Arthur. She was going to be truly happy for the first time in a long while, she headed to her bedroom to get ready for her first date with the man she loved.
To be continued...