Skyfall

Aerabella stumbled backwards, her hand flying to her mouth as she remembered the words that were now laid out before her being screamed across the hotel lobby.

If anyone else dies their blood is on your hands Aerabella Haddock!

She felt like she was going to be sick, it wasn’t possible, not him. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to Ross. She had told him about what Douglas had hollered at her, so he knew as well as she did who would’ve left that there. She wanted to defend Douglas, to say that this couldn’t possibly be him because he’d been with her, but she knew what would happen. She would be dropped from the case and lose her license, and all the boys would be set free, and seeing Sam there, she couldn’t let that happen. Ross saw the conflict in her eyes and the older man let out a long sigh.

“I’ll have my officers bring in Payne.” Her bottom lip was trembling, it wasn’t possible, Douglas had been with her all night, how could he have-

That was when it hit her. She had fallen asleep before Douglas had, and the pier was only ten minutes from her apartment. He could have easily waited until she was asleep before sneaking out and killing Sam, then just hopped right back into bed. She hadn’t even been looking at the clothes he’d thrown back on, were they different? She pressed her hand to her forehead, trying to make the rock of guilt in her stomach go away. She felt tears stinging her eyes. She had trusted him, she might have even been falling in love with him, and he had betrayed her. But how would he know where Sam was? She grabbed Ross’ shoulder just as he was about to walk away. She looked at him, her eyes now even colder than ever.

“Get Tomlinson too.” He cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Did he know about what Liam said?”

“I don’t know, but my friend is dead because of me, and I’m not stopping until one of those bastards is rotting in a prison cell.” With that she turned, wiping away her tears and getting into her car, speeding off to the hotel. If she was going to talk to Douglas she’d have to do it before the police arrived.

Douglas sat on the bed, staring blankly at the wall. He couldn’t get this feeling in the pit of his stomach to go away, and it was killing him. He knew he and Aerabella could never be together because he wasn’t him. He was Liam Payne now, and he probably would be for a long time after this. He ran his fingers through his hair, why did he agree to this? He thought he’d look so brave and heroic, but now he couldn’t even be with the woman he knew he was falling in love with. He could even go see his family, the SOCA had told them he’d been killed. He had nothing left anymore except her, and now even that had been taken away. It was enough to make a man go mad.

No sooner had the thought of Aerabella crossed his mind when he heard a knock at the door. He leapt up, almost falling on his face as he made his way over to the door. He opened to see Aerabella, completely stone faced. He ignored this, only noting the way his stomach tied itself into knots when he looked at her. “Elle.” He whispered, wrapping his arms around her. “What happened?” She pulled away, glaring coldly at him. He felt his heart sink, her eyes had been so warm last night, but now they were icy as always.

“Sam’s dead.” She said simply.

“The one you had trailing Louis?” He whispered, trying to usher her inside. She refused, smacking his hand away as she continued to glare at him. “Where’s the hostility coming from?” He asked.

“There was a message Liam.” She said simply, he could see the tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes, but she quickly restrained them. “It said ‘on your hands.’ We both remember who said that to me, now don’t we?” He felt his blood run cold.

“Elle, you can’t be serious, I…” He looked around the hallway before pulling her close again. “I was with you all night.”

“Were you?” She asked. “Because I fell asleep, you could have easily gotten a message from your little buddy Louis and gone down to the pier. Then you killed my best friend.”

“Do you have any idea how absolutely mad you sound right now?” He asked. “I…” He stopped biting his lip before looking back into her eyes. “I love you.” She just shook her head, scoffing at him.

“And I thought I loved you too.” She whispered. No sooner had she said that when two police officers came up behind her, grabbing Liam and putting him in handcuffs.

“Elle.” He begged. “Elle please!” She simply looked at him, completely expressionless. He stared right back at her as another pair of officer’s drug out a handcuffed Louis.

“What the bloody Hell is going on?!” He demanded, his eyes immediately falling to Aerabella. “Elle, I already told you, I didn’t kill her!” Louis argued.

“You’re not being arrested; you’re being taken down for questioning.” She said, trying to keep her tears from spilling over as she refused to look at Douglas. But Douglas was having none of that; he broke away from his officers, pressing his lips desperately to hers. He pulled back, looking into her eyes, begging her not to do this. “I love you Aerabella Haddock.” He whispered before he was restrained again, being pulled towards the elevator. She pressed her lips together, looking away as he and Louis were escorted into the elevator and out of the building. Once they were gone she walked into Douglas’ room and shut the door behind her.

His room was neat and organized, everything she expected from a fed. She walked over to his laptop and quickly opened it. It was password protected and she bit her lip. But then she slowly placed her fingers over the keys and typed in “Douglas.” The laptop beep, alerting her that it was the correct password. The screen quickly opened up to a word document, she quickly realized it was a letter and started reading.



I, Douglas Smith, am hereby informing you that after my current case, Case No. 85317, I will be resigning from my position as field agent. I fear that I have gotten to the point that I am letting my emotions compromise the case and do not wish to put justice in jeopardy any more than I already have. I trust that, upon the closure of this case, I will be returned to my civilian identity. If not, then I request a one way ticket to one of our bases in Peru. I trust that these terms will be honored, and I trust you will respect my decision.
Yours,
Douglas Smith

She sat back, chewing on her bottom lip. Why would he choose Peru of all places? He was starting to look more and more suspicious and it was making the rock in her stomach heavier with each passing moment.

She thought back to last night, the way he’d so gently made love to her, it was like he was afraid she would break if he was too rough. The thought of his dark brown eyes staring into hers while they moved together was enough to bring tears to her eyes. She had trusted him, she had let him into her life and he had turned around and betrayed her. She was about to dive deeper into the files when she heard a small knock at the door. She quickly snapped the computer shut and turned just in time to see Harry Styles walk in, shutting the door behind him. She leapt to her feet, not forgetting that he’d had an extra keycard and looked into his emerald eyes.

“Why did you take Liam and Louis?” He demanded.

“Because, my agent who was watching Louis is dead.”

“So why Liam?” He asked, taking a step closer to her.

“Because the message that the killer left was almost word for word something he shouted at me and he has no alibi.” She growled. “Why do you have two key cards?”

“What?” He asked, slightly taken aback by the comment.

“On the night of the murder Niall couldn’t find his key card. I asked Zayn and he said you had two in your room and the clothes you’d been wearing earlier were gone. Care to explain that?”

“Oh, Zayn told you that? What, after you two fucked?”

“We didn’t fuck.” She growled.

“Really? He’s telling everyone you did.” He leaned in closer to her, glaring right into her eyes. “And then I saw you leave with Liam last night. I followed you and saw him get in your car. You’re not a detective, you’re just a whore.” She glared at him as he slowly smirked. “So, is it my turn now? Should we do it on Liam’s bed?”

“Why do you have two keycards?” She repeated.

“Maybe because I took it from Niall, maybe I found it on the floor.” He stepped closer to her, smirking. “And maybe if you suck my cock I’ll tell you.” That was when she snapped and punched him square in the mouth. He reeled backwards, grabbing his precious face. He glared at her, his light green eyes growing dark as he lunged at her, knocking her back onto the bed. “You stupid bitch!” He roared, straddling her so he was sitting on her stomach.

“Harry? Harry what’s going on?” They both looked towards the door where they’d heard Niall’s unmistakable accent. Aerabella went to scream, but Harry slammed on of his hands over her mouth.

“Nothing Niall, go get some Nando’s or something.” Aerabella fought his hand desperately, trying to get Niall’s attention. Finally she was able to kick over a lamp and it shattered loudly against the floor. Harry’s eyes went black for a split second before he wrapped her wrists around her throat. There were tears in his furious eyes as he glared at her. “You stupid whore, this is all your fault! If it weren’t for you all the guys would still be here! I’ll kill you!” Aerabella could see the edges of her vision starting to go dark as the oxygen began leaving her body. She tried to push Harry off of her, but her attempts became more and more feeble before she couldn’t even lift her arms anymore. Her life started flashing before her eyes and everything started turning black before Harry’s hands were suddenly gone. She took in a greedy gulp of air, coughing as she rolled onto her side.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Niall screamed.

“This is all her fault! She took Liam and Louis and she’s going to ruin everything!”

“So you tried to fucking kill her?!” Niall roared “Have you gone bloody mental?!” She heard someone storm out of the room before a pair of hand gently rolled her over and she saw panicked blue eyes. “Miss Haddock, are you alright?” Niall asked. She slowly nodded, grabbing her neck.

“I’ll live.” She said, her voice raspy. She looked up to the young boy and smiled weakly at him. “Thank you Niall.” But he was furious.

“I don’t even know what the Hell is going on anymore.” He said. “I’ve never seen Harry do anything like that. He’s always so calm and goofy…” He paused before looking at her. “Is this was murder does to people?” He asked. She nodded slowly.

“I’ve seen entire families go crazy over the thought of someone they loved killing another person.” She said. She slowly reached out, putting her arm around the blonde boy. “It’s going to be alright.” He let out a short sigh.

“Do you… do you think Harry did it?” He asked. She bit her lip.

“I don’t think so. If he was the murderer he wouldn’t be so angry about someone else taking the blame.”Niall blinked a few times and she could see the dilemma clouding his blue eyes. Finally, he spoke.

“I think it’s because you took Louis.” He finally said.

“Why would he be mad when he’s the one who admitted Louis slept with the first girl?” She asked, narrowing her eyes. Niall flushed, looking at the ground. “Niall.” She pressed, taking his hand. “You can talk to me.” He let out a long breath, looking up to the door before turning to her.

“Harry’s in love with him.” He said simply. Aerabella sat, stunned for a moment.

“What?” Niall immediately flushed.

“No no no, it’s not like that.” He promised.

“Then what is it like?”

“Harry idolizes Louis; he would do anything and everything for him. I mean, Louis uses him like a slave and Harry loves it. It’s not healthy.” Aerabella’s eyes grew huge as she thought of Harry’s interrogation. His and Louis’ stories matched, but what if that was because they had planned it. She turned to Niall, giving him a small kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you!” She hollered over her shoulder as she ran out of the room.

Niall sat on the bed, his face a dark shade of burgundy as he watched the door Aerabella had just run out of. He blinked a few times before smiling. “What a woman.”

Aerabella quickly hopped into her car, racing down to the station and bursting into the Coroner’s room. The coroner, Alice Swanson, was an older woman with short, salt and pepper hair. She also had huge blue green eyes, which were somehow even wider as they looked at the disheveled young woman who’d just burst through her office door. “Haddock?” She asked, recognizing her. “What are you doing here?”

“Did you find semen on the second victim?” She asked, out of breath. Alice narrowed her eyes.

“Why?”

“Please, I need to know.” She sighed, opening one of the many files on her desk and running her finger down the small script. “Yes.”

“Did you run it for a donor?” Aerabella asked. Alice adjusted her thin reading glasses. “All it says here is that it’s the same donor as the first victim.”

“Thank you!” Alice shook her head, starting to turn to the young woman.

“Why do you need to-” She stopped, looking around the empty office and the still swinging door, she rolled her eyes. “Always in such a rush.”

Louis glared at Aerabella as she watched his every move. “Do I need to repeat the question?” She asked.

“No.” He growled. “Alright, so I slept with both of them, I don’t see the problem.”

“The problem is you lied to me. Harry never slept with either of those girls, so why would you both tell me the exact same lie?” She asked, glaring at him. The usually calm Louis was beginning to squirm under her heated glare. Finally he pressed his lips together.

“Look, Harry’s just never really gone for the girls we pick up. I mean, women begging you to sleep with them is just part of the job, but he never wanted any part of it. So, I took both the girls and he went into his room.”

“So why did you lie?” She pressed.

“Because I didn’t want him to get hurt.” Louis confessed. “I mean, that kid would go for the moon and back for me, someone had to protect him, he’s too stupid to do it himself. I knew that if he didn’t have an alibi for when the two girls went missing then he would be a suspect, and Haz can’t go to jail. I refuse to let him become somebody’s bitch! He’s mine!” A smirk formed on Aerabella’s lips as she turned to the mirror.

“Did you catch that Harry?” She turned back to Louis. “Or should we have him repeat it for you?” Louis balled his hands into fists. He would have leapt at her and wrapped his hands around that pretty little neck of hers, but he was handcuffed to the table.

“That’s not going to work.” He growled.

“What?” She asked.

“Harry’s not really over there.” She shrugged, far too calm for Louis’ liking.

“Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. Either way, he can watch that tape after the case is closed in case he missed it this time around.” She smiled at him. “I’ll let you think about that for a moment. And you can have a lot more time to think in your holding cell tonight.” With that she gave a small wave and started to walk out of the room.

“Haddock.” Louis growled. “HADDOCK!” She turned back, smirking at him.

“What happened to Elle?”

And then she walked out as Louis was escorted to his holding cell, swearing to every God he knew that he was going to kill that woman if it was the last thing he did.

As Aerabella opened the door to her apartment she let out a small sigh, leaning against the door once it was closed. She had let Douglas out of custody when she’d found out about what had been going on between Louis and Harry, but she couldn’t bring herself to face him. She raked one on her hands through her hair and took a few more steps into her apartment before she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head.

And then everything went dark.