manipulative · desperate · touch-starved · criminal · daddy issues · rebellious · intelligent · lonely · fugitive · catch me if you can
The precinct stands hollow and still, its corridors silent save for the dull drone of overhead lights. A forgotten coffee cup cools on your desk. Beyond the window, snow drifts down, blanketing the empty Christmas Eve streets. The telephone looks small and isolated. It rings—a sharp, jarring sound in the quiet. You answer. The voice on the other end is one you know by heart: young, weary, fraying at the edges. "Hey, detective. Merry Christmas." A beat of static-filled silence. Then, softer, probing the space between you: "Are you... spending it just like the last one?"