"Sometimes in life, it was all about the little pleasures. The small almost insignificant things can make us happy or even bring a smile to your face."
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♙Kai Hamilton♙
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Fortunately for Kai, Morris didn't give too much of a fuss to calling in Kyle again for questioning. He was curious as to why though, Morris had questioned the man himself. From his observation, he didn't get anything overly useful and anything he did get, he already followed upon. Nothing useful obviously. So Kai answered him honestly.
"Honestly, I'm not sure if this will be anything." Kai said with a shrug.
"He may be completely useless, but there has to be something he knows. I doubt he really knows absolutely nothing about Honda's life. Though to him, it may be something insignificant."
Morris doesn't respond for a few moments but then shrugs his shoulders.
"Fine, do whatever you can. I just hope this isn't a waste of time." He says sternly.
"Me as well."
With that Kai and Rafeeqa go towards the interrogation room that Kyle has been in for about ten or so minutes. Kai can hear his voice as soon as he rounds the corner to enter the room. He complained loudly about not wanting to be there. Suddenly the door opens and out walks Jaivon with a disgruntled look on his face. He looks over to the two of them with a frown.
"Good luck getting anything from that asshole." He says with a grunt before walking off.
Kai and Rafeeqa looked between each other before entering the room. Kyle perked up immediately from where he was seated and was about to speak but then he noticed who entered the room. His expression twisted into a sneer and he leaned back in his chair.
"Of course, it would be you..." He grumbled.
Kai and Rafeeqa sat down opposite to him, pointedly ignoring his rather colorful complaining. Kai looks over the man before him. Kyle doesn't look any different from when he saw him a few days ago. He's obviously not happy to be here, that much is apparent. Kai hopes that given that it's been a while, maybe he will slip up and give up some information.
"I already told your boss all the I know. I don't understand why I'm here again?!" He complains.
"Well, I'm going to also ask you some questions. They may be similar or they may not be." Kai said dryly not at all intimidated that the man before him.
"And then I can leave?" Kyle asks with a glare.
Kai just smiles instead of giving a verbal response. Kyle eyes him for a while before letting out a sigh and just motions for Kai to begin.
"Now I know this may have been already asked of you. But you truly didn't notice anything different about Honda before he died? No changes in diet? A bit nervous? Anything?"
Kyle rolls his eyes before looking back at Kai.
"Clearly you don't know the man. To answer your question, just as I said before to your boss, no. Honda was acting just as he usually does. Nothing new or odd about it."
Kai doesn't say a thing, just watching Kyle's face for any changes. But nothing came after a few minutes, so he continued onward.
"How did you meet Honda?" Kai asks.
Kyle looks at him with a hint of anger in his eyes. The frown on his face deepens just a bit.
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"
"Just answer the question." Rafeeqa said with a frown on her face.
Kyle look at her and then back at Kai still with a displeased expression. He then just shrugged and opened his mouth.
"It was at my old job. He was meeting with my old boss for something." Was all the information Kyle gave.
"What did you use to do then?" Kai asks.
It was clear on Kyle's face that he didn't get the reasoning for Kai's line of questioning but he continues nonetheless.
"I was a teller at a bank. Though the bank I worked for no longer exists." Kyle seemed uncomfortable.
Kai was a bit confused as to why Kyle would be uncomfortable given that it didn't appear to be anything do to with the case. Rafeeqa on the other hand seemed to have some kind of revelation as she looks at Kyle. Her facial expression morphed into one of disgust.
"Ha... seriously. You worked there?"
Kyle looks back at her mildly annoyed. Kai turned to Rafeeqa still puzzled by what they both seemed to know.
"Worked where?"
"....You probably never heard of them since they've been gone for a long time now. But their name was very infamous around the time due to what happened."
The way Rafeeqa worded it was ominous, to say the least. Her tones color and a bit of anger in her voice.
"Apex Financial Holdings." Rafeeqa spits out the name like it was a curse.
Kai scans through his mind to remember such a name. When he does remember, he feels an ominous chill down his spine. He's heard of the name only once or twice. It wasn't one many people talked about nowadays. Rafeeqa thinking that he didn't know what she was talking about continues her tale.
"It was found that it had been stealing money through accounts made on the behalf of its customer without their authorization. It was actually one of the main causes of the giant rift between the lower and upper district."
Kai can't help still being shocked even though he knew of this particular tale. It is still a shock to even to this day that anyone would be bold enough to try something so outrageous. However given the time that it occurred, it wasn't all the odd. Back then the city was a bit wilder in the sense of corruption.
"Countless people were scammed out of millions of money. It wasn't pretty." Rafeeqa said.
Her voice held a bit of hurt in it, that was something Kai defiantly noticed but didn't comment on.
"How funny that you went from scamming people of their money to now scamming them of their homes. What a gracious transition." Rafeeqa said with a sneer.
Kyle face twisted in offense, the glare on his face was almost lethal.
"Seriously? The Braigas police are trying to guilt me on morality?! You all lick the bottles of those in the upper crust just that same!" He yells out.
"Enough." Kai said giving the man a stern look.
Rafeeqa seemed now to be completely uninterested in anything Kyle had to say and just turns her head away. Kai wanted to comment but choose to just continue his interrogation.
"So after what happened, I'm assuming you were looking for a new job after that?"
"Right, Honda was the one who suggested to partner up for the real estate business. It didn't really matter to me. As long as it pays the bills ya know?" Kyle replied with a shrug, his earlier anger seeming to have cooled.
Kai just watches the other man. He knew he could ask questions more pertaining to their business, surely there was something of note there. But he knew that it would make much of a difference. While on the force he learned really early on the golden unspoken rule of the Braigas.
Never bite the hand that feeds you. Or in other words, don't mess with the ones in charge.
Not to say that they don't solve crimes, surely they do and some symbolize of justice is served. But compared to what is actually the heart of the corruption? It's like a single raindrop in a bucket. The BRF isn't only a community organization, it is also the biggest donor for most developments that occur in the Briagas. The rich or even well off give tributes to the organization and in turn the organization commissions development around the area. And they don't discriminate against the lower district either, even though the contribution would be obvious lower. They make themselves appear like some beneficial fairy godmother in a sense.
However, the truth is much more damning than that.
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