Top of Your Ambitions

“You see this tattoo over here?” Acacia asked, pointing at the portrait in the database.

Detectives Jacobs and Jacobson nodded in unison as they glanced at Daniel Potter’s star tattoo on his upper neck. The star tattoo has a little LH next to it; Ace assumed that it represents Layla Harper, Wallace’s real name.

“Okay, I went through the video footage of Potter at the shop and since the camera only displayed the back of his head purchasing the bomb parts, we cannot see or confirm whether it is Potter or not. Yes, he could be framed or that man over here could have been Potter. But look at the little mirror on the top corner…”

Detective Jacobs scowled at the video.

“We already noticed that, but it looks like Potter even though we cannot get a clear zoomed in shot.”

Ace nodded at her fellow detective.

“If we just assume that he was framed, the real killer could have planned it all out, since everything about this is premeditated anyways. He would know that we won’t be able to zoom in enough to get a clearly pixelated shot of his face in the mirror. Of course he might have sent someone with similar physical attributes to Potter over to get the bomb parts.”

Jacobson pursed his lips at the blonde in front of him. He did not know where she is going at with this, but he always respected the way her mind worked. She is remarkable at thinking through different angles and perspectives of various cases.

“And what proof do we have that someone framed Dan Potter?” Jacobs asked.

“Look at the neck over here.”

Both male detectives stared at the screen and studied it carefully. The zoomed in picture of the man in front of the counter is unclear but one thing is really apparent once its spectators became attentive to details. The detectives made sounds of realization as it hit them.

“This man did not have the neck tattoo.” Jacobs murmured.

“But he could’ve had it removed, since he is no longer in a relationship with Layla Harper.” Jacobson tested.

Ace clicked on something and his navy portrait popped up quickly.

“He still kept it here, and look at this next picture, this was a picture of him at the honorary ceremony, which took place just three months ago.” A new image popped up to accompany her commentary.

Jacobs and Jacobson nodded along at the image.

“Great, so there is a great possibility that Dan Potter was framed for the murder of his admiral?”

The blonde detective nodded at her colleagues, gathering up the scattered paperwork on her desk. After she collected everything, she handed them to Jacobson, who glanced at her tentatively.

“Can you guys talk to guys from their unit in the navy? Understanding Potter’s relationship with his admiral is essential, but be careful. Someone from his team could be the actual killer. Also, go to the shop owner with questions and this picture. I want a witness to prove that Dan Potter is not the man who went to the shop.”

“Sure! We’ll get right onto that!” Jacobs exclaimed, beaming at her.

She grinned at the two.

“Thanks for doing this favor for me, guys! I know you didn’t have to!” She said genuinely.

Jacobson winked at her, giving her a nod before following his partner to the break room. She watched as both detectives sat down with the paperwork on the desk.



Groaning loudly in frustration, Acacia entered the loft with her spare keys. She kicked off her heels before entering the living room. Today has been a really long day. Apart from working on two cases simultaneously, she had to check on the conditions of her apartment.

The results weren’t good.

She heard loud commotion going on further down in the living room and noticed that Zack, Rian, and Jack are seated in front of the TV. It seems like Zack is more interested and emotionally invested in what is going on in front of him.

“Come on, White! Land that McTwist!” He said passionately, eyes glued to the screen.

Raising her eyebrows, Ace entered the vicinity and dropped her purse beside Rian’s spot on the couch. She turned to the television screen and saw that the X Games is on.

“Oh yeah, it’s January.” She murmured more to herself.

Since she has known Zack for a very long time and even lived with him for a few years, she is aware of his love for action sports. Aside from being a skateboarder himself, Zack enjoys watching snowboarding events.

“Yeah, Shaun White’s first run at superpipe.” Rian commented.

Nodding, Ace fell back on the couch and placed her head on Rian’s shoulder. She let out an exhausted sigh as she tilted her head up to look at him. He looked down at her and smirked.

“What’s wrong?”

“Supervisor for my apartment building informed me that the power box for the whole complex broke down during the storm. It will take them a very long time to repair it.”

The drummer placed a hand on her blonde head, giving it a few pats.

“Well, you know you and Breck can stay here for as long as you need!”

“Yeah, I know.” She gave him a weak smile before turning her head away to a more comfortable position.

She looked on ahead at Zack cheering at something that happened on the TV screen and refrained herself from smiling at the view in front of her. It makes her happy to see him react that strongly to something he feels passionate about. This sight also reminds her of when they had lived together. He would turn on the TV to watch the X Games every January to watch some extreme action sports. While she looked on in confusion, he would cheer for his favorites and scream out absurd terms she has never heard before.

Ace loved that, nonetheless.

“Is Breck home yet? And be honest because Zack tried to cover for her last time.” She asked inconspicuously to her best friend so that no one else can hear their conversation.

“Yeah, she actually did like two hours ago. She’s upstairs in her guest bedroom and I’m not lying about the time she returned, I swear!”

“Rian, if you guys keep covering for her, she’s going to think she can get away with sneaking off with that Lockheart girl.” Ace warned.

Rian chuckled and she can feel the movements of his body against her head.

“I know, but she really likes Tally.”

“Who?”

“Dude, she’s that Lockheart girl! Do you not listen to your sister gush over that girl?”

Scoffing, Ace shook her head and lifted it from his shoulder. She turned to him and rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. Luckily she did not put makeup on today, or else she would have had smudged mascara remnants all over her hands.

“Fuck yes, fall down the pipe you motherfucker!” Jack hollered at the screen.

Ace rolled her eyes and laughed with Rian at their friend’s reaction. She turned to briefly glance at Zack again. He is leaning forward to the screen anxiously and it made her observe on. She tried to do it discreetly with her head turned in a different direction. The corner of her eyes studied his reactions and motions attentively.

Watching him freak out over snowboarding reminded her of everything that they used to have. He used to do this at her apartment instead of here. She would not be observing from afar but from under his arm around her shoulder. His body would shake violently against hers when his favorite snowboarders make a land after an outstanding trick.

She blinked several times and realized that she actually just fought back some tears. It is rare for her to be fighting back tears against her own free will. She never cries, especially not over Zack. Even after their break up, she didn’t shed a single tear for him. Not after she caught him in his bedroom with Wallace, and not when he shot mean remarks at her long after their breakup.

Feeling nostalgic and shedding tears for it is not something she would do. For someone who is always in control of her emotions and her life, this thing over here is getting out of hand for her. She hates being in this situation right now.

“So what did you find out today at the precinct?” Rian asked when he noticed that neither of the other guys is at all into their conversation.

She nearly shot Rian a thankful look for reverting her thoughts from this emotional loop.

“Well, we have proof that someone actually framed Dan Potter. Jacobson and his partner, Jacobs are going to dig up more evidence and talk to people to get a better understanding of their scenario. Basically, I handed the entire case over to them.”

Rian made a sound of affirmative before something hit him. The expression of his face turned to that of amusement.

“So Jacobson’s partner is Jacobs?”

“Yeah, what’s it to you?”

“Do you have a nickname for them like, Jacob Squared or Jacobs and Son?”

“Oh my god, Rian, you are so lame.” Ace face-palmed.

He laughed, shaking his head humorously. After he was done, he shot her another serious look.

“Oh, did you and Iverson find anything about Lockheart’s case?”

She nodded.

“Iverson went to talk to another one of Conrad’s ex-wives. She explained to him how Conrad has a thing of providing women with false hope. He kind of builds them up with promises of affection and luxury for the rest of their lives. Then, he rebuffs them in several months or a year if you are lucky.”

Rian scoffed.

“It’s not a surprise, I mean come on, Conrad’s shuffling through these women like I go through my drum sticks.”

“Anyways, what we can conclude is that both Christine Harper and Raina Lockheart suffered from depression for many years because of Conrad’s abandonment. Both women were deeply in love with him and were left empty and broken after he left them. They met up and Raina stole Christine’s prescription.”

The drummer made a sound of affirmative.

“So Raina committed suicide because of her impending sorrow for the departure of Conrad Lockheart.”

Ace nodded in agreement.

“And that stirred up some resentment in poor little Ryland.”

“Ryland loves his mother a lot more than anyone else on this planet.”

“After the way Raina died, he, of course, blames his father for her death.”

“And his abandonment.”

“So after months and months of planning…”

“He manages to think up of a good way to cover his tracks and his hand in the murder.”

“And he does that by making Lily Phantom fall in love with him.”

“Then she will take the heat for him in order to protect him.”

“So…”

They both glanced at each other, satisfied smiles on their faces. It is obvious that they are both on the same page here.

“We have reason to believe that Ryland Lockheart has…”

“… Motive…”

“… To kill his own father.” They both finished in unison.

The two continued to stare each other down; they have discovered motive. A few seconds later, a loud cheering erupted from the other side of the couch.

“Fuck yes, 95.70!”

Leave it to Jack Barakat to ruin the mood!

Notes

Okay, so I wrote this around the time where I was fangirling over the Winter X Games and the Winter Olympics. You guys can pretty much roll your eyes at me for including that mention at the end. But yeah, since Zack skateboards, I assumes he'd pretty much be into the X Games whether its winter or not. And we're over halfway to the end of the story. Hope you are all prepared!

And special thanks to sarahbethbarakat for noticing the little details I've put into this story and acknowledging the efforts I've put in to connect everything. Thank you so much! I feel like the littlest things are really important and sometimes I map them out really specifically to make sure it fits the story and the series are cohesive. Which is why I've completely scratched the Rian story I was planning to write about him and Devyn Crackhill (mentioned several times in this story and the last). because it wasn't cohesive. i might finish the story and post it as a spinoff, but it won't come too soon, I'm afraid.

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