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'detective, we need a plan so eve doesn't come home to a foot in our freezer'

The text, in all honesty, sat on his phone for a couple days before he found it. Mostly because once he was back there was a mountain of issues to be taken care of. Not just including the issue of his back, but also the issue of him having been missing (and the story they spun) and having to sort out that entire mess.

It was a couple days later, Jeremiah firing off a text to Leila, before he was heading to the duplex that she shared with her wife. The detective honestly had not been by in awhile, not since his workload had gotten heavier and then added in with the missing teens ... He usually stopped by at some point to chat with Eve (and Leila, but Eve had been his friend - a rarity - first)

Never could miss their place, however, because it was so obviously Leila and Eve that lived there. Car parked, his vehicle forever meant for the other side of the pond, and got out to go to the door. The detective was clearly more bundled up than he usually was, his eyes still blackened from the punch. It at least helped hide the way his face looked pinched in pain.

A hand was raised to knock at the door, hands then shoved into the pockets of his jacket he had worn after he knocked.

Eve, after all these years, one of the few people that could - in some cases - stare Jeremiah down. His expression was pinched, the bruising around his no longer hiding it with the green-yellow it was now and his eyes shifted just slightly away before he sighed and focused back on her.

"I am but I also don't expect Leila," because here she was not Townhome, she was Leila, "did not tell you why there's possible forensic evidence in the freezer." Also probably with his handkerchief. He would need to get that back.

"It is good to see you, Eve," he tried instead (and meant it), not slouching because Algie's voice in his head was telling him slouching was bad, "and I would like to come in and discuss things with both Leila and yourself. I would have been by sooner but I've been busy," his lips twitched, blue-green eyes glinting, "I was lost in the woods for nearly a week with my son."

Jeremiah let out a chuckle, shaking his head as he came inside. "I always want more tea." Then, because he thought about it, because it was Eve and Leila and he usually brought something along as a gift when he came over. "Ah, my friends in Italy ... They just sent me a bottle of wine. I'll bring it by next time. You're likely to enjoy it more than me anyway." Wine for him was mostly used in cooking versus drinking. Not that he did not enjoy it but he had a tendency to only drink wine if he was being social.

Usually around Eve and Leila.

Something about the domesticity of the two of them made his heart twist a bit. Rather, it had. Now that he had actually made leeway with Algie, taken a step towards a relationship, this was almost as if it was relationship goals.

Never going to say that aloud.

"Townhome," he replied - but that was because Leila set the tone. This was business, not a personal visit. He took a seat, actually grabbing the smoky-quartz colored cup versus the other one. Perhaps because he had not noticed it read anything. (That was a lie, he totally did. His mood was definitely better.)

He let out a small appreciative noise at the warm drink but did not sit back properly in his seat. If anything, his posture was more proper than usual. "I've no doubt that you did. You're thorough." The cup was set down. "Of course, in light of what's happened, there's more that I can talk to you now about the case." A breath. "... but we should discuss the foot first."

Jeremiah chuckled a little. "I'm well aware, Eve. I'll bring some thing along to enjoy with it." Hummus was very likely but only because he had not brought some over in a while. "They'll be absolutely pleased to know that it lead to a good time." Ashley and Fernando would probably be forever pleased to know that Jeremiah was drinking it with Eve and Leila. They were always on him that he was not social enough. He steadily ignored them.

His own notes about what had happened were not with him. No, Jeremiah left those notes with Algie in the other man's notebook. Mostly because he had not yet picked up a notebook that was not work related. He was not comfortable mixing the two even if they were, at this point, very much tied together.

Lips were pressed to a thin line, Jeremiah frowning at the Mulder reference (and everything else). "I have no desire to lie to anyone." Lying was something he always took issue with. Bullshit was only moderately less offensive. "Let alone write up an X-File." He leaned back in his seat, rubbing fingers along the stubble of his jaw. "... never mind that while I know we could easily bring closure to Heliodora's family with this, it is a lie. Their daughter is alive and well." In a manner of speaking. "Which leaves us with the foot still."

It was not as strong but the tea did help warm him and warming him helped to ease the ache of his back somewhat.

At least his heart did not twinge so much whenever Eve was openly affectionate with Leila. In fact instead of a partially blank expression, one that had only gotten more blank after Algie had arrived in town, it was a slight twitch upwards of his lips.

"The question becomes what do we do with the foot. As you've said, we could have it found in the forest but ..." Jeremiah was leaning forward, tea poured into his cup and a dash of cream added. He stirred a spoon in the cup slowly. "I still don't like the idea that we'll be leading the parents to the thought that their daughter is dead." Leaning back, he smoothed a hand across his forehead.

"Never mind that I assume you've had it frozen and that it would show signs of freezing." Another issue. "As terrible as this sounds a cover-up may be the only solution. I don't think people are quite ready yet for what's really going on." Or that either one of them were ready for for the attention they would garner because of it.

Even if he absolutely believed awareness was going to become necessary.

Jeremiah reached for the notebook, picking it up to read through the notes. A finger ran along what was written, eyes going across the page. It was still so odd that the foot had been freshly found after removal but that Heliodora herself claimed to have been part of her demesne for thirty-two thousand years.

He looked up at Eve when she mentioned the report. "I agree. A full report about it from both of us. Treat it like a case even if ..." The detective took a breath. "Even if we do not have the foot discovered until a later time. I can't see any benefits to us turning it in or having it found. There's already more people that have been pulled into this than I like to see," that did include Leila (and Eve) but Jeremiah also trusted them to handle themselves, "and I am evidence myself that if you go poking into this you'll find yourself in deep before you realize it."

The shift in his world view, how it worked, was not one he was exactly comfortable with but when the proof was right in front of him it was hard to ignore or dismiss. His cold back, the subtle ache, was another reminder.

"If we keep notes, case files, and otherwise it may prove useful when this is something we can go public with." Both Jeremiah and Leila had reputations in Ashdown and that would give weight to what they backed - even if it was something otherwordly.