Listening to> 'Just the way you are' - Milky
Reading> 'Y: The Descent of Man', Steve Jones - in progress
Working On> This piece!
Film of the moment> 'Ray'
Oh what the hell. Two entries in one night. Let's do this shit.
*Inspired by self listening to 'Run' by Snow Patrol out in the rain and singing along, so beware, this may get dark. Kidding!*
Untitled Fic 2
Fuck. Wish I hadn't quit smoking. I'd give anything to feel something other than cold. I pat my pockets anyway, in the vain hope that quitting smoking was just a dream and that a pack was on me somewhere.
Son of a bitch. I sigh and square off my shoulders. At least I had my coat on.
'Hey Boss! Boss!' I turn around and it's that punk Rooney, running late with reinforcements. 'Sorry it took so long, I--'
I swiftly grabbed the bag from his hands. 'The next time you keep us waiting, I'll tear you to pieces and feed it to the drug dogs.'
'Awww Boss,' he whined. I glared at him and tore open the bag with my teeth. 'I've got your coffee here. Black with two sugars, right?' I nodded, donut securely in my mouth as he passed on my styrofoam cup to a free hand. We were soon joined by a ravenous pack that alternately snapped at Rooney and scarfed down their treats.
'Rooney, what took you so goddamn long?' growled Garret, my second-in-command. He was an ex five pack a day smoker. Garret also made me feel better about myself these days - at least I had the patch. Going cold turkey must be a bitch.
'Enough,' I waved him away from the mollified Rooney who pinned by the craven look in Garret's eyes. 'You can have more donuts later. Have they finished setting the scene?' Garret slowly nodded. 'Then what are we waiting for?'I wiped the sugar off my lips with a napkin and bunched it into a pocket. 'Walk with me.' We left the wolves to circle Rooney's leftovers and ambled along the grey cobbled street. It was a typical late afternoon, with a light fog coming in from the beach. Breezy and slightly damp. I shivered and felt old. An evening shower was predicted, and it became more important to finish quickly.
'Two teenagers from the nearby school. Public school uniforms, very posh,' explained Garret when he caught my questioning look. 'Witnesses say they were running as if being chased, and ended up in the way of a lorry.' He pulled me away from stepping into a puddle. A red puddle. I squinted.
Shit. I sighed. I hated dealing with kids.
'Any wallets? IDs?' Garret motioned for a Cap to hand us the details clipboard. I winced as I read their ages. 'Too young to die, willingly or not. D'you think drugs is involved?'
'With you, drugs are always involved,' muttered Garret, scratching his head. I chose to ignore that comment and read the rest of the form. The witnesses had nothing else to add, and I could see the actual report would only take ten minutes of my time. It was the actual investigation that was sure to be the arse-kicker.
'Oi, OI!' I looked up from my reading to see Garret positively squawking and flapping his arms about. Standing politely in front of that sight, and managing not to crack a smile, were two in uniform. Certainly not from the force, which left only... I legged it over as soon as I could.
It seemed as if I was just in time. Garret was as livid as I had ever seen him; I counted 3 more than his usual 5 pulsating veins on his neck. 'May I help you?' I icily asked, taking care to keep Garret out of the potential punching area. The taller of the two smirked and stuck his hand out. Garret scowled and slapped the hand away. 'Bugger off, you scum-sucking army piss. This is our investigation.'
'You wish,' said the army man. 'You're going to fuck it up, like you always do.' Garret lifted his fist to strike, but a swift kick promptly ended those plans. 'But we're here as a service to you. All you gotta do is leave everything to us. That's it. And you don't have to worry about a single, widdle thing.' He leaned in and I could practically smell his cocky youth coming out of his pores. 'Old man.'
Garret roared and jumped on the army man, the both of them soon rolling on the uneven stones of the road and getting in punches all the while. The other man covered his eyes and moaned. I supposed this was a best time than any to introduce myself. 'Captain Breck, local PD.' He smiled faintly. 'I suppose you can't tell me your name?' He nodded. 'Might as well call you, something. How about Red? To match your hair.'
Red warily looked me over, then quickly surveyed the crime scene. 'What we are witnessing is a crime scene that involves two citizens of two different nations. Possibly murdered, and in a foreign land. Both victims' parents are high-ranked diplomats who can, and will, exert so much pressure your commander will shit a diamond.'
He looked up at the sky, as if searching through the haze for the stars. 'Now, if you insist in continuing your local investigation, you must realise it will be an awful inconvenience. There will be teachers, students, parents of L'Ecole Internationale to speak to - all of whom are, again, mostly foreigners. Your superiors will be on your back, critisizing your every move and demanding new developments at every hour. Any mistake will be magnified and pounced upon by the papers. An unsatisfactory conclusion will lead to a political death for everyone involved, and you sir, might find yourself a desk job in the basement. Now,' he smiled, genuinely this time. 'I am only trying to help. Will you allow me just this favour?'
I blinked. Here was a young man, a kid, really, looking as if he had just barely stepped out of school and asking if he could do something for me. The fact that he even asked was making my head spin. Didn't they usually show up with a troop and detain everyone on sight?
Garret got up from his knees and used his jacket sleeve to wipe his nose. The taller man was grinning, without a scratch on him, leaning on Red's shoulder. Something gnawed inside me. Come to think of it, these two had a slightly altered uniform compared to those I knew so well. And I didn't recall padding used in regular army suits. But these kind of men were like roaches - see one, and there's bound to be hundreds more, crawling in the dark.
'Boss?' growled Garret. 'The kid's a freak.'
'Yo Boss,' called out the tall one. 'It's gonna rain soon. Call off your boys, already.'
A cop's always got to follow his intuition. You know, that feeling in the gut? You don't listen, and you get a bullet for your troubles. Two young men, dressed suspiciously to suggest the military, but were obviously not. They wanted the investigation. Who was I to say no?
I grabbed Garret. 'Let's go.' When he babbled incoherently, I snapped back at him. 'Now,' I screamed at the rest of the force standing about doing nothing. Whoever they are, they've done their homework and I am not staying around to find out what happens next.
'What's going on?' squealed Rooney as I pushed him into the squad car. 'Where are we going?'
'Where are we going? I'll tell you.'
I stomped on the gas pedal. 'We're going for donuts and coffee.'
Finis.