Alex was in a decidedly good mood
when Ted and Marlo appeared the next morning.
"Congrats on the capture last
night, son," Ted said as Alex basked in the glory of actually nabbing the
bad guy on a stakeout. Trouble was, it was the only congratulations he'd gotten
all day, the one from a couple of ghosts, because those that knew didn't care,
and the rest just plain didn't know.
Alex smiled, "Thank you,"
he responded.
"What?" Chris had been
walking by his desk in time to catch the comment.
Alex flushed and ducked his head.
"Nothing," he muttered.
He noticed as he filled out his
paperwork (more, lately, but Alex didn't find it as much of a drag as he
expected) that the Brendons stood with awkward expressions, watching him.
"What is it?" he asked
under his breath.
Marlo cleared her throat.
"Um...about that guy you caught last night..."
Alex glanced toward the holding
area where the miscreant awaited processing. "What about him?" he
asked the couple with a puzzled expression.
Ted sighed, "Marlo thinks he
might be the accomplice who stole all our stuff."
"Really?" Alex was so
shocked that he couldn't help squeaking a bit and turning a couple heads. He
dropped his voice, "Are you sure?"
Marlo nodded, her eyes wide and
sad. "He's wearing my dad's cufflinks in his ear-gages!"
Alex shook his head, "I don't
believe this—but we only got him on attempted robbery; there's no way we can
pin that one on him."
"There's gotta be a way!"
Marlo persisted. "Couldn't you, like, question him on it or
something?"
Alex shook his head, "And when
the chief asks me where I got my intel from, what do I tell him? I heard it
from a couple ghosts?"
Marlo twisted a lock of hair in
agitation, "Maybe an anonymous tip?" she suggested slowly.
Alex scoffed, "Yeah, right,
who is going to tip about a robbery where the only witnesses are dead and the
murderer is already caught?" he saw that in spite of his derision, Marlo
still seemed concerned. "Incidentally," he whispered under his
breath, "why are these heirlooms so important to you?"
"Mom gave them to me because
she knew that out of all my brothers and sisters, I was the only one who would
regard them as treasures and keepsakes, not sources of money when mine ran out!
None of my siblings would have thought twice about turning around and selling
the things to pay off debts or to increase credit. Now that man probably has
them, or he's pawned them off now that we're dead!" Her voice choked like
she was crying, but Alex could see no tears.
Inwardly, he could hardly believe
his good luck, but he hid it behind a blank face.
"I'm sorry," he told the
couple, "It's not my department."
Alex behaved as one trying to make
up for a shortcoming. He accepted even the most obscure calls: a squirrel stuck
in the chimney, he settled an argument between a woman and her son as to
whether or not her son had stolen something from her (chalk it up to paranoia;
the woman was not even missing anything, she merely mistrusted her son when he
said he had not stolen anything from her), and an elderly woman who did not
know who else to call when she could not get the lid off her pickle jar.
Alex did not even head home
immediately upon returning to the station before his shift ended.
Ted glanced dubiously at the stack
of reports Alex would have to fill out.
"Well, it's getting near
quitting time," he observed.
Alex did not appear to hear him.
The clock above the door of the bullpen clicked off the last few seconds.
"See you tomorrow, Alex,"
Marlo joined her husband, and the two ghosts disappeared.
Alex stayed where he was for five
extra minutes, just to be sure. Carefully, he laid down his pen and sauntered
toward the holding area.
As luck would have it, Tom Jones
stood watch over the prisoner.
"Say, Davis," the eager
young cadet greeted him, "I hear you were the one who arrested this
guy."
Alex forced a smile, "Yes, I
did."
Jones grinned from ear to ear,
"Oh man, a real arrest! I wish I could have been there!"
"Hey Jones," Alex tried
to sound casual, "Would it be okay with you if I talked with the guy for a
bit? I just have a few questions."
Jones looked confused,
"Questions? I—I guess so. I don't know all the policies of—"
"Thanks buddy," Alex
winked and patted Jones on the shoulder.
This simple movement emboldened the
young man, and he waved Alex through.
"Certainly, take as long as
you like. As long as he doesn't leave his cell, no harm done, right?"
Alex nodded as he proceeded down
the hall. Jones started to follow him, but Alex stopped him.
"I kind of wanted to talk with
him alone, if I could," Alex hinted.
Jones nodded, "Oh, right;
wouldn't want to spook him, right?"
Alex grinned. "That's exactly
right."
"Good luck, Davis!" and
unsuspecting Tom returned to the front of the hall.
Alex knew his time was limited, in
spite of Tom's assurances, so when he saw the familiar lanky figure in jeans
and a t-shirt, he got right down to business.
"Nice cufflinks," he
remarked.
Chad Andrews looked up, recognized
Alex as one of the officers who arrested him, and scowled. "Whatchu talkin'
'bout?" He sneered, "I ain't got no cuffs!"
Alex chuckled, "I'm talking
about your studs dude; those are cufflinks, right? Pinched 'em off a job you
did oh, I guess it would be about a week ago, now, wouldn't it?"
Chad
registered surprise that he would know about that job, but quickly lapsed into
indifference. "I ain't talking to no cop," he stated gruffly.
"Oh but you see," Alex
returned, "I'm off-duty right now; you'll already be jailed for attempted
breaking and entering, oh, and a few other robberies with your fingerprints;
that's what led to last night's party you know. All I want to know is, did you
do the job on Seventh Street last Saturday?"
Chad's eyes shifted dubiously.
"Seventh?" he hedged, "Yeah, I might'a been thereabouts
recently."
"Did you keep all the stuff
you stole, or did you fence it?" Alex pressed.
Chad jerked away from him and cried
out, "Hang on dude, I ain't ratting on my fences! Those are my
professional connections!"
Alex knew he needed to be more
careful or he would lose his source entirely. "Look," he hastened to
reassure the thief, "I just want to know where to find the stuff; did you
pawn it? Did you sell it? Did it leave the country? Is it out-of-state?"
Chad's manner did not change. He
moved closer to the bars, squinting at the young officer in front of him.
"Why you wanna know?" he asked suspiciously, pointing a dirty finger
at him. "I tell you this, you go find the crap, that's evidence against
me, evidence that I done robbed another house!" Fear showed in his eyes.
Alex tried to keep it casual and
shrugged, "Hey, like I said before, you'll already be doing plenty of time
for those other robberies. It would take more than just getting back those
heirlooms to extend your sentence longer than it's going to be." Alex
paused only a moment before promising, "Just tell me where I can find the
stuff, and I won't rat you or your guys."
Chad's face twisted in confusion.
"You sure about that, blue?"
Alex nodded, "I'm sure. The
other guys in this precinct don't even have to know that we had this
conversation. I'm sort of doing this on the side."
"Why you wanna get it all back
so bad?" Chad grinned, showing several crowns even at his age,
"Impressing a lady-friend? Working with the family on the side or
something?"
Alex nearly denied it, but he
thought of Marlo; he was trying to impress her, and she used to be part of the
family who owned it. "Something like that," he admitted.
Chad hemmed and hawed for a minute,
then finally said, "Okay, I'll tell you this much, most of the heavy stuff
I pawned off at the stores around Harding Avenue. Start there."
Alex nodded, "What about the
rest?"
"Hey! Davis!"
Alex turned around to see
Lieutenant Garrison, a grumpy, portly cop, striding toward him while Jones all
but cowered in fear.
"You're not supposed to be
here, Officer," Garrison sneered. "What do you think you were
doing?"
"Helping Detective
Haversham," Alex replied instantly. A plan formed in his head. "He
said there was an item missing from the list of stolen loot, and sent me to
retrieve it." He turned back to Chad, "Hand over the cufflinks,"
he ordered.
Chad rolled his eyes and pulled the
gems out of his ears.
Alex smiled and stepped past the
lieutenant. "Have a nice night!"
Alex went straight back to his
apartment and straight to bed, but not before setting his alarm for six-thirty.
He had a lot to do in the morning, and he wanted it to be out of the way before
the ghosts showed up.
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