Chapter 4: Walter - Redemption

Standing on the roof of the Metropolitan Police Department’s headquarters, I took out my old lighter and lit my cigarette. Nothing beat a 555 roll in a cold night such as this one. One of the few benefits of working in a twenty-stories building stuffed with more than a thousand men and women was this great view you got from here. Although, it remained just a great view with colorful neon tubes lighting up all night. All those shiny sparkling luminescence however served only as a lid that covered this hell hole. When the sun came down, awful things spawned in the dark. The streets were filled with drugs. Gang members took out each other like flies, more than often involving innocent citizens. Meanwhile, the rich and the politicians were all corrupted to the core, caring only about their power and dirty money. Truly, staying in the streets for too long left a bad taste in your mouth.

My name was Walter Goodman, a detective of the MPD. I have worked in this line of work for more than twenty years now and nonetheless, I never managed to get rid of that foul taste. There was never a shortage of crimes. No matter what the media said, we never ran out of them. I supposed it was unavoidable in a big city such as this one. We did our best to contain it. But despite our efforts, it just kept coming back, one way or another. After a while, it did make one wonder if what they did actually made a difference. Because I for one saw nothing has changed. On the contrarily, I believed it was getting worse and worse. It was like seeing a car without brake just keep accelerating, knowing for certain that somewhere down that road was a dead end. I wondered if such an end was close. For we sure were moving fast. Maybe we should just crush into that wall. That might be a better alternative.

The door to the roof opened behind me. A familiar face walked out. Wearing a suit with a tie, this man used to be the best police officer on the field we had in this city. Now, with him as commissioner, I somehow just couldn’t see the same light he had in the old days. Maybe it was because of his big belly? Or maybe his grey hair took the spotlight? Whatever it was, he surely gained some weight in recent years.

“Still gazing the stars, Walter?” the commissioner asked.

“I am sorry, sir. Just want to take a small break.” I said.

“No don’t worry! I know you have a lot in your mind….after what happened to…”

“Please don’t talk about it.” I insisted, almost yelled out. “It…is in the past.”

“…You got to put yourself together, son. There are people depending on you.”

“Yes, sir. I will keep that in mind.” I gave a formal answer. “I don’t suppose you are here to gaze the stars with me too, sir?”

“Ohoho, of course not. I wish I can but I got to meet the mayor soon. He has been rather…impatient these days.” The commissioner said tiredly.

“Is it about the case? … about him?” I asked him reluctantly. In my mind, I already knew it was.

“It is nothing you should worry about. I got this. You just do what you have to do. Actually, I came here because of this.” The commissioner brought out a dossier.

I quickly checked out the contents. It contained the details of a man named Connor Smith. I didn’t recognize the face. Who was he? I didn’t remember seeing him in the list of suspects on related to any of the cases I was handing at the time.

“Who is this? A suspect?” I asked.

“No no! Don’t be rude! He is going to be your partner.” The commissioner asked.

“What? But….”

“I know what you are going to say. But it has been a month since then. We need a new detective. You need a new partner!” the commissioner asserted. “Look, I know you don’t like it. But just go see him! He was recommended to me through some pretty high channels and his profile is very top notch. I think we can expect a lot from him. Just give him a try!”

“….Alright boss! Whatever you say.” I conceded.

“That is what I want to hear. He is waiting for you in your office downstairs.”

“On my way, boss!”

It was no use trying to fight him. The man still had that tenacity in him. Besides, I was not in the mood of a debate. Returning to my office, I saw a young man in his early thirties, all uptight sitting in the chair in front of my desk. Seeing me entering the room, he stood up and saluted me.

“Hello Mr. Walter, is it?” the young man asked.

“Yes. You would be Connor, Connor Smith right? Take a seat! Want some coffee?” I asked him.

“That would be great. Thank you!”

As I prepared the coffee, I started to observe him. The short black hair was kept neatly with gel, reminding me of those salesmen rather than a police officer. The new black suit and brand new blue tie suggested he only bought them recently. I could even see the uncut tag on the collar. Just how clumsy was this guy? A silver watch on his wrist, one that looked quite expensive. In his resume I read earlier, the names of some famous law schools were mentioned, all with good grades. From first glance, I already knew his type. I was pretty sure that he was kin of some bigwig, probably from the Justice Department or something similar. He probably wanted to add some field experience, making the CV look better in order to get a promotion of some sort. I meant, what else could those slender arms of his be going to do? I would rather have him in the office than on the field.

“Is there something wrong? I notice that you have been staring at me for a while now.” Connor spoke with a smile.

“Was I now? Sorry, just old habits die hard.”

“Is that one of those detective’s instincts?”

“Yeah. When you spent years in this job, you started to pay attention to everything around you. Sometimes, they could save your life you know.”

“…pay attention to everything around you…” Connor took out a small notebook and wrote down something. I could hear him repeating softly what I just told him.

“Don’t tell me…you are writing down what I just said???” I shouted at him.

“But of course! As my senior, you have plenty of experiences so I should take note of what you have to say. So paying attention is the first lesson right?” Connor finished writing down.

“For God’s sake…this is beyond me.” I was taken back. I knew he was nerdy type but to this extent…This was going to be a lot harder than I expected.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

One of my colleagues opened the door and pocked his head inside. “Am I disturbing you?”

“Nah it’s fine. What is it?” I asked.

“We got a call about a fight in downtown Brookrows.”

“Is that those guys again?”

“From the description of the witness, yep, it is those bikers again.”

“Was there any death?” I inquired.

“No but two citizens were assaulted. Apparently, the kids picked a fight with one of the reporters that were following them. The second citizen tried to help the reporter but got beat up as well.”

“It is nothing major then. Just send them home! Also call the other police department! Tell them about the biker gang. It is about damn time we put them in jail.” I said. The number of assaults in this city was already of the charges. If you started taking care each and every one of them, there would be no end to them. The only thing we could do was to solve the root of the problem, meaning going after the attackers themselves. Unfortunately, in these cases, that could prove to be more troublesome.

“Will do…And I think you probably want to speak with one of the victims.”

“Why?”

“Remember the accident a few days back? The case with the mother and child who died in the car accident?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, the husband of the deceased is actually the victim in this case.”

“……” I remembered that case. I was in charge of it. Officially, it was never called a case, only an accident. Though I knew better than that. The more I thought about it, the more irritable I felt. The official report said that it was the mother’s fault that caused the incident. The impact caused the car to derail before it exploded, killing both the mother and child. But the truth was not that. There was actually another driver who tried to pass a red light and hurled into her car. Naturally, we got the real culprit red handed. But unfortunately for us, he was related to a very powerful political figure of the government. As much I wanted to deny it, our society was not perfect. On the opposite, it was rotten to the core. That bastard basically got free all thanks to the orders of the higher ups. I wanted to do something but there was nothing I could do. Could you imagine it? How hard it was for me to tell the family that there was nothing I could do? But I was not the one with the shortest stick. It was him, the husband who was also a father. He lost everything and he couldn’t even get justice.

I deliberately gave the information to the husband without consulting my superior. If words got out that I told him that, I would surely lose my badge. However, a part of me could not face him and tell him a blatant lie like that. Truthfully, I have hoped that he would give the information to the press and hopefully it would turn into a story. But I knew the chances were slim. There was no evidence left. Everything either was erased or destroyed. The witnesses have withdrawn their testimonies out the of blue. I believed they were either threatened or bribed with money in exchange for their silence. Whoever was behind it must be very influential. Every day since, I watched the news, waiting for it to come. But none whatsoever. Perhaps it happened like I thought I would. Or the husband himself never told anybody about the case. I would not blame him though. He must have realized by now how desperate it was to seek justice for his family. It might be wrong for a police officer, an upholder of the law like me to say this but it was best for him to just move on and forget about everything that happened.

But who could actually forget this? Who could just forsake everything they had and just moved on? That was why I said it was him who got the shortest stick.

“I will go talk to him.” I told my colleague.

“Sure. I will let him wait in the interrogation room.”

“Don’t you have any better room? That room is gloomy as hell.” I said.

“Sorry! Already out of rooms!” And then he was gone, shutting the door behind him.

“ *sigh* Can you wait for me in here for a few minutes? I got to talk with one of the witnesses.” I told Connor.

“Let me accompany you, sir!” He said excitedly. “Interrogating a criminal is also a part of the job after all.”

“We are not interrogating a criminal here. He is the victim here. I just had a few questions for him. That is all.” Already five minutes with this guy and my patience was running out, very quickly. “Just be quiet, alright?”

“Of course, sir!” He saluted me, putting his hand in front of his forehead.

“We are not the military! Stop doing that!” That was it. Tomorrow, I would tell the chief to let go of this douche bag. If he didn’t kill himself, he certainly would get someone else killed, which would be me in this case.

The interrogation room, like its name suggested, was used to interrogate the suspects or criminals in case. There was nothing in there but a table and a desk lamp in there. I remembered we used to play the good cop bad cop with a lot of the felons. Most of them broke in the end and admitted their crimes. But those who didn’t, they were a real hassle to deal with. Serial killers, psychopaths, these guys didn’t even flinch when they killed someone. They didn’t even feel guilty about it. I had a handful of those in my entire career. Suffice to say, I wouldn’t want to meet another one of those. Sick bastards really, they were the scums of society. But even they were not the worst of the bunch. There was another type whom I could never really understand how such an individual could be birthed in our era.

Usually, most of the criminals we got in this city were forced one way in or another in this situation. Robbery, murder, they all had a reason. Whether these reasons were acceptable or not was another debate. But they all knew that what they did was wrong. That was why they were so afraid of getting caught. But the type of people I mentioned earlier, they didn’t. Somehow, they managed to convince themselves that what they were doing was right. No, I was not talking about some insane madman. Unlike those, these people were smart, extremely cunny and organized. Somehow, their morality compass has been so twisted I couldn’t figure out how they thought. Usually, these people would simply be branded lunatic and put inside some god forsaken asylum till the end of their lives with never really knowing why they were put there in the first place.

To be honest, I couldn’t help but pity them. In their own world, they were not wrong. But unfortunately, this world of ours was not theirs. We had our own laws, our own ethics, our own morality and they could not coexist with theirs. The current justice system could not help but branding them insane, deranged. No one wanted to open that door. If we started to judge people based on their own morality, it would become hell.

Anyway, enough of side talking. I entered the interrogation via the surveillance room which shared the same door. A glass wall allowed us to see the individual inside the interrogation room without enabling them to see us. From here, I could see a thin middle-aged man in his long brown overcoat, sitting tightly while looking down at the desk. He had that same insecure look I saw when I first met him. I supposed it was to be expected if a supposed victim was suddenly put into an interrogation room. The poor guy probably didn’t know what exactly happened. A medical patch was stuck to his cheek, along with a few bandages here and there. This guy really got some of the worst lucks I have seen.

Opening the door, I entered, followed closely by the goofy supposed partner.

“I didn’t expect to see you again after our last exchange, Mr. Graves.” I said.

“You are that detective…Mr…Goodman was it?” He seemed clearly surprised seeing me.

“Yes, but you can call me Walter. So Mr. Graves, how have you been doing?” I asked

“Oh…hum please call me Alphonse….I don’t suppose I can say everything is fine at this fine…haha…ha…” The guy tried to force a smile but his injuries didn’t let him so.

“I can understand why. You are in a very difficult time and….” But I was interrupted by him.

“No you don’t.” For a moment, Alphonse had a very serious look, almost as if he wanted to burst out. But when he noticed my bewilderment, that harsh aura disappeared and he retreated back to his insecure self. “Sorry….I…”

I certainly did not expect to see him like this, especially seeing how he reacted in our last conversation. At the time, I didn’t know what to make out of it. I thought simply maybe he just had enough of it. I certainly could not blame him for feeling that way. The guy lost his family for such a stupid prick and that prick got free. He would never get his justice.

All these years, I did my best to uphold the laws and justice. I was proud of myself for being one of the clean cops. It was not easy to do so. Sometimes you ended up fighting with your own boss and losing your job. As for me, I almost lost my badge a few times but thankfully the commissioner got my back. But even he, as the head of the MPD, was not able to do everything. Even now, I knew there were some corrupted cops right in our department, perhaps sitting right next to me. But without any concrete evidence, anything I did would just end up with me as the victim.

Despite that despair, the case of this lonely man sparked something within me, a fire I thought to be long extinguished. No longer would I run away from this kind of treachery anymore. I swore that I would solve his case and brought back justice to his family. They deserved it. And that was not all. I would do it for him to, my old partner.

After talking a while with nothing new, I decided to send the husband home. He was of no use to anyone in his state. The only thing I could do for him now was to solve his case. That was it. No comforting words would do it. The night ended peacefully, just like any other.

Looking at his back as he exited the station, I hoped that the guy would soon be able to return to his normal life. It was however a naïve thought, one that could never come true. Little did I know at the time, it was but the calm before the storm. A string of disturbing events was about to start and break the illusionary peace of our city. And of all things to happen, like a raging vortex of malice, everything revolved around that man.