anwhile, in another part of town, the detectives’ precinct was unusually lively that morning, but not in a good way, at least not for two prominent detectives.
Detectives Leon and Evans walked in, heads high ... maybe too high in the view of the other officers at the station, and also, given the whispers that followed them like hounds. Laughter erupted from the far side, where a knot of officers lounged with their morning steaming mugs of coffee and smug smirks.
"Look who decided to show up," muttered one of them, not quietly. It was deliberate, as if to get to the right ears, and it got to where it needed to be.
"No frantic drives to report back to the big boss? No executive sirens today, huh? No unmarked cars and private escorts?"
He looked around, feeling proud of himself as his colleagues laughed their heads off in agreent, then another chid in,
"Who? The boss who was cock-loaded into a coma?"
For a mont, the whole place beca quiet. It was one thing for them to ridicule Leon and his partner, but it was a whole different case for this to extend to Ian! Because even without ntioning nas, they knew whom Leon had primarily worked for and had backing from.
That was where their dissatisfaction against Leon stemd from. They also knew of Ian’s marital issue, after all, it was all over the news! They therefore could deduce exactly whom this comnt was about.
One police officer slapped the back of the one who had spoken on the head.
"Watch your fucking mouth!"
"Chill!"
"Chill? If you want to dig your grave, don’t drag us into it! Prick!"
After this, Leon thought that would be the end of their ridicule, only for another person to chi in, while twirling his pen dramatically.
"Guess losing your sugar-lord ans you walk like the rest of us now,"
That eased the tense atmosphere, but Evans slowed and clenched his fists. Leon didn’t break stride.
He had only slowed down at the comnt directed at Ian. Leon did not care about the ridicule he had been facing from his colleagues; he was used to it. It had been low-key initially, but without Ian’s presence, it had blown up.
He was just worried that there were no clues at all regarding Shelby’s case. That was too alarming, even for him, especially with how Ian’s forces worked. Leon could not shake off the feeling that there was more to this than t the eye.
Leon sent a look towards Evans, who reluctantly held his words back.
The two passed desk after desk, so officers deliberately scooting in their chairs to block their path. One even tossed a crumpled file that landed at Evans’ feet with a thwack. A few snickers followed. The rest of the precinct were having the ti of their lives at these two’s expense.
Just as Leon placed a hand on his office door to open it, the taunting continued, this ti it got more personal.
"Hey Leon, our most decorated detective, do you want to shine those shoes for you?" one Officer called out with a grin.
"The new you is so uncomfortable to look at. I am used to seeing you get that royal treatnt every morning. Must be tough doing all those nial chores on your own now, hehehehee...."
Another officer walked up to Evans and clamped his shoulder painfully. He also deliberately dropped and pushed a half-eaten muffin into Evans’ breast pocket. "For the fallen king," he said solemnly, before mock-saluting and sauntering off.
The chocolate muffin stained Evans’ shirt, and he fud, but before any of them could react, another passed by with a manila folder mock-labelled in bold: MONTHS’ OLD COLD CASES – The eloped wife? He held it up high like a trophy, feeling quite proud of himself.
"Hahahahahaha...."
A flurry of laughter burst out all around them.
Leon sighed, trying his best to ignore them. This case had hounded the whole precinct, but their colleagues wanted to offload everything onto them for so reason. It was supposed to be a communal effort, but sohow beca their failure. How did that even happen?
Leon did not usually bother with them when they did that because he knew that they were just jealous. He wanted more than anything to resolve this case, but it had been a literal dead end.
They tried ignoring it, burying themselves in piles of petty assignnts. That was how their days had been reduced to. The two most prominent detectives had turned into almost rookies. They only dealt with misfiled citations, locker duty complaints, missing cats, cats stuck in trees reports, and the like.
However, on this day, it looked as if sothing else was at play because two actual rookies dared join this fun.
’Have we been lowered that low?’
Leon thought as two lanky n pushed a mop bucket from the locker rooms towards them. Leon had been a detective for long enough and knew that the two stupid fools were headed for them.
One turned to the other and said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Should we ask the ex-untouchables for help? They’ve got ti now, don’t they?"
Evans turned so fast he nearly sprained his neck. The room went still. He stared down the rookies, face flushing with rage. The muscles in his jaw twitched. The ranks in their precinct was strict, so for two rookies to have the guts to say that was beyond imagination!
Leon sighed and gently pulled Evans back towards the open office.
"Not here. Not for them."
Still, the grins around the room widened. No one questioned the audacity of the two rookies.
Leon looked straight ahead. "Let them laugh," he muttered under his breath. "We’ll see who’ll have the last laugh."
Leon’s reasoning did not hit ho too much, as Evans had been triggered badly, especially as the laughter increased. More than half the squad room was in on the joke now. Leon closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he didn’t even flinch anymore. He let the noise wash over him, but Evans’s control was shaky, and he was shaking in anger.
"Say that again," he said coldly.
"What? I said maybe you’re—"
Evans was across the room before Leon could stop him, fists clenched. "You smug little—"
"Miles!" a voice cracked like thunder across the room.
Everyone froze.
".... My office!"
Evans turned to look at their section chief, part of his anger getting directed at the man, but he knew that it was usually a grave issue when his last na was used to call him.
"Both of you. In my office. Now!" The Chief’s voice bood across the room like a hamr hitting stone.
The rest of the detectives scattered and returned to their jobs, while Leon and Evans made their way over to him.
Inside the office, the Chief leaned on his desk, arms crossed.
"You two used to have the whole precinct trembling. Now you can’t close a case that’s practically packaged for a notice?"
Leon frowned, not liking the direction of the conversation. Their work had not slackened in the past months, but all directions for this new case had ended in a dead end. It seed unfair that his Chief would be blaming them when the Chief himself did not have any leads on it.
"Sir, the case requires -"
"I don’t care what it requires! Do you think that you can talk to anyhow because of your backer, Ian Thornston? You’ve got to be kidding !" the Chief barked.
"You are overstepping your bounds and forgetting your training!
The others don’t want to be associated with a ss that has your na on it. So, guess what? It’s yours now. Sole responsibility."
"But it’s a station-wide case, sir," Evans dared to say as he was not one to take things lying down.
"Not anymore. You had powerful hands covering your back before. Now? You’re fair ga.... But since you seem rusty and can’t co up with any new leads, we’ll shelf the case no-"
"But-"
The Chief glared at Leon, and he swallowed his words. He was uncomfortable, but the chief was right; with Ian out of the picture, he was a sitting duck, as most of his cases, resources, and backing ca from Ian’s power.
The Chief picked up a grimy case file and shoved it into Leon’s chest. "And until you clean up this embarrassnt, and as you adore the lilight so much, crack this case within two months! Maybe you’ll learn so humility."
Leon gaped. He did not have to look at the case because, whatever he was going through, his boss would never give him an easy-to-solve case at all. Leon had been at the precinct long enough .... In fact, he had started with this sa Chief as his colleague, so how would he not know how the man’s brain worked? Evans had joined a few years after them, but still, they both were very familiar with how this prick worked.
"Dismissed!"
The two had no choice but to swallow their grievances and exit the office under their colleagues’ renewed wave of laughter.
Finally, in the comfort of their office, Leon opened the file and the two frowned. All annoyance fading away into anger,
"He’s really going all out now, huh?"
Evans nodded, "How do we resolve this in two months .... With our jobs on the line? They want to eat us alive!"
Leon’s jaw tightened. "Then let them try."
*********
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