Love Between Law and Life

Chapter 16: Stake outs and Snacks

            Florence bobbed her head to the tune on the radio as she munched on the snack in her hands. She’d propped up one foot on her opposite knee and turned enough to press most of her back against the door. Bobbie had taken a more relaxed pose, reclining on her pushed back seat and sipping on her coffee. If it hadn’t been for the slow movements, the psychic wouldn’t have been able to tell if the detective was awake behind her dark sunglasses.

            They were on a stake out… during the day. If that couldn’t get much lamer, the guy they were keeping an eye out for was a night shift worker and most likely asleep at this point. Why she was here, Florence doesn’t want to remember how many times she’s asked that question without a proper answer beyond ‘energy detector’ or more irritatingly – ‘background noise’. The only reason she was here… was because her own traitorous workers kicked her out of her own store. Honestly, the nerve.

            “Come on, there has got to be someone else that can do this.” Florence complained again, sighing as the song changed to something a little to hyped up for her taste. Bobbie just hummed noncommittedly and sunk even lower in her seat. Florence didn’t give her the chance to ignore her this time, prodding her in the side with a successful yelp in return for her efforts.

            “I’m – well - we’re the only one on this case. Hence, it is our job to do the stake out.”

            “Who de eff still says hence?” Florence whispers loudly enough to be heard, screwing up her face for a few seconds before shaking her head. “and why are you still the only one on this case, I mean, you have proof now, right? That should warrant something.”

            “Keep in mind, my proof is a woman who speaks to ghosts in her free time.” Bobbie pulls the handing on her seat to dramatically raise up as she holds in a single finger on her free hand.

            “Rude.” She cuts with a disgruntled look but had to shrug her shoulders at the scathing look the detective shoots her because she was right. If someone claimed that most of their evidence came from a spirit, she would’ve been pretty weary to.

            “And, Akamu says a I’ll have as much backup as I need should the occasion arise. So, we have that gunning for us.” She places her half empty cup in the holder before practically punching the radio buttons for a new station as an even cheesier song than the last started playing. “And I don’t need a partner… you’re more useful.”

            “Awwwweeee, I knew you’d finally warm up to me!” She batted her eyelashes dramatically, laughing as Bobbie groans and rolls her eyes. A movement out of the corner of her eye catches her attention. “Ay, look.”

            The sudden change in Florence’s tone from humoured to serious had Bobbie on alert. The detective pulls up her seat and leans as nonchalantly as she could on the wheel as they watch the door of their interest open slowly and a lanky man walks out. Well that answers the question on whether they were spying on a sleeping person or not. For someone with a new wife and working mainly nightshifts, he looked rather well rested and well dressed.

            They watch curiously as he takes a glance around the entire neighbourhood before locking the door and walking to his car. Good work that did him considering his eyes didn’t even pick up the car with two occupants blatantly watching him at this point with raised eyebrows and almost incredulous expressions. Bobbie shakes her head as if she already knew what might be going on, but she doesn’t bother to do more than press her forehead to the steering wheel.

            “Do we follow him?”

            “Yep.” The detective waits almost half a minute after the car pulls out of the driveway and drives off before starting her own and following behind.

            “Do I want to ask?” Florence raises her eyebrows at her partner, tossing all of their mess into a bag in the back seat. She wrinkles her nose at the crumbles on her jersey, dusting it off as Bobbie pulls a tight corner.

            “If my hunch is right? Then no.”

            “Oooo, ominous. Fun.”

            They follow the car for a while, through traffic and tight turns. It was still boring for the most part, but it was much better than the stagnant heat from before. Florence didn’t really bother to focus on much of their entire ‘chase’, taking a look at the files they’d gathered for the day. If this one turned out to be a bust, the least she could do is pick out their next possible target. Bobbie finally comes to a completely stop, ducking low as she keeps an eye on the car on the opposite side of the road.

            “You coming?” She taps the psychic on the shoulder as guy steps out of the car and walks towards an old apartment complex. Florence hums as she looks at the place, before nodding and following behind her. Bobbie didn’t know these parts so it wouldn’t hurt for her to have someone who was a little more familiar with the roads if things landed into a foot chase. Not that she’d be much help considering her legs her a little to wobblily from sitting for a little too long. Pins and needles were never a pleasant thing.

            Ever looking like someone ready to take out an entire mob of people, Bobbie cross the mostly empty road like she owns it. Florence had to admit she looks fierce and it did things to her heart that she would never admit. The psychic follows behind more like a guard dog, a little less graceful but a resting face perfected from years of dealing with people who refuse to mind their own business.

            The place is a little older than she’d averaged on first glance, most likely a safety hazard at this point if the cracks in the walls were anything to go by. She wrinkled her nose at the musty smell of old curtains and furniture that seemed to be everywhere even though they were in the open. The man, still somehow completely unaware of their presence is jogging up the stairs to the far end of the building

            Florence takes cue from the detective and leans up to the wall on the opposite side, the both of them turned to each other as though they were holding a conversation while they kept an eye on guy now knocking on a door on the second level. Florence turns her head entirely so that it’d look less suspicious while Bobbie kept a proper eye on the situation. “So, the other day I got this customer who…”

            She kept up the entire conversation by herself, full of hand movements and laughter as Bobbie returns half completed replies and shakes of her head. It was a little silly but a lot more fun than she’d anticipated. The conversation trailed off without her permission however as the door finally opens and another woman greets him with a little too much enthusiasm.

            “Oh hell no.” She grits her teeth and could feel the surprise coming off Bobbie as she takes an aggressive step forward. This guy was just married, what on earth did he think he was doing, and yes, she looked through the file, his wife looked nothing like this woman. The detective flails as she pushes herself off from the wall, wrapping her hands around Florence’s waist to pull her back.

            In the moment, the psychic doesn’t really pay attention to the move, only ready to tear the guy a new one as they close the door behind them, the curtains falling as well hardly half a second later. Bobbie, with unsurprising strength turns the two of them until Florence’s back is against the wall and the detective is in front of her. “Don’t – don’t-“

            “But he-!”

            “I know, I know!” She pushes back as Florence tries to shove forward. A hand is on her hip and the other is holding her wrist. It takes her a second to understand the look on Bobbie’s face but as soon as she does, a pang of fear runs up her spine. “But we have bigger problems at the moment.”

            “W-what…”

            “Someone is watching us. To the far right, at the entrance.” She nods her head and Florence doesn’t turn hers, just her eyes enough to glimpse a burly man in a suit standing with a camera in his hand. “Give me a few seconds, he’s not watching now ‘cause PDA makes most people uncomfortable but we need to act. Does he look ready to bolt?”

            “N-no, I don’t think so. He’s just staring at the building the guy walked in, but he’s glancing at us.” Florence could feel heat building up on her face as she does indeed finally take notice at their awkward placement. Bobbie doesn’t seem to be bothered but her ears were red, but she chalked that up for the exertion is must have taken to hold her back.

            “I’m gonna let you up and then we’re going after the other creep." She speaks slowly as if to make sure she had her full attention before letting up her weight. “You good?”

            “Yep.” Florence doesn’t dwell on the fact that her voice practically cracks like a teenage by in puberty but thankfully Bobbie had set her mind to deep into her next objective to notice it or mention it. The detective tangles their hands together and much to the psychic’ surprise, just marched up towards the dude. Their earlier ‘display’ much have been enough because he doesn’t even turn until they’re feet away from him.

            It’s still enough space to run. It’s not enough space to outrun someone much younger and very much trained. “Yeesh!” Florence winces and raises her hands at her torso as if to shield herself as she watches Bobbie effortlessly body tackles the older man to the ground. Truthfully, he looked old enough to rival her grandfather, but Florence had to give it to him, he put all his weight into fighting back.

            “Who are you and what are you doing here?” Bobbie needed her full weight to keep the man down but it hawt… bad Florence, not the time! She twists his arm a little more behind his back as he refuses to answer. “I am detective Bobbie Rhodes, I’m only going to ask one more time. Who are you and what are you doing here?”

            “Jerry! My name is Jerry Cowell! I’m a P.I!” He shuffles to move his hand but goes impossibly still as Bobbie tightens her hold on his wrist. The detective turns to Florence still standing back and watching the show, shaking her hand towards the man’s pocket. Florence couldn’t help but send her a ‘are you serious?’ look but Bobbie had both hands busy and she was the only one free.

            The psychic sticks her tongue out with the most disgruntled look she could manage, but it only serves to make the detective bark out a laugh. She tilts her eyes upward as she fishes around the pants pockets, this is not what she signed up for. The wallet is old, and the leather is worn but his card was visible as soon as she opened it. “He’s a private investigator, he’s telling the truth… unfortunately.”

            Bobbie huffs as she gets to her feet, offering a hand to pull the heavy man to his feet. He groans and mumbles about his suit as he dusts off the sidewalk grime, glancing wearily at the both of them from a lowered head. The detective growls, “That still doesn’t answer my next question. What are you doing here?”

            “What are you going to do, arrest me?”

            “Don’t tempt me.” Jerry rolls his eyes at them, pulling out his somehow undamaged camera and handing to Bobbie.

            “I was following that guy, Jacob Rey-“

            “We know who he is, we want to know why you’re following him.” Its pictures of everything Jacob had left his home and met with this strange woman, some of them were even in the night. Florence couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows at the few that seemed to be at a restaurant or even the beach. Looks like this guy was getting around.

            “If you know him then you know he’s been hitched for about a year.” He takes back the camera with a baleful look directed at the detective who hadn’t quite let her fierce side go. “She hired me about a month back, told me she knew what was going on, but she wanted proof. Gave me about two months and then she’d handle it from there.”

            “Not what we were looking for then.” Florence whispers with a huff, shaking her head as even Bobbie seems to deflate.

            “Nope, not our guy.” The detective pats Jerry on the shoulder before turning to walk away. “Thanks for the help.”

            “Wait, what were you guys looking for?” He looks genuinely curious as he fiddles with the buttons on the device, focusing more of his attention on the one that looked less likely to bite his head off, Florence.

            “Guy with green eyes, ‘bout Bobbie’s build and driving a black off-road van.” Florence makes some gestures with her hands as Bobbie comes back to silently stand next to her. She could feel that the man meant no ill will, they were just both in the same place at the same time while doing two very different jobs. She could also feel the way that Bobbie was still a little weary but curious as to what happened next.

            “That’s… not a lot to go on.”

            “We know.” The reply was simultaneous and full of stress. Florence could feel her eye twitch as Jerry tries to stifle a chuckle but humours him as he holds a finger up at him.

            “Hold on, I know you probably have a bunch of files waiting but… I have this is you want to check it out.” He shuffles through the camera for a few seconds before letting out a small sound of triumph. It’s a picture of a man with green eyes, lanky build and a jacket draped over his shoulders. It fits the age bracket of the man Florence saw in her vision, but she didn’t want to trust it considering most of what she saw was a blur. “Just as a peace treaty.”

            “I… know that guy…” She squints at it, taking the camera once more to pull it closer to her face. It’s hard to make out any proper definitions of the man with the distance the camera must have been zoomed in from, but she recognised the hairstyle. After all, it was practically her job to recognise and remember faces since she owned a store. “He’s in one of the files we have back in the car. Lives with his sister if I remember correctly. Has a heart condition?”

            “Well, he’s a lead. Better than nothing.” Bobbie rests a heavy hand on her shoulder. “Least this way we don’t have to play rock-paper-scissors on who to stalk next.”

            “Glad I could be of help.” Jerry nods his head at them with a cheeky grin that didn’t suit his old age.

            Bobbie scowls at her cup like it had done her wrong before dumping it into the honorary garbage bag in the back seat. Florence was oddly quiet despite the radio playing some new pop song, hands folded over her chest and gaze directed at the scenery passing by. Yep, she had an idea what this was about. “That wife of his seems to have it handled you know.”

            “Yea… but she shouldn’t have to have it handled. She shouldn’t have to worry about her significate partner is out there sleeping with someone else.” And the pout was back, making the already young mother look even younger, Bobbie’s heart went out to her. “I get an open relationship thing, but it’s clear that this one isn’t.”

            “If it’s any consolation, I asked a friend from HPD to help out Jerry and offer to help the wife.”

            “…You have friends?”

            “Yes, and I have it handled.” Bobbie smiles at the small ‘thank you’ she gets a few seconds later, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel as she made another left turn. “Said friend also got at current location for our guy, what’s-his-name?”

            “Chen, his sister’s named Grace.”

            “Chen is at a function, I think? I’m not sure, but he’s at a centre right now.”

            “You’re going to check him out right now, don’t you want to wait to like… check him out or something?” Florence knew she probably wasn’t making sense but she takes in the unfamiliar roads with a little apprehension, turning back to Bobbie who a looked a little to nonchalant about all of this.

            “We’re not going to question him, we’re just going to check him out.” She pulls into a car park of what looked like a rather large centre. The place expanded around a small field and seemed to be active with people talking and walking. “And we’re here.”

            “You know, I hate it when you do that.” Florence states as she steps out the vehicle, taking in the peaceful atmosphere with a smile. They march towards what looked like the main building to the front, Bobbie shrugging her shoulders noncommittedly. A woman is sitting at the front desk, typing away at a computer as they walk in.

            “Hello, how may I help you today.” She takes her attention off the screen, turning to face them with an easy-going smile.

            “Detective Bobbie Rhodes and this is my partner, Lowell.” Bobbie flashes her badge, shaking the offered hand with a smile. “Hope we’re not bothering.”

            “Not at all, how may I help you ladies today?”

            “Have you seen this man?” Florence held up the government identification of Chen, it was the only one they had but the woman – ‘Jessy’ if the nametag was anything to go by – seemed to recognise him almost immediately.

            “Yes, you missed him just a couple minutes age, he’s in a session right now… is Chen in any trouble?”

            “Not at all.” Bobbie shakes her head, taking on at odd calming personality that she had whenever she was talking to an innocent person. “What was that session you mentioned?”

            “Oh! It’s a mental health support for people taking care of ill friends, partners, or family. It’s open to all.” She pulls out a flyer and hands it to them. Bobbie reads it through for a few seconds before holding it up and looking at Florence with a raised eyebrow.