The Brokens

2

2

Chenny tucked a handgun into his waistband. Elizabeth raised her eyebrows.“Since when did you have a gun?" She asked. “Oh, you know, maybe it has something to do with being on the police force,”he shrugged. Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Chenny, of course, had been convincing her to abandon the firm and join the police effort for months.‘They give you means to solve things faster' he'd say, then ‘that also means they aren’t alright with less moral techniques, 'she'd respond.

“Let's just get this over with,”she groaned. Chenny flashed his badge to the on-scene guard.“Don't touch anything.”The guard warned.“We’re the investigators; we’ll touch whatever we want,” Elizabeth said. The guard rolled his eyes, and Chenny glared at her. She shrugged again, and then ducked under the yellow tape. The two walked through the dark. To Chenny, this was just another crime-scene, but to Elizabeth, it seemed off. She hadn’t told him her theory about them using new muscle. It hadn;t been the same between since they had ended their partnership. She wanted to solve this case before him. That was just how things were between them.

“I thought you said you have a witness.” She muttered. He hesitated for a moment, and then said, “I, well I do. She’s just not the normal kind.” Of course, it was just like Chenny to not let her know the full details. It was human nature to be evasive and keep the good stuff to yourself. Survival of the smartest. Okay, so maybe that’s not how the saying went, but that’s how Elizabeth knew it actual worked. Sure, you could be fit, but if you weren’t smart you would slam your head into a rock before you had a chance to test your strengths.

“Here she is.” Chenny said with a fake smile. Elizabeth’s eyes followed Chenny’s pointing arm to a homeless woman who was sitting against a support beam which was maybe 10 feet away. The woman had to have only been in her twenties, so around Chenny and Elizabeth’s ages. The woman looked up at Chenny and smiled. “Hi, how are you?” She said. Elizabeth saw the pain in Chenny’s eyes as he caught glimpses of the woman’s dire situation. Elizabeth noticed a bruise above the woman’s eye.

“Hey, what happened to you there?” She asked. The woman bit her lip.

“Reason why you’re here, I assume.”

“So what happened?”

“I was just sitting here when I heard the back entrance door open. Some of the folks here aren’t very peaceful so I kind of relocated myself to away from them. Anyways, I heard them put down the chair with the girl in it. Once I realized what was going on, I walked up to them and tried to free the kid but they got a swing at me.”

“Wait, so you got a look at them? How many? Any specific features?” Asked Elizabeth. Chenny put a hand on her arm, as if to tell her to calm down.

“Yeah. I only saw two. One was a big guy and the other was a tall girl. Both had their faces covered and pretty much all their skin as well. But, the man had light skin.” Chenny looked at Elizabeth again, and then sighed.

“Well, I guess that’s a start.” She muttered.

_________________________________________________

Jeanine sat down on the park bench. It was quiet, very quiet. She had come to be able to stand the silence, but it had taken sometime. Her eyes drifted to a nearby tree. A bird started to sing. Jeanine let herself smile, just for a moment. Her eyes drifted to the girl sitting on the park bench across from her. With her knees tucked up to her chest and a hood pulled over her head, Jeanine didn’t immediately notice her.

“No, no way.” She muttered. Jeanine thought about her approach for a moment, and then walked over to the bench. She quietly sat down next to the girl.

“Marie Thames?” she asked. The girl looked up with furrowed eyebrows.

“Who are you?”

“I’m uh- I’m Jeanine. Er- Jeanine Cories.” Marie raised her eyebrows.

“You’re like me? It happened to you too?”

“Yeah…” Jeanine said with a sigh.

“You were in February, three months ago, right?” asked Marie as she sat up properly.

“Yeah. How uh, how are you doing?”

“Fine. The police aren't really doing anything so I’m just… a little worked up.”

“A little?” laughed Jeanine. Marie pulled a slight smile, and then raised her hand.

“Nice to meet you Jeanine.” She said, and then shook Jeanine’s hand. Maybe this will be the start of a nice friendship. Thought Jeanine.

_________________________________________________

Daniel sat down at the two-person table.

“Okay Kev, we’ve met your demands. You’ll be placed in witness protection, your family will be given security detail, and we’ll not tell anyone outside of our inner circle whatever it is you are going to say. Now, talk.” He said firmly and crossed his arms. Kev, who was sitting at the other side of the table let a smile slip.

“And you’re keeping my identity confidential until I testify?”

“100%.”

“Great. Then, I guess let the questions begin.”

“Thank you. So, did you see anyone’s face?” asked Daniel.

“Don’t you want to hear why I was there? It’s a pretty funny story.” asked Kev with a smile.

“Not really.”

“Ack, you’re no fun. Fine. No, I didn’t see anything. Two guys, both beefy. One had darkish skin and the other one I didn’t see well enough.”

“Is there something you aren’t telling me?” asked Daniel suspiciously.

“Uh, no. Why?”

“Well, because our head-detective has a witness who he says is very credible who just might have said that it was a man and woman with light skin.”

“Guess they were wrong.” scoffed Kev. Daniel turned away. Of course, camera-feed confirmed that Kev had witnessed the crime, but his story didn’t line up. He was being evasive, sketchy on details, and averting questions. If Daniel had learned anything from years on the job, it was how to spot a compromised witness, and Daniel was pretty sure that he had just found one.