The Brokens

6

6

Chenny watched as Beth’s eyes jutted open. She looked around for a moment, and then sat up. Her hand gravitated to her forehead, and when she went to touch the spot it felt tender.

“-the hell?” she muttered. Then, her eyes locked on Chenny.

“What happened?” she asked, confused.

“You tell me.” Chenny said. One of the renters had called the police when the elevator pulled open to reveal a knocked-out woman.

“Um, I got into the elevator and… crap! The number!” she realized, her eyes widening. She patted herself down as if she were looking for her keys, rather than evidence in a kidnapping.

“Is it gone?” asked Chenny. She nodded. Chenny frowned, “damnit. Someone wiped our servers, so the number was lost digitally. To make matters worse, someone broke into the evidence locker and took everything from this kidnapping. It’s all gone.”

“Everything?” Beth asked. Chenny nodded, and Beth groaned before covering her face with her hands. “Whyyy?” she drolled, turning the ‘y’ sound slowly into a groan. Someone was going to some very great lengths to make sure that the case remained unsolved. It wasn’t like the police were going to confront them- they were a giant gang after all! It was supposed to have been about a simple kidnapping and putting away the muscle. Instead, it was now a case of assault with forethought, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, and kidnapping.

______________________________________________

Marie clicked the accept call button.

“Hello?” she asked. She didn’t recognize the number.

...

“Oh um, hi Ms. LaCruz.”

...

“What happened?”

...

“But-but are you sure?”

…

“Okay I’ll be careful but-”

...

“No really, tell me what’s going on here?

…

“Hello?” Her one-sided conversation with Beth came to a sudden stop. She couldn’t believe it. The NKTR had never interferred with the investigations because they never went anywhere. What made hers’ so special? Was something bigger at play, or were they getting too close. Marie had come to terms with the fact that she was a victim. No need for a support group nor a therapist- it was just a fact of life. But if the NKTR had the audacity to target an investigator working with the police, they wanted one of two things- to stir up trouble or to keep the police from solving the case. Or what if Marie was different? What if they weren’t done with her or didn’t feel that they got a good enough price off of her? Marie dialed Jeanines’ number into the phone. It rang for a moment, and Marie feared she wouldn’t pick up.

“Jeanine something’s going on with my case.”

“What?”

“The PI on my case had evidence stolen off of her, like they literally knocked her out.”

“Oh my god, well, are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine but what if they come after me again?” asked Marie. Saying the words out loud made the situation sound even worse. Marie had been trying to downplay it but she was scared. Sure, the first time she knew that she would get to come back to society eventually and the kids were rarely harmed, but what if they wanted her for something else.

“I honestly have no idea.” Jeanine said.

______________________________________________

Daniel pulled out a metal chair and sat down. “So Kev, do you know why we brought you back here.”

“No, not really. Thought I gotta admit, you sound a lot like this teacher I once had whenever she reprimanded me for eating snack too early or whatever. Very menacing.” Kev said in a lame atempt to be funny. Daniel glared at him.

“Well, did you know that a PI was attacked earlier. Specifically the one on your case. Normally, we wouldn’t care. I mean, PI’s piss off a lot of people a lot off the time, but she was carrying some crucial evidence in Maries’ case, aka the one you were witness too. Oh, and said evidence was stolen off of her.”

“Well is she alright?”

“Not the point.”

“Well then, Mr. Mathews, what do you want. I don’t have anything to do with this. Quite frankly I don’t understand half the moves you make.”

“Well, it’s just that I think you know more than you are letting on. Sure, I could arrange for someone to administer a lie-detector test but there is a long waiting list for those and you could say our’s isn’t very high priotity. So, I’m just going to have to take your word for it. Tell me, did you see the chair the girl was in?”

“Yeah, ugly. It looked kind of like the wooden ones you’d see in elementary schools and the houses of cheap people. Yellowish, if I remmember correctly.”

“That you do. Well, that chair was stolen from our evidence room. That leads us to suspect anyone who was aware of it’s presence. That makes you, a couple other witnesses, and the NKTR.”

“What about your officers and the crime techs? I’m sure that atleast some of them are being payed of by that stupid gang.”

“I’m afraid that we are all pretty trusting of eachother so unlcukily for you, our first assumption for a suspect was you.” explained Daniel.

“Well you assumed wrong. I guess it’s time for you to move onto suspect pool number 3, aka the entire gang which orchestrated the kids’ kidnapping in the first place!” Kev said, almost yelling. He had, in all honestly, grown tired of dancing around the facts. He didn’t want any trouble. Unfortunately for him, Kev had been the least proven witness and had a shady background, so it was predictable for the police force to just want to say ‘it was him’ and call it a day. But, he wouldn’t have it. “If you have any more questions, I think I’m going to go get myself a lawyer. I don’t need one because I am guilty, which I’m not, but because all you stuck up inspectors are driving me crazy.”

“Fine. I hope you will come to your senses and tell us the whole story eventually,” said Daniel, before leaving the room.