The Next Generation: The Legacy (Book 3)

Chapter14 - The past still haunts us all.

Chante

The moment I walked into the station I could tell that something was wrong. While getting dressed in my uniform, I overheard a conversation between two of the other officers and my heart nearly stopped! The gist of it was that they suspected Cat had been inside Freddie’s house! On my way to the briefing room, I noted he was standing in the captain’s office, and they weren’t hiding the fact that they were screaming at each other.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she was waving her arms around like a wild person and I disappeared into the briefing room before anyone saw me staring. A couple of minutes later, the captain stormed into the briefing room looking furious, and I could almost feel officer Campbell glaring right back at her from the back of the room.

I had to remind myself that he was my boss. I couldn’t think of him as a friend. I couldn’t use his name in my thoughts! If I did that, there was a real possibility that I would use it out loud, and I needed to keep our relationship professional.

“Good morning, everyone. I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumours, so let’s address that immediately. We suspect that Cat entered officer Campbell’s home at some point yesterday while he was out. The CSI could find no substantial proof that she had been there, but I trust his instincts. Only one thing was removed from his home and I need all of you to be on the lookout for this picture at any of the crime scenes you might be working today.” She held up a picture of the three of them while our Sargent handed out copies to the rest of us.

Staring back at me were the younger faces of our captain, officer Campbell and some other officer I didn’t know. It was clearly the day they graduated from the academy. I tried to take in as much information about the picture while still listening to the captain’s briefing.

“We suspect, and by we, I mean the task team included, that she is going to use this to try and frame him. Be safe out there.” She cut the meeting short as one of the task team members cleared his throat, and she joined him on their way out. I looked at all the evidence they had been chasing posted up on the boards in the front of the briefing room, and a shiver ran down the back of my spine. How many of those crimes were my father involved with?

“Are we doing this?” Campbell’s voice made me jump, and I rushed to grab our kit. I had so many questions, but from the looks of things, it wasn’t the time to ask them. I could see he was furious as we walked out to the car and I wished things could just be better. This was not supposed to happen! We weren’t supposed to be the ones in danger … That was the theory at least. I guess if you put someone like Cat in jail, you kind of make enemies, which puts you in danger! Officer Campbell pulled the car out of the parking lot, and we drove on in silence for a while before I found my voice.

“I didn’t see the other officer in the picture at the briefing. He looks familiar. Does he work at our station?” I pulled out the picture to look at it again and when I looked up, I regretted asking!

“I knew she shouldn’t have shown anyone that picture.” He looked at it for a moment and I noted the look of sadness in his eyes as he looked forward. “That was Miller. Our … My best friend. Cat killed him.” He said through gritted teeth, and it all came flooding back to me! I remembered a story a couple of years ago of an officer who had been killed under strange circumstances! It could only have been him! I put the picture back in my pocket and looked out of the window.

Freddie

I was right. The investigators found nothing to prove that she had been in my house. They were working through all the evidence they took just to make sure, but there weren’t even signs that she had wiped the place down. Cat was too clever to leave prints behind. She was clever enough to get out of prison for goodness’s sake!

I felt guilty about my mood, but when Christa insisted on showing the picture to everyone, she cut open old wounds that had barely healed. I had to keep reminding myself that she wasn’t the one at fault here. Cat was. This was exactly what she wanted. That was why she took the picture. She might never even use it. If she could just torment us with it, she would love every moment!

A call on our radio pulled me out of my mood and I watched Simmons answer. We arrived at the store moments later, and got out of the car. The only thing you could hear were the screams of someone inside the store. A male was shouting while a female whimpered and cried. As I made my way to the store, I drew my weapon and checked that Simmons was behind me.

“Police! Lower your weapon and come out with your hands up!” I shouted and caught a glimpse of the suspect in the reflection of the windows. He was holding something to a woman’s throat while screaming at someone else. I whipped around the corner and pointed my gun right at him since I could see it wasn’t a gun he was holding.

“I’m only going to say this one more time. Today is NOT the day to mess with me. Put down your weapon and come out with your hands in the damn air!” The man looked a little panicked but dropped the blade and held up his hands. As soon as he came close, I checked that Simmons had her gun on him before I put mine away and cuffed him.

We loaded him into the back of the squad car and called it in. Paramedics showed up the same time our back-up arrived, and they started processing the scene while I leaned against a tree across the street. I was fuming and trying my best to calm down before I did something I would seriously regret. It took everything I had not to shoot the suspect!