Chapter 12 - Apartment hunting ...
1111 Words
Chante
I could see that my training officer was stressed. We all were. Having that woman out on the streets again was the worst possible thing that could have happened. All the officers could talk about everywhere you went was whether she would be coming after their families. I checked in with my mom during lunchtime and she seemed fine.
She was busy packing up the house, which was a good thing at least. The sooner we could move, the better I would feel. I checked out a couple of places online and had just finished lunch when we received a call to check out one of Cat’s old buildings. I looked at officer Campbell as he responded to the call. I could see the worry in his eyes as he called for back-up.
The building wasn’t far from us and we arrived first. We waited in the car for our back-up to arrive and as soon as they did, we entered the building. It had clearly been abandoned a long time ago. It had to have been some kind of warehouse at some point. There was graffiti all over the walls, and we even found a mattress and an old blanket in one of the corners.
A flock of doves suddenly took off to our right and I nearly had a heart attack! Thankfully, nobody fired shots at the poor creatures, and we made our way down to the basement. After clearing the building, we reported back that there was nothing and made our way back to the cars.
“So, someone called in and said that they spotted her here in the past couple of hours?” I frowned as we pulled out of the parking lot.
“Probably.” Campbell nodded. “Dispatch sifts through most of the tip-offs and then sends them to the task team, and they tell us which ones to check out. I remember this building from back when we were investigating her the first time. It belonged to her, but she forfeited all of her property when she was sentenced. Now nobody seems to care about the building anymore. But that doesn’t mean she won’t come back here. She might still believe it belongs to her. The thing is, we have to follow up on every possible lead if we are going to find her and put her back where she belongs.” He sighed deeply and I nodded. I knew what protocol required, I just needed to fill the strained silence.
“Do you really think she will come back? If I was her, I would have been long gone by now.” I sighed and he laughed.
“That is why you wear that uniform and she wears a prison uniform. She believed she was untouchable and that she could do whatever she wanted without consequences. She is out there somewhere, and I don’t mean on a plane. She definitely came back here. That one believed in revenge. All we can hope for is that we catch her before she hurts anyone else.” I could feel the tension relax a little as we drove around.
We turned a corner, and he burst out laughing at the sight of a group of kids playing in the water. A pipe had burst and they were enjoying the unexpected gift. I called in the burst pipe feeling a little guilty that soon they wouldn’t have it anymore, but it had to be fixed or a large part of that area wouldn’t have water later in the evening.
That was what I liked about our job. We turned a corner and there was this picture-perfect moment in front of us and when we turned the next corner, we had no idea what danger might be waiting for us. We could just be driving down the street, minding our own business and a crime could happen right in front of us.
“So, you moved back to your mom’s place?” His voice pushed through my thoughts and I frowned.
“How did you know that?!” I wasn’t impressed!
“Well, I saw you looking at places, and I heard you talking to your mom at lunch.” He laughed and relief flooded my body. For a moment, I wondered if the man was stalking me!
“Yeah, my roommate was great, but she liked to party and I don’t. But mom and I are looking for a smaller place.” I sighed, and we drove on in silence for a little while.
“If I had more space, I could have invited you to move to my place.” He sounded as if he was saying it more to himself than me and I frowned when he looked at me. “Sorry,” He laughed. “I recently bought a house, and I was actually thinking of getting a roommate.” He smiled and I nodded.
“Yeah, no, that’s not going to work for us. I have to stick to my mom, or she won’t sell the house, and she really can’t afford it now that my dad is in jail.” I shrugged.
Freddie
It would have been the perfect solution. Okay, maybe not perfect, but it would have been a solution if it was just her. A lot of single cops shared apartments. It didn’t mean they were involved or anything. I frowned at the direction my thoughts were going.
“Yes, I clearly didn’t think that through.” I laughed and regretted ever mentioning it. “Did you see any good places? Maybe I should sell my house and buy an apartment.” Fine. I made things uncomfortable, but I tried to fix it!
“I saw a couple, but the apartments are almost as expensive as the houses!” She exclaimed, making me laugh. I wondered if I had got a three-bedroomed apartment … Nope! Nope! I couldn’t buy a place just to give them a home. She was the daughter of a traitor. I had to keep my distance if I was going to make sure she didn’t follow in her father’s footsteps.
“I would like to see some of the ones you looked at. Not the ones you are interested in. It will save me having to go through all of them.” And it would give me an idea of which area you would possibly be living in. If I had to do surveillance or anything, but that part I didn’t tell her.
“Yes, of course. Sure.” She smiled, typing on her phone just as another call came in and we responded.
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