"I understand Mrs. Johnson," Michael said into the telephone, as he ashed his cigarette into a used coffee shop cup. He rose in his seat to cut into Mrs. Johnson's rambling. "Last time, I spent hours trying to track Jasper. and it ended with a phone call from you saying he came back when you put his food out." Mrs. Johnson's voice raised attempting to cut off Michael from finishing his sentence, but he wasn't having any of it.
"Now, I'm not saying that I'm not willing to look for Jasper, I'm just saying that usually when someone goes missing, there's a grace period of around 48 hours. That's all I'm saying let's give Jasper a grace period of 48 hours, before I start turning the city upside down and before you have to pay me a fee." Mrs. Johnson calmed down a bit as if the words had gotten through her overprotectiveness of the only family she had left. "And if he doesn't return in 48 hours, I'll start the search, and all I would ask in return is a home-cooked meal. Sound good?" Mrs. Johnson had already turned the conversation to talking about how her late husband had always raved about her family's casserole. "Sounds good. Call me back with any updates. Okay, Bye-bye."
Michael hung up the phone and put his cigarette out. The small victory was enough to make him chuckle. He almost instinctively reached for the coffee cup and took a swig, before spitting it out to the side of his worn-down desk, having forgotten that it was now a mixture of cold coffee and cigarette ashes.
"Bleh!" he said before trying to shake it all off.
When he quit his job as a detective for the Police and decided to go private, cat chasing and cigarette-infused coffee ashes were not what he had in mind. There was only so much the PD could do when it came to problem-solving when it came to the masks and tights. It was their fault they were limited in resources and solutions, and their goal of justice had been muddied by bureaucracy and politics. Some criminals both super and normal had either paid for their freedom or instilled enough fear for their wrongdoings to be swept under the rug. That side Michael had become almost used to, criminals were going to do illegal shit; it came with the job. Michael noticed before quitting that it wasn't only the criminals that were getting away. He started interacting with civilians who had started making the accusation that he was just like the rest of the Police Department, who was willingly letting heroes get away with anything and everything simply because they were heroes. At first, the Detective didn't want to believe them, as if they were all some crazy conspiracy theorists who had latched on to another bizarre idea. It wasn't until Michael started looking into their cases. Even though there was enough evidence to make them face the consequences of their actions, for some reason their cases had been stopped cold in their tracks by separate higher-ranking officers.
The Detective gathered all the cases and presented them to a chief he had trusted since joining the PD. He showed all the evidence trusting the chief would stand beside him in taking this to not only the news but higher ranking individuals than the one who had stopped the cases. He was so confident that this chief, whom he had always seen in good light would side with him, but he was met with comments like, "You must be bored Detective." and "If you need cases, I can find you some cases."
The Detective was almost shaken to his core, how could this good-hearted chief just turn a blind eye to all of this as if it was nothing? "Chief, am I supposed to just act like these cases were solved to the best of our abilities? I mean look at this one," Michael opened a folder and spread it across the chief's desk, "A six-year-old girl named Caroline was thought to be missing by her parents only to have been caught by a convenience store camera being squashed by a car that a hero had sent flying during a fight." The Chief didn't even look at the evidence and only replied with, "So what?"
"SO WHAT?!" Michael's shock was beginning to turn into outright disgust and anger and the Chief could see it. "Let me tell you something," The Chief walked out from behind his desk and sat between the Detective and the evidence on the Chief's desk. "If I were to start charging heroes for everything then they would be over their heads in debt, wouldn't see the light of the day, and no one and I mean no one would want to be a hero."
Michael couldn't believe what he was hearing, "You're saying it as if they are above the law as if th--"
"You're damn right they're above the law. I'm supposed to put this city in danger because little ol' Caroline won't be able to see her parents tonight."
Anger was beginning to consume Michael, the lack of care for the 6-year-old girl, had shifted the way he was looking at the Chief and The Chief had noticed. "Easy, Michael, I'm not saying that they could turn evil and we would forgive them. I'm just saying what's a few accidents here and there if it means saving the whole damn city."
"Oh, so murder is fine as long as you say you're doing it in the name of the greater good," Michael replied sarcastically.
"GROW UP MICHAEL! It's not about your need to be righteous; We have civilians to protect and a city to serve. This city looks at us to do that! Not to go around arresting these goddamn supes. They don't expect us to arrest the bad ones, much less the ones they praise."
Michael began gathering the evidence and case files, not even having the strength to look at the Chief without throwing a punch. "You know Chief when I was a kid I wanted to be an officer because there was one that saved me in my time of need. They didn't have super speed or super strength, but damn in my young eyes they were still a hero." By this time Michael had already started picking up the material behind the Chief on his desk.
"We're still those heroes Michael."
Michael was looking dead at the still shot right before the car had hit a smiling Caroline and then picked up the picture of the bloody mess underneath the vehicle. He began making his way towards the exit of the office, but not before handing the still shot of the bloody mess of what used to be little ol' Caroline to the Chief.
"Some heroes we are, huh." He said as he exited the office.
Michael had quit days later, but not before copying all of the case files and the evidence. He just couldn't put it all behind him and mindlessly work on small cases as if there wasn't more out there being kept away from the public.
The former Detective wasn't exactly sure what he should do after his time at PD, but he knew where to start. Soon after quitting, he knocked on the door of Caroline's parents' home and decided to give them peace of mind. The whole time, the two of them had to believe that their sweet Caroline had gone missing, waiting night and day at the phone for her kidnappers to demand a ransom. Now, because the PD didn't even have the decency to let them know their daughter was dead; Michael had no choice, but to give them the worst news a parent could get. They were going to have to bury their child, and they wouldn't even be able to fill the small casket with her actual body.
It was a rough conversation, Michael still played back the scene in his mind from time to time of the mother bursting out in enough tears to fill a tub. Caroline's father was gripping his wife tight, and he struggled to hold back his tears in hopes that he could be strong enough in his wife's time of need. Michael exited the home moments later knowing that they wanted to be alone at the time.
Days later, he would get a call from an unknown number. It was Caroline's father inviting him back to their home, and Michael agreed to come over, just in case they had any questions he could answer for them. Michael couldn't believe it when he knocked on the door; He was greeted with a smile and the smell of home cooking. There was still sadness in their eyes as they spoke to him, but Michael knew that wouldn't be going away anytime soon, if ever.
"So, Mr. Whitaker sorry for the late invitation. We didn't get your information last time and it wasn't until multiple calls to the police, were we able to track down a number for you."
Michael was a bit worried about how much information they had shared with the police and if he would have to look over his shoulder before getting arrested for making copies of the evidence and case files. Luckily, Caroline's father was already answering Michael's inner line of questioning.
"We debated raising hell over the fact no one came to let us know about our daughter, but considering our first few attempts at trying to get ahold of you there, were met with the fact that you had quit the Force, we thought this must've been the reason for it."
Michael gave a slight nod to acknowledge that they had guessed right. By this time, Caroline's mother had brought over a plate of homemade lasagna. She began to make her way into the conversation, " Mr. Whitaker we just wa--"
"Michael". The young man interjected after being reminded of his father every time he heard Mr. Whitaker.
Caroline's mother could only smile softly at Michael's interruption before continuing her original statement. "Michael we just wanted to say thank you! We know you didn't have to bring this information to us, especially after quitting your job, but you still did and I wanted to thank you for that." Whitaker couldn't help but notice as he had already begun eating that her voice was calming as if she was a different person from the person Michael had seen on their first interaction.
As he finished his second bite of the lasagna, he quickly got out the words, "I'm sorry, I couldn't bring it to you sooner. I had no i--"
"Michael, sweetie," The woman had already become comfortable in the short time that they had known each other, "I was stuck when you came to us." Michael was a bit confused at what she could mean. "Ted could tell you, I wasn't sleeping, I wasn't eating, and my showers had become few and far between. I couldn't stand the idea of my phone going off and....an....and," She was struggling to get the words out, but with the comfort of Ted reaching over to grasp her hand, she had gathered enough strength to continue. "my little girl calling and me not being able to answer because I was asleep or I was in the shower. I was stuck waiting." she lifted her free hand and pointed it towards Michael, accompanying it with a soft smile and teary eyes, "You saved me. You did that! Not the Police and not God, You Michael. If not for you, I would have spent the rest of my life waiting for my phone. Stuck."
Michael had no idea what to say to that. He didn't know if filling his mouth with the delicious lasagna was the right move or if a vocal reply would've been better. He was trying to figure it out but was interrupted by Ted reentering the conversation.
"Michael, what do you plan on doing now that you're not working on the force?" Now, this was something the former Detective could answer freely.
"I haven't really thought about that, for as long as I can remember I wanted to be a cop. I wanted to help those who needed help."
"Have you thought about going private?" Ted quickly replied.
"You mean like a PI?"
"Sort of, I mean with Caroline's case it's pretty evident that there are some things the cops can't do or at least won't right?"
"Yeah, but for a PI you need to h---"
"The reason I'm asking Michael is because Linda and I were thinkin--"
Linda interjected quickly as if to finish Ted's sentence "We were thinking of helping you! I mean you helped us and it's only right we help you!"
"Woah woah wait" Michael had already set his utensils down and was beginning to rise up from his seat.
"Is there a problem?" Ted asked concerned that they were putting unwanted pressure on their own hero.
"No, I mean it's just PIs need a lot. You need a place of operations and enough cases to help pay yourself enough for food, and housing. That's just the beginning, I mean I haven't really sav--"
"Michael, sweetie," Linda interjected almost instantly calming Michael down from a full rant. "That's what we'll be helping you with in the beginning, Ted and I found this place above an abandoned convenience store. It's not much but the upstairs is nice enough for you to work out of. You can have Ted's desk from his office."
"I can't pay for a place like that, I can barely afford my apartment" Michael was starting to ramp back up again until Ted rose from his own seat.
"We're paying for it."
"What?" Michael couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"We're paying for it. We're gonna put a two-year lease down on that building paid in full. As for your apartment and salary, you can live here. Linda and I are moving."
"Moving? Don't you wan-"
"We can't stay here, Michael." Linda interrupted, "There's nothing here for us. I mean Carol's not here, not really. When I look at this town, I'm just reminded of the accident and the fact that the police did nothing about it."
The last statement was like a gut punch to Michael, she wasn't wrong.
"So, we have to get out of this city, and even if we do Michael, Ted and I know Caroline will still be with us." There were moments of silence before Linda continued speaking. "So, that's the deal. You're going to live here, you're going to work out of that place after we put down for two years, and you're going to help people just like you helped me and Ted. Is that clear, Michael?" Michael could feel the change in tone from Linda. It had gone from a thankful civilian to now almost like a mother talking to her child. The once-strong detective had nothing else to complain about or question. Who was he to turn down an offer like this?
"Yes ma'am," Michael replied like a child ready to do as their parent had told them.
"Well, that settles it!" Ted exclaimed as he clasped his hands together. "We'll call you in a couple days to sort everything out, and then it's all on you Detective."
"No pressure." Michael joked.
"Of course not! Now sit down your lasagna is going to get cold." Linda said as he waved him down to take a seat.
"No, it's too good! I haven't had homemade lasagna in so long!"
"That's good to hear because I already prepared some for you to take home, don't let me forget!"
Fast Forward a month later and most of his work was now small minor jobs nothing substantial, but with Caroline's parents paying for everything (having used the money they were saving for Caroline since long before she was born), there wasn't a rush to chase down hard cases. Michael knew from his time on the Force and the cases he saw towards the end of his time there, that it was only a matter of time before the 'real' jobs started making their way onto his desk. Michael grabbed his keys and phone from his desk as rose from his chair. He was about to make his way to the door when he heard a phone ring. he almost instinctively picked up the telephone on his desk, but the ringing continued. That's when he felt the vibration in his pocket, confused about who would be calling him and why in the middle of the night. Michael pulled out his cell phone and was greeted by an unknown number on its screen.
Log in to comment