Day 264 - Repeat Offenders - Chapter 14.1 - (1300 words)

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REPEAT OFFENDERS

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 14.1

“Hello, Detective Samuels speaking.” George Samuels answered the phone on his desk as he was working that afternoon from the office, a mountain of paperwork to go through.
“Is that really what I sound like?” Came a familiar sounding voice back at him, catching his attention immediately. The file he was working on was on screen, he hit save on his notes on the case, and turned away from the screen to give the interesting voice his full attention.
“An odd way to start a conversation... and whom am I speaking to?” Detective Samuels inquired.
George Prime was calling from the warehouse, there was a secure line in the freeze room and he called his personal line at the office to talk to the only person he could trust given the situation. He had thought about the options and what to say long and hard, he had even made some notes. He had frozen time to do that, so he had time and the luxury of setting up what he needed and providing evidence on the 'crimes' as they existed. Of course he knew it would be an uphill battle to convince anyone of what was going on, but he did have a few advantages up his sleeves.
“Let's just say I'm a concerned citizen for now shall we.” It was not framed as a question, it was a command.
“Fine by me.” Detective Samuels replied nonchalantly, but he had activated a call trace and was recording the call with the click of a few buttons on his desk. “What can I do for you, Concerned Citizen?”
This is where he needed to hook his other self in to the case, and that was going to be easy enough. George chose his words carefully, knowing full well that any wrong word or misstep would sink the wider goal he was trying to achieve. The one crime he could prove, he could solve for them instantly was only the tip of a significant iceberg, but one that could strain credulity. Fortunately the hook was very strong.
“Last night, there was an officer down near the Plaza.” George said, lightly, off hand and almost too casually. His other self, the Detective George Samuels of this 'dimensional reality' sat up in his chair but gave away nothing audibly to betray his extreme interest.
“There was. Do you...” He paused and snapped his fingers above his head, pointing across the room at another man, the detective who had caught that case. Fingers beckoning to join him and listen in to the call, he patched the call, duplicating the line as he continued his line of questioning after the brief interruption of about two seconds. “... Do you have information on that?”
George Prime smiled on his end of the phone line, he knew he had him and he recognised the gap in the call, the small pause and the almost unnoticeable change in call quality, imperceptible unless you knew what you were listening for. “Yes. Can I just ask something please?”
“Certainly.” there was silence on the line. “Go ahead? Ask anything.”
“Who caught the case? Who just joined us on the line? Who's lead on the … and can you tell me the name of the officer who was shot please?”
Detective Samuels looked across the crowded room to Detective Bell, who returned his gaze with a canny look. The person on the other end fancied they knew something about the way they operated, either a fan boy or an ex-cop? Either way, the name of the deceased had already been made public, so how was it that someone had information on the killing but not who the victim was? That ruled out the press, who had been known to call in and pretend to have information only to pump the desk for more than they had released.
“Excuse me, but can I ask you a question first?”


“Sure. Is it why I don't the officer's name? When I claim to have knowledge about a crime, where the name has undoubtedly been published already? That's a fair question. It will become clear when we meet later, but it comes down to this. The person who committed the act, he has confessed on tape, I have the evidence and can provide it and the perp to you all ready to go. You just have to come an get him. I assume you have click/traced this call and the address return should be on your screen by now, if not then very soon.”
Detective Samuels nodded down the line, he got the feeling that the person was not wasting his time, that he was a cop or an ex-cop and that he was going to lead them to a neatly wrapped result. There was something else though, something that tickled the back of his brain and gave him the oddest feeling that he knew this person, very well but could not quite place him. Maybe an old colleague from the academy, undercover with some scumbags? He was not going to open up to him and trust him completely, but there was definitely something there worth pursuing.
“You also have Detective Bell on the line, he's...”
“Joe? Joe Bell, he caught the case did he?” Came the reply from the other end of the line.
“Yes, that's me – excuse me but do I know you?” Joe's voice came down the line and asked curiously. He was having trouble telling the two voices apart and if it were not for the fact that he could see and hear his office mate in the same room he would not necessarily know which of them said what.
“Yes, you do. And you don't. It's complicated. It is very...” there was a heavy sigh and again Joe thought it sounded much like Detective Samuels did when annoyed or frustrated.
“Well I think you should tell us everything you know... officer.” George Samuels cut to the conclusion, and he did not hear a contradiction from the man calling in.
“Yeah, about that.”
“You're on the job. Don't bother denying it, I mean you have done little to hide the fact with what you say and how you say it, so why start now? How about you just tell us what you know and … yes we have the address, what is that? A warehouse?” He was looking at the Google Map of the address, a large block building much bigger than a standard office block, and with a single square pitched roof. He switched to Street View but saw little of any use, the view down the alley was oblique, the camera car had not gone down the alleyway where the entrance was, it was a driveway access and not a road per se. From the angle though he could made out a big roller door, a garage entrance or loading dock as well as a door with a keypad much closer.
“Yes it is, and you'll want to get down here quite soon, bring a tac team and a DA, and I mean THE DA not an ADA or one of the fucktard minions from the office. Bring the actual DA. Officer shooting, he'll want to be here anyway, but when they see the... well the bigger picture. Then we'll need someone with some juice.”
“Juice?” Joe Bell was stunned, he could have sworn that it was George who said that, but it was not. George Samuels was sitting at his desk nodding at the request, potentially not getting the same vibe that his colleague was.
After all you never recognise your own voice on the phone, do you?