Chapter 7

The next morning, Jo awakened to a text message from Andrea that read; Call me ASAP.

Jo did as the message said and called Andrea as she went to brush her teeth.

Andrea answered, all hyped up, “Good morning Jo.”

Jo, who wasn't a morning person groaned at Andrea's perkiness. How could someone be cheerful at such an ungodly hour, she thought, “You asked me to call you.”

“That I did. Yesterday, after you told me about Ash being at the bust too, I looked him up in our records, and I must say he looks good both in pictures and in real life.”

Jo put the phone on speaker and squirted some toothpaste on her toothbrush, “Is that what you called to tell me?” She feigned disinterest outwardly but she was actually eager to hear about Ash.

“No. Funny thing about Ash is that he's not from Ganghaven,” Andrea said.

Jo, who had been brushing her teeth vigorously stopped as Andrea's words permeated her brain.

“What?! Are you for real?!”

“Yes, I am. He showed up at about ten years ago.”

“Before that, where was he?” Jo asked.

“It's not in our records.” Andrea said.

“The bastard! He left his place of birth and waltzed into Ganghaven to start up a dirty business!” Jo raged, annoyed at Ash's effontry,

“People like him are the ones drawing us back from cleaning up the block.”

“Umm, I don't think so,” Andrea said, “In fact, from what the people have to say about him, he's doing good. He distributes palliatives and runs a soup kitchen among other things. From what I saw, he's just a male version of you!”

“Yeah, right.” Jo said as she resumed brushing her teeth. No wonder Ash had asked her to prove herself the other day, Jo thought. He was actually doing good.

Then she scowled at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, that didn't give him the right to treat her like she was the dirt underneath his boots.

“Imagine if you two worked together, the kind of good that would come out of it,” Andrea proposed.

Jo spat out the paste in her mouth, “No way, Andrea. The man is an arrogant bastard who thinks himself better than anyone else.”

“So you're not going to partner with him?” Andrea asked, disappointed that Jo hadn't welcomed her plan.

Jo dropped her toothbrush before replying, “Absolutely not. We're doing well without him. In fact, I'm going out of my way to avoid him. The man's nothing but trouble.”

Andrea made a surprised sound, “Wow! This is the first time since I've known you that you're running away from trouble instead of meeting it head on.”

Jo didn't tell her she'd decided to avoid Ash because if she didn't, one of those days she might jump on him and kiss him, irrespective of where they were.

*    *    *

Later that day, hordes of police pandas descended on Ganghaven, shocking its residents who were not familiar with a large number of cops showing up at their doorsteps.

The officers went from household to household, asking questions. Those who didn't answer satisfactorily were put in the cars, to be taken to the precinct.

Many people were out on the streets, wailing and cursing the cops for taking their loved ones away.

“Don't worry,” one of the cops said with a smirk, “They'll be back soon.”

“Next time,” another added, “You'll tell us what you know.”

The commotion going on outside her apartment brought Jo's attention to the streets. She'd known the cops would come, it was inevitable after all, but she hadn't expected them to cart such a huge number of people away.

Immediately, Jo pulled on a leather bomber jacket over the singlet she wore, and rolling down the legs of her ripped jeans, went outside to talk to the cops.

“What's going on here?” She asked furiously when she saw the cops trying to force a crying ten year-old boy into the back seat of their vehicle while his family stood and begged.

“Who the fuck are you?” a mustachioed cop with a baton asked.

“Someone who knows that unless you are arresting that boy, you have no right to take him away,” Jo replied.

“Now, now, who's talking about arrest? We're just taking the young lad here to the precinct for a little chat,” the other officer replied.

The boy cried louder, “I don't wanna go,” he sniffed, “they asked me to answer all the questions and I did, but they said I was lying.”

“No, boy. We said we didn't think you were telling us everything,” the mustachioed cop corrected.

“But I am,” the boy insisted.

“Okay, officers I'm going to have to tell you to let him go,” Jo said firmly.

“Or what?” Mustache cop asked.

“Or I'll post a video clip I took of you, shoving his head into the car, before I arrived,” Jo said.

This enraged the cops as they bore down on Jo, brandishing their batons.

Jo was scared shitless, but she didn't let it show. She would be strong for the people of Ganghaven, she vowed.

“You're here, defending the helpless. Where were you when a colleague of ours was murdered in cold blood? Nowhere. No, activists like you only surface to aid cop killers,” one cop said.

“I'm sorry your colleague got killed, but shoving minors into your cars won't bring him back or even help you catch his killers. Look at the poor boy and his family, they're afraid you'll get to the precinct and charge him for a crime he didn't commit,” Jo said, trying to appeal to their conscience.

She knew her impassioned talk was for nought when the other roared, “You're  talking about family? The dead officer had a family too. Now, they'll have to be without him.”

“Again, I'm sorry—”

“Shut the fuck up, lady! Since you care about him so much, why don't you join him at the precinct. We haven't even gotten round to questioning you. We'll do that there.” The other said, finally shoving in the boy, who scooted over to make way for her.

Rex and some other members of the Street Hawks materialized from nowhere and soon, the cops were surrounded.

“Is this supposed to intimidate us?” A cop asked, “Just so you know, if anything happens to us, more cops will be here.”

Jo gave her men a sign not to engage with the cops. She decided she would go to the precinct with the teenager so he wouldn't feel lost and scared.

She was about to enter the musty car when she heard a familiar voice say jovially, “Lester, Kurtz, long time no see. What are you doing down here?”

*   *   *

Jo looked on with barely suppressed anger as the teenage boy and his family thanked Ash profusely. It wasn't that Jo was jealous over the attention and thanks he was getting, but why had he shown up? She'd had everything under control.

Ash had showed up at the last minute and cajoled the officers who'd been super friendly to him, to let her and the boy go. Surprisingly, the two grouches had given in after Ash had sworn on his life that they didn't know anything.

Jo admitted to herself that Ash's way was better for the boy. Now, he'd be saved the trauma of having to visit an interrogation room.

Some minutes later, Ash stopped the family from groveling and walked up to Jo.

Jo regarded him with a withering glance, “What do you want? A vote of thanks?”

Ash shook his head. Why did her belligerence look hot to him?

“No, I only came to ask if you're okay,” he replied with genuine concern.

Jo saw the concern in his eyes and looked away. She didn't want to be cordial to him. She shrugged, “Sure, it's no big deal. You shouldn't have intervened on my behalf though, I had it under control.”

“I never said otherwise,” Ash said. In fact, he'd seen the whole incident from afar. It had enraged him to see those officers try to intimidate her by closing ranks on her, but she'd stood as strong as timber and as cool as a cucumber.

At that moment, he'd developed a healthy dose of respect for her because it took a truckload of guts to do what she'd done.

The thought of her going to the precinct didn't sit well with him, and that was why he'd intervened even though he knew she wouldn't appreciate it.

“That was a great thing you did back there,” Ash admitted.

Jo eyed him furiously, “You don't have to patronize me, Ash, I'm not selling anything.”

Ash swallowed. His name on her lips was one of the best sounds on the planet, not to mention that her rude remarks were provoking a certain part of his body down south. Without meaning to, he rasped out ,“this has to be the first time you've called my name. I like it. Say it again.”

Jo was taken aback by the abrupt change in subject. Ash's raspy voice and his heated green gaze sent shockwaves straight to her core. Oh hell to the no, girl, she warned her pussy, not here and not with him.

So instead of saying his name again like she wanted to, she said, “In your dreams,” and walked away as fast as she could.

*    *    *

Ted Baines twiddled his thumbs as he waited for the officer he'd sent for.

Some minutes later, Lester, the same officer who'd tried to bring Jo and the teenager in for questioning rushed in, apologizing over and over for his tardiness.

Baines put up his hand to stop him. He actually didn't like Lester, he thought he was a huge ass licker.

“So what did you find out today?” Baines asked.

Lester sat up straight, “Sir, we questioned everyone in the block, but nobody knew anything.”

Baines leaned forward and said in a quiet voice, “are you trying to say that after everyone you questioned, you've come back empty-handed?”

Lester swallowed audibly and began to sweat, “Sir, yes. But don't worry, I'll go back tomorrow.”

Baines shook his head and leaned back into his chair, “Lester, have I told you what a failure I find you to be?”

Lester nodded.

“Recently?” Baines asked.

Lester shook his head.

“You're such a failure. Tomorrow, it's back to traffic duty for you.”

Lester blanched at his statement.

“Now get the hell out of my office!” Baines shouted. He didn't suffer fools gladly.

Lester stood up and left, frowning.

Baines took the clod off his mind and began to go through some case files when his landline rang.

“Who the hell is this?” Baines asked with residual anger as he picked up the phone.

It was an intern from the technical department calling to inform him that they'd made what they thought was significant progress on the case, and they wanted Baines to take a look.

Baines assured them he'd be there in no time and hung up. He then took his portly frame out of his chair and left his beloved office for the cluttered basement that served as the technical forensics office.

*    *    *

When Baines got there, he met the two men who worked there. One was in his forties, with a bald head and Harry Porter glasses that kept slipping off his thin nose, while the other was tall and blond with a body that'd put professional bodybuilders to shame.

“You two have something for me?” Baines asked, and the men nodded.

“Show him,” the senior officer ordered the intern. The older man walked over to a large computer and began to type furiously on the keyboard.

“Sir, our officers searched the crime scene thoroughly as you asked and they found places were cameras had been mounted,” the man said.

“So?” Baines asked eagerly.

“The cameras were removed, probably after the crime had occurred.”

“And how is this going to help the case?”

“Well, we assume that it was the murderer who did this. But here's the rub, they missed one camera. It was hidden behind a door. We managed to retrieve it and luckily for us, this camera has a capacity for storage which means, we do not need to see the footage from some security panel.

We hooked up the camera to our system, and we found only a two second footage on it. This was three minutes after the crime took place,” the intern said proudly.

“Let me see it,” Baines ordered, clasping his hand behind his back.

“Sure,” the intern said and typed in a command on his keyboard, sliding his glasses up his nose with his middle finger as he did.

Some seconds later, a very short video clip played on the computer screen on loop. It showed a man and a woman, armed with pistols, making their way out of the building.

“Got you, motherfuckers,” Baines said to himself. To the men he said, “I want to know who these people are, yesterday. Send this pic to everyone. I want an APB out there! We must find these cop killers!”