Chapter 97 - Long Time No See
The sun was slowly ascending, leaving a golden shimmer on top of the buildings. I Walked to the police station while overthinking all the scenarios where Jack would make things difficult for me. Inside the station building, I saw other officers sitting in the outside room while there was a small wooden door that differentiated the Chief's room. It was better I don't provoke Jack now.
Everyone was here, and they were having breakfast or tea. There was only one officer rummaging through the stock files in front of him, and I decided to talk to him.
"Hello, I am Selene, assigned as the acting Beta in absence of our Alpha," I pulled out the card that Sam had given and shown it to him. He looked at me with a smile before taking the card. This man was pretty young and even I could tell he was naïve because I had been in his place before. "There is some information I needed you to help me with"
"Sure, Selene," he spoke in a polite tone. His smile was very innocent and contagious, his eyes lit up as if it was his first time being asked a request. "Tell me, what can I help you with?"
I pulled out the task paper as the list was specific in it better to understand, "these are some information our Alpha had asked to take a follow up on."
He took the paper and saw it carefully. It was a little overwhelming for him to memorise all the lists at once, but he kept the paper down and got up to check through the file rack. His hands clumsily moved around the files and pulled out one file, holding it in his hand while another tried to get a file from the higher shelf without proper support and all the papers inside it fell like rain on him.
"Are you okay?" I went to help him, and there was an uproar of laughter in the police station.
One of the officers there said, "There goes Logan again, increasing his own workload."
"He sure loves to stay back late at the station and work overtime to fill up his mistakes," added another one.
"Why does Chief Jack even entertain him, Logan, you should be fired soon enough."
I looked at the other officers, about to say something, but Logan stopped me. "I am sorry, I always keep creating trouble for myself and others. Please have a seat, I will give you all the details you need." His hands were moving fast while gathering the papers while his eyes did not raise from the ground. This man sure was motivated to work in such a demeaning environment.
I took the other file he was holding and gave him a kind smile, "it's fine Logan, I will look through this one till you get me other papers. Your help is very important to me"
His head snapped to me with sparkling eyes, "Yes, Yes Ms Selene, I will get it for you immediately."
After helping him gather the papers, I sat on the chair to check the file I had while Logan arranged the papers in chronological order. This file was of the bail records and cases filed. The number was obviously less, as this was a village. I flipped through the pages, making a note of the bails and the reasons, when a hand slammed on the file and snatched it away from me.
"The murderers are running free now," said the man who had taken the file away and my eyes immediately closed to keep my vexation in. I looked at Chief Jack as he threw the file towards Logan's face to have this one scattered as well, "With whose permission did you give it her, you brat. Clean it up fast."
Logan was quick to gather the now scattered papers with an embarrassed face. "S-Sir, it was requested by the Alpha and M-Ms Selene here is the acting Be-Beta, came to-"
"SHUT UP, FOOL!" Jack's voice boomed in the room to have everyone go quiet. "My brother is dead. There is no Beta now." Jack's aggravated eyes turned to me, "What right do you have, a murderer to take the place of your victim? How shameless can you be? Get out of here or I will put you in jail and this time make sure your petty ass suffers there."
I let out a deep sigh. This was going to happen. After all, Jack never got to avenge his brother's death and with Fang having taken the blame, he did not even stand a chance. The only one remaining was me, who he verbally showed vengeance against.
"Chief Jack, here is a card that says I hold the temporary position of Beta," I showed him the card. "The Alpha asked for this information, now are you trying to defy his words and show you stand in a higher position here?"
There were gasps in the silent police station and Jack's eyes bled flames of anger. In a blink of an eye, he snatched the card from my hand and threw it in the dustbin. "You!" I growled.
But a smug look plastered Jack's face, "You sure are lower to me, Selene. The forged card would give you nothing here. You might have fooled the judge, but not me. I know you belong to the enemy village, and you set up the attack on the Alpha. When my dear brother John found it out, you killed him and made the Alpha of the enemy village take the blame." He walked ahead, looking into my eyes with scorn, "I am sure you must warm Fang Warchild's bed pretty well to have him personally testify and save you."
Instinctively, my hand raised up to plant Jack's face with a slap and Jack smirked as if he was waiting for something like this, but another hand stopped me. My eyes snapped at Logan, who had halted me, and he said with a scared look, "Please don't, it would be considered a crime."
Jack passed a death glare at Logan for stopping me. He was all along planning to get me back in the prison and with a valid crime this time, he would have all the reasons to torture me. Logan extended his hand with my temporary ID that he had picked from the dustbin and cleaned. My eyes shifted between Jack and Logan before I grabbed the card and put it in my pocket.
"You bastard!" Jack held Logan by his collar and pulled him across the desk, "don't butt your nose where it is not supposed to or I will wipe the floor with your face"
"S-S-Sorry Sir, it won't happen again," Logan pleaded, whipping the drops of spit that had smeared his face. Jack pushed him away to have Logan stagger back and smash into the file stand with a whimper. My fist clenched in anger, as all I could do was glare at Jack.
One day, irrespective of whether I become the Beta or not, I would slap Jack straight into the earth.
Jack crossed his hand in a distasteful look towards me, "You butcher, will be losing this competition. There is nothing for you here. Get out before I arrest you for beating up poor Logan there." Jack pointed with his thumb.
My eyes narrowed at him before I stormed out of the police station and stomped into the chillies. Suzan was on her Nokia, playing snakes as always. "Suzan, come on I have some work from you"
She looked at my red face and got up in concern, "What happened, Selene? You look so red"
I closed my eyes, trying to calm down, but this Jack always chewed my nerves like a rabid dog. "I need you to get these lists from the prison, along with the reasons. Get a follow up on every prisoner's behaviour and give it to me by evening. Make a fair report of the listing before handing it over"
"Okay," Suzan said, trying to understand my anger. "Do you want something to drink? You look very furious. This way, you will only waste your time in anger and affect your other tasks. Whatever happened, put it behind, you have bigger things to do"
I looked at Suzan. She kept her hand on my shoulder and I took a deep breath. She was right. I can deal with those things later.
Right now, I had to do the rest of the tasks as soon as possible so I wouldn't have a lot on my plate tomorrow morning. "I will get myself a cold coffee, you go talk to your father." The reason I had kept this task separate for Suzan was that her father was the prison in charge and how I wished I had gone to him and saved some humiliation that Logan faced.
Suzan laughed and patted loudly on my shoulder, "that's like my girl. Now don't forget to act injured, your facade just broke in front of me, be careful with others."
My eyes went wide at my foolishness, but then I cracked up and Suzan was quick to follow. "I got caught quick. You go now or the rest of my skin would start shedding."