One

A Chapter by Darius Greeves

Introductions

Lee knew what he’d done the second it happened. 6 months, he thought, 6 f*****g months and already he’d done it. He’d been passed up on every good case that had come through for those 6 months (not that there were many), given some robberies and mostly just paperwork, filing evidence reports. But then he was a rookie, why should he have been given the good stuff. ‘You’re too smart for your own good, you know that kid?’.

That’s what his old sergeant had told him. He was right. If only he’d kept his mouth shut and his eyes away. But he couldn’t, he never could, that’s what got him this job. ‘The Youngest Junior Detective’ he’d been proud of that. His knack for spotting things some said was a gift, most of his life it had really only caused him pain. Noticing the little marks on his mom from where his dad had hurt her, noticing the smells of his parents. Before he was in care it had all just led to being far more aware than a child should have been of his situation. But now, he thought; now he could really put it to good use and what had he done? The first thing he’d noticed was the letters on the chief’s desk. They were marked ‘SENSITIVE’ but that wasn’t the important bit. The important thing was where they were from, Switzerland. There’s only one reason for an Italian-American chief of Police in San Diego, California to be getting letters marked sensitive from Switzerland. It wasn’t the greatest challenge of deductive reasoning Lee would ever face. But he didn’t really mean to say it, it just kind of slipped out, but once it did he knew what would happen. As far as Lee remembered the last parts of the conversation went something like this;

‘Boss, I think I found a lead for the Burrow case, see there’s inconsistencies with...’

‘Sorry, Harding, did I put you on that case?’

‘No sir but...’

‘Well then why are you finding leads?’

‘I thought that’s what I was supposed to do, catch criminals and all that’

‘You’re supposed to do what I pay you to do, and at the moment that’s file those evidence reports’

‘Well, technically you don’t sir’

‘What?’

‘Well I’m paid by the tax-payer, by everyone in this country paying taxes, which by my best guess looking at those letters of yours wouldn’t include you’

‘You little s**t! You’ve got some balls; you haven’t even been here a year and your investigating me? For tax affairs?’

‘Sorry boss, I didn’t mean...’

‘Hah, you just made the biggest mistake of your career you little f**k’

And that was it. Off he was, right down to the damp basement to work on the cold cases with some other poor soul he’d never heard of. It sounded like great fun, looking for leads no-one else could find, but everybody knew what it was: A dead end, somewhere to send you so you can’t cause trouble. And that’s where he found himself, unpacking a brown cardboard box in a grey room filled with other brown boxes themselves filled with files, each with a name, or set of names on it. Then someone popped their head out of a small office in the corner of the room with the blinds drawn. A dark skinned man with glasses perched so neatly on the end of his nose that it would appear as if the slightest shake of his head may see them fall free.

‘So they sent me company?’ He said smiling. Lee couldn’t place the accent, Utah maybe?

‘Uh, yeah’

‘What did you do to get here?’

‘Uhm, I implied that Chief Benet was avoiding tax’

‘Avoiding or evading? Very important difference’ Lee looked at the man blankly before he let out a grin. ‘James, Smith, I know a boring name.’ The two shook hands before Lee inquired. ‘What did you do?’

‘I asked to be sent here actually’

‘Why?’

‘Oh I thought I could solve a case close to my heart that was sent here, but once I was here they never let me back up top’

‘Well, I guess I’m your new partner’

‘I guess so... I didn’t catch your name?’

‘Lee, Harding.’

‘Oh, the wonder kid? Well this is quite a fall from grace for you isn’t it’

‘Hah, yeah I guess so. So what do you do down here exactly?’

He was then talked through the routine by James. Get in, open up the newest file to be sent down there (which were always at least 3 years old), inevitably come up with exactly the same conclusion the boys up top came to and move on, day in day out. Lee could barely stand the idea of it, never mind the dulling monotony of the actual act. He looked at James with a stare that said a thousand words of despair. James looked back and let out another soft grin. The grin of a man who’d seen this look often before and knew he could comfort the wearer

‘Don’t worry’ he urged, ‘It’s not all that bad. Occasionally we get a really interesting one’

‘And when we don’t?’ Lee responded.

‘Let’s just say there are worse things to be doing. Now put your stuff over there and come grab some lunch’. James gestured to an old fabric chair by the edge of the office as he went to grab his jacket. Lee moved to put his stuff on the chair and immediately noticed a draught. Could this get any worse? He thought to himself. ‘Come on then’ James called once more, and Lee followed, out of a room that he felt to be his impending bane.

Having lunch with James, Lee learnt about some of the man’s life, before their paths had crossed. James told him about how he’d grown up in Texas " but had lost most of his accent when he came up north. He had served in Iraq 2, but tried to play the fact down. James was very chatty, and seemed to think he was hilarious, but preferred to talk about other people over himself. Lee was very tempted to ask about what exactly the case was that James had asked to be sent to that hell hole for but whenever Lee dropped a hint at asking just that James went very quiet and stern, it seemed obvious to Lee that the man didn’t want to tell him about it and so he pressed no more. As the drizzle ran down the window pane of the diner they found themselves in, the distant sound of the television echoed in the background, some news about U.S-Europe tensions. Lee wasn’t exactly the most politically minded individual. He had a vague understanding of how it all worked, effectively a merry-go-round of lies and corruption but had no burning desire to educate himself further, and so preferred to ignore such things that seemed tedious to him.

‘Lee’ He noticed he’d drifted off in the middle of his sentence ‘You were just telling me about your degree. Engineering was it?’

‘Yeah’

‘So what wound you up working for the staties then?’ Lee had a think for a moment

‘.... We’re gonna be spending a lot of time together James. Why don’t we save that story for another day’.

‘Fair enough’ Replied James. The two finished their lunches in silence. Not an uncomfortable silence it should be noted, just one shared by two men in the same position, stuck doing an entirely useless job when they both want to be saving the world. It amused Lee at that moment that he’d never really grown out of that burning desire to be someone. How dim he’d been. He could never be anyone important, that would give him the chance to f**k up. He couldn’t be dealing with that.

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