Seven

Lee and James bring their findings to the Chief

Lee was downcast for most of the journey back to the office. He had a fear, aching in his gut. James would probably tell him it wasn’t fear but it was. He couldn’t stand the idea of having to leave this case behind. Handing it over to some bureaucrat for it to be buried beneath a pile of bullshit. This case was made for him, and he could solve it. His mind had been racing. For all his fear the truth of the matter was that most of the case had really been solved. There were only a couple of questions that remained. Why had they changed their minds and why was the oiler killed? The second of these questions Lee and James had all but answered, although they had little to no evidence for it. But the first of them they were clueless about, and this was the one that really burnt at Lee’s core. As James pulled into the garage and turned off the engine he noticed Lee intently staring out the window. Their conversations had been intermittent at best.

‘Common then’, James said. Lee responded with a questioning look ‘Tell me’, he persisted ‘Why are you here doing this?’. Lee understood the question, one he had deflected before. He turned his head back and continued to look out the window while considering what his answer would be.

‘Have you ever seen any of the “Sherlock Holmes”?’ Lee asked James. Humouring the question, James responded,

‘I’ve seen a couple’

‘The attraction of Sherlock as a character wasn’t really his puzzle solving’ Lee continued, ‘It was his attitude. His contradiction of character you see. The way he is built up is as someone who is purely thrilled by the chase. He seems to have no feelings of morality. Yet people watch and read about this man who would seemingly have nothing in common with any of us, time and time again. Why do you think that is?’. James thought for a few moments,

‘The entertainment value? How rude he is?’, Lee shook his head,

‘No those are just gimmicks. The reason people keep watching is that contradiction, at the soul of Sherlock Holmes. His words, his mannerisms and his lack of tact suggest an uncaring man. His actions, however, scream of a man who is deeply attached to those close to him. It’s always amazed me how Conan-Doyle could capture the contradiction in all of us so perfectly in one character.’

‘What does this have to do with you?’ James remarked, fed up of an analogy he couldn’t make sense of,

‘Nothing really, I just like Sherlock Holmes…’. Lee abruptly opened the door and walked out. James followed suit, annoyed at the time-wasting, and even more so at the smirk working its way across Lee’s face.

‘Very funny Nemo. Are you ever gonna tell me?’, the pair continued to walk into the staircase to report their findings to their senior officer.

‘I’ll tell you that when you tell me why you’re down there in cold cases when you’re obviously one of the best detectives in this damn state’. State troopers were fiercely competitive between states. In that respect it was noteworthy that an officer of James’ calibre would be allowed to stay off the radar. James looked at Lee and nodded as a sign of acceptance. The two entered the office and walked past the evidence check-in. The officer manning the desk was called Brady. A slightly pudgy man in his mid-50’s. Lee had seen the pictures of this once strapping person from years gone by. It was sad to see that he’d let himself go, and sadder to think that despite his mind probably being as sharp as ever, his talents were being wasted.

‘What do you have for me boys? Some more notes?’, the joke was one that few would get. Almost all evidence collected for cold cases consisted of notes from the previous officers who’d worked on them. James and Lee ignore the prod and James responded,

‘It’s a big one Jack. We need to talk to the chief before we bring it in, but it’s in the trunk of our car.’ James handed the keys over, ‘I’ll let you have a look at it and figure out how you’re going to get it in here’. The two officers wandered off leaving Brady to ponder over the last bit of what James had said. Arriving at the office the two men made their way through the maze of cubicles. They were eyed carefully, to see a cold case officer back up in the land of the living was a rare event. After all the reason most were sent there was to keep them out of the way. James led the way to Chief Bennet’s office, and as he approached the door Lee noticed from behind that the Chief was on the phone. He seemed irate about something, but Lee noted to himself that it was impossible to gauge the importance of the phone call from just this. Bennet seemed to react fairly similarly to spilling a cup of coffee and finding out that an officer had been shot. He had no middle ground. When the phone was put down the Chief eyed up the two men. He eyed them as if seeing a pair of ghosts whom he thought he’d dealt with already. Scratching his beard he gestured for the two to enter his spacious office, which they did. As they entered, still glaring at them suspiciously, Chief Bennet questioned,

‘What do you two want?’, James immediately responded,

‘We think we’ve found something Chief’.

 

The two men proceeded to go through their findings, up to finding the chest. Lee started to explain his own assumptions, things he felt sure must be true. James looked at Lee warily. He knew not to burden the chief with controversial theories. The chief held his hand in the air and stopped Lee talking. He then scratched at his beard, thinking for a moment. Lee and James looked at each other.

‘What have you gotten us into….’ The chief sighed, without looking up. Lee responded

‘Sir, this is huge. I mean this stinks to hell. The feds have got their mark all over this, a guy is dead and…’

The chief interrupted him

‘Hold on. What you’ve just told me, if I’m hearing correct, is this. You two have gone and investigated an old missing person’s case, and somehow you’ve managed to find out that there was no case! The girl is fine! And yet instead of taking this as a sign of gods glory pissing down on the two of you for some fucked-up reason, you feel the need to keep plugging away, linking it to a fifty year old murder no-one’s given a s**t about since Ozzy f****n Osbourn’s left testicle descended! Then you uncover something about people with a much higher pay grade than you, and instead of taking the route of self-preservation you still keep going…’, Lee looked on, speechless. ‘I mean it’s like you’re willing me to have a f*****g heart attack!’, at this point Bennet wasn’t all that far from the truth. He took a swig of water. ‘Here’s what you’re gonna do, you’re gonna take it to high security storage, we’re gonna call my friends at the bureau. I’m gonna apologise for what an almighty f**k up this whole thing is, and everyone’s gonna get on happily with their lives, ok?’ James rebuffed,

‘Sir, with all due respect Lee has a point. I mean it might not be for us to investigate this but something’s going on. I mean why is there so much secrecy behind this?’

‘You’re right’ Bennet went on ‘It’s not for you to investigate. Listen, why do you two knuckleheads think that thing was put there, huh? You think some agent in Washington just decided one day he was gonna have a jolly, and stick a chest full of notes in a wall? There’s a reason that thing was in there. It’s been in there 50 f*****g years and I can say, the country is ok, we’re all ok. Who knows where’d we’d be if some self-righteous a*s-hole like you Mr. Harding, had come along a while back…’ James and Lee stopped talking. The argument was lost.

‘Now get out of my office and get that thing the hell out of here. If I ever hear about this again I promise you I’ll find something for you to do that’ll make you wish you…’ James lifted a hand

‘I get it…’ then he walked out of the office. Lee, noticing the chief’s shocked face stared blankly at him before being noticed.

‘WHAT THE F**K ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!’. At this Lee followed suit and left the office. Defeated and dismayed. He couldn’t believe he wouldn’t find out the full story. In fact he simply couldn’t allow that to happen.

Author's Note

Thoughts would be great