Chris' POV:
Once the two of us finally got to Andrew's office I was shaking with nerves, but also excitement. I couldn't wait to get started on some cases, especially on some cases that had yet to be solved.
I felt like foaming at the mouth at the thought of it.
I quickly touched my mouth to make sure that I wasn't drooling.
A man in his early-twenties drooling?
That would be ... not too nice too look at, especially a rookie police detective.
That definitely wouldn't be pleasant....
Andrew opened the door to his office and the two of us walked in. He closed the door behind me and I looked around before being hit with a sense of dread.
There was nothing.
I couldn't see any files in the room.
If he really has been here for as long as I was told then where were these files?
Current cases he's working on, cold cases, the like.
Where are they?
"If you're wondering why the room is empty it's because we have an archive for files on each floor," I heard his voice behind me. Well, that explained that. "We need to keep the offices tidy just in case we need to move over to another case."
That .... actually makes a lot of sense....
My eyes scanned the room; there were four desks in which two were barren probably for going through files while the other two had computers on top. There was a bookshelf to the side that probably housed dictionaries and other historical books. There was also a window to the back, so we could get some light in the room a part from just the shabby office lights.
It was a fairly simple layout, but with how small it was it'd probably get messy real quickly.
I'm surprised it's actually tidy.
I thought there'd be files everywhere.
"This is your office now as much as mine," Andrew told me as he directed me towards one of the desks. I took my jacket off and lay it on the desk as my eyes continued to survey my surroundings. "Don't just put things down anywhere!" I jumped at the shout, turning back to face Andrew as he took my jacket and placed it over the chair, neatly.
So, that's why the office is so tidy.
The owner is a neat freak....
Oh man .... if I had said that out loud.....
I noticed Andrew was gone from my view; turning my head to look around I noticed him in the doorway and beckoning me over with an irritated look on his face. I swallowed and followed him out of the office, down the hall and into a dark room. Andrew flicked the light switch on and before me were bundles of files on desks, in boxes and in filing cabinets.
It was a room of similar size to Andrew's office, but the amount of files that took up the area .... was terrifying.
There was so much of it.
It almost looked impossible to move around in.
Andrew moved into the room almost instantly, moving between the filing cabinets against the wall and desks in the middle of the room. "This is this floor's case file room...."
I nodded, still looking over all the files in the room in detail.
"We're only here to grab a few files. Nothing else."
My shoulders slumped at those words.
Only a few....?
I wanted to do more....
Then again he probably doesn't want to stress me out on the first day in a new department.....
I should be thankful to that.
Andrew came back over to the door and handed a file into my hand as he carried a box out. I turned the light off as we went since his hands were full. As we headed down the hall back to his office I hurried in front of him to open the door for him which he grunted as a thank you, I think. He set the box down on his desk while I set the file on what was now mine.
"This is a box of cold cases I need to work on." I looked over, intrigued. "You can start on that file of a current case." He sat down in his chair, grunting again as he did so.
I sat down in my chair as well, opening the file and skimming over the page.
'A hit-and-run that took place at 10pm on a Monday night in April. The culprit was a drunk teenager just out of school on his P's. A witness that wanted to remain anonymous took a photo of the license plate and called triple zero for the victim, but she was dead by the time ambulances arrived at the scene. He's being tried for manslaughter and being intoxicated at the wheel. His family insists it wasn't his fault.'
Man, that's a lot to take in....
"What am I supposed to do? It seems like it's already been solved," I asked him, looking up at the other man.
"It is."
Huh.
I tilted my head in confusion with a frown on my face.
"Hit-and-run's are pretty cut and dry if there's a witness around. What I want you to do is to take notice of the details written in the report."
I looked back down at the report on the desk and looked over it again. "It mentions the time, day, month, the fact there was a witness and the charges against the culprit. Those were what stood out to me."
"Can you name them for me?"
Huh?
Again?
This is a weird way of questioning?
It's like I'm being interrogated and that's scary.
"Umm...."
"Don't look!"
Okay, so I can't peek at the report.
Take a deep breath.
It's not that hard.
You just gotta memorize a few words is all.
It's probably a test if some sort.
Just show him what you can do.
"The time was 10pm, the day was a Monday in the month of April. The witness took a photo of the culprit's license plate and called triple zero soon after, but wanted to remain anonymous. The charges against the culprit were manslaughter and being intoxicated at the wheel." I let out my breath after saying all that, looking over at the older detective before me.
A small smile spread across Andrew's lips at what came out of my mouth. "That's what I want to hear." I furrowed my brows in confusion. "If an officer is ever asked to represent a case they need to know about it inside and out. Not just what's on top."
I get it now.
He was questioning me for my memory.
He was seeing if I could memorise any files in case I was called to represent a case even if I wasn't a part of it and needed to read on it beforehand.
That's actually really clever.
I wonder if this type of testing is done often....
"Well, I'm quite famished. How about we grab a bite and then come back?"
But we haven't even been here that long....
Before I could say anything my, I guess, mentor was already waiting for me at the door to his office. I got out of my chair, grabbed my jacket off of said chair and hurried over to him. However something caught my eye on his desk.
It was one of the files in the box he had brought back from the case file room.
It was a missing person's case dated back to 1998.
I didn't want to look into the files that Andrew was working on.
It was his work not mine.
But my curiosity was at an all time high.
I turned my head to the door, noting how he wasn't there and sighed.
He must've headed on ahead without me.
I put my fingers in between the folder and the paper inside and opened it to see what was inside. The person that stared back at me had black hair like mine only messy, dark blue eyes and a bright smile.
It was my brother.
Richard Ward.
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