Salem always had decent grades growing up. School is basically the only thing he's ever tried to succeed at, since he's not a very caring or competitive person naturally. It's the only thing Jack had ever asked of him, really. Jack barely had him to do any chores or work or anything of the sort. All he wanted was good grades, and Salem tried to give him that.

He succeeded, too. He got straight A's most times, and never anything below a B. When he got with Atlas, his grades actually got better, due to the fact that they'd study together. It's probably the only part of their relationship that Jack approved of.

It was after they broke up, that it went downhill. Thankfully D's were still passing, at least at Salem's school, or he'd have failed out of nearly every class. The reason they dropped was because he went into a whole depression, feeling like his life was over and nothing mattered. So, he'd stopped trying.

Now that Salem is completely over Atlas, though, he's been able to focus more on school and his future. He's been studying more, trying to get grades that will make up for it. He takes it seriously, and that's why—when his father requested food after he got off school, yet again, he brought his schoolwork.

He is now sitting outside his father's office, in the little waiting room area. He's seated at a table and doing his homework, focusing on it as much as he can. He has an empty fast food bag next to him, one that's he's decided he will throw away when he takes a break.

He hasn't gotten to a stopping point yet, though, as he's been doing homework for about an hour and a half now. He's trying to study for a test and do his English homework at the same time. He tells himself it's working, even though his past attempts at the same thing have never had much success. Unfortunately, he is interrupted by Catrine.

"I have been told news." Is the way she greets him, taking a seat on top of the table and also half his homework. She has a grin on her face, and her hair up in a bun that's messy enough someone should probably have said something to her about dress code. Then again, her hair is really big and curly naturally, so maybe it's unavoidable.

Salem looks up at the sergeant, and already knows that this conversation will be long and pointless. Don't get him wrong, he loves Catrine—or, Sergeant C. D. Turner—however, she has a habit of being dramatic and a bit annoying. Still, Salem has known her since he was around twelve years old, so he deals with it.

"What news?" Salem asks, looking up at the woman. She seems way too excited for what the situation warrants, but that's pretty typical.

"I heard," she starts, pausing for suspense. Salem resists the urge to roll his eyes. "That you're becoming a cop."

Salem raises an eyebrow at her, confused. In a few years, maybe. "Huh? I'm eighteen."

She rolls her eyes. "Okay, not an actual cop. I heard you're going to help us with some cases. Maybe. Sometimes."

She says it like he should've somehow known what she meant without an explanation. He assumes she's referring to the whole Atlas situation, which means that Jordan may be going around and telling people about it. He immediately debunks the rumor. "My dad said no, so I'm not. I never confirmed that anyway."

Catrine frowns, dissatisfied. She has a history of exaggeration and dramatics, so Salem really shouldn't be surprised that the conclusion she jumped to was him becoming some sort of honorary cop.

"Okay, well let's just not tell him." She decides, before smiling at him like that's the best idea she's ever come up with. She's always struggled with insubordination, but lying to Salem's father? So he can participate in a case? Even that's pushing it.

"We can't lie," Salem replies, irritated that he even has to say so because it should be obvious. Lying to the chief about anything would have Catrine at risk of losing her job. He's pretty sure she's not serious, anyway. "He said no. I'm sorry."

Catrine frowns, and she goes back to looking deep in thought. She's clearly thinking of a solution. Or, if Salem knows her like he thinks he does, a loophole.

Suddenly, an idea comes to her. She looks back at Salem with her eyes wide in excitement. "Well you're not really participating if we just come to you with questions, right? Like an informant but not really. I don't know. Civilians can do that!"

Salem rubs the bridge of his nose, because this lady is beginning to stress him out. Her and Salem have always gotten along really well, so it's not crazy for her to want him helping with investigations. However, she's still being really adamant about it. "What questions could you possibly have?"

"Are you kidding?" She asks, eyebrow raised. "You would be so much help just from your ex being who he is."

"Atlas barely told me anything, though." Salem replies, raising an eyebrow. "Even when we were together, he was always lying and being all secretive."

"Still." She says, crossing her arms on her lap and glancing around the room. "I don't understand why Chief Heart is so against it, you could be our first big break in years."

Wait a second. Years? How long have they been investigating Atlas? What the hell did he do to receive this kind of treatment?

"Years?" Salem asks, staring at Catrine in alarm. "You've been investigating Atlas for years?"

"Well, his family, yeah. It's his brothers that are usually the biggest pain in the ass, but I could work with this."

Salem frowns, and he feels irritated right now with Catrine. He has no right to feel this way, but the fact that she seems to know more about Atlas than he does is bothering him. He feels jealous, because he knows hardly anything about Atlas' family. She seems to have all the answers, though.

Salem is also confused. He has seriously never heard of a crime family by the name Marino. His father has never mentioned the name, unless he was talking about Atlas specifically. It doesn't make a lot of sense to him, because Catrine and Jordan have made Atlas seem like a big deal. Well, Atlas' family. Whatever. Salem doesn't understand.

"Did your dad say why you couldn't help? It seriously makes no sense why he's kept this from us."

Salem shrugs, not really in the mood to talk anymore. He is not a fan of this new theme in his life where he's forced to talk about Atlas. He seriously just wants to forget about him. Well, okay, so he's probably never going to forget about Atlas, but he at least wants people to stop constantly reminding him of that guy.

"Do you guys not have informants? How would I be the best bet?" Salem asks, because if this family is so bad then they should have other ways to get their information.

"Yes, but finding someone that's willing to betray them is not easy." Catrine responds like that was a dumb question to ask. "We could really use you, because I guarantee you know more than you think—that's it, I'm gonna talk to him."

Catrine exits the room, fists clenched in frustration. Yeah, she is not happy with Salem's father. Salem is honestly surprised that his dad has such a problem with him helping, to the point where he kept Salem's usefulness from the officers that are actually working on the investigation.

Catrine and a few others make up the Street Crimes division of the police department, where their entire job is basically just investigating all the organized crime and affiliates in the Toplines area, because the problem is that bad. Salem has actually helped them on cases before, though he was hardly any help. He just gave his input here and there on random things. His father has never really wanted Salem involved in anything police related.

Salem always assumed it was for his safety, and he has no doubt that's at least part of it. Still... he's starting to get the sense that there's more to all this. To why his father is so adamant about him staying out of a case that he could apparently be a lot of help on.

Salem sighs, giving up on his schoolwork for now. He leans back in his chair, stretching until his back pops. He sees his phone light up with a notification out the corner of his eye, but ignores it as the TV mounted upon the wall by one of the receptionist desks gets his attention. Well, it's actually the headline that gets his attention.

5th body in two weeks, suspected mob involvement

Salem frowns, reading the subtitles for the reporter. She seems to be talking mainly about how the press doesn't have a lot of information, but that mob activity has been getting more intense. She also mentions speculation, tip toeing around the Di Angelo's being the root of it all.

That isn't particularly far fetched, if Salem is being honest. Especially after the stuff Jack was talking about, with the whole dead informants thing. Unless the news is talking about the same case... honestly, they probably are. The information the lady does have lines up with it.

The Di Angelo's are known for really gruesome crimes, but this is a bit strange because they always cover their tracks. That's probably part of the reason Jack was so confused about the informants. If it were the Di Angelo's, bodies would not have been found.

Wait a second. How do they know it was them in the first place? Usually when a crime is committed people just automatically assume that the Di Angelo's were involved, but that doesn't mean they don't cover their tracks. The only reason people know about them is the informants, and just general rumors. There is a reason they are still active, after all these years. They aren't sloppy.

Those photographs that Jack was looking at? The work looked sloppy. Even when the Di Angelo's do leave bodies, they make sure nothing about the person is identifiable—a gruesome sight, honestly. The pictures Salem saw didn't look like that.

So either it wasn't the Di Angelo's, or... or they wanted the bodies to be identified. They wanted to let the police know that they know.

Honestly, Jack seemed pretty confident that it was them who committed the crimes, so Salem is wondering if that's the real reason. They wanted everyone to know that they have the capabilities to find informants. Right? That's the only thing that makes sense to Salem.

Jack was concerned about how the informants were blowing their covers. This is valid, because the police department typically uses the same informants for years and for different cases. Typically they aren't found out unless they're caught red handed—talking to cops or even cops being lenient on a specific person can be suspicious, for example. This is so rare though, informants being found out is just not common.

So how do the Di Angelo's know? Who told them?

"Next time you see your dad, tell him he's an asshole."

Salem jumps, snapping out of his thoughts as Catrine takes her previous spot on top of his homework. "Huh? Why?"

"Because I can't," she replies, huffy and glaring at the floor. Her arms are crossed and it's clear that her conversation with Jack did not go well. "But he needs to know."

"What did he say?" Salem asks, and he's genuinely curious. Jack was so vague and cryptic about why Salem couldn't help, despite his apparent usefulness. Sure, it has something to do with his safety, but Salem is almost positive that's not the entire reason.

"Well—" Catrine starts, but then she stops herself. Salem gives her a questioning look, wondering why she cut herself off like that. She looks a bit nervous, but in more of a guilty way. This gives Salem the impression that she's about to lie to him. "He's just concerned for your safety. It's, uh, understandable. I still wish you could help, though."

Salem isn't appreciating the lack of detail there. He can tell that this lady is keeping something from him, it's glaringly obvious. She's trying to hide it, but Salem is pretty good at telling when people are lying to him. He's made sure to know the tells of everyone he associates with regularly. It's not as easy with Jack, though. Salem has a really difficult time sensing dishonesty from that man.

"How would helping you guys risk my safety?" Salem asks, because he's starting to really want the specifics here. Sure, if he was out in the field fighting criminals then he'd be worried, but he's not. He already spends a bunch of time at the police department, why not help out in some way?

It's actually not very normal, most children of police officers don't hang out at their parent's place of work. However, Salem's father works primarily in his office. The office with the command staff in it isn't all that dangerous, anyway, since criminals don't really pass through here often. Also, Salem typically has a food delivery.

Salem just really doesn't like to be alone. He blames the fact that he was raised to be somewhat paranoid, and typically the less people around you, the more at risk you are of becoming a victim to something. Obviously this isn't always the case, but people are reassuring. Salem likes blending into the crowd, he likes having people around in case he needs help.

Over time it's just become a preference, not really so much of a safety thing. There are a lot of people in the police station at all times, so he likes it here, and now nobody outranks his father no there's nobody to stop him.

Anyway, Salem thinks that he should be able to help them with whatever they need help with. It's not like he doesn't have the time, as mentioned before.

"I'm not sure." Catrine replies, and Salem is officially irritated with his father. She just went to go and ask him about why Salem can't help, and even she doesn't seem to have all that many answers.

Salem doesn't like this feeling. He doesn't like thinking about secrets being kept from him. It's bad for his health, thinking about things like that—especially in terms of his father, the only person he knows he can trust. Salem was sure that Jack would never keep anything from him.

He's beginning to doubt that by the second.