Into the Specter

Chapter 9

Summer Caruthers. You laugh to yourself. You remember getting the name from a book you read as a child. Don't remember the plot but the girl was surrounded by a family. Feels nice to pretend.

This cot is uncomfortable. But at least it's better than the bench. You can't wait to see what those idiot FBI guys have in store for you. All it took was a couple of tears and you had them. The second they walked in you clocked them. They see a weak little girl caught up in a big crime scheme? Of course, they want to be her savior.

You know the detective has called your bluff, but no one is going to believe him. Speaking of, he appears in front of your cage. Guess he can be quiet when he wants. He's tall as usual. For some reason, you're noticing his particularly broad shoulders today. You glare at him. He reciprocates.

"C'mon." The door is open and he's directing you out.

"They need their consultant criminal hm?"

"You're barely successful as a criminal, I wouldn't get my hopes up."

"Phuh. I wouldn't get my hopes up that you're going to be helping the case. Pushed you aside, didn't they." You walk out while looking up at him.
He's quiet as he cuffs you. Following you down the hall, you have the urge to look back and stick your tongue out at him. Just to get a reaction.

You step out of the elevator and a man bumps into you on his way past. You turn your head and yell, "Excuse you!"

Detective Asshole puts his hand on your shoulder and guides you to a desk. You flip into the chair beside his desk. He lumbers down after you, focused on the papers in front of him. You recognize the other detective sitting at a desk opposite.

"How's it going?" You look back over your shoulder at Ron. He answers, "Pretty good, how about you?" Followed by an angry grunt from the giant flannel man. You grin and respond, "Can't complain, except I still don't have a blanket."

The flannel man pulls out something from his drawer at your words. He hands you a scratchy navy blanket with CSPD embroidered into the corner. "Thanks," you say, surprised. Clutching it close to your chest, you turn and make a face at Ron. He chuckles and Flip abruptly gets up, walking away.

"Buzzkill," you mutter.

One of the suits is coming up to you. Agent Johnson. Not related to the other Agent Johnson. They've made that very clear. He crouches in front of your chair. You put on your 'helpless sad little girl' face. He smiles at you. "Good news. Judge expedited the request. You're going to help us catch the bad guys ok?"

You nod quickly, pouting your lips. Ok, you can go now, you think to the agent. Smiling again, you ask, "Could I get some water?"

"Sure," he says, walking to the water cooler in the corner. You slouch back in relief. It's exhausting and annoying catering to men. There's nothing wrong with not knowing what to do, but you know that men tend to take advantage of that. Might as well exploit it.

The agent hands you the water and gets called by his partner. Flip comes out of the office with the Chief at the same time. He strides over to where you are, looking down at you while taking his seat.

The Chief claps his hands to get everybody's attention. "Now that the feds have swept the cabin, we can go in and continue the investigation." He starts to list people's jobs. You're tuning it out, confused as to why you're here.

He continues. "Flip has agreed to take charge of Summer. He'll be working with her and helping her assist the investigation. As well as monitoring her."

You jolt up in your seat. Your hands clutch the armrests. You look to the Chief and back to Flip. He has the most annoying little smirk on his face and he's avoiding your gaze.