BELLS IN NEW YORK

Chapter 02- Part 01

The moment I entered, the main hall, I instantly regretted it. Like flies to a trashcan, the other officers swarmed me, bombarding me with a million questions simultaneously.

"What were you talking about for such a long time?" officer Sarah Amblestone, the certified gossip queen questioned, her blonde curls bobbing, eager to find the next best scoop.

"Has chief Bryson really taken it all out on detective Campbell?"

"Was detective Campbell really fired?"

Questions were popping up from all around me and it didn't take long before the situation spiralled out of control.

"I heard chief Bryson was waiting to kick detective Campbell out."

"I heard that they probably had a lover's quarrel."

"I heard chief Bryson actually had a one-sided crush on detective Campbell?"

What the- where was all this coming from? An image crossed my mind and I could only blame myself for having an overactive imagination.

"Guys! Calm your horses!" I shouted above the banter, trying to bring the situation under control. "Crush? Lover's quarrel? What have you guys been hearing? Chief Bryson and detective Campbell-" I fought to forget the image in my mind, "no no no. there is nothing of the sort. Who has been feeding you guys all these lies?"

"A trusted source," chimed in officer amblestone, looking proud.

"I would steer clear from this 'trusted source' if I were you Sarah. Clearly, officer Matthew was messing with you," I looked over at the brown haired man in question, snickering as he tried to look as though he wasn't eavesdropping on the conversations all along.

"How did you-" Sarah began, baffled that I knew who her 'trusted source' was.

"Let's just say I had a hunch," I tried to push through the crowd and get to my seat.

"Wait. You didn't answer the most important question yet. What is happening to detective Campbell?"

It was as though the whole building descended into a deafening silence. The clicking on keyboards stopped. The printers were no longer spewing paper. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for an answer. Even the officers who stayed at their seats and tried to look uninterested in our conversation were now blatantly staring at me, their ears perked.

I let out a long sigh.

"He is taking a leave,"

"For how long?"

"Indefinitely," I stated with no intention to elaborate.

"So... he's fired?"

"No! He's on an indefinite leave!" I said

"Yeah we get it. He's f-"

Before I could explode in anger, my best friend at work kalisha Coleman, stepped in.

"Alright, alright. There is no point in fighting over this. Whether detective Campbell is fired or just on leave, we are the ones at a disadvantage. Wouldn't it be better if we use this time more productively than fight over something so pointless?" as always, 'Cogent Coleman' was the only person who could drill some sense into us. I've been subjected to her lectures a lot before. It was thanks to her I got to be a police officer. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to even graduate from the police academy. I don't get how my 'impulsive anger' gets in the way of anybody.

As the crowd dispersed almost immediately, I looked at Kalisha with a grateful smile.

"Thanks a lot, Kali. I wouldn't have been able to get away from all those questions without you."

Kalisha's dark brown eyes had understanding in them. Resting her slender arm across my shoulder she said, "Don't worry, Drithi. Detective Campbell won't be gone for long. He'll be back before you know it. But while he's gone, we need to show him that we can get work done without him,"

I gave Kalisha a firm nod and flashed a smile that I hoped would be genuine enough to convince her that I was fine. Kalisha observed me. If she noticed anything weird about my desperate attempt to look cheerful, she did not mention it.

Just as we were about to go back to our stations, we received a call that soon put the entire police station in frenzy.

"We've gotten another child abduction case. It's a boy named Magnus. Age : 7 years old. Last seen on his way home from the grocery store five hours ago. He had a blue bicycle with him. As of now the boy and the bicycle are both missing."

The entire police station was bustling to life all over again.

Keyboards resumed the loud chatter. Multiple officers were talking on the phones, relaying the information that was just received.

Another missing child. That was another family in despair. Yet, there was not much we could do yet.

It was a known rule that a person wasn't considered missing until they were missing for over twenty four hours. However, in light of the situation we were currently in, the missing duration was brought down to ten. Yet, since only five hours had elapsed between last seeing Magnus, all we could do was anxiously wait, hoping that the child would return unscratched.

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First of all, sorry for not updating for the past couple of weeks. Life got the best of me and I ended up forgetting to update 🙃.

Anyways, that's the first part of chapter 02. Let me know what you guys think.

-X

01/05/2022