The Secret Society Of Esparda

2. An Officer And Investigator

Sami jumped out of bed, terrified after he caught a glimpse of the sun's rays permeating the curtains of the room. He looked at the alarm clock and found that the daily alarm at six had been missed, and it was now half past eight.

''When did this ring?! And where was my hearing?” He said angrily, rushing to the bathroom.

In the whole small town there is but one police station; So finding the place was not difficult, as it was an old building. Said to have been built in the twenties of the previous century, and it was a lonely building on the road.

He let out a sigh, "I hope no one will comment on my being late," and walked into the station.

The reception desk was empty, and there seemed to be no one in it; So he went inside immediately to the first door he came across, and opened it to see a hall with four desks and three officers sitting.

They raised their heads as soon as they heard his movement, and one of them stood up with a smile, and said, “You must be the new cop.” He approached him and shook his hand.

Sami nodded his head smilingly, “Yes, I am Sami Almovir.”

The man in front of him was jovial with a wide smile, “I am Jan, the deputy chief of police. The chief is waiting for you. Although he does not like being late, he will excuse you. You came from a long trip yesterday.”

Sami raised both his eyebrows and eyes in astonishment.  The man laughed, saying, “It is a small town. Your neighbors told me”

Sami let out a faint laugh and said, "I haven't met them yet, and here they are talking."

 ''This is how small towns are.''

“Come in,” the man said, as soon as he heard a knock.

Sami entered, closing the door behind him. "Hello, chief. Excuse me for being late. I didn't hear the alarm because I was tired."

He himself does not know why he started apologizing and making excuses. 

The chief officer was a very thin man with a stern pale face, prominent cheekbones, and his uniform seemed bigger than him, and his age suggested eighty, but Sami concluded that he is younger, because he had not retired yet and the age of retirement in the police force in the eastern kingdom is sixty.

The man shook hands with him and asked him to sit on the chair opposite his wooden office. Although the building was made of concrete, the office table was made of the famous Geradeen wood.

 He examined the file in front of him with a smile, then read from the file with an audible murmur: “ ''Sami Almovir, age: 26, date of the end of service: 2119, rank: officer and investigator" studied two majors, impressive!”  you graduated top of your class! Why haven't you been assigned somewhere better than here?"

Sami did not want to tell the whole story, so he smiled, abbreviating the topic: “A long story, summarizing it: the envious.”

 Then the chief officer nodded with his head, closing his eyes “I agree with you, every year talents are wasted and those who do not deserve are placed in positions that do not suit them.”

Then he opened a drawer and pulled out a file saying, "Everyone here is taking on open cases, for you, this is the case you're going to take on, whether you take your time or not."

“Isn't it an urgent case?”

"Hopeless, that's what we call it. Advice, don't give it too much effort. No one has solved it for ten years."

 “There are such cases like this.”

“There is no evidence even, an entire family with its members disappeared from their home, no traces of assault or forced entry, and things were going smoothly between them, and even their car was there, no one knows where they went or what happened to them, they simply disappeared.”

 “Do you think they are dead?”

 “We have not found unknown bodies in the ten years of their disappearance.”

 “Any relatives?”

"The children's grandfather lives in a house in the town alone, and he's the only one who comes almost daily for them. He makes noise and he doesn't get over it. He's your only obstacle."

He handed him the file, saying, “As I told you, take your time.”

He entered the changing rooms where his teammates pointed him out, and found the only nameless locker and his uniform.

 He put on his uniform and looked at himself in the mirror, his uniform was dark brown like his messy hair, he pulled back his hair that covered his green eyes, took his hat, and headed to his colleagues in the office.

His three colleagues, Jan the deputy chief, Burim, and Aseev, were so friendly that it seemed to him that they were ready to take him around town whether he liked it or not.

They directed him to his office and told him about how the work is going on in this place, how different it is and everyone here takes on any task that comes to them, perhaps today is his turn to be the traffic policeman, in or being the investigator, the writer of reports or reception. Now he knows why the reception was empty.

There is also something, all this work they told him about and no one moves! So he reasoned: Either they're lazy, or there are no problems here, or they're getting lazy because of the less work.

 Sami told himself that he would not let laziness take him away and that he would work hard, especially for the case he was taken to. He opened the file that was in front of him while he was reading the report on the story when Burim said, “The Belushi family case that was entrusted to you was previously assigned to Jan, but the grandfather insisted that he was not working well and that he would cause chaos, so he was promised that you would do it.”

Jan followed his words, saying, "It is a matter of time before he revolts against you, too, when you find no evidence. It is an impossible case."

 Aseev's eyes were fixed on the window. "Speaking of him, he's coming, and he looks so angry and pissed off, it must be the other case this time," he said.

 Sami raised an eyebrow, "The other case?"