I can see you (waitin' down the hall from me)

Chapter 2

   "Officer Brookstone, was the mission a success?" Zane asked as Cole's team stepped into the police building.

   "The criminal was gone by the time we reached the building, but we were given this," Cole took the evidence bag and handed it over to Zane. He could see the other's eyes widen at the sight of the stolen necklace.

   "What do you mean given to you?" Zane questioned. Cole looked around at his team before answering. He ruffled a hand through his ebony hair. "The necklace was placed beside us after the sleeping gas knocked everyone out."

   "Sleeping gas!? Is everyone alright?" Zane looked around Cole's team frantically. The team responded with a few smiles and nods. Relieved, Zane let out a sigh. "Thank gosh. Okay, get the necklace to the evidence lockers then we can look at where to find the crook next."
The diamond necklace was in the evidence locker, so Cole would have to wait before seeing if there was any DNA on the necklace. And he wasn't doing great deciphering the note he was given. It was a folded up peice of beige printer paper. There was a lipstick smudge in the left corner when you opened it up. Underneath the lipstick was a row of six badly drawn houses (at least that's what Cole assumed they were). The houses were followed by the letters AVE close together, and the letters LXXXII, bundled up. It really just seemed like a random assortment of letters and pictures to Cole. Did the crook plant the note on purpose? Or did it fall out of his hands as he tryed escaping the warehouse? Cole groaned as he checked the time. Soon his shift would be over and the investigating would have to wait. He already promised to be at a dinner party Nya planned for Jay's debut. He got a job directing an upcoming film. The number on Cole's watch changed from 5:59 to 6:00 and the people around him began to shuffle for their bags and head down to the parking lot. Cole slowly followed by example, taking quick looks at the work he has done. Lloyd followed closely behind Cole as they went to the parking lot, striking up a conversation.

   "Okay, so Zane has to stay back at the precinct a little longer, but Pixal will be there on time. Do you think we should bring a gift?"

   "It's just Jay and your sister, I doubt either of us would need to bring anything," Cole said as he unlocked his truck. Many nights he would drive Lloyd to his house so he wouldn't need to take a bus.

   "Right! Except Jay loves gifts, especiallylikecomicbooks... And we are celebrating him," Lloyd began to presuade while stepping into the passenger seat.
   Cole looked to his right, "Is there a different reason you want to head to the store?" Cole questioned. Lloyd sighed quietly.

   "The new Starfarer comic comes out today," Lloyd practically whispered. Cole ruffled Lloyd's hair much to the younger one's displease. "We can get you the new comic," Cole chuckled and drove away from the parking lot. He saw Lloyd throw a fist in the air and say an excited 'Yes!'.
After picking up two copies of the comic (one for Jay and the other Lloyd) and wrapping Jay's the two cops reached Jay's home, barely making it in time.

   "Guys! Come on in!" Nya said squeezing both boys into a tight hug. They followed her into Jay's messy apartment. "Jay is going to be here in roughly thirty minutes so we have to work quickly." Nya shoved Lloyd towards the kitchen to help Pixal with the dinner and stole Cole to put up decorations.
  Eventually Jay had arrived and was pleasantly terrified when the guests jumped from their hiding spots to surprise him. There were lots of laughs and giggles before everyone sat down to have dinner. Cole sat between Jay and Lloyd. They talked lots about Jay's film, with him gushing at each compliment and gift he recieved. The conversation slowly moved from Jay's life to everyone elses.

   "Then I realized Chompy was at home the whole time!" Vania said, finishing her story. Nya chuckled and took another scoop of mashed potatoes.

   "Vania, how could you forget your dog was at your own house?" Nya jokingly questioned. "Wow, Cole you must've been incredibly annoyed when you found out Chompy was back at her place."

   "Considering Vania sent me over 200 messages, forced me to look in the pouring rain for an hour, and made me file a missing animal report, I would say annoyed is an understatement," Cole laughed.

   "Speaking of investigations," Jay started. "How is the search for your crook going?"

   "Yea, didn't he like show up on camera again a few days ago?" Skylor asked. Lloyd answered for him as Cole nodded.

   "Yea! The criminal showed up and said Cole's name, then we tried to find him in a warehouse and he gave the necklace that he stole a few days ago to Cole!" Lloyd excitedly said. He loved a good mystery to solve.

  "Wow, a gift? The criminal seems like a flirt," Zane teased.

   "He's not a flirt, he has stolen over 200,000 dollars," Cole responded back.

   "Okay, but you do have to admit he looks pretty good," Skylor added, getting a few murmurs of agreements and a flustered Cole staring back at her.

   "He is a criminal! Not some celebrity crush!" Cole said, sounding screechy as he shook his head. Placing her hands in front of her, Skylor leaned back in her chair.  "I'm just saying, I have already seen fan accounts for him on tik tok, and he does look objectively attractive."

   "Fan accounts? Seriously? This man has been Ninjago's most wanted for 17 years."

   "I dunno guess there is a reason he is Ninjago's most wanted, right Nya?" Jay said while nudging Nya, who had stayed uncharacteristically quiet the entire conversation. She nodded and got back to the mashed potatoes on her glass plate. Rolling his eyes, Cole attempted to move the conversation away from the 'apparently hot' criminal.

   "So, Nya, Pix, what have you guys been getting up to at the Mechanic's Shoppe?" this would get the 2 of them to rant about the latest vehicle they have been working on. As Cole expected, the conversation quickly shifted and the 2 talked about their creations for the duration of the dinner. Soon it had gotten late and Vania, Skylor, and Lloyd had packed into Cole's truck. Nya had her own motorcycle she took and Pixal and Zane left in his car.

   "Vania, you recently moved, right? Can you send me your new address?" Cole asked, watching Vania nod before pulling out her phone. His phone quickly buzzed and Cole took it from his pocket, reading the adress Vania had sent.
6582 Ninja AVE
Vania shortened avenue to AVE. Why did that seem familiar? Cole inputted the address into his car and drove off to drop off his friends.

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