The Perfect Shot (Book 3) ✓

22 - Help

Cleo

I was so eager to finally get on the road and do anything different than this bullshit paper work I've been doing for the past weeks, that I was almost running to check my schedule for the next week.

Once Hannah started working for Dan, I returned to my job, too, just not how I imagined. Since I was still with my cast and my leg was not 100% healed, I was bound to a desk job, dealing with all kinds of reports other cops didn't like doing. And since my fingers were just fine to type all the stuff, I was sitting in front of a computer all day every day. And was going crazy. I couldn't imagine how people were doing this thing all their lives. I needed to move, to be out there, in the open, not closed between walls. I was feeling like a wild animal with each day passing by and couldn't wait to get back on the road. Which was supposed to happen from the next week. I have the all-clear from the doctors, I took the physical SWAT test to show everyone I was fully recovered not just for the regular cop job but also for the team. I just needed to see when was my first shift back on the road.

"What the fuck?!" I was looking at the printed schedule for everyone's shifts thinking I was going to get back on the same rotation I was before, but I guess I was wrong. All of my shifts were so messed up, it looked like a joke.

"What's up, Cleo. Are we going to patrol together like before?" Ollie was next to me looking at the paper like me. The old cops didn't like "the new ways" of checking our emails for this kind of info...like normal people do. So, we were printing our schedules every week and pining them to a corkboard in the locker room at the Police station. I could feel the moment Ollie saw what I was seeing, because his reaction was the same. "What on Earth is that? You barely have time off. This thing shouldn't be legal... And how are you to work a night shift and right after that a day shift? Someone messed that up, for sure..."

"I... don't think it's a mistake, Ollie..." I knew something was coming. I just wasn't sure it was going to be interfering with the way I was doing my job.

"But you don't have one single shift that you are doing with one of us. I don't know how it was even possible to manage it! We are constantly rotating, and at least two of us are together... This is total bullshit!"

"Yeah, well...it is what it is."

"You think he made it on purpose?" 'He' was the Chief of the Police and I was sure he did. The way he made I was barely at home during the nights, so by the look of it, I wasn't going to see a lot of Hannah. We were going to meet in the mornings and evenings and that was it...she was going to get to bed while I was going to work and vice versa. "You should talk with Max. this thing doesn't look good for your work at the team. He can't do this!"

"You know he can. Hell, you are seeing it. And Max can't do anything other than get on his bad side. And I don't want this to happen. I expected something from him, and I guess he didn't disappoint me."

"This is a total bullshit."

"Yeah, but it is what it is. I'm not going to make him happy and complain about it. I know he is waiting it and I refuse to play his games. I'll just try and do my best with the cards I have right now..."

"Jones!" I turned around and found one of the detectives close to us. "I need you for a minute."

"Sure." I didn't know why someone would need me, but I was curious enough to just follow him and not ask questions until we were at one of the bigger rooms in the building. The walls were full of images of crime scenes, people's faces, and all kinds of documents that were connected with the investigation detective Tristan da Silva was following.

"I need your help on something."

"Okay. What for?" It wasn't like we weren't ready to help the detectives, but most of the time they were thinking they are better than us, the regular cops and it was kind of shocking to see one of them asking for help.

"You know about the sniper?"

"Yes, of course. I was there when he showed up."

"Well, that wasn't the last time..." What? That was the first time I heard about it. I was not on active duty, but I was around cops all the time, and they were constantly talking. My team was going to tell me if there was something new on this case.

"What the fuck! Why didn't I hear about it?"

"Umm, well..." He looked a little unsure if he was supposed to tell me and I knew right away what this information was hidden from me.

"The chief made you hide it from me and my team?"

"Umm..."

"I know he's the reason, no need to lie, da Silva..."

"Man, I don't know what you made to get on the bad side of this man, but he didn't want you near that case..."

"And you are breaking this, because?"

"It sounds absolutely insane. We have a sniper who has a lot of information in this specific sphere and not using your knowledge seems to me like a total waste of resources. It's a lot easier to ask you some questions, than to just try to understand half of the shit connected with your job I was readying."

"That it is...but the big boss may not like it very much..."

"I'll deal with him. I just need your help with this thing. We need to find that man and stop him. And I'm sure you'll see some kind of patterns or some shit that I had no way to know."

"Okay, I'll help." I wanted that sniper out of my town, too, so I was ready to help with everything I could, to hell with the big boss rules. We were talking about people's lives here. I was supposed to do everything in my power to defend them, even going against my boss just because he wasn't happy with me.

"We have 10 cases..."

"Ten?!? Are you fucking serious? How no one heard about them?"

"We were very couscous with this case and who knew of them..."

"This doesn't sound good, da Silva, and you know it."

"Yeah, and that's why I'm breaking the rules and asking your help. Because we have at least 15 victims of this sniper and we are nowhere close to catching him."

"15? Dead?" I couldn't believe that kind of information was hidden not just from me, but everyone on the SWAT team too. And somehow from the town, too, because I was sure someone was going to talk about 15 dead people in our not so big city.

"Yeah. And 3 injured..."

"Fuck! That doesn't sound good."

"Yes, and I need you to see if you could find something we probably missed, that will help us catch this psycho killer." 15 dead and only 3 injured talks about someone who knew how to use a sniper, he wasn't some amateur. "I made some copies of all the information we have. I need you to check it and hopefully you'll find something."

"I'll try my best."

"That more than we have right now, so...go for it." 

***Chief Adams was ready to do anything in his power to prevent Cleo from doing what he's best at, helping people, especially with his specific knowledge. What do you think will be his reaction when he finds the detective went against his orders?