Only chaos remains

Chapter 16

It was the middle of the night, the air was cold and the moon was hidden behind the heavy clouds, giving the sleeping city some old thriller movie vibes. 

At that time, the city was quiet, I could only hear the echo of my boots on the asphalt. 

I walked in an empty alley with my hands in my pockets, to protect them from the cold. My hood hung above my head, even if no-one could see me, but it was a necessary precaution for my mission. 

For weeks, Matt and I were working on finding the evidence against Roth. We now knew he had a big role behind Jake's arrest, he had planned everything until he finally reached his goal. 

After the shock of discovering the lawyer made a deal with Jake, leaving him no choice but to plead guilty, I succeeded in focusing on bringing justice to Jake. Each time Matt managed to gather new evidence against Roth and his allies, I met with Chloe to bring her our findings. 

She had called me a couple of days after we met, with Lilly, at the coffee shop. At first, Alan wasn't totally convinced about our plan. According to him, it was too risky to confront those people. But we didn't give up, this was when Chloe and I started our little night meeting. From that moment, it took less than two weeks for Alan to finally join us in our battle. Thanks to our group work, the police chief and his young colleague started some arrests.

It was obviously low key criminals. But little by little those thugs led us to more evidence. Their confession helped Matt to know where to look and which files could be useful until we, after so many sleepless nights, were finally able to gather everything we needed for the Duskwood Police to have a warrant against Roth. 

And there I was, walking like a shadow in the darkest of Tarrendale's road. I couldn't help but think about Jake and how it felt like, to hide like this for years, only allowing himself to go out at night, avoiding everyone, making sure that no-one would notice him. He must have been so lonely. 

My heart sank. I remember how badly I wanted to help him, to make him feel less lonely, make him feel loved. But I only led him to a life in prison, taking his freedom out of reach. 

A sudden noise made me jump, waking me out of my thoughts. I narrowed my eyes trying to see what caused that sound. I saw a tall figure appearing at the opposite side of the alley. Quickly, I took a step on my right, leaning my back against the brick wall of a building. I held my breath and hoped the man didn't notice me, but he kept passing down the alley, getting closer and closer with every step. 

I bit my lips, I couldn't get caught now! Our last discovery was way too important to lose when we almost reached the finish line. I crouched, slowly, hiding myself behind a bin, and took an old piece of brick that had fallen from the wall, ready to attack the unknown man if needed. 

This is when the clouds decided to scatter, allowing the moonlight to lit the man's face. The corner of my lips twitched, and I sighed with relief. I knew who that man was, Alan. So the Duskwood Police Chief finally decided to show his face? 

Getting up, I stepped out of the shadows and stopped just in front of the policeman. I didn't know if he noticed me earlier or if I surprised him, his face remained stoic. We stared at each other a moment before I broke the silence, "Where is Chloe?" 

"She wasn't available," he said coldly, "why? You still don't trust me?" 

His question was quite relevant. Since he accompanied the FBI the day Jake was arrested I always held a grudge against him. I knew it wasn't Alan's fault, that he would have lost his job if he had stopped the FBI. But I needed someone to blame. And Alan was perfect for the role. The fact he first hesitated helping us made me even more angry at him. It was always Chloe who helped me, who risked her career!