IceyHot (Season 1)

Chapter 7

Arias

'Good morning, Arias.'
   'Good morning, sir,' I said while keeping my eyes on the road. I had just left the lake house and was on my way to work.
   'Are you on your way?'
   'Yes, I just passed by Speed Ball,' I mumbled and came to stop at a red light. 'I'm not late, am I? I thought my shift was starting at seven.' I checked the time on my watch just to make sure.
   06:49 am. I still had time.
   'No, you're not late. I was just calling you to meet me at The Dawn's Brew.'
   'The Dawn Brew?' I asked. The traffic light turned green.
   'It's a very popular coffee shop, right across the station. It's where I spend my mornings here and after yesterday's mission was such a success, all thanks to you, I thought it would only make sense that we celebrate it over a nice slice of cake.'
   'Sure, why not.' I sighed, starting to rethink my life choices up until this moment. 'Do I need to bring anything?'
   'Gonzales, I'm at a coffee shop, not a party. Just bring yourself over here, we also have a new case to work on.'
   Right, a new case. If it wasn't for my mission, sitting with the police chief at a coffee shop would be the last thing I'd be doing right now. I was annoyed by the guy.
   I suppose I was left with no choice but to endure it all. Once I've completed my mission, I was going to have his head presented to this town on a flagpole.
   'See you in five, Chief,' I said, before waiting for him to hang up.

Five minutes later I arrived at this Dawn's Brew. It was standing right across the police station and I spotted several officers walking out the diner, with boxes of donuts.
   As I was about to roll my window back up, a tiny hand came knocking on the glass. I looked and saw a little girl standing outside waving at me.
   She was small, hair messy and her face dirty. Her clothes looked worn and the little top she had on, were filled with tiny holes in it. Some of the holes had dark rims around them as if someone burned those holes into her clothes.
   My stomach dropped after the first thing she said to me. 'G-Good morning...s-sir...Tissues?' she held up the bag of sealed tissues.
   The girl looked starved. Not only was she tiny but people were just walking by her as if there was no one out there to care for her. I bet she was confused. She probably felt like her parents had forgotten about her or stopped caring—or even worse: Her parents were looking for her.
Of course they were still looking for her. She got trafficked. She was probably around four years old, just a test subject. They were testing her with tissues first to see how good she was at marketing. Those dirty scum! Baba promised me that he got rid of all of them.
'S-sir?' The girl looked at me with her big brown eyes. I was nearly crushing the steering wheel in my hands.
She carried this look in her eyes—a look of desperation. I knew where that desperation came from, it came from fear. She was afraid that if she didn't sell any if not all of those tissues, she would get punished. The holes in her shirt made it obvious to me what her punishment would be.
'Get lost!' someone yelled from outside, coming our way.
The girl looked up at the man, eyes wide and then she ran away. I quickly opened my door and stepped out of my car to go after her. 'Hey wait!' But she was already gone, and disappeared around a corner. She was afraid, I couldn't blame her.
'Better watch out for these street kids Gonzales,' said Lance.
'Lance...' I said through gritted teeth.
'I saved you. You should thank me.'
'Thank you?'
'Yes, that street kid was just waiting for the right moment to strike and probably snatch your gun from you. Don't underestimate them.'
'I don't have a gun.'
'Of course, you have a sword.' He chuckled, clearly mocking me.
Normally I wouldn't take the bait, but this guy was pissing me off. That girl needed help and all he could say was that she was a street kid. Did he not see the signs?
Baba was right! They were all the same!
I stepped towards Lance, ignoring his over 6 foot tall height against my 5'6 height before pressing the hilt of my sword against his abdomen.
'Now, you listen to me, Lance. You'll go after that girl, find her and take her back to the police station. You will keep her there and she will be under your protection until further notice.'
'Excuse me?'
'As it stands, I am your superior officer. You better do as I say...or else I'll make sure you get the cold end of my sword,' I pressed the hilt of my sword even harder.
Lance backed away only to back into his car. He looked at me furrowing his eyebrows, his lips moving as if he wanted to challenge me and yet at the same time hesitating.
'What was that?' I asked and still he didn't say anything. 'I thought so!' I released him. 'Now go!' I released him.
'Tsk!' I heard him clicking his tongue grumbling something as he walked along with his hands in his pocket, shoulders slouched. '...damn cocky brat. Be lucky you have your uniform on!'
Now I just hoped he found her on time and hopefully he found her with the others. I was going to take care of this as soon as my shift at the station ended.
'Hey! Gonzales!' I heard the chief calling me from inside and saw him waving through the window. I could swear he was like a dad excited to see his son on the soccer field for the first time.
I pushed my sword back under my belt and then I entered. As I pushed the door the bell rang and the fresh smell of homemade coffee filled my nostrils. I didn't know why it reminded me of homemade coffee as Gloria didn't serve me any coffee back at the house and I didn't drink any at the lakehouse, but it did and it was rather pleasant smell.
It was also my first time seeing inhumanes and humans all seated in one place. The place had a fancy name, but the interior wasn't so classy. It was elegant and yet simple and cosy...if that was even a word in my vocabulary.
The chief was seated at a booth close to the far corner of the coffee shop, already eating his second slice of cake.
'Welcome to the Dawn Brew,' said the woman standing behind the counter. She was short in height and very sweet, I could tell. 'I haven't seen you around here.'
'This is him, Aliye,' said the chief before hooking an arm around my shoulder. 'This is the new member of the family. He is still new and this is his first time here in the Dawn Brew.'
The woman chuckled and then moved from around the counter and came around it only to come and hold out a tree filled with chocolate brownies.
'Welcome, young man, please have a brownie.'
I looked at the tray and the scent alone was tempting me. These were freshly made and I could tell they tasted good. I was secretly a sweet tooth even though I tried not to let most people see that side of me because it would show a sign of weakness. Richard was the only one who brought me sweet treats from Gloria's kitchen.
'I'll have one Ms...ma'am...' I said, for a moment almost pondering on what I had to address her as, deciding on the latter.
I grabbed a brownie before I took a bite.
'What would you two like?' The lady named Aliye, then asked us, looking at the chief. 'Another slice of cake I presume?'
'You know me all too well, Aliye,' the chief chuckled scratching the back of his neck. I was weirded out by that as he didn't always seem so...polite and approachable in front of other people. 'Yes, another slice of your delicious coffee cake and I am sure the man would like the same?'
'I'll settle for anything minty...' I mumbled as having a cup of coffee and a slice of cake made of coffee would just be too much for my tastebuds.
The woman was pleased by my answer. 'Today is your lucky day! Today I made my son's favourite! Peppermint tart!'
I was looking at the woman, feeling like I had seen her face before. The moment she mentioned having a son, it clicked. I saw her that day; on the day the press showed up at the station. She was the mother of that Kai Andrew's guy.
'Why don't you go and have a seat, while I bring you two your treats!' She said sighing happily.
I watched her leave to go to the kitchen at the back.
'You just made her day,' said the chief.
I looked at him. 'With what?'
'When this shop first opened, the first thing she served to me was peppermint tart. It was her son's favourite treat and anyone eating it, brings a smile to that woman's face.'
'Because they eat her criminal son's favourite treat?'
'Her deceased son,' he corrected me before entering serious mode again. 'Now let us go sit. We have work to do.'