John Depp Special Agent. Book I: Deadly Pride

Chapter 7: Curiosity Killed the Cat

Early in the morning, John and Duke got into the Cold-Case Department. To his surprise, the pregnant agent, Eva Mendes was there too. She had arrived earlier and continued to work on a case box. John asked her why she was there so early. She explained that due to the pregnancy, she wasn't able to sleep a lot and instead of staying at home she preferred to work. John told her that since she arrived early, she could leave early too. She said that that day she needed to stay a little bit longer because she had an appointment with her doctor and she had extra time so she would rather spend that time in the office instead of waiting in the doctor's office. Besides the extra hours would help her with the baby. Of course, she needed John to authorize the extra hours. John told her that he would see what he could do. Then he headed to his office.He paced around his office watching the pictures and the notes he added on the walls. He picked the files, he had brought back from home and added a picture of the way the victims were found.One by one, the other agents entered the office, went to their desks, and went on working. Every once and then, they watched curiously at John's office to see what he was doing.In his office, Alec Baldwin picked up the phone and asked human resources to send him John's file.Moments later, he got it and started reading it. It was quite impressive but he felt some blank spaces needed to be filled. He called his assistant and asked her to get him the phone numbers and names of the chiefs the Texas Rangers, the Troopers, The Marines, and the Green Berets. Soon he got the information he requested. He made the phone calls personally. He asked for a copy of John's file. He wanted to know what he had done during the time he worked there. He also requested a report of John's character and work ethic written by the chief or a partner who had worked with John.John's phone rang, he looked at the caller ID and knew it was Robert who was calling him. He thought he was being anxious, he had received the case less than 24 hours before and he already wanted results. He picked up the phone, "Hi Chief! I am still arranging the info you gave me. Why are you so anxious?"On the other end of the phone, Robert asked, "Are you in trouble, son?" He sounded worried."No, why do you ask that?" John was intrigued."The FBI Deputy Director, himself, has just called me and asked for a copy of your file. When I asked why he was interested in getting your file, he said that he was curious about you, but I felt he was being elusive." Robert explained.John laughed, "Her daughter is working in my department, and his brother is my ex-partner and the asshole living with my wife..."Robert asked, "Do you think he wants to damage your reputation or do anything to you?"John was amused, "No. He is a righteous man. He has just realized what a jerk his brother is and he is probably worried about his daughter. Besides, my file is clean. I have nothing to hide. Give it to him."Robert added with concern in his voice, "He also asked for a report on your work ethic and your character..."John chuckled, "Do I need to fear you will write a bad report about me? Do I need to beg you to put a good word for me?" "Well, if you ask me, I think you are the biggest fool I've ever met. Who on his right mind leaves the Rangers to join the Fibbies?" Robert scolded John."Will you ever forgive me for that?""Only if you come back to work with us!" Robert stated emphatically."Thanks for the heads up, I need to go back to work," John said. They said goodbye and ended the call.John went on pacing the room and watched the pictures, examining them carefully, he also took a peak at Agent Baldwin. He wondered why Alec was interested in him. At that moment his phone rang again.This time it was a call from the Troopers, but it wasn't from the Chief. He picked up the call."Hello, John. This is Maya, Chief Reeves's secretary, he is in a meeting now but he asked me to call you." "Hello, Maya. How's the family?" John knew Maya and her family."Oh, they are fine, thanks for asking. John, we've received a strange call today..." Maya went in but John interrupted her."Let me guess. It was the FBI Deputy Director asking for my file and a report on me?" John laughed.Maya was surprised, "Yes, how did you know? What shall we do? The chief wants to know if you're OK.""Everything is fine. Don't worry and send him what he asks. I have nothing to hide or to be ashamed of." They talked for a while and then they said goodbye.Everything went back to normal and everyone went on working in the Cold-Case Department.At noon, John stepped out of his office, like every day he asked his agents if they needed anything and told them he was going to have lunch on the roof. Then he and Duke left.When he went back to work, he decided to talk with his agents. He cleared his throat and said, "Guys, pay attention. Today at 4 o'clock we will have a meeting. I want to..."A knock on the door interrupted him. It was Alec Baldwin, "Excuse me, Agent Depp, can we have a word?"John nodded and Alec came in and said, "But, please finish what you were saying. I don't want to interrupt."John turned to look at his agents and went on, "I want to learn about your progress, and a brief description of the case you are working on."Someone raised a hand. "You don't need to raise your hand, Eva. Just say what you have to say." John encouraged her to speak."Well, Sir. Please have a little patience with me while I explain myself..." Eva said. John nodded and gestured for her to go on. Eva explained, "When I was in college I had to work to pay for my tuition. I worked in a data entry firm in New York. We had a training previous to start working. We worked for very important corporations, health services, and law firms... Well, one of the things we were told to do was not to read the information we entered in the system, not to try to make sense. And they were very strict about that. We had to enter a certain amount of information per hour, so we didn't have time to read the documents we were uploading into the database. We had to be careful because it was vital information and there could not be mistakes but we didn't have the time to learn any of the information we were uploading..." Eva looked at John apologetically and added, "In conclusion, Sir. I haven't analyzed any case. Maybe I misinterpreted your command. But if you want me to do that I can stop doing what I am doing and concentrate on only one of the cases I uploaded..." Eva looked at John expecting to receive instructions.John looked at her and said, "First of all, call me John. Please tell me how many cases have you uploaded?""Well, I don't keep track of the number of cases, but I think that 2 on the first day, about 4, maybe 5 yesterday, and up to now, 2." She said humbly. Everyone in the office turned to look at her. That made her feel awkward.John asked Eva, "Did you scan the pictures, take pictures of the physical evidence? Did you upload everything that was in those 8 or 9 cases?""Yes, of course. I've been very thorough. As I said, I used to do this for a living."John looked at the rest and asked, "Anyone else has uploaded multiple cases?" All the agents looked at each other. John said, "Raise your hand if you uploaded more than one case." Nobody did, except for Eva. "Raise your hand if you are analyzing the case you have worked on for the last two days." Everyone did, except for Eva.Eva looked at John, "I am so sorry. It won't happen again."John gestured for her to keep quiet, he thought for a moment and then said, "OK, Eva you keep doing what you are doing. The rest of you will give a brief report on the cases you have. Eva, you will pay attention during the meeting, and if you think of something related to the cases, just let us know. That would be all. Keep up the good work."He invited Alec to join him in his office and asked Eva to go to his office too.In the office, Eva tried to apologize but John interrupted her, "Eva, you are doing a good job. We need to upload all of the cases, so do not apologize. I haven't called you in to reprimand you. This has to do with what we talked about earlier. I am authorizing you to work overtime. Please do not overdo it, I don't want you to have problems at home because you spend so much time here.""Oh, no. My husband is deployed abroad. He is a marine. I am at home alone and as I said with a baby on the way, the extra money will help us a lot.""OK then. Go on with what you were doing." John said, Eva nodded and left the office.Alec was looking around, "Quite an interesting decoration you have in here!""I bet this is not the reason for your visit, Director?" John was amused."I felt curious about how things were going with the changes you implemented.""Only curious about that? I've heard you also felt curious about my career in Texas...""I am sorry about that," Alec looked ashamed, "I just wanted to know more about you. You have quite an impressive record... How did you know I checked on you?""I am a very special agent, Sir! Besides, The chief of the Troopers is one of my best friends and the chief of the Rangers is like a father to me. I guess you asked for my military file as well... Am I wrong?""You are right. Can I ask you a question?""Yes, of course. Shoot!""Your Rangers' file says you're an active officer...How is that possible?""Chief Redford never accepted my resignation so he put me on the longest absent leave without payment in the history of the Texas Rangers. I still have my badge and my gun. I work as a consultant. Whenever they have a serial killer or a high-profile case taken from them by the Fibbies, they call me. Chief Redford hates the Bureau, and whenever he has the chance to piss off Special Agent Eastwood or the Fibbies in general," John pointed at the pictures on the walls, "well, I help him. He insists on having me on active service just in case I decide to go back."Alec smiled and shook his head, "Fibbies? Auch! That hurt! And now you are after this serial killer?""According to the Fibbies, multiple killers, they think there are three on the loose.""And you don't agree with that theory?""Something doesn't add up. In your experience, how many times have come across several serial killers in the same town at the same time?""Never. But there's always a first time. Or maybe, the three killers know each other...""I don't know... I have to see the evidence from another angle to be sure." John looked puzzled.There was a knock on the door. It was Special Agent Judd, "The mail clerk is here to deliver a package for you, John.""Let him in Ash," John said. Ashley nodded and went away."You have a very informal relationship with your agents..." Alec stated."Calling me Sir or Chief doesn't mean they respect me. They can call me John and show more respect than when they are forced to call me by a title. We are all working together in the same team."The mail clerk entered the office and put a parcel on John's desk. "It is addressed to the department, not to anyone in particular, Sir.""Don't worry. Leave it here. Thanks." John stood up and was about to open the parcel when Duke growled. John looked at him, then he picked up the phone, made a call, and calmly informed, "Hello this is Special Agent John Depp, Chief of the Cold-Case Department. Please, send someone to my office to inspect a suspicious parcel on my desk, call the mailing room to see if this parcel was X-rayed, and consider evacuating the building as a precaution."He gestured to Alec for him to go out, called Duke, and the three left his office. When he was out of his office he called all his agents' attention and told them to leave everything they were doing and evacuate the place.On their way out, they saw the SWAT team that was going to inspect the parcel. The whole building was being evacuated. John, his team, Alec, and Duke went outside the building, where they met William. John ignored him, Alec told William what had happened. William looked at Duke and demanded, "All of this because your pet growled?"Alec was pissed with William.While patting Duke's head, John said without even looking at William, "Duke was in the Middle East, he is trained to detect explosives and corpses. Don't you ever call him a pet, mutt, bag of flees, or dog again! As I said before he is an officer. And he is more qualified than you will ever be."The captain of the SWAT team came out and said it was safe to go back into the building. William looked at John and mocked him, "Oh, yeah. Good job doggie! It was a false alarm. Do us a favor John and leave that decorated officer at home.""I am the Chief of my Department and the only one who cannot enter is you, Chief Baldwin." John spat.The captain of SWAT approached and informed, "Good calling, Sir. There was a human head wrapped in newspaper inside the parcel. We didn't touch it. I didn't want to ruin any evidence. A forensic team is waiting for you to see how you want to handle this case.""Thanks, Captain," John thanked him and then turned around, "Guys, it is safe to go back in, go on with your work," he paused and retorted sarcastically, "You were saying, Chief Baldwin? I think you owe Officer Duke an apology." He turned to Alec, "Director, I think we will have to leave our conversation for another day.""Are you crazy? I was going to ask you to let me be present during today's staff meeting. But now, I want to see what happens next. I haven't been involved in a case in years!" Alec exclaimed excitedly.John shrugged his shoulders and said, "OK, fine for me." Both men entered the building followed by Duke.William watched them leave together and thought, 'Unbelievable! And that man is my brother?'All the agents entered the building to continue with their activities.