Innocent Criminal

Chapter 5

That night, while Haru walked past a cell that had no relevance to him before, he stopped short when he heard a familiar voice. Kanes voice. It was low and most wouldn't be able to hear it or even bat an eye, but Haru did. ' I've requested his files, we should have more information on him soon' he was saying.

'Word travelling around is that something big is going down soon, something big. Even the north sides involved' came another, deeper voice. Before Haru could contemplate what was being said, a hand clasped around his mouth, muffling a startled scream.

Haru panicked and thrashed as he was dragged away by men much larger, stronger than him.

Haru knew what was going on when they ended up in a dark storage room. He knew there was no one that was going to save him, no one going to care. He'd tried once before, faought tooth an nail to bust out the room and told a guard. He was frantic, bleeding, stumbling on his words but got it out that he'd been attacked, raped. The guard didn't care. In fact, the guard grabbed him and dragged him right back to king in the damp and dark storage room.

That was the day Haru realised half the guards were on Kings roster, being paid a hefty extra sum to keep their mouths shut and do little favours. So now when Haru saw the dim hanging lightbulb and breathed the damp, mouldy, and cold air he simply gave up.

Kane was particularly surprised when Haru Wasn't in their cell after he got back from his colleges cell, since he'd noticed Haru didn't do very much other then lay on his bed. However he was shocked when there was still no sign of Haru by lights out. Or an hour later, or 2 hours later.

It was well past midnight when Kane heard shuffled foot steps in the dark, more then one person. They stopped outside the cell. There was a grunt, then a thud of a body hitting the ground. Kane leaned over the side of his bunk to just about make out the tiny trembling figure of Haru drag himself onto his bed and heave a staggered breath.

The officer didn't say anything at first, honestly too stunned to as he tried to understand what had happened. He faced a dilemma. His cell mate was a criminal, connected with one of the worse men in the world and his target, his cell mate was now a person of interest. Yet.......'are you alright?' He whispered, but knew Haru heard him.

The voice that replied was raspy, yet somehow still emotionless and steady. 'Yes.'

Kane decided it was not his place to pry, so he said 'ok good.'

And with that they both silently went to bed.

**

The next morning Kane woke before most other inmates, and before breakfast call. Most importantly, he woke up before his cell mate. When he descended from his bed a single glance at the lump of blankets, he could see blood splotches on the pillow, mattress covers and blanket too. For a second he just stood there, not knowing what to do. But eventually the police officers moral side won and he grabbed one of his clean white undershirts and went to the bathrooms to fill a bottle of water. The water bottles were all clear with no labels to make sure nothing could be hidden in them.

When he got back to his cell Haru was still passed out. So much so, that even moving Harus body around didn't seem to wake him up. So Kane proceeded to get the wet cloth and clean away the blood on the young man face, which sported a busted lip, swollen right cheek and a few small cuts scattered across the otherwise smooth, slightly darker then caramel skin. He wiped down his face, letting the cold water of the rag to reduce at least a little swelling, before he moved on to other parts of Haru that seemed minimally invasive. Like his hands. Kane noticed before the way almost the entire span of skin covering the front and back of Harus hands were scarred with a multitude of what looked like cuts and other unrecognisable shapes. Somewhere inside Kane, he was curious to know the story, but he scolded his curiosity and proceeded in wiping the blood from his hands and short abused nails.

For a moment, while re soaking the cloth, Kane stopped to admire the soft features of his cell mate. The small ringlets in his hair - that was a deep brown, but not quite black - some ringlets stood up tall while others fell gracefully over the pillow and Harus face. Kane noticed the faintest of freckles that danced across Harus cheeks, nose and speckled lightly up to his forehead. Asleep the prisoner looked innocent, angelic almost to Kane. As if the young man could do no wrong, and perhaps he just drew a short straw in life.

Kane had seen in before, the life criminals live that lead up to the crime. Back when he was a police officer on the streets he'd see all sorts, but one thing was clear; most criminals life is hell, and they just do what they do to survive. Even the arrogent young gang boys Kane had noticed time and time again mainly came from the poorer areas, in a broken home not fit for a child but neglected by society and the government. Easy prey, those kids were, desperate and broken till the only one who notices them are the ones who want to use them. The truly evil ones right up top of the crime hierarchy.

It was messed up, the system was broken and Kane knew. He'd been exposed to the harsh reality that poor neighbourhoods, leads to more crime, leads to more dangerous conditions and even worse living situations, till crime is all you have to survive because at that point no government is willing to help. To waste money on kids born to be doomed. They needed help, those kids Kane had arrested. Help they wouldn't receive. But it wasn't Kanes job to help them, it was his job to protect everyone else from them.

On that bed in the cell, Kane looked at the young man and couldn't help but wonder what unfortunate life he had been given to end up here. He looked too innocent, too gentle worded, too soft handed to seem truly evil. Maybe Kane was being bias from all the time he's spent as Harus cell mate.

Or maybe not.

Kane was not oblivious to the strange actions and behaviours of Haru. The distant look he'd get, how agitated he seemed around crowds and noise or anyplace that was outside his bed. His repetitive movements - clicking, pinching his skin, tapping his fingers, bouncing his legs, biting his nails - he always seemed to be making some form of movement. And then theres was the interactions, the way Haru couldn't hold eye contact instead his eyes would dart around the room or focus on something seemingly irrelevant like a wall, only said a select few words and otherwise was comfortably silent even when sometimes the young man needed to be vocal. Kane had his suspicions, but kept his opinion to himself.

After cleaning up Haru to the best of his abilities, Kane repeated 'he's a suspect' in his mind like a mantra till he walked out for breakfast.

Kane had returned to a still sleeping Haru with an oat bar and apple in hand regardless of his stupid mantra.

**also just so you guys dont get confused, Haru is a Japanese name but he dosent have that many Asian features because he is half black, on his fathers side. It will be brought up later in the story but I thought id mention it so you're not confused.