Mystery Loves Company

Chapter 15 - File #3.7: The Leaps and Bounds

Rhett

Shit. The sound of the key being unlocked twisted my stomach. Shit, shit, shit! I kept swearing helplessly as the door creaked open and Chief Snell's presence was getting stronger. You're as good as dead, Rhett. Dead.

But thank God, I could breath for one second. He hadn't come in yet because one of the detectives was chatting with him. How the hell did he get back so fast anyway? Did he ask Lewis Hamilton to drive his car or something?

No, Rhett, that was the least of your worry now. Hiding under the desk, I couldn't exactly move. Chief Snell was right by the door and the window couldn't be opened. Avery wouldn't be much help as she might already run back to my car because this was the kind of thing she avoided most. If the Chief decided to enter the room and sat on his comfy chair, it was game over for me.

"It's one hell of an achievement, Chief. I know Mayor Landon likes you so much," said the detective. "I hope whoever elected next week, will be as appreciative as we are."

"Thank you, Detective Evans," said the Chief. "Although, I wish he can be re-elected again. Not because he just awarded me as one of the most influential people in this town, but because the two candidates just don't get me."

The senior detective chuckled. "I thought Derek Rickard did a pretty good job in the council."

"Yeah, but my wife is going crazy about Peter Jennings. I've met the man, not that impressed," Chief Snell sneered. "He seems to be more favorable to win, though."

"Well, if he is our next mayor, I'd rather retire somewhere else," Detective Evans joked, even though I knew he wasn't fully joking. I didn't even live in Bridgewald that long, but I knew one or two things about the candidates because Kyle—as if he wasn't unique enough—was so interested in politics. He could talk about it all day, the way I talked about exciting cases and mysteries I had encountered. We didn't put that much attention to each other's interests, but we just somehow got along.

As Kyle would say, "Rickard has more experience, but Jennings has the power." All I knew that Peter Jennings had more money because he used to be a businessman, and for the last two years he had been active in a political party. At first he was just supporting them financially, but then it just grew. People knew Jennings better because he appeared on TV more often than any local celebrities, whereas Rickard looked like a better candidate because he actually knew about this town's problems.

I was getting immersed with these election things when I realized that both of them had already ended their conversation with that laugh.

Oh, crap, he's about to go in!

Suddenly, there was a loud noise from outside—sounded like something exploded. It was followed by murmurs from the officers in the station. I almost bumped my head to the desk because of the shock.

"What the hell was that?" asked Chief Snell, his voice trailed off.

Sensing that he was leaving the office to check the noise, I peeked. No one was around. I crawled out from my hiding place. I didn't have much time to get out of here. I certainly couldn't just walk out with Chief in here, so the only way out was the way in. I noticed the Chief's set of keys hanging on the door's keyhole. It was his habit to put his keys under one keychain—to make things easier, on his defense. For me, it was a stupid idea, as he would lose all of them at once.

Slow and quick, I pulled the keys out and pick the smallest one to be put into the window's keyhole. After it was unlocked, I propped the window with my wallet while hanging the keys back to the door. One thing about breaking in, you couldn't have anything at the scene that could be traced back to you.