Of Lights and Shadows (Book 4)

5) Re-acquaintance

Dastardious knew as he lay on the floor in a dim haze that Silence would be expecting him to call, but there were still other things to do first. Crawling into his bedroom, he used the shelves to pull himself to his feet; once he felt stable enough he grabbed a pair of pants from the top shelf and pulled them on.

He was feeling a lot better now, things were clearer than they had been and he felt rejuvenated. Pulling a shirt out he changed into it, then, first checking himself in the mirror to make sure he looked good, left the apartment.

He took the elevator again and rode it back down to reception. The blond girl was still behind the desk but this time on the phone. She paid little attention to him as he walked passed, giving a small absent minded wave with her free hand while not breaking the conversation.

Catching a taxi, Dastardious got the driver to take him to One Police Plaza where he used to work in the Major Case Squad. On the way over, he went through a list in his mind of certain things he needed to do to get back into the world. Top of the list was check his bank account to make sure it was still open, and re-open everything else that was shut down upon his entering prison.

Despite being sentenced for life he had kept his apartment and belongings frozen because he had planned to come back to them. They were frozen because he knew that it wouldn't be long before they came asking for his help.

The taxi slowed to a halt and a couple of minutes later Dastardious was inside the brutish, rectangular building that was where he worked. The outside appearance hadn't changed since his last visit, it was still gruesome brown, but the inside had changed a lot with offices changing floors and such like. It took him a while to find the floor he was supposed to be on after a couple of wrong turns.

As he walked along it, he picked out the ways the place had changed. It was still busy, with people working and walking loudly about things, but the people had changed. They all looked different, unfamiliar, and acted differently, more in charge of themselves.

The offices he passed had been rearranged, he passed ones he remembered being on the other side of the floor, and some were being used for different things. Another thing that was different was the vending machine where his old office used to be.

He stopped and starred at it for a while and then fishing a dollar out from his wallet inserted it into the machine and selected a packet of chips. The machine started to wind the packet forwards, and then stopped with the packet right at the edge. They had replaced his office with a vending machine and it didn't even work.

Dastardious punched it.

The glass front cracked, the whole machine shook, and then the panel of glass fell to the floor in a million tiny pieces. As he bent down to pick up the fallen packet, he noticed the silence that had suddenly taken over his half of the floor. He smiled slightly -they had finally noticed him.

As he straightened up the whispers started and quickly spread. Turning, he faced the many faces that were peering over desks set out in the middle of the floor and the faces peering out of office windows and doors. An officer tried to sneak by but Dastardious grabbed him by the coat and pulled him to a chocking halt.

'The Commissioner in?' he asked. Technically if you worked in Major Case you would be answering to the Deputy Inspector, but this case was so large Gallapolo had taken a personal interest in it. At least, that was what the official news explaining Wallace Gomar's absence said.

The man he pulled to a stop stopped struggling and answered, 'Yeah, he's in his office,' before continuing to try to pull loose.

'Good,' replied Dastardious, releasing him as he turned to walk back to the elevators. Stopping, he frowned and turned. 'Where is his office?' he asked, just to be sure.