I'll Help You Hide From Them

File

I don't waste time looking for that record Ralph kept. He knew that he could have his home searched so he got himself the most disgusting and uncomfortable album cover he could find to hide any files he happened to be "borrowing". It's something I am certain that only I know about since we both agreed to share our hiding place for things in the event that one of us passes away.

I force myself to avoid getting upset over the memory that he's dead or that I didn't come here to check first, pulling out the embarrassing record. Kier steps into the room, blushing a little at the picture it has before he sees me empty it. Of course there's the record itself but there's also sheets of paper and files tightly packed in to fit along with a USB stick.

"When did-?" Kier starts to ask but I simply interrupt him.

"-This would be Ralph's hiding place for things. The shooter didn't get around to searching this. He knew that. I take it you never touched this either." I work out.

"I hated it when he'd leave it around the house when we had guests." He murmurs in reply.

I laugh a little at the thought, flicking through the files. Most of them are on a twenty year old cold case. I look to see who the detective investigating the case was, surprised when I recognise my captain's signature.

"We should probably get this to the safehouse so that we can study it in detail." I decide, putting everything back into the record and carrying the thing under my jacket back outside again.

The whole car journey, my head is mulling over everything.

That cold case he's looking at isn't even a homicide. What was Ralph up to?

I do all I can to avoid being distracted by what I learnt from my mother.

I deserve to know the truth about who I am.

Once we arrive at the safehouse, I go into the bedroom and scatter the contents of the record onto the floor. Kier looks a little uncomfortable at the record cover being on show but sits down on the floor with me.

"Do you know what we're looking for?" He asks.

"Not really, right now we just need to find some patterns or anything that doesn't fit in." I reply.

"This case is older than I am." He smirks when he sees all of the dates.

I focus on the dates, noticing that most of them are within the first few months I was born in.

Thankfully on this copy, occasionally there are Ralph's notes on the situation, showing me his clear point of focus. He seemed to be looking into the identity of the informant that keeps coming to the investigation. Ralph kept trying to see the best in the informant when their information leads to a raid and an occupation of a Tower block of flats.

I seem to recall looking into a case near identical to this back in the academy, only without any attention to the misconduct of the police to warn us that informants have their own agendas.

What was the agenda for this informant?

"This case is local! It all happened in those flats nearby the shopping centre." Kier gasps. "Your Captain was lead detective on the case. This is cool."

I look over the sections talking about the informant one more time before sighing. "He did a terrible job at doing the paperwork. He couldn't stay professional." I point out, looking over one furious sentence when he felt he had been betrayed by the informant.

Kier seems surprised. "How come I've never heard of this case? It gets really serious." He asks. I look over his shoulder, seeing that it includes some of the effects of the occupation in surprising detail.

"The police department would want this under wraps." I tell him as my eyes drift over what some of the officers did to the innocent civilians to take advantage of their position of power.

"Why would Ralph he looking into this? Is this at all related to a case you were working on?" Kier asks.

"I'm not sure I know why he's looking into this." I answer. "Can you get this up on a computer? I think we'll know more when we see his usual document."

Kier takes the USB and plugs it into his laptop. "It needs a password." He reports.

"Of course it would. Try his key focus, informant." I tell him.

Kier tries it, shaking his head at me. "No, that's not right."

"Ralph is usually awful at passwords." I sigh.

"Should I look at the hint?" Kier suggests.

"What is it?" I shrug, at a loss for possible password combinations.

"It's a date. October 21st-" I cut in midway through the year.

"-Try my name." I tell him.

"Are you sure?" He asks nervously.

"Yes, that clue was the day I was born." I tell him.

He tries it, giving me a strange look when he gets into it.

"What's on it?" I ask, looking over his shoulder and freezing up.

It's a brainstorm of me with a picture of my face at the centre. At the top, I see that the title of the document says "Who is Drew Woolnough?" My eyes skim over the information written on the sides, seeing his thought process and investigation progress. Most of the text is coloured red to show that they came to a dead end. The only text in blue seems to be aware of something the police feel guilty about being the reason I'm treated how I am. I realise that this and the case file we've been digging through are connected. Looking back between them, I realise that the unnamed informant must be the person he was looking for.

I look at all the information Ralph has found on the man before trying to narrow down the list myself.

Apparently the informant was a con artist with ties in gangs. I doubt that a con artist will circulate drugs so they'll probably be part of one of the bigger gangs.

Maybe I can try and come up with a cover to infiltrate some of those gangs to find out what they know. No, that's near impossible, with how the news have been showing my face, they'll know who I am for sure. They must've known that they were an informant so they're probably in witness protection or something similar. I've always treated the powerful gangs with respect, they'll want me to return the favour somehow but I can go to them for help.

Am I really thinking this? Going to criminals to help me with this case. If I dig around at the station I know that the shooter or Shane can be alerted somehow. It's a gamble I feel I have to take. There's no doubt that there's a leak in the department especially after Shane's timing was so precise.

With this I know that I'll be taking a risk but discretely make plans to visit the gang tonight.