Of Lights and Shadows (Book 4)

28) Request Permission to Speak, Sir?

Tuesday 2nd, July:

          

No one noticed Dastardious as he stalked along the busy corridors of the Police Plaza, they moved out of his way but none of them ever acknowledged that he was there. It was like they were moving out of the way of an invisible object. Continuing to walk, he realised just how much he had lost in the years he had been away. So much for building a reputation that would last forever, they had almost forgotten after a measly six years. It was as if, as he walked past everybody, he had become a normal person. A no-one, just working through life in the force. It angered him to see he wasn't recognised, had they no idea who they were walking past?

A couple, though not often, did remember and would avert their gaze and carry on as if nothing had happened, but it wasn't enough. What had happened to it all? He wondered as he pushed open a pair of double glass doors and entered the large floor within. Over on the far side he could see the Commissioner's office, but there didn't seem to be any sign of the man himself.

Had everyone there that knew him moved on so new employees filled the ranks and no one bothered to pass on the stories? It would explain why he didn't recognise many of the faces around him, and why they didn't recognise him. After the news of what he had done to Oxley had spread around he had expected to see a few more wary faces watching him as he approached, he had been awarded one or two, but on the whole had been disappointed. Mulligan seemed to hold more power over the officers than he did, he thought angrily as he pushed aside a man carrying a large pile of folders who hadn't seen him coming.

This wasn't the first time he had thought of these things; in fact he was reminded of it every time he entered the Plaza. It never seemed to leave; he just couldn't get rid of it. There wasn't much that surprised him, but this did every time he stopped by.

He could understand why after almost a month of working for the Commissioner the new men at the office still didn't know him; it was because he was hardly in there. Sure his office was there and six years ago he would have stayed there until the case was finished, but this time his men were outside of the force and he had no need for the office. The only time he came by was for something important, which was why he was knocking at the Commissioner's door right that minute.

It was all for the sake of appearance, so it didn't just look like he had barged straight into the empty office. Though on reflection as he opened the door and walked on through it might have been good if he had just entered without knocking.

Settling down in a seat, he prepared to wait for as long as it took someone to come and join him. He didn't have long to wait, in fact, shortly after he had helped himself to the Commissioner's own cigars, Theodore Mulligan walked in. He wasn't the man Dastardious was expecting, nor wanted to see, and he frowned at the thought of having to spend time together with him.

'Morning,' Mulligan said casually as he took the other seat in the room and prepared to wait.

'Morning,' replied Dastardious. They both sank into a silence even though Dastardious had a couple of things to ask the man about Tsert, he just didn't feel at the moment like raising the subject. It was sometimes hard talking to each other; neither man knew what the other was thinking, and it was made worse with each knowing the other person's feelings towards them and knowing the things that had been done to the other person. Like the fact that they both knew Mulligan was a backstabber and had tried on more than one occasion, since Dastardious had arrived, to make life hard for him. They both also knew the fact that Dastardious had done a couple of things to immobilise Mulligan's investigation by beating out a retaliation to members of Mulligan's crew.

It was all a game, that's all it was. Make life bad for each other for their own private means, so the other person would fail and they end up walking out on top. They had both sworn their intent on their first meeting back at the prison; neither would back out of it. It was all part of the game. The one they would continue to play on each other until one of them died, whether by his own hand or by the hand of the other. That's why the attempts to ruin his investigation didn't annoy Dastardious as much as they would another detective. If another detective though, tampered with his investigation, Dastardious would have just shot him to get him out of the way.