L.I.E. (Learn, Improve, Educate)

Chapter 3 - Oh, It's a Secret

"Lovely boy isn't he?" Director Tadeas Curtis asked. His shortness plus his giant belly and baldness made him look the typical successful boss. Accompanied by Earls' team and Harvey's that have apparently been listening to the whole scene, he popped up at the entrance of their office moved by curiosity.

"Beat's me. Is this kid sane at all?" Carver muttered, trying not to sound as harsh as he really wanted. "Is he really going to help anything at all, I mean?" he asked out loud.

Tadeas smiled "He may seem a bit lunatic sometimes but this nineteen year old young man has an IQ of 160 and good intuition power that are the weapons he is lending us, so we must use them carefully and wisely." He then looked at everyone in that room "Just because he's different from the rest when it comes to his way of thinking, doesn't mean that he can't help us" he cleared his throat and continued "As Earl and Harvey's teams have already four members both, I thought he could be a better help for your team, Adam, once you only have two members and, well" he looked to Lael "one of them is still recovering" Tadeas smiled sympathetically while squeezing his shoulder. Despite being the boss, he would always care for everyone who belonged in the department individually. He would even pay in advance when someone really needed the money earlier. He was that type of man that always tried to see the positive things in life and in people. Everyone in t the department liked him and there wasn't anyone who badmouthed him.

"I appreciate it, boss" Adam Carver made a tiny fake smile and nodded.

...

"How is the situation with Aiken?" Tadeas asked as he made sure the door was close and there wasn't anyone who could listen to that conversation.

"Everything is under control".

"That means that he doesn't remember anything about the island or the surgery, right?" he insisted.

"Right. Don't worry about anything, if I suspect something isn't right with him I'll tell you immediately. He's confused but that's natural, nothing more so far".

"Good, good. What about Edath Naleg? Is she being helpful?" he added as he finally sat on his office chair.

"Yes. Besides her bad temper, she's been quite helpful. She solved a couple of cases when Lael was off in a matter of time. That 'talent' she doesn't like us to call is really true and it can be our best weapon to solve any case. All we have to do now is to give her the suspects and she can extract the truth out of them simply because she can understand how to manipulate the suspects. Well, that and the fact that she can be quite scary sometimes. It's quite fascinating".

"Impressive. The bad thing about this is the fact we need to make sure that she keeps out of Aiken's knowledge until we can get a way to make him move to another department." Tadeas made a tired and forced smiled "But, still, do you think that it is enough to make his memories encrypted?"

"It was what doctor Obrecht told us, right"'

"Right. I hope I don't have to end up dismissing Lael after all. Worse than that, I just hope I don't need to make them do that surgery to him again. God knows how painful it was to watch. Besides, there was no guarantee he would make it out alive again. I wouldn't risk having other departments investigating us for his uncertain death on an improvised and not licensed hospital"

"You would have to arrest him with fake accusations instead".

"Exactly. But the court could declare he wasn't aware of his acts and put into a psychiatric hospital or something instead. Hopefully it won't turn out that way". The boss started to nibble his finger nails.

"You are consumed by guilt, aren't you? But you were the one who suggested that we tested this new brain surgery on him..."

"I know I did and yes I am, you know that!" he smacked his fists on the desk "Stop reminding me of that, alright!" he took a deep breath and then continued "We had to get it tested on someone and this opportunity was given us. I mean, we gave an opportunity to one of our best detectives to keep working with us, instead of throwing him in jail or in the hospital and probably, who knows, get us sued or something. But I still think it was the best choice we made".

"Yes, I know that. And you know that we have your back".

"I know and thanks. What about this kid, Ace Ruskin? Do you think he is the man we need?"

"He claims to know how to extract intel out of Edath. He went towards the prison she's being held when he left the department. As it seems, he used to live in that island and was somehow familiar with how she functions. We can tell that he used to belong to their culture once he knows all of that stuff that you have heard, so I hope he will truly make Edath talk about the hidden inhabitants and our men as well".

"Who can guarantee that he isn't on her side and pretends to release her?"

"He told us that he rejected their culture principles. The fact that killing was legal made him move out to our country with the hope he would find better society principles. He was given permission to do so." He paused, to make it clearer "Added to that, she was one of the deadliest and feared people that somehow leaded a big group that killed for fun. I guess this, plus the pure hatred mirrored on his face every time he talks about his hometown and the polygraph test he made with our fellow partners a few weeks ago makes him someone trustworthy".

"Alright. Thanks for keeping me updated. You are free to go" Tadeas said and continued to work.