The Love Of A 12

C H A P T E R : 12

TLOA12 | 12 : L.O.V.E.

{ William Bishop Mathis }

I jumped out of my Range and nodded towards the security guard at the door. He tipped his hat and opened the door for me to pass through. I already had my speech ready and knew the outcome. I would get yelled at, told that I was wasting my time dealing with this case for so long, and then I'd get released. I already had my badge and gun on me so I could just hand both of them over to her and walk away from it all. My plane ticket to Arizona was already bought and was set to leave tonight at 1 AM. All I had to do was stick to my gut.

I walked through the busy office before finally getting to the Chief. I knocked so she could know someone was waiting but it took a few minutes for the office door to finally open up. An officer came out with Harden on his heels. When her eyes landed on mine she snickers and went back into the room. "Come in Mathis." She muttered as the door was coming to a close. I stopped the door before it could close and went into the office. "Have a seat." Gesturing to the two chairs sitting in front of the desk.

I shook my head. "No, I'm good. It won't be long."

"Why are you here? Please don't tell me you want another extension when you still have nine months left." I shook my head again and slide my badge out of my back pocket. I tossed it onto her desk and it landed right in the middle like I expected it too.

"I'm over the case. Clearly this man is never going to have evidence against him. He does clean sales and all his workers are loyal. The daughter wasn't much help because she kept referring to her dad as a businessman. I'm officially closing the case." My speech was exactly how I rehearsed it in the car. I expected the rise of her eyebrows and cigarette untouched between her thin lips. Everything was in full motion.

"Almost three and a half years now and you finally give up? You finally realized that I was telling you the truth about you wasting your time trying to get enough dirt on Thomas. The said part about it all was that you were a pretty damn good detective if you just weren't on mission impossible." She sighed and took her feet off of the desk and sitting up. "As made from our deal before you're released. Where's your gun?" I took it out and handed it to her.

"I expect for you to write your reports up until last night and send them in. The only thing that was wrong about anything you said was that you were officially closing the case. I'm in charge of case closure and this case is too damn good to close." My eyes widened slightly. If the case was still open then Nye was up to get hurt. She loved her dad and brothers and if the case continued and they get evidence. It'll tear her apart.

"What?" I couldn't let that happen.

"It would be sad Mathis, if someone picked up on all your research and ended up having success when most of the hard work came from you. Now, I'm giving you the opportunity to act as if you never said any of the shit you said to me. I could hand your gun and badge back over to you and you continue on with the case just like you have been until your nine months is up. How does that sound?" She had a devilish smile on her face so I knew she had something good coming from Mr. Thomas getting arrested. I wondered what it could be but I also thought about the plane ticket sitting in my email waiting for me to print out.

I wanted to tell her that I didn't care about someone stealing my limelight. That I just wanted to get away from the girl that I was falling in love with, but I couldn't tell her. My mind immediately went to Anyela. The past three months with her have been better than I imagined. She was a girl that was just born into the wrong kind of lifestyle. She was more than just a drug dealer's daughter. She was - scratch that - has been my life since Christmas day. I couldn't let her or her family get hurt.