MORGAN'S MISSING

10-29

December 7th 2017
California, Los Angeles

Officer Daniel Ramirez:

       "How are you feeling Dan?" Landan asks as he enters my house. I was currently sitting on the floor, a bunch of reports and files spread out on the coffee table. I placed my head on it's cool surface, groaning.

       "I don't know how detectives do this crap. There's so much to read, my eyes hurt" I whine, sticking my head back and craning it in an awful way to look at him. All this reading wasn't telling me anything important.

      "Thank god you're a cop not a detective. Why are you even looking through all that?" He smiles at me, rounding the couch and plopping on it behind me.

      "Well since I'm out of commission for the next two weeks. I volunteered to look into some paperwork related to the suspect we caught the other day and the girl." I explain, rubbing my temples. They've already got me neck deep in papers I can't even decipher. I already missed being out in the field.

      "Well kid, why don't we relax and pop open a few beers. I'll help you with your homework" Landan leans forward, wrapping his arms around my neck in a choke hold. I quickly wrap arms around his head and pull with all my might. Throwing him off the couch. I hiss as his head lands straight on my bandaged thigh.

       "Get your rock head off my leg damnit!" I hiss, pushing at his head. Hearing my pain he quickly gets up, frowning.

      "I'm sorry. Oh fuck your bleeding again" He curses, noticing the blood seeping through the white wrap.

      "Nah it's good, go get us some beers. I'll gladly take your offer to help." I smile, shoving his shoulder. He groans, smacking my hand away.

      "Okay bitch! Just because I hurt you doesn't mean you could hurt me!" Landan shouts, standing up. I quickly look at my leg, stretching it out from it's crossed position. It wasn't my first time being shot but this one really hurt and would take the longest to heal. Landan got lucky, he was said to be better within the next few days. So he would be returning the 10th or something. Lucky bastard.

      "Here ya go. Now give me a stack" Landan hands me a beer, sitting down on the floor across from me.

      "Can you look in the 'recent' reports and files that are stacked right there. I've been going through the history pile" I explain, taking a swig of my beer. His face drains of color as he looks at the huge stack labeled 'RECENT'.  I laugh, continuing to read my paper. I could see Landan growing restless as the hours passed.

        "So did you find anything?" Landan yawns, sitting straight and stretching. He had complained about the heat earlier, taking off his shirt. Which was now covering the majority of papers on the table.

      "Sorta, I mean it's kinda confusing as to why Chief Valentino is on every single case this man has. I mean he wasn't the one who caught the man or anything but he's somehow involved in every single case. An every case he walks free"  I say, shuffling through papers. 'It didn't add up' I thought, why would such a high up officer be involved with such minority things.

       "This man has many run ins with hookers and prostitution. He's also had some minor drug charges. And on every report, the arresting officer is Valentino. However, Valentino as a chief is barely on the field. So how is it that every 36 cases the man has he's involved?" I ask, expressing my confusion.

      "Woah, that's weird. You don't think he's bent do you?" Landan asks, although he was joking. I wasn't however, I smelled something fishy here and it wasn't the dead girl they found in the car.

      "Ha ha, I don't know. Just suspicious. You find anything" I ask back, trying to hide my suspicion.

      "Not really. He's been pretty clean until now. And yes, it was a Chief Valentino case." Landan says, yawning.

      "What about the girl?" I ask, deciding to drop the Valentino subject. Although I could trust Landan, it's not the best idea to raise alarms about a well known officer.

      "She's been missing for a while, 4 or so years. She disappeared at age 17. Her name is Violet Williams. She's never had a police record or any trouble. She was classified as a kidnapping because she disappeared walking home from school. Multiple witnesses said they saw a maroon Lincoln pull up next to her. Said she tried to struggle but they got her. That was the last time anyone saw her" Landan explained, handing me her case file. 'Violet Williams' the name sounded so familiar. Wait wait wait. I'm pretty sure Morgan brought the name up. 'Did Morgan know Violet?' I ask myself, how would she know that name.

      "Hmm" I said, turning the pages of the file. I suddenly caught a familiar name. 'File Reviewed and Approved by Chief Valentino' I read to myself. Quickly looking through all the papers on her I notice that he's approved every one. As well as edited. 'What the fuck?' I think to myself. This wasn't normal, usually the Lieutenant handled the paperwork and the Chief Executioner handled the officers. Chief Valentino was in charge of making sure Officers knew their place and he was in charge of their training. So how is it that he's now in charge of only these few cases. 

      "I can see you overthinking, my question is what about?" Landan asks, leaning forward onto his elbows. His hazel eyes watching me intently.

     "I-I don't know. You think this has something to do with Morgan? How she's missing?" I hesitated before asking. I didn't believe it but, I couldn't just ask him if he thought Valentino was bent.

     "Nah man, there's no correlation" He says what I know.

      "Wait, do you have access to Morgan's file? Online?" I ask, a sudden thought popping into my head. Landan looks skeptical before nodding.

     "I know I shouldn't be asking this but, just once could you let me see it?" I ask, begging him with my eyes.

     "I don't know man, if anyone finds out It'll be my ass on the stick." Landan mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck. I've never seen Landan so nervous before. It made me feel bad for putting him in this position.

      "Ok, how about you don't have to show me but can you tell me who approved the report?" I ask, handing him his laptop.

     "Alright" He shrugs, taking the laptop. He quickly opens it and enters his password. It didn't take longer than five minutes for him to pull up the file.

      "Oh there's an update!" He says, peaking my interest. I snap my head towards him with expectant eyes.

      "She was last seen by locals by the pawn shop that got robbed only a few days before. However the robbers stole all the security footage. That's odd" He says, eyebrows scrunching up in confusion.

      "The Pawn shop from yesterday? Did they interview the owner?" I asked, also confused.

     "Uh Daniel, the owner was found dead. All cash was missing along with the security tapes apparently." Landan answers. My face drops.

     "The owners dead? What about employees?" I ask, trying to peek into his computer.

    "Sit down dude. I don't know, I'll ask Ourso tomorrow since she's in charge of the case..." He trails off, leaning forward and squinting at the screen.

    "Huh, Valentino also approved this report... that's odd" He says, looking back at me with raised brows. My eyes widened, I knew it. 'But what does it mean?' I think to myself, racking my brain for answers. I figured Morgan ran away because of her home life, I knew she wanted and deserved better. Though could it be a possibility that Morgan was running from someone or something? I had so many questions running through my mind and I still wasn't getting any answers.