"Captain, I have your report I'm done for the day." I say as I peek my head in his office trying not to make eye contact.
"Good, come in and put it on my desk." I almost feel like just throwing it from where I am to his desk but I take the more professional route and enter his office. The picture is no longer on the desk and I can't help but wonder whether he knows I realised it was Vusi, I mean they looked a decade younger and nobody would really see the resemblance but I saw it.
I put the file down on his desk so delicately as if it's fragile and scan his face for any alarmed emotion.
"Is there anything else?" He asks and I realise that I've been standing in the same spot longer than is socially acceptable.
"Are you still working on that robbery case or did you pass it onto the detectives?" I ask to fast hoping he won't detect some kind of lie that I haven't told, gosh I'm paranoid.
"Yes I'm working on it, why do you ask?" he stops writing and looks up at me.
"Oh I just thought I could help you if you needed anything. "
"No, all I need is for you to figure out a speech for next week's funerals, that will be all Xané."
I'm dying to ask him why he had a picture of Vusi and why he suddenly got rid of it but I would be putting myself in a corner so I just leave the office.
I look at the time and it's half past five. Time flies and I instantly remember that I don't have a car. I can't take a taxi now, so I decide on Uber.
"I thought you were gone." Briccs says as he comes out of the charging office with a lunchbag. Which reminds me I'm starving. I should probably bring lunch too.
"Oh I don't have a car so I'm trying to get an Uber."
"Oh right you don't get a government car till 3 months, but where's your car as in your tiny beetle?"
I have no idea because yesterday I was in an accident and I possibly got car jacked and I got kidnapped, I was too stressed about trying to protect my daughter so I spent the whole night looking for a dead man's USB instead of my car.
" Oh it's in the shop, it broke down yesterday." That's not a complete lie.
"Oh well I could give you a ride." he offers. I nod and smile at him. We get in the car and I direct him to Nadine's afterschool center. My phone starts ringing and it's an unknown number he smiles and me and I answer it.
"Officer Babe it's Sivvey." My heart stops and I immediately hang up, I'm not having this conversation next to my partner.
"Everything alright?" Briccs looks at me confused.
"Yeah telemarketers, am I right?"I laugh it off, nervously. The phone rings again and I put it on silent.
Briccs looks at me with his brow up and I give him a another smile. When we turn into the street where the where the center is. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in.
I enter and greet Ms Dale and luckily Nadine is already waiting with her. I didn't want to dive into small talk during the wait about why I did not come yesterday because I only have one story about the hospital.
"Nadine if that man asks you how you feeling just say you feel better than yesterday."
"What, why would he ask me that, who is that man, what about yesterday?" I repeat what I said and don't provide further information to keep her from further tangling herself in a web of lies that I put her in and drag a very confused Nadine to the backseat.
"Hello Nadine", Briccs greets her with a smile but she keeps a straight face.
"How are you feeling today, you not sick anymore?"
"Sick? I wasn't-" I turn around and give her a look with my eyes wide open.
"I'm okay better than yesterday, says my mom."
Great, my daughter can lie about everything else but the one time I need her to lie she's a saint. I look out the window to avoid eye contact with Briccs. Eventually he continues to drive. As we all sit in awkward silence while I'm giving the occasional directions to our house, trying really hard not to concentrate on my phone which continously lights up from Sivvey's phone calls and Nadine continously poking me from the backseat. This is paradise.
When we finally arrive at my house there's a white van parked in front of the yard and I'm not surprised with how my day continues to let me down.
"Do you know this car.?" Briccs asks me.
Of course it kidnapped me.
"Oh it might be the electricians, we having trouble with our Geyser and stove, it's just a mess, they must've been waiting here for a while."
"No I don't think-
Nadine get in the house." I say before she almost calls me out again and I hand her the keys. She scrunches her nose and narrows her eyes at me. And I mouth the word 'go' before she leaves but not before looking at me suspiciously.
"Alright thank you partner I guess I'll see you tomorrow evening"
"Oh right, night shift , you sure you don't want me to stay around until they done with the job, I really have nowhere else to be." he says as he notices two heavy built men who definitely do not look like electricians step out the van.
Briccs just leave and go to your house! , I mentally scream.
"No really I'm fine, it's fine, no worries, bye!" I jump out the car as quickly as possible and start waving hoping it will serve as motivation for him to leave.
He drives off and before I have a moment of silence to myself Sivvey jumps out the van.
Give me a break.
"Do you mind not showing your face at my house, people are going to talk"
"Oh Officer you hilarious, in this 'mind your own business', 'I didn't see or hear anything' suburb." I hate how right she is, this isn't the type of neighbourhood you could count on saving you when getting kidnapped or robbed they will hear you scream and increase the volume on their televisions, if you lucky enough someone will peak from their curtains and that's about the only witness you will get.
"Besides you weren't answering my calls so I'm decided to come check on you, ask about the progress are you winning?" She asks with a joyful tone as if this is some chess game, I give her a dirty look.
"That would be nice of you if this was a social visit."
"Right, we are just electricans after all, don't you think we should come inside and fix a thing or two."
"How did you-
Oh please officer we hear everything remember, you should really be more aware of what a simple phone bug could do I don't mean to brag but I am a qualified hacker, and you should really be working harder to find that USB, that is your daughter isn't it, she's lovely." she smiles as she tries looking through the window, I leap forward to attack her but her men stop me and one of them holds me back.
"Get me information by next week Sunday, that's a deadline." she says her playful tone is replaced with seriousnes.
"What! You didn't say anything about a deadline, that will be impossible and you know it!" I yell, which causes the teenage boy passing by to slow down from his jog and remove his earphones , Sivvey happily waves to him, he waves back and puts them back on.
"Do I?", she smirks and turns her back on me getting back in the van
"Wait, is Vusi in connection with a Captain Balie?If you want information by next week you should at least help me with that." she turns back to me.
"I think you should ask Captain about that, maybe you should talk to him because he sure isn't talking to me."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know what it means." She winks and jumps back into her van and I watch as it drives off within the speed limit, it really makes me wonder how many more pyschopaths are amongst in normal everyday vehicles driving within the speed limit. I guess we'll never really know until we encounter them.
I get in the house and Nadine is changed and watching cartoons, she looks at me casually totally oblivious to the outside world.
"Are the electricians gone already?" I ignore her and head straight to the kitchen to find something to eat.
"What's for dinner?" she yells from the living room.
"A full course on how to lie when I tell you to!"
YOU ARE READING
Line of duty :untrained
Mystery / Thriller"I am a police officer, I didn't sign up for this, seriously this was not in my training" Officer Jamie Xané has just started on the job and is sure to do everything by the book,but she's haunted by the man she was forced to kill on the first day o...
