Line of duty :untrained

Chapter 12

I arrive at the station at six o'clock. It's not that busy as it usually is during the day. Although I'm not looking forward to the midnight crimes, those are the worst. The murders, rape cases, the abuse, violent fights that arise from drunk people at a party. You'd think that people would be asleep.

"Good evening Amanda." I greet the receptionist
"Do you ever stop working?"

"Good evening Jamie, actually I'm on my way out, there's no need for a receptionist at night really. All you have to do is tell people to fill in these forms if they are here to lay a charge. There is no need for a lot of admin at this time." she says as she packs up.

I pout "Any admin is a lot of admin for me, alright then Goodnight. I'll see you on Monday morning." I say as I head to the charging office. I see a lot of unfamiliar faces but I guess I'm just used to the people from during the day. I enter the charge office and Briccs is sitting with a few other officers, I only recognise Melusi. They're sitting around a round table going through a stack of papers, everyone holding a mug in hand, I'm assuming it's coffee.

"Good evening everybody." Everyone responds I hear a few hello's in the midst of the mumbling.

"Xané, this is the usual night squad, here you have Simon Evans, Lwethu Dlamini, Cheryl Williams and of course you know Melusi." Briccs introduces me to everyone. They all look at me smiling.

"Great so what are we drowning in paperwork for?"

"Oh we going through all the paperwork for the people who are going to be released from prison next week."

"This isn't the work you think you'll be doing as a detective." Cheryl responds.

"Oh you a detective?"

"Yes, I was dragged from my workspace by these men because they could not go through so much admin." she rolls her eyes at Briccs and hits him with a file, he chuckles and raises his hands in defeat.

"Well you guys have fun, I'm looking for the Captain."

"He's not in, we have Captain Cooper for the night." Lwethu responds.

"Really I thought we only have one Captain per station."

"We do, Cooper is just a stand in from the district." I'm a bit disappointed because I was planning to get more answers about Vusi.
As if Vusi senses my disappointment he mentions that Captain Cooper could help me with whatever I wanted to ask Balie but I highly doubt that.
My mind wanders back to Sivvey when she said, 'you should ask him because he won't speaks to me.' What was that all about.
Does he know her? I decide to go to his office and look for something that could help me.

I look around for anyone who could see me going in, I enter when I'm sure it's clear. I place a chair under the door knob behind the desk. The blinds are closed which makes it dark I decide to switch the flashlight on my phone and open the drawers by his desk. First drawer, just a bunch of stationery just how many pens does one need, useless. Second drawer it's a bunch of files I scroll through them. A bunch of mail and officer's files. I'm tempted to take out my file when I spot it, but I decide against it he might just  have devil horns drawn on my picture.
I'm growing anxious and the voices outside occasionally get louder which makes it seem like they are right in front of his office my heart stops for a minute as I stare at the door expecting somebody to kick it down and arrest me, okay nothing is happening Jamie. I open the third drawer and it's a bunch of paperwork once again. I don't have time to go through all of this. The voices outside have faded which relaxes me.
"Of course why would he keep confidential information in his office knowing someone else would be occupying his office, damn Jamie."

I sit on his chair and look around the office, on his way on his desk is picture of his wife is still there but no best man, coincidence? As I'm kicking my legs up my leg hits the bottom of his desk, I groan In pain as my leg hits a metal box under the desk. A metal box? I duck underneath the table and notice a metal safe looking box attached to the bottom of the desk it looks like it's part of the desk. Fancy are we Captain, I pull the metal box from its holders under the desk and put it on the table. It's locked  I look around the desk for a key but nothing. I open the first drawer again and search through the hundreds of pens and pencils. Just as I'm about to give up I spy the metal key. Of course it's in the stationery drawer, you should really get more creative Captain.

I unlock the box and I feel like I've just open a treasure chest the only thing missing is the golden light that should be blindingly shining on my face. Vusi's picture with Captain, and his case file. I turn on the lamp to see his file clearly. Before I can read anything I hear someone yelling. 'Good evening Cooper.' Voices exchanging on the other side of the door, fuck my life.

I quickly take pictures of everything in the file as quickly as possible and the picture of Vusi. I start packing everything up and try placing the box underneath the desk in its holder. As I'm ducking below the desk trying to figure out how this box was placed, I hear someone trying to open the door.
"What's wrong with this door?" I hear complaining from the other side. I panick and drop the box and my frustration grows with Cooper's growing frustration at the door. I hear him asking around on why the door isn't opening and more people are starting to gather outside trying to figure out what's wrong with the door. I really don't feel like getting fired today.
I finally get the box in and observe the office for anything out of place I even try to put the pens in order after putting the key back. I breathe and get myself together and remove the chair. The door slams open and I'm faced by an angry, confused Captain Cooper. Everyone else scatters as if they know what I was up to.

"What the hell!" oh great he's just like the other one. I'm dumbstruck, what do you say in cases like these. He looks at me waving his hands around in indication he's waiting for an explanation. His brown eyes pierce into mine, his height makes me feel like he's hovering over me especially because he's so built. I can see his veins popping through his clear white skin on his forehead. Okay it's time to speak. A silent person is a guilty person.

"Oh sorry about that I was just sorting out some files that are highly confidential and I didn't want to be interrupted."

"Highly confidential?
Who are you?"

"I'm Officer Xané."

"Okay but -
Xané, I've been looking for you we have a call, we need to leave, everyone else is busy with people reporting cases, now Xané!"
Oh God bless you Briccs and whoever called to report a crime. God Bless Cape Town and its never ending crime sprees.

"Duty calls." I salute with a smile to Captain Cooper and run off.