Duskwood: the man behind the mask

30. Back

Phil walks into the police station saying he wants to file a complaint, it's the only thing that has occurred to him. The agent at the entrance asks him for his personal information and then tells him to wait while he calls one of his colleagues, and Phil takes the opportunity to look at Alan's office, which is right in front of him and has the light on. I hope you're right and he's not here right now, hacker.

The office is the only place, apart from the interrogation room (and the bathrooms, of course) that has a door. The rest of the police station is a large open space, with one last door at the end that leads to the small prison cell.

He smiles to himself realizing how sad it is to know the place so well, at which point another agent approaches him and asks him to come with him. He goes to one of the tables on the left, but Phil stops him, pretending to be very scared:

Phil: No, please. I just got attacked and could be in danger, I don't want to be seen from the street. Isn't there a more private place where we can talk? That office, for example.

The cop, sleepy and unwilling to argue, nods wearily, and walking into the office, Phil is relieved to see that Alan isn't there. However, his eyes go straight to an open laptop on the table and he immediately recognizes the dragonfly sticker on the lid.

Agent: Alright, tell me what happened.

Still feigning nervousness, he begins to recount part of the actual attack he suffered earlier, without mentioning Laura or MC. He tries to explain everything believably and finally asks the agent to let him go to the bathroom. Once there he immediately calls his sister, lowering his voice as much as he can:

Phil: Hey, I'm at the station. Tell the hackers that MC's laptop is here.

Jessy: What? How is it there?

Phil: I don't know, and I don't have much time. I can't take it with me and I haven't been able to turn on the computer yet.

Jessy: Jake says to see if the laptop is on. If it is, remove airplane mode, and if it isn't, leave it that way.

Phil: Okay.

Jessy: And don't call me, Phil, someone might hear you. Wouldn't it be better if you wrote to me?

Phil: Text messages are more dangerous because anyone can find them later... Turns out I actually learned something from those two.

Jessy: Alright... be careful, please.

Phil returns to the office and continues his theatrics, answering questions and giving details, even showing the agent the lump on the back of his neck from the blow he received.

Phil: Anyway, I pulled the van over to the side of the road and went out to pee, and while I was doing it, someone hit me from behind and knocked me out. They didn't take anything and that's why I'm afraid, it wasn't a robbery, they wanted to hurt me.

The policeman asks more questions, writes down his answers, fills out forms, and finally stands up and asks him to wait there.

Phil: Would it be possible for you to get me a coffee, please? I'm sorry, I haven't had one for hours and I need it, I'm quite nervous.

The agent nods and leaves the office. Phil follows him with his eyes, and when he's sure he's gone, he gets up and walks to the other side of the desk. He presses the power button on the computer's CPU and then heads over to the laptop: just touching the trackpad turns the screen on, which means he only has to press the airplane mode button.