MVUTO

chapter 51 - and they kiss in heaven

Fixated, Chief listened in on the conversation after hearing Sarge burst into the kitchen. If spotted, he was prepared to feign the excuse of needing a coffee break, too. 'hmm, when is a police officer without a gun?' With this curious thought in mind, Chief returned to his desk. On his computer, Chief checked if gun belts were always signed out except when the officers were at the precinct, but there was one who rarely bothered because he was always stationed at the front desk due to a history of injuries. 'If the POI was going to make contact with us, this guy would be the ideal target, but he never works at night... except recently that one time...!' On a hunch, Chief dove into the precinct's surveillance recordings file to search under the date of the failed sting. Impatiently fast-forwarding to the time everyone emptied the precinct to the location. Chief then followed the desk sergeant's every move, switching to the outside camera as soon as Sarge headed for the rear exit door for a smoke, only to see a black box on his screen. For privacy reasons, there was no audio, so Chief had no idea at that point if the camera was actually working until he fast-forwarded to see a grey empty smoking area. Raised voices alerted him to the fact his door remained open. Rising to shut the door, his legs wobbled like he was drunk. Steadying himself, Chief tried to appear casual as he walked up to quietly shut the door, return to his desk, and cover his face with his hands and cry out, "ah fucking hell!" Purged, he quickly recovered to check what happened next inside the precinct. Chief watched the stumbling sergeant head for the toilets, where the viewing reached a lull until the man eventually stepped out again to scan the office floor before heading into the kitchen. Once again the viewing reached an intermission until staff returned from the failed sting to check-in and out and head home. Chief rewound the video to spot if the sergeant had checked the rear camera before he exited. However, not seeing exacting what was on the screen the sergeant was looking at, Chief could only assume Sarge followed protocol until at least he actually asked him. 'We were all out trying to catch our POI and left poor sarge here on his own!' Chief kicked himself, overcome with guilt. "This is all my fucking stupid fault!" Chief groaned aloud. 'my good wife was right! But what would the POI do with Sarge? He's 'back-office', not patrol! Not even certain if he's in the loop when dispatch calls us out to an incident! If I centre any attention on him, it would be obvious what I was up to! Sarge spoke a few times in the meetings. Let's recap what he said!' Chief replayed the surreptitious recordings of the meetings on his mobile, taking notes including the conversation he had just overheard. genius teen; doesn't like guns; thinks the world needs a little attention; has family and friends to protect; knows for sure the POI is not active during the day; magician; needs us to keep quiet; knew the cleaning of the graffiti wall was a warning. And added some extra MO to the profile list -- unarmed; wears sleeveless hoodie 'off duty'; wears a mask; speaks eloquently and politely; possible genius. 'Hmm, sounds more like an old man than a young boy... but if he is a genius...' Chief suddenly rose to his feet and called in the officer with a son attending the private boys' high school.

"did you ever ask your son who the smartest kid in his school was?"

"I didn't have to... the boy saved a kid's life while on camp... everyone was talking about him. My son pointed him out at the school concert."

"you saw him?! What did he look like?"

"blonde, skin almost as white as the piano keys he was playing"

"white?"

"Yeah, which is why I didn't link him to our POI, and I still don't. He tutors a few kids, even my son asked him 'what's his secret'. The answer was 'music that moves the soul'. So now my son has a list of music he plays while studying, and low and behold, his marks improved by the end of last year!" The officer suddenly stood up and drew a line on Chief's desk, "here's the line. My only child is on this side."

"noted"