MVUTO

chapter 102 - reporting the whither

Sarge ushered the pair in, directing them to sit in front of his desk. Then, following procedure, he typed up their account of the incident, bagging the SD card with Zuri's POV video capture, before issuing a report number. "would you like a coffee or other type of drink?" sarge politely offered while they perused their statements before signing.

"boiled water, thank you", Zuri asked.

"coffee, white, one sugar, thanks."

the corner of sarge's mouth twitched, "you're game", he muttered to Carlton as he passed him on his way to the kitchen.

Zuri quickly signed her statement, and while waiting for Carlton to read his, she dragged out of her handbag the notebook still linked to baby.

"camera baby, all spectrums."

On screen, boxes appeared with the view caught on camera in different light spectrums as Zuri scanned the back office.

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"Officer Singh, you may leave now. Make yourself a coffee. Capt Jerrick and I have some important matters to discuss",  ordered the BOS auditor.

He groaned inwardly, 'piss off Shiloh, the adults are talking!.. the story of my life since signing up!' Shiloh rose from his seat to comply with the wishes of his superior.

As soon as officer Singh left the room, the auditor immediately asked, "why did your sergeant call you 'Chief'?"

"it's part of my title as 'Chief of the Name' Jerrick. When my wife was working here, she would often call me 'Chief' in front of the other staff. The guys picked it up and ran with it". The truth was Tamara knew how much Torin hated his name and opted instead to call him Chief, as a term of endearment.

"That is not your official title while you're on the clock! You're not the Chief! You could be mistaken for impersonating a superior police officer! Remind your staff of your actual title and enforce it!" The auditor continued on berating the captain. As soon as the subordinate was asked to leave, Torin anticipated a dressing down even at this early juncture.

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Zuri quickly scoped the entire room and found the people were not above average. Setting aside her notebook, Zuri sipped her boiled water infused with the tea liqueur she carried in a small flask from her bag. The intoxicating aroma drifted in the closed room.

"I should have tried your tea instead", Carlton's wrinkled brow also expressed displeasure at his brew, "smells better than this".

Enjoying her soothing drink all to herself, Zuri missed noticing officer Singh enter the room, heading for the kitchen. However, he did see Zuri and her companion. Noticing particularly the fragrant tea she was sipping in obvious pleasure, completely disregarding his presence. The aroma was suspiciously familiar. As soon as he u-turned to confront Zuri, she had picked up her notebook and pointed the camera lens obtrusively in his direction.

Zuri's hands shook notably, even catching Carlton's eye. Onscreen, the image of the new officer in the room filled the space with light, flaring as the man approached.

"hey! That's not permitted in here!" Officer Singh pointed to Zuri's camera.

Neither civilian appeared to be listening. The officer grabbed the device and turned it around to see the bizarre image of their feet in altered light spectrums. Confused, the officer paused to make sense of what he was viewing.

"Hello!" baby greeted.

At that moment, not wishing to talk to a machine, the officer demanded, "how do you turn this thing off?"

"under who's authority are you making this request?" baby asked.

"police officer Singh", the man growled impatiently.

"authority accepted", baby switched off the camera. The screen instantly blackened.

A smiling androgynous sim suddenly appeared, "hello police officer Singh", baby greeted cheerfully, in stark contrast to the awed look on the two civilian's faces staring up at the handsome official.

Shiloh returned the notebook to its owner.

"mama, police officer Singh did not return my greeting, am I supposed to address police officers differently?" baby innocently asked.

Curious, "is that a new voice assistant?" Shiloh asked the girl.

"no, I am baby", her notebook replied.

sarge reappeared from visiting the wizbin, "have you signed your witness statements?"

startled Zuri replied, "yes!"

"witness statements? Oh, I recognise you now... you're the pair who're trending, even on the news ...", officer Singh pointed to Zuri, "you kicked the arses of those three losers... good for you", his radiant smile bedazzling them, "where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"a... many wars..."

"wh...?"

"ah, Zuri, it's time we ...." Carlton timely interjected.

"yeah... thank you, sergeant. We'll wait out the front for our taxi..."

"sure".

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Chief finished setting up a spare office for the auditor to view surveillance footage of the precinct for the month prior and headed back to his own to finally chill. Seated at his desk drinking a cold one, movement onscreen from the front office camera briefly attracted his attention. Recognising the couple leaving the building, Chief choked on a spit-take and hurried after them. Nearly colliding with the new officer on his way to joining the Auditor, Chief opened the front office door only to see a taxi cut into heavy traffic. "fuck!" catching his breath, Chief swore in frustration at his dumb luck. Then, enticingly, an evidence bag rustled next to his ear, startling him.

"what's that?" Chief snapped.

"the card recording from the girls POV, she was wearing a camera on her sunglasses...."

Chief's demeanour instantly morphed to greed mixed in gratitude. Then, snatching the bag, he smiled at the diligent sarge and headed back to his office.

"their witness statements are still on my desk..."

"thank you, sergeant!"

as soon as the impatient Chief inserted the card into the reader, an undetectable file copied itself into the police system via his workstation. From there, the contagion opportunities were boundless.