The Rookie April A-Z Story Challenge

B

Words: Biography, betray, belong, bacon, basis

"Buckle up, Boot. We're about to make a drug bust," Nyla says.

"But we don't even know if this lead is legit. Even if it is, we may not even make the bust."

"Not with that attitude, we're not."

"I'm just saying that we shouldn't be overly confident. We don't even have a basis of evidence yet."

Nyla doesn't say anything. She just rolls her eyes and shakes her head. The two of them remained silent the rest of the ride to the address that Sergeant Grey had sent them to.

Aaron parks about a block away so as to not arouse suspicion and therefore allow the two of them the advantage of the element of surprise. They get out of the car and start sneaking towards the house. Aaron scouts around back while Nyla stealthily approaches the front.

Nyla notices something odd about the property almost instantly. Half of the yard is raked, and the grass is cut, whereas the other half has grass at least half a foot long, leaves scattered everywhere, and weeds growing out of control.

The windows and siding on the house followed the same pattern. One half was clean and well-kept, and the other had layers and layers of dirt covering the siding and windows.

Out of the corner of her eye, Nyla saw the slightest sliver of movement through the window on the run-down side. She carefully gets closer and notices a small opening in the otherwise closed blinds, which she decides to use to her advantage to get a look inside the house. Right as she reached the window, she heard a crash from inside.

"Thorsen!" she shouts.

There's no answer, which worries Nyla more so than she cares to openly admit. She sneaks to the front door, ready to break it down, when it is swung wide open and a man in his late twenties wearing a dark grey beanie tries to run out. He wasn't expecting Nyla to be there. Luckily, she was able to think quickly and stop the man in his tracks.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asks. The man squirms under her grip, but she doesn't let go. "Thorsen?!"

"In here!" Aaron's voice calls back from inside the house.

"You're coming with me," Nyla says to the man. As she makes her way into the house, she grabs her radio. "Detective Harper at [redacted] location. Requesting backup."

She puts her radio back and continues toward the sound of Aaron's voice. Eventually, she wanders into the kitchen where she sees Aaron crouched on the floor. He's taking pictures of the scene before him on his phone.

"What the hell is this, Boot?" Nyla's eyes bounce around the room. Pots and pans are everywhere, which she can only assume was the source of the loud crash that she had heard not too long ago.

"He was cooking bacon," Aaron explains.

Nyla just stares back at him like he's crazy. "So what? Cooking bacon is hardly a criminal offense."

"No, look, the bacon isn't normal."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's discoloured, more of a salmony colour. It also has some darker speckles."

"So what?"

"It also smells awful. I'm pretty sure that if we take the bacon down to the lab to get tested, we'll find traces of candy apple."

"That's a pretty farfetched hunch."

Aaron rolls his eyes and gets to his feet. Applying gloves, he goes to open a cabinet, only to reveal stacks of the drug. He then opens one of the drawers, revealing cash. A lot of cash.

"How'd you know?"

"In the nicest way possible, this guy isn't the brightest," Aaron points at the man. "He literally labeled the cabinet 'candy apple' and the drawer 'payment.' I didn't have to be a detective to notice that."

"Does that cash belong to you?" Nyla asks.

"I won't be speaking without an attorney present."

"Fine. But when it comes time for your interrogation, just know that I'm really good at getting perps to talk."

"You won't get me to betray him," the man says. He gasped, realizing his mistake, but it was already too late. The damage had been done.

"Whoever ends up writing your biography might end up dying from the secondhand embarrassment of how bad a criminal you are. And not even the good kind of bad. Like, you're genuinely bad at what you do."

"Hey!"

"Thorsen, wait here with the evidence. The backup should arrive shortly. I'm going to bring this perp back to the station for processing."