GONE WITH THE GUN

EPISODE 17

20th December, 1994.
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"What could this device be?"

Detective Frudo wondered as he held the device and examined it. He had wanted to send the device to the forensics to run finger prints but he decided otherwise. He didn't trust anyone in his division. Most of them were corrupt and under the whims of government officials. The rest were either ignorant or out rightly lazy. They would quickly pin a crime on an innocent citizen just to save themselves the hustle of undertaking a proper investigation. No, he was going to get to the end of this on his own. 

The door to detective Frudo's office opened suddenly. Detective Frudo was startled. He quickly hid the device in his desk drawer. 
Looking up, he saw that it was Sergeant Ginger that had opened the door. Sergeant Ginger had a habit of not knocking before walking into anywhere. Detective Frudo wanted to tear the Sergeant into pieces for startling him that way. He however sat down calmly and asked the Sergeant what he wanted.

Sergeant Ginger quickly took a seat. He was a rather fat man. His belly was enormous as it bounced when he walked in. He was sweating like one who had ran, but he had not had a run in two weeks. The sweating just came with the fat. He spoke

"Sir, we have run the number plate of the vehicle through our records and there is nothing to show that the car was registered here in Edinburgh city. Other means are being put in place to find out where the vehicle was driven from. I would also suggest that we contact our sister cities as to the accident, so that they may help. Who knows, one of them might be able to identify the vehicle as being registered in their city."

Detective Frudo adjusted in his seat.

"Thats good. But for now, i wouldn't want any other information to be given out about this case. There is still a lot we don't know".

He stood up and walked to the window. He looked through it into the hall. The other cops were all busy with their works. About 50 cops each sat in their cubicle. Before each of them was a desktop computer which they operated. A female officer was answering a call. She was nodding apprehensively to the receiver. Just behind her, a male cop was taking a statement from a witness. Every one of them looked busy. 

Detective Frudo turned back to Sergeant Ginger. 

"We just have to wait a while till the boy is fit to talk. Then we will send in our best man who has experience with children, to ask the boy questions. And hopefully he would give us something."

Sergeant Ginger nodded.

"And what is this i hear about the escape of the man that was being watched in the hospital. How the hell could he and did he escape"?

Detective Frudo yelled. 

Sergeant Ginger didn't  know how to answer that.  He shook his head and said 

"It beats me sir. I was informed that it.......... "

"Has the doctor who was taking care of the patient given a description of the patient to our sketch artist?"

Sergeant Ginger was quiet. He shook his head sideways. 

Detective Frudo was mad

He slammed his palm on his desk and spurted in anger

"Incompetent fools. How could the only suspect we have in this case just walk past trained officers undetected? I am highly disappointed. Very highly disappointed. And to think they haven't thought of getting a facial description. What then is their job "?

He looked at the Sergeant who was almost about to leave the office for fear of transferred aggression. 

"Go to the hospital with the sketch artist, get a description of the man and report back to me. I want every hand to be on deck. That man must be found, and in 24hrs. You hear me!"?

Sergeant Ginger murmured a 
"Yes sir. Okay sir".

Detective Frudo sat down on his seat. He tapped his fingers on the table. A habit he had formed to calm himself down whenever he got angry. He couldn't believe that his men could be so complacent as to not notice the man leave the hospital. What if this man was a serial killer? Now he was loose in the streets of Edinburgh. Lives were at stake. He could be anywhere now. He could be in the mall looking for a target. In the church or even in a children's school probably about to kidnap another kid in place of the boy that had survived.

This thought made the detective to realize that there was something he had forgotten or actually stupidly didn't take into account. The boy was putting on a school uniform when he was found and taken to the hospital. The school uniform must belong to a school. All he would have to do was find out which school that was and which city.

He jumped at this idea.

He got up off his seat and headed for the exit. He was going to the hospital to get the uniform.

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