Vice City : The Bud

Chapter 16 - As Promised

"Thisis a joke," I think.

Aswe step out the car I light up my third smoke of the day and I'veonly been awake for an hour or so. Wesley gives me a look and alaugh.

"Smokin''em up pretty good today Gramps," he grins.

"Ismoke when I'm stressed," I tell him.

"Andhaving only a couple hours sleep is damn stressful. Worse than nosleep at all, trust me."

Thesmoke floats about my face like a mask until we finally make a movefor the house. The driveway's long and I must have tripped a halfdozen times on the slope on the way down. My body's not awakeenough for this shit. Once we reach view of the door the seeminglyempty driveway bursts into a festival of activity. We push our waythrough the other detectives to the front of the line. Guarding thedoor is a single cop being harassed on all sides.

"Letus do our fucking jobs."

"Moveout of the way."

"Whatis this shit ? There's a fucking scene in there we gotta see !"The crowd shouts.

Theofficer doesn't let a single one in while simultaneously trying tokeep them at bay. Myself and Wesley push through until we'restanding next to him at which point I open my mouth to speak butWesley beats me to it.

"Ifyou don't have authorisation from Chief then you aren't gettingin. Is that clear ?" He screams above the anthems of noise.

Thegroup shuts up at last. I turn to the guard, who also seems takenback by the power of Wesley's voice.

"Who'sgot permission on this one," I ask him.

Heclears his throat and opens a small sheet of paper from his pocket.

"Coroner,clean up crew, Detectives Graves and Maccarth. That's it."

"Thereyou go folks, you heard it. If you're not on that list then kindlyfuck off," I tell them.

Halfof them scuff at us before walking off. The other half hang aroundfor a time longer hoping to sneak on in but when it becomes clearthat no one new is going inside until the scene is clean they soonleave. With the area cleared only the essential staff are left. Acouple of metres away two officers are talking to a tall woman. She'sdressed in a full suit and short heels. Her head is ablaze with rubyred locks which flicker like the flames of a fireplace in the breeze.I can't quite make out what they're talking about, but it has tobe something related to the case or she would have scattered like therest of the crows. I take a step closer when hanging from her blazerpocket I see a leather bound notepad and pen. It's now that Irealise what she is. My feet stop in place. Fingers twitch foranother smoke. I thought Wesley had gone inside but soon I find ahand tapping at my shoulder.

"Youalright there Gramps ?"

Igive a nod to the girl with the flaming hair.

"Reporters! They've got no respect."

"Iknow, I know. But they're no worse than any other profession inVice. Everyone's just trying to survive."

Herefers to the woman.

"Forall we know she's got two kids, a bum of a husband and a mortgageto support. The only way she's gonna pay those is getting the storythat's better than everyone else's."

Weturn around and head for the inside of the house. I'm really likinghaving Wesley around now. If I'm being irrational or an ass he'sthere to put things into perspective for me. He's my own JiminiyCricket.

"ThanksSkippy," I tell him.

"Ido have a question though. How the fuck do the reporters already knowabout this one ?"