Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
As Beth drove through the streets of Wynton, she marveled at the town’s meticulous organization. Craftsman-style homes sat equidistant from each other, lining a grid-like road structure. Even the narrow pine trees growing along the roads grew to almost the same height.
Residences transitioned to businesses as she got closer to the center of town, and those businesses had the same clean lines as the residences, with steep rooflines and well-maintained exteriors. The buildings were similar, but with enough differences to exude some charm. The town was devoid of retail chain establishments and boasted only a few traffic signals.
Wynton wasn’t a large town. After reaching the outskirts, she drove only ten blocks before turning onto the side street leading to police headquarters. Beth’s jaw dropped when she saw the structure hulking at the end of a wide, tree-lined boulevard. The place looked to be made of solid granite, with tall pillars rising at the summit of stone steps. It was one of the more majestic buildings Beth had ever seen and seemed out of place in this otherwise simple town.
Beth turned right into an alley at the foot of the building, finding a parking lot at the end of the narrow lane. Before leaving her car, she checked her phone. She had received an email from Jack, with a photograph of Eric’s car. It was a faded and dented blue Ford Taurus, and looked to be at least a decade old.
After grabbing her shoulder bag, she followed the alley back to the boulevard, and climbed the tall steps to the police station’s entrance. As Beth climbed the stairs, she could almost feel the temperature drop. Underneath her black overcoat she wore jeans, leather boots, and a blue cotton sweater. She pulled her coat tighter around her and reached for the door.
As she did so, the doors automatically slid open to the right and left, and she stepped into a ten-foot square foyer, with a door to the left and a tinted glass window ahead of her. An old man with leathery skin, thinning hair, and unkempt eyebrows sat beyond the glass, looking at her without a trace of emotion on his face. As Beth walked up to the window, the man leaned forward toward a microphone in front of him.
“Can I help you?” he asked, as his words came through a small grill in the window.
“Who do I talk to about a missing person report someone filed late last night or early this morning?” she replied as she leaned forward.
The man stared blankly at her for a moment, as if thinking through a required protocol in his head.
“Name of the missing person?” he asked.
“Eric Stump,” she responded.
The man swiveled in his chair, turning to a keyboard and monitor just to his right. He tapped on the keys and scanned the screen. As he scanned the screen, a door opened behind him and a woman walked in, dressed in the full uniform of the Wynton police force. She had dark hair pulled up into a bun on her head, with dark, wide eyes and angular features. She looked to be in her mid-thirties.
“He’s not missing yet,” the man replied, pointing at the screen as Beth turned her gaze back to him. “At least based on our standards.”
“I understand,” Beth replied. “But who would I talk to about him?”
The man twisted his mouth in annoyance, but sighed under the force of Beth’s determined stare. “Detective Cooper is the one who took the report from two guys overnight. But since their friend isn’t technically missing yet, Detective Cooper won’t have done anything except take down information and file it away in our system.”
“Can I talk to him, anyway?” she asked, giving the old man a friendly smile.
“Ma’am,” he replied through clenched teeth, “he’s been working a long overtime shift, so I don’t think he’s going to be in the mood to talk about something that isn’t even a case yet.”
The female officer stepped forward next to the man, and said, “It’s okay, Ronald.” She looked up at Beth, and asked, “I’ll check with him for you. Can I tell him who wants to see him?”
“I’m Beth Harper, a friend of the missing person,” she answered, and pulled out her business card, holding it up to the glass. Beth also glanced down at the woman’s name on her breast pocket. It read, “Jennings.”
Beth’s card contained her name, headshot, email address, and a toll-free number. It also had the words “Radiance Online,” the website she wrote for, in fancy lettering.
“I’m not here on business,” Beth said. “Like I said, he’s a friend.”
In fact, Beth hoped her job as a writer might cause the woman and her colleagues to consider how they treated her. Even though Beth had given up investigative writing in favor of more mundane fare, her hard-hitting stories were still online. As far as the Wynton police knew, Beth could make a story out of any missteps in their handling of the matter.
The woman slid aside a panel at the bottom of the window, and Beth slid the card through.
The woman studied the card, her eyes going from it to Beth, comparing the photograph to the real thing.
“Let me see if I can find him,” Officer Jennings said, and disappeared through the door.
Beth paced about the cold, sterile foyer, her boots clicking on the black ceramic tile of the floor and sending the sound echoing off the granite walls. Moonlight shone through recessed lights high in the ceiling. After a few minutes, the handleless door on the wall opened, and Officer Jennings motioned to her.
“This way,” Jennings said, holding the door and allowing Beth to slip past. Jennings was about the same height as Beth, with a similar thin build, but with a strong, capable appearance.
Jennings led Beth down a short hallway to another door, where the police woman swiped a plastic card in front of a metal plate. After Jennings opened the door, she led Beth into a large area filled with cubicles, where a dozen people didn’t glance up from their computers.
Beth, ever curious, scanned the workers. They were police officers, by the look of them, with most wearing either uniforms or badges, or having badges sitting on their desks. Mostly men, they were a diverse mix of young and old. All the younger officers were strapping and tall, although Beth couldn’t gauge exact heights since they were seated.
The outer perimeter of the room contained doors leading to glass-walled offices. Beth followed Jennings as she skirted the cubicles to an office in the back left corner. Jennings motioned for Beth to enter the office, before giving her a farewell nod and walking to the cubicle closest to the office.
“Thank you,” Beth called after her, and turned back to the open door and looked inside.
A young man of about thirty sat behind a large metal desk in the office, his eyes focused on papers spread out in front of him. There were dark circles under his recessed eyes, and he had bony features underneath a head of dark, close-cropped hair. Instead of looking ghastly and thin, though, his face’s prominent bone structure made him look solid. The word “Cooper” appeared on a nameplate on the front corner of the desk.
The man raised his head and looked Beth up and down as she stepped into the room. He pursed his lips into the hint of a smile before rising. He was tall, standing a few inches over six feet.
“Ms. Harper,” he said as he came forward, extending his hand. “I’m Detective Will Cooper.”
Beth took his hand and shook it. He had a firm but not overbearing grasp.
“Thanks for agreeing to see me,” she said.
“No problem, although I don’t think I’ll be much help to you. Are you with the two kids from early this morning, about a friend who didn’t come home?”
His use of the word “kids” amused her, since he couldn’t be more than six or seven years older than Jack and Ross.
“Yes, I am. They’re friends, as is Eric Stump, the missing individual.”
“Ms. Harper, in my line of work, we have a term for people who go missing for short periods of time like this. It’s called ‘getting away.’”
Beth shook her head as he spoke. “Detective,” she replied. “If you knew Mr. Stump, you would understand he doesn’t go missing like this. And he especially doesn’t go missing and leave his car behind.”
“You know how many times I’ve heard that?” he said, his face once again showing the hint of a smile. “Everybody thinks their case is different, and that their friend or loved one has been the subject of foul play. And guess what? They always turn up.”
His arguments did not come as a surprise to Beth. In fact, they were the same arguments she had made to Jack on the phone before starting her trip.
“You mean to tell me you’ve never been wrong before?” She asked, crossing her arms in front of her and cocking her head to the side.
Cooper paused, considering her question. He gestured to the seat in front of his desk. “Have a seat, Ms. Harper.”
As Beth slipped into one of his guest chairs, he walked around and sat in the chair behind the desk. He titled back and kicked his feet up onto the desk. She got a good look at his shoes, which she recognized from her college job in sales at an upscale clothing store. They were a very expensive pair of Edward Green loafers.
“Ms. Harper, have you ever done any police or investigative work?”
Beth gripped the arms of the chair. He was nice enough, but she couldn’t miss the condescension in his voice.
“Just some on my job, for my stories.”
“I’m sure everything looks like a big deal to you, since you need to catch your readers’ attention. Or generate page views, or whatever they call it. But for those of us who live in the real world, that never happens. The life of a real investigator is full of boredom. That’s the real world.”
Beth’s face flushed red, and the room felt much warmer.
“I understand what boredom looks like, Detective,” she said, setting her jaw. “But I promise you I’m not making something out of nothing. If you won’t help me, or dig into it at all, then I will find out on my own.”
Cooper smirked. “I like your fire, Harper. I hope your line of work doesn’t snuff it out of you.” He slid his feet off the desk and returned them to the floor. “Come back in three days, and if your friend is still missing, then we can talk. Until then, my hands are tied.”
Beth crossed her arms even tighter across her chest and almost gave off an audible half. She rose from her chair with a stomp. “See you in three days,” she said, and spun toward the door.
“Do you need me to — ”
“No, I know the way out.” She marched out of the room.
Other links:
Sapphire Angel, Superheroine (Book 1)
Power Play (Book 2)
Deconstruction (this book - Book 3)
IT’S CHIEF BIGGINS ALL OVER AGAIN NOOOOOOO---
I’m kidding. Maybe Eric will just turn up within three days and Cooper will have been right all along. He seems rude and negligent for the time being, but he said that they’d always turn up. Then again, he could be lying.
Beth stood her ground pretty well there. Then again, it’s not like she hasn’t dealt with people like Cooper before. I guess you could say he’s being....unCOOPERative.
Looks like we’re doing this ourselves. Yet another accurate aspect of your “realism” approach versus my “optimism” approach; in your universe, the police are near-useless. 🤣
I may found r angel called Monica Tuley same height, build and she does brilliant cosplay