[REND] B2. 2.2 - Campus Shenanigans

This shit again! I cussed in my head, though allowing my face only a curious expression. Maybe add a bit of fear, too, because even an innocent person would be apprehensive when questioned by the police.  

“Ah, wha-what is it about?” I asked. I didn’t know exactly why Tower Cop wanted to meet with me. I’d been up to no good with a lot of things lately.

“I dunno,” said Ramello, grinning apologetically. “But you don’t have to be worried about anything. I’m sure this is just random stuff about his fourth Adumbrae theory. Nothing serious, I promise. It’s best to get this over with so he won’t pester you again. I told him to let me reach out to you first so you won’t be anxious.”

“Yeah… If your intimidating uncle just popped out of nowhere to interrogate me, I’d be scared.”

Did Tower Cop discover some stuff about the Adumbrae train attack? He was sure that I was there, though I vehemently denied it. Did he find it suspicious that I was hanging out with Dario’s group? I assumed he had seen me with them. Could this be about the building we demolished in New Hope? He could’ve been lurking around there. Or was this connected to the Eve bombing? After all, I was in a café nearby and then interacted with Overdrive and his guys. Could be some other piece of evidence I had left behind somewhere.

“Erind, I think this can wait for another time,” Deen tensely said. She grabbed my arm and tried to meet my eye. She wanted to avoid this now so we’d have time to ‘take care’ of Tower Cop. My best friend had murder on her mind.

And I did too. Tower Copy was getting too annoying. But we had to know what he knew. The important part was that he wanted to meet with me. If he suspected that I was an Adumbrae, he’d just tail me and arrest me when he had concrete proof. Ramello was right.

“I’ll treat you to dinner as payment for bothering you,” Ramello said. “I’m really sorry about this.”

“Hey, is this a ploy to get a date with me?” I grinned while giving him a playful shove. Flirty Erind, that was me. “Let’s go meet your uncle.”

A few minutes later, we were at the parking lot behind Cresthorne. I was standing in front of Tower Cop next to his car. Ramello and Deen were twenty feet away or so, waiting under a tree. They both wanted to be in this conversation, but Tower Cop told them a strict ‘no’. Yep, even Ramello wasn’t allowed to listen in.

“Erind can tell you about it later,” Tower Cop said earlier. “If she wants to. She can also not tell you. I have no control over that.”

“Ye-yes, uncle,” Ramello said, shiftily looking at me.

“What I prioritize is for Erind to answer without hesitation,” said Tower Cop. “Which she might have if her friends were listening in.”

Here we were, about to start the interrogation. The perfect part to have a commercial break.

I should’ve looked deeper into Tower Cop, but he became less of a concern since I was focused on the docks mission. I had done some preliminary research about him. He had lots of awards during his early days. I found old news articles about some high-profile arrests he had made, including a couple of Adumbrae. I wasn’t sure what mistake he had made in the past—Ramello had mentioned something about this.

Nowadays, Tower Cop doesn’t make any waves on the news. His internet footprint was reduced to giving a speech at a National Black Police Association gathering and joining feeding programs, stuff like that. He probably wasn’t involved in anything dirty, given Ramello’s description of him.

“Ms. Hartwell,” began Tower Cop. “It’s been a while since we last talked. Have your memories of the Adumbrae train attack return to you?”

“I told you that I didn’t enter the station,” I said, deciding to repeat my story. Given that Tower Cop was bringing this up again, he likely had proof I was lying. But I decided to stick with this until I knew what he knew. I could cave in later when the evidence he had was too much to refute.

That said, I didn’t think he had much to go off on. The 2Ms had used their corrupt cop minions to search for survivors of the Adumbrae attack to kidnap and interrogate about Kelsey. I hoped they wiped out that data because they ended up killing their victims, other than Deen and me. Funny how I was relying on the 2Ms to be proper criminals.

“Officer Knowles,” Tower Cop said as he got his wallet from his pocket. He showed me a picture of a female cop.

I didn’t recognize the face, but I could guess who she was. “Is she… Did she die during the Adumbrae attack?”

“That is so. She rammed one of the Adumbrae chasing a civilian. She was eventually killed by a different Adumbrae. A brave woman, facing monsters with no hesitation. The safety of others was foremost in her heart.”

There was only one female cop who died during the Adumbrae attack. I killed her, then fed her to an Adumbrae to cover my tracks. Did the police discover something weird about her death? Probably not. It must be that Tower Cop searched their files and found my face captured by the dashcam of Officer Knowles. This was my hunch before for why Tower Cop recognized me.

“You should thank her,” Tower Cop softly said, nodding.

“I… Ye-yes, I did. That’s why I was at the memorial.” With this, I impliedly admitted I was lying about my whereabouts during the Adumbrae attack. This was a battle of words, and I was getting giddy. I had to make sure I didn’t break into a huge smile. I looked down and pretended to be ashamed.

“Good. Good. Knowles would appreciate that.”  

Where is Tower Cop leading with this? I thought he’d call me out on my lie and ‘invite’ me for questioning at the police station. He just sounded pleased that he was correct.

“She’d be happy that you’re safe,” Tower Cop continued. “But she’d also be sad that you’re putting yourself in danger after she saved you.”

“What? I’m not doing anything dangerous.” It was an automatic response. “Is this about the fourth Adumbrae you mentioned last time? Is it… is it real?” Horrified expression activated.

“Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. So much more than I expected.”

I gasped, covering my mouth. “Are the rumors about Adumbrae on the docks true? That explosion, chemicals, and stuff were lies? Oh my gosh! Adumbrae are—”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss it,” he interjected. “The BID will have my ass for it.” Not sure if he was threatening me with the BID. Didn’t sound like it. He went on, “It feels good to be validated, but I’m not here for that. Do you understand, Ms. Hartwell?”

“I… Maybe?” I take it that he meant he wasn’t going after me for lying about my whereabouts during the Adumbrae attack. “So, what are you here for? I don’t think I can give any help to whatever it is you’re investigating.”

“Oh, but you can.” Tower Cop presented me with another picture. “Do you recognize this man?”

It was Reo.

What did that fucking idiot do? Move drugs or something? I hated it when I got included in someone else’s mess. I supposed it was good news that it wasn’t my mess. Tower Cop was using the fact that I had lied to him to get me to cooperate with this other thing. Good idea on his part.

I could control my face to show no reaction, or even feign confusion. But that would be unwise. Tower Cop came to me because he knew that I had met with Reo a few times.

“I… I, uh, yes,” I said.

“Who is he?” Tower Cop asked, though he obviously knew the answer. He even had Reo’s picture!

“Reo… Something. I don’t know his full name or if Reo is even his real name. Myra introduced me to him. Myra Fletcher. She’s also an—”

“Eloyce student. Med school. Her sister is Kelsey Fletcher, one of your fellow 1L students.”

“I never talked much with Kelsey.”

Tower Cop nodded. “Ramello told me that. He wasn’t close with Kelsey either. She is one of the supposed casualties of the Adumbrae attack.”

I didn’t like how he used the word ‘supposed’ in that sentence. He was giving me a hint, which I chose to ignore.

“Has Kelsey been found?” I asked. “Last I’ve heard, there was still no body. Everyone’s saying she got eaten and digested by an Adumbrae.” A small attempt at changing the topic. This would make me seem normal for wanting to move away from discussing Reo.

“We’ve found no trace of Kelsey yet,” said Tower Cop. “But I have my suspicions. Anyhow, it’s a mystery for another time. What I’m interested in is this guy.” He pointed at Reo’s face. “Do you know of anything about this Reo, Ms. Hartwell?”

“I barely know him. I… I think he works at a fast-food place?”

“Why did you meet with him?”

“I didn’t specifically meet him, like I wanted anything from him. He knows Myra, and I know Myra because of the Adumbrae attack. Myra and I became close after that. She lost her sister and all that. Reo is just… there.”

“What did you talk about with this Reo person?”

“Not much. He invited me for a drink, but I refused. Feels like… a creep. Oh, I feel awful for saying that.” Sorry for that, Reo. Had to put you in a bad light here. I wouldn’t volunteer information about New Hope if I wasn’t asked. “But he didn’t do anything to me. I kept my distance from him after our first meeting. Did he do anything wrong? My feeling was right that he’s a weird creep.”

Tower Cop stuffed the pictures back into his wallet. “I will spell out what I know, Ms. Hartwell. Reo Hinode is a person of interest connected to what happened at the docks. Highly likely that he isn’t human.”

I let out another gasp. “Is he… is he an Adumbrae?” Dario’s group was sloppy. This was bad news for me because I was connected to them.

“We suspect so. Recently seeded, probably. He might be connected to the Adumbrae attack last month.”

“I never…” I looked down as if replaying my memories. “I didn’t notice anything. How can you be sure that he’s an Adumbrae?” Tower Cop was tailing people I’ve been in contact with. This bastard. How did Reo slip up?

“I can’t tell you why, Ms. Hartwell, but this is more than mere suspicion. It seems that there are more Adumbrae in this city than we thought.”

“When are you arresting him?” I hurriedly asked. “Since you already know he’s an Adumbrae, you should stop another Adumbrae attack!” I was thinking the opposite.  Please don’t arrest him yet because we have to plan how to deal with you and the police. The BID as well. I bet they were part of our problem, too. This was going from bad to worse.

“We still lack information. At present, it is better to continue the investigation and find out more, straight to the source of these Adumbrae. If we catch Reo, then the trail might run cold.”

I took a step back. “Why? Why… are you telling me this?” I lowered my voice into a whisper as I asked, “Are you going to arrest me?” I held my hands close to my chest. “I swear I didn’t know anything about him! I didn’t know he’s an Adum—”

“Calm down, Ms. Harwell. You won’t be arrested. In fact, you’ll help me in arresting the Adumbrae.”

“Ho-how?”

“You’ll be my informant. They trust you. Myra, Reo, and the others. You’ll tell me who the bad guys are, and I could arrest them. What their ultimate goals are, I don’t know. What do they want with you? We should find out.”

Was Tower Cop serious with this? If he were, this might be his personal thing instead of an official investigation. This really didn’t feel like something the BID would approve.

Tower Cop wanted to make sure that he got things right before making the arrest. If he handed the information to the BID, then that was it for him. He wouldn’t get the credit. But was it really credit that he was after? He didn’t seem the type. Perhaps redemption for that huge mistake in the past that Ramello had mentioned? Whatever Tower Cop’s true motives were, I had to act carefully.

There was one choice for me right now—cooperate with him. But I had to resist a bit first. “Informant? I don’t want to spend another second with any Adumbrae! I’m not meeting with Reo again!”

“Lower your voice, Ms. Hartwell.” Tower Cop glanced at Ramello and Deen. They both looked worried. That was my intention, so that Tower Cop wouldn’t keep me for long. He continued, “If you break off communication with Reo’s group now, they’ll be suspicious of you, correct? Keep this up for as long as possible. I’ll protect you.”

“Even from getting arrested? I’ll be branded as interacting with Adumbrae!” I keep speaking louder.

Tower Cop patted my shoulder with his humongous hand. “I swear that you won’t be arrested. I swear that no harm will come to you.”

“And Deen, too?” I tilted my head towards my best friend. “She’s worried about me, that’s why she’s tagging around.”

“Both of you. Are you up for it, Ms. Hartwell? You’ll save lives this way.”

“Can’t you get a different informant or something? I’m sure the police can think of another way of spying on them.”

“I don’t know who I can trust…” Tower Cop wistfully said, staring off in the distance. “In any case, Ms. Hartwell. This is my number.” He handed me a calling card. “The choice is yours. I hope you make the right one.”

(Author's Notes: So early into Book 2, and Erind already has a big problem. But this also presents a lot of opportunities for scheming. It'll be an exciting, complicated, and convoluted first half of Book 2. I have new ideas on how this'd go. I'll probably abandon my initial plan of mirroring part of the prior cycle.

I'm really sorry about the delay. I got sick this weekend. Up to now, I still have a headache and find it hard to write. The important thing is that we're delayed only for a day. And I think I'll be able to write the next chapter on time tomorrow. Smite Happens 6 will be uploaded after this. Thank you all for your support!)