"Officer West. Officer West."
Ravi blinked. Fuck! What was wrong with him? He had spaced out just like that. He cleared his throat, "We are not trained enough to handle such an investigation."
"Hey! West. Speak for yourself. I graduated from the police Academy" Draco called out as he slumped to his seat.
"Yes, do not look down at us." Lisa added.
Ravi glanced at her, the mocking in his hazel eyes was all too evident, "You did not graduate from the Police Academy, why are you jumping up and down?" Ravi had not forgotten or forgiven her for giving the strawberries to Arlen.
Lisa placed her hand dramatically on her chest, "Is that the way to speak to your partner?"
A loud clap of hands made them focus on the Captain who stood tall in the middle of the room, he did not look offended but was smiling instead, "It is good that everyone is so active. Officer West, do not worry, let us take this as a test so that I can know everyone's capabilities, if the case is above us, we will forward it to the Financial Fraud Department In Alstria. Officer Brown, please go and check the surveillance records of the Store that she went to and talk to the Cashier at that time for more details. Sergeant Tom and Officer Adams, go to the bank and collect more information from them. A statement of the Account if you can? Officer Johnson, you would man the station."
Ravi tapped his fingers on the table and sure enough, "Officer West and I would go and collect more information from Mrs Karen Parker's Neighbors."
The tapping stopped and Ravi took a deep breath.
"Everyone, good luck. If this case goes well, I would treat everyone to some hotpot at Dunes." Arlen added as the eyes of everyone brightened up.
"Dunes!"
Even Ravi could not stop his throat from getting wet, Dunes was a moderately expensive restaurant that served all kinds of hot pot with the freshest ingredients. It was as if the team was injected with chicken blood as they got extremely excited.
"Captain, please leave it to us. No matter who it is that tried to steal Mrs Parker's money, we will bring that person to justice." Sergeant Tom said loudly and everyone echoed after him.
Arlen chuckled and nodded, "Alright."
Ravi collected the Patrol car key from Lisa and headed outside. As the lower-ranking officer, he would be the one driving, he hated driving.
"Officer West." Arlen called out and jogged towards him, "Let us go."
There was no smile on Ravi's face as he replied, "Captain Sinclair." Away from other prying eyes, there was no need to maintain images, he could recall their less-than-favorable first meeting. He did not know what would go on when it was just the two of them in a car, whether Arlen would finally spew the scolding that must have been brewing in his chest since Friday.
He entered the car and turned on the ignition, the captain was lying down with his eyes closed as Ravi looked at the address in the woman's statement and typed into his phone before connecting it to the Police.
It was quiet, Ravi loved the quiet so he drove slowly down to Linoms Avenue.
"This would not do." Arlen said and stopped pretending to sleep. "Park the car, lets us talk."
Ravi did not look at him, "This is not a parking zone, Captain. Give me two minutes." He drove further and reached a restaurant, he stopped the car and faced the Captain.
Arlen took a visibly deep breath and made up his mind, "Look, I think I am biased about you and it is not right. There are many explanations for what happened that Friday. You must have one, perhaps you were sick or you were angry that others closer were not helping. There must be a reason and I should not judge you because of one incident. That was wrong of me. I hope we can start on a much better stage. My name is Arlen Sinclair, I am 28 years old. I graduated from the police Academy at 22 years old and joined the force immediately. I was just transferred this year to your team. Nice to meet you." 6 years in the service and he had parachuted himself to be a Captain at such a young age, his blond hair fell loosely around his face in a way that could be achieved through meticulous care.
He smiled at him. It was a wide smile that showed his two little tiger teeth that Ravi had not noticed before. His blue eyes were soft and friendly and Ravi knew that he truly wanted to start afresh, clear the bad air, and maybe even become friends but it was not going to be possible between the two of them.
This person had an aura so familiar to him, an aura that he, himself once had. Righteousness steamed from his very pores, the desire to help and save any and everyone, and Ravi, while he is not a villain, might just be worse than one. Deep in his soul, he did not care what happened to anyone anymore. He would not take that burden anymore.
He is done with humanity, He is done caring. He is done helping people.
100 years of vacation for 500 years of hard labor. He had no desire to waste it. He would farm, drink wine, eat good food, and die. Such a simple life, he had paid it in blood for it. He craved it like a desert craved water.
He looked at the man smiling at him, that warm smile that he so generously gave others was now focused on him. A pity.
"Captain has so much high hopes for me. That is too much pressure. I don't particularly care what you think of me. My job is to be a police officer from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m, and when I am not on the clock. I am a very ordinary person like everyone else. So, please do not have such high..hopes for me." His voice was word-for-word, clear as ice.
The sun-like smile on the man's features instantly disappeared. He stared at him quietly. The air seemed to have turned into a flowing ice-ball, and every second it stung the trachea.
"I understand."