A sharp sizzling sound echoed far away as a pile of chow-mein was thrown in the oil. The stale smell of reheated food mingled over the place, footsteps echoed, hushed conversation never dying down.
Among the rusty tables and worn out benches, a figure sat, full of elegance and composure. He picked up the cup in front of him and took a sip, but his lips twitched immediately.
"Too sweet" he whispered to himself
Suddenly, a seemingly mid-aged man sat right infront of him. His look could almost be described as glare.
"Official Xexui" yet he greeted
Xexui nodded lightly in acknowledgement.
A few other junior officers sat around them. Xexui glanced at one of them.
"I've shifted him to his ward. He is currently being treated, a small operation they said" He was the one who had helped to inject anesthesia
Xexui blinked and turned his attention towards the senior one infront of him.
"I really don't understand what Official is thinking. Why would you ask the court to delay Lemane's trial date?" said the mid-aged man
"Officer Feron, Lemane isn't even able to stand by himself. I'm afraid with his current condition, he isn't quiet fit to be on a trial" Xexui said, sipping his tea again though his lips twitch again
The older one frowned deeply "Then why give him such good treatment? A few stitches would have been enough for him to stand. He is doomed to get a death sentence anyway"
After a long silent, Feron started again.
"You requested to interrogate him" Feron said coldly, the juniors eyed each other expecting a drama
"...yes" Xexui replied
"Why? What more is there to know about him? It has already been made clearly , many times that he is killing just to rob. What else are you finding" he sneered
"Officer Feron, Lemane isn't your case anymore. You should care less than this." Xexui then signed one of the staff of the canteen to get a tea
"Care less? Just because he isn't my case anymore doesn't mean I am not involved in it! He still is the maniac that killed countless!" Feron slammed the table furiously
All the others around them suddenly went silent and stared at him, surprised. Feron glared at the others, daring them to look for a single second longer.
"I know. And I do want to punish him for his crimes, just like you do. Just not yet." Xexui said calmly
Just then, a teenager came with a cup of tea. The official signed him to give it to the furious man.
"Here, have some tea."
Feron glanced at the cup served to him and back at the official.
"I heard that you even dared to ask him about his murders" his eyes narrowed as he looked at the other as if the wanted to strangle him right then and there
Xexui glanced at the juniors from behind the cup. Some of them immediately shook their head with panic all over their face.
Xexui sighed and put his cup down, facing Feron with bored eyes "I thought of you as a respectful one, officer. Might not if you continue to send your spies like this"
"I did not. I just heard it from around."
Xexui looked at one of the junior officers "Lesdin Sif, was it?"
The one from before nodded.
"Where is the other one kept?" he asked calmly, as if there was no one glaring at him murderously
"uh-um he wasn't as badly injured. So he was shifted to the cell" Lesdin said
"Have you found anything about him?"
Lesdin glanced at the angry senior, deciding whether to speak or not.
"Still on it…" he whispered
"Let me help you then"
Xexui stood up, his yet to be emptied cup abandoned on the table.
"I'll take my leave now" Xexui said, completely ignoring
Xexui walked away without giving any of them even a second glance. He didn't even pause when Feron crushed the glass cup with his bare hands, sure he felt humiliated. Lesdin almost fell over when the shards of glass spread across the table. He immediately jumped out of his seat and rushed towards Xexui, followed by the other two officers.
Though the senior didn't show any sign of anger or whatsoever, they still didn't dare to walk beside him. After all, seniors always got angry for the smallest and the most ridiculous reasons.
If a cat sneaked into their cabinet, they yelled at them. The canteen ran out of food? It's the juniors fault! How dare they eat?! If they slipped on the floor the juniors didn't, then of course that's a sin!
But Lesdin wasn't sure of what kind of senior this 'Official Xexui' was.
"Senior Xexui is really bold, isn't he? Acting like senior Feron didn't even exist" Jeff Smith, the one who told senior's name to the criminal, whispered
"Good for us, we will get to see drama every now and then" Lesdin whispered back, a grin on his face
"Is it? And what about the troubles that will follow?" Jeff sneered "We would be completely crushed between the clashes of these two"
"It will still be better than getting scolded all the time by that old guy Feron" he rolled his eyes
"shh! Do you want to die?! If someone snitched to senior that you called him 'old guy', he will completely banish us!" Jeff whispered
"I will say old guy na old guy a hundred times. Not like he is here-"
Jeff suddenly hit him in the back. Lesdin frowned but stood completely still as soon as he saw a pair of dark eyes staring at him blankly.
"You all can go and start collecting the documents, I'll be there in a while" Senior Xexui said and then disappeared into the crowd without waiting for a reply
He released the breath he didn't knew he held.
"What a weird guy" Lesdin sneered
They went to the library and proceeded to collect the criminal records as asked. Thought occupied by the work, Lesdin Sif couldn't help but wonder when the infamous criminal Lemane of Spectre was captured.
Few days ago, he had captured a radio station and openly challenged the military head to save himself if he could, or else he would be found dead on the Semirary Art House. Of course no one believed him, not because they weren't but because that cunning murderer had done a few hundred times before too but always showed up in a completely different location.
So the people didn't even bothered to look that way, but instead increased the security of other places. Who would have thought, Semirary Art House would suddenly catch fire after a huge and loud blast?
When the rescue team arrived, Lemane was found, unconscious and severely injured while the military head was burned till crisp. It had been almost two days ago. And suddenly, this Official showed up out of nowhere and snatched the case from Senior Feron. The weird thing is that the higher ups actually agreed to handing the case over to him in such a short period of time. No wonder that big old guy was so angry.
"Lesdin! Mind coming over?!" Jeff called out from the far end of the huge room
"Just a second!" Lesdin pulled out a few more files from the self and tossed it to the table where he had collected the rest of it
As soon as Jeff came into view, he held out two files, one on either of his hands.
"Which one? Lemane's hunch-men files or top fifty side-kicks?" He grinned like an idiot as if he was asking to choose a game
"How the hell would I know?" Lesdin frowned
"Come on! Choose one, you've always been lucky at making choices!" he held them out, right in front of his face
"OK, ok fine, don't shove it on my face alright?" Lesdin backed off a step
He hummed, rubbing his chin and then chose the latter one. After being satisfied with their overall mess in the table and getting scolded for being too loud a few times, they started the actual headache, checking the profiles.
"Hey, am I going mad or is this particular bureau the worst one to hold the infamous Lemane?" Jeff said out of no where
"Now that you've mentioned…ya that's probably true. Its literally in the border of East and West Land" Lesdin adjusted his seat
The city was divided into East and West lands. It was mainly because of the different in environment of the places. East land was where the normal civilians were believed to live where as the West Land was the home for crime. Lemane too, was from there. It was literally the garbage of the city, no alive sane man would ever want to be there.
Lesdin continued "And the security here….. is there even a security system here?"
"Not really…" Jeff signed "If his gang were to attack, I swear no one would survive."
Just then Xexui was there as well.
"Hey! Senior, What do you think? Why was Lemane shifted here after capturing?" Jeff jumped
"About that- even I don't know. It's the higher ups" He said, struggling with the things in his hands
He had brought a pile of newspapers, the date on the first page was of four years ago. The picture on the lower part was of a bright white palace, even the words on the headline seemed fancy.
"Eh? Senior, what are you working on? This doesn't seem like a crime report" Jeff asked
"Lemane mentioned a 'bitter chocolate' with beard" he said as he settled among one of the chairs
"Bitter chocolate? Oh ya, he did. But what about that? That didn't even make sense to start with" Lesdin said, flipping the pages
"It eventually will. Maybe someone with dark skin tone? Or loves chocolate?" Xexui said as he started to layout the news paper
Though the 'chocolate' thing categorized a particular group, how the hell are they supposed to find who likes chocolate and who doesn't.
"So, senior is going to check everyone who has a beard?" Jeff tilted his head
Xexui glanced at him, "dead and murdered" and back to his papers
All of them paused for a moment, stopping whatever they were on and took a moment to give the senior a confused look. But Xexui didn't seem to notice them as he continued to flip through pages.
"oh and rich" Xexui said
Only then did it hit them, he was talking about what kind of 'beard man' he would find.
"Then…what will senior do after you find out who that person is?" Lesdin said, his full attention on the senior now
"Show him to Lemane" Xexui said, still not sparing them even a single glance
"Why?" Lesdin frowned, his pitch rising a bit
"He may remember a few more things" he replied
"Remember a few more things?" Jubi, who was silent till now, asked "What's that supposed to mean, senior?"
"Kira said Lemane doesn't remember most of the things"
Kira was the head doctor, given the duty to treat Lemane.
"But he does remember he is a murderer" Jubi said, she seemed like she wanted a full-length explanation but was just given a "yes"
They waited for a moment longer hoping some more words may come but the moment just got awkward, so they returned to their files.
"About the spy" Xexui suddenly spoke, almost making Lesdin jump "What do you think?"
"Actually, it might not have been anyone….Senior Feron actually has the access to the control room. So maybe he was listening from there…" Lesdin said
"Oh" Xexui paused for a good five seconds before continuing "If so, prepare another room for interrogation, and…"
He glanced at them "From now on, tell the others that they are removed from the case"
Before taking on the team, Senior Xexui had strictly forbade anyone from sharing the details of whatever happened inside the room. But still his eyes were full of suspicion, now that his suspicion had proved to true, why still believe them? Why not just let his own team handle it?
".…you are believing us?" Lesdin couldn't help asking
"no, you all seem easy to keep eye on"
Was that a joke? Because that wasn't funny at all. Was that not an insult? Because that surely was very insulting. A police officer being said that they are easy to keep eye on. This Senior sure was very rude.
And so, no one spoke. Couldn't dare to offend the senior in anyway, after all.
All they could do was to bury themselves in the files looking for the records of that person who was rescued with the criminal. Yet they didn't find it, not even after the sun had set, not even after Xexui took his leave and told them they can leave if they wish to. Their shift had already ended.
It was a bit unusually though, allowing them to leave. Because usually….you know what happens, overtime with no extra penny and all!
The latter days went with nothing much to do as Lemane was having his 'rest'. Aside from Senior Feron breaking in their office and furiously demanding to talk to Official Xexui but unfortunately, he happened to not bless them with his presence. If he had, what a fight they might have witnessed!
Only later did they find out that all that 'show' of their old man was for the arrangement of new interrogation room.
And so, the day finally arrived, the day to start the actual interrogation…