System Jazz

"Suspect Arnim One-Three-Six-Four-Two, parents undisclosed."

The Old Fox records his monotonous voice into the system.

"We arrested him yesterday twenty minutes before midnight. It happened to be his birthday. Fourteen years old."

The Baldie prepared me in advance.

There's still that stomach cramp though. What's their deal anyway?

Is this the good cop bad cop gig, and he worked in advance?

Or does he hate Old Fox's guts and want him to fail out of spite?

In any case, they leave the handcuffs on and even chain the leg to a creaking chair.

It's not even fixed to the floor so it's pointless, like the whole interrogation, when we already made a deal.

Let me out and give a deep drag from an actual cigarette.

It would be easy to forget everything that happened and avoid the boys for a week or two.

Well, it won't happen.

No, the deal's off if the bad cop isn't convinced, which makes me too nervous to think straight.

If it's some intra-firm rivalry, that's not surprising; the dude's irritating.

It was sheer luck to avoid his kind in the past. Now my legs are shaky.

"We captured him with three boxes of second-grade rations. Probable burglary in the warehouse district."

Fox continues without looking.

"CCTV systems recently went offline. Our officers arrived at the scene following the sound of a stationary alarm."

If the Girl didn't give that gum he'd give me a stroke instead.

Still, a real cigarette would have been better.

Baldie's also in the office.

He warned about staying quiet, and it's a good thing he did because the way Fox continues blows my mind.

"Aggravating circumstances: resisting arrest, assaulting a female officer."

Holy shit.

"Displacement of his governmental smartphone, indicating he planned the felony."

He records it and before my mouth can open Baldie shakes his head in the corner.

The legs shake so fast, that they're rattling the chains.

This alone is already four to eight years in prison so how should I keep it cool?

He knows it's a lie too and tries to be scary right?

They can only give a warning because of the value - unless the Girl confirms the assault.

That could put me in jail for a long time.

Baldie mentioned every option before leaving the car and dragged across the yard.

It was before the Old Fox caught up with us.

This building must have been here for centuries, even the furniture looks ancient.

The desk seems like a hundred years old, from the twenty-first century.

This is a small, cluttered room with old and modern stuff thrown over each other.

It's what you call rustic.

Complete with a worn rug and a safe, the LED lights are on their lowest setting so it is impossible to see much more.

Furniture care oil thickens the air since most stuff is real wood, making me want to throw up.

A collector would go nuts in this place.

"All right, data collection done, what does the suspect say?"

The Old Fox looks here for the first time since he entered, and protesting isn't an option.

The other cop said what to tell him, word for word.

A quick throat clearing to calm these nerves and go.

"The rations were outside the warehouse." The claim has him scoff, but Baldie made me practice the whole thing.

"A friend suggested picking up the phone at the lost-and-found in this district. The rations come into play because the area is like a maze."

My voice didn't pitch too high, because of the half-truths injected for flavor.

The rest comes a hundred percent from the Baldie, only the wording's mine.

The other cop doesn't like it.

"So you mean to say, you saw rations on a street and thought it's okay to pick them up?" He asks, with his upper lip receding.

Punching him would feel great if he weren't already accusing me of assault.

"Well, nothing gets thrown out in the Container Park. It's common knowledge if people put stuff in front of the house, others can take it."

More bullshit commences to survive the interrogation.

"Free food's the best if you don't receive government subsidies."

"And how did that trigger the alarm?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

He thinks he got me, yet Baldie said they have no way of knowing what set it off and where people were at that moment.

"What do you mean? It went off almost a kilometer away." His reaction causes a strong stomach cramp.

The eye contact convinces him since it's not even a lie. Boss made sure I stayed out in the rain.

He taps his recorder and sighs.

"So why did you try to resist arrest if you haven't done anything?"

Okay, he gave up on that point fast, though things are still far from good Jazz.

"What? The rain chased me to take cover, then the police drone startled me." The Baldie nods after every word.

"Since the phone wasn't there, I panicked and wanted to ask for help from this officer, and slipped on the wet asphalt."

"Aspirant Lee confirmed his story," Baldie says when he glances at him.

It's pushing it, even if the way he rubs his temple tells he can't argue with these lies.

"You have to forgive her, it was her first day, late in the shift and she kind of jumped the gun."

"I don't blame her or anything," Let's add this because I'm a cool, nice guy.

"She will make a report then." The Old Fox shakes his head and rubs the saddle of his nose.

We almost got him, though he's not about to give up.

"There are too many coincidences here. The men found your phone and they'll look into it soon."

"My conscience is clear. Losing the phone was dumb, but breaking into the warehouse?"

The half-truths ran out, and playing the innocent is stressful.

"You think that tiny Aspirant could handcuff me if I resisted? Haha, no, it was an honest mistake though, I'm not mad at her."

Baldie facepalms, a sign that those last claims were too much, but I'm a nervous talker.

Their automated lie detector sucks and isn't accepted as evidence. It's still better to keep it short. The Old Fox turns to face him.

"And you didn't educate the boy about how to get away with a crime, right?" The fucker's sharp, making the cramps worse.

When he glances back, he stares at the statue of a saint with a meek smile. One that could kill for a smoke even if it means a life sentence.

"We have known each other for a decade, why'd you think that?" Baldie protests with a laugh.

"Check the patrol car's internal recordings if you want. Annie realized on our way back that she made a mistake, and that's it."

"We both know your car doesn't record anything." The Fox looks unconvinced, and he can't do much about it.

"You reported that malfunction a month ago, and it wasn't fixed."

"And how's that my problem?"

Baldie grins, becoming a partner in crime.