© 2012 Phylicia Joannis
“Somebody call 911!” Chuck heard the screeching wail of his supervisor emanate from the work room. She had discovered the technician’s body.
A flurry of shouts and screams made their way past Chuck’s desk, followed by sirens and the clipped orders of paramedics and police officers. Chuck sipped what he hoped would be his last cup of coffee for the day and stood to introduce himself to one of the investigators.
“I’m Detective Gates,” the investigator smiled wryly as he shook Chuck’s hand. “Your supervisor tells me that you were working closely with the technician?”
Chuck blinked. “I was working with the supervisor as well as the two technicians on a Drone program, yes.”
The Detective scribbled a note before continuing. “Tell me, Chuck – eh, you don’t mind if I call you that, right?”
Chuck frowned and shook his head. “Why would I mind?”
The Detective shrugged. “Oh, some people get nervous around police and want everything to be formal and official. I can call you Charles if you prefer.”
Chuck shook his head and forced a smiled. “No, Chuck is fine.”
The Detective smiled, but didn’t speak. Chuck waited, then set his coffee on his desk. He shuffled some papers and wrung his hands. Finally, he spoke.
“Look detective, I have a lot of work to do, so if you have questions for me…” Chuck cast a sideways glance at the detective.
The detective tapped his notebook. “Sure, Chuck, I’ll get right to it. Did you assault the technician?”
Chuck’s mouth went dry. “No!” he spoke emphatically. “I didn’t hit anyone! I was here w-working on my statement.”
“Hmm,” the Detective grunted. “Thanks for your time.” The detective turned to leave.
Chuck cast a look at his supervisor, who was sitting in the lobby.
“Wait, that’s it?” Chuck blurted. “You’re not gonna ask me any more questions?”
“That’s the only question I need answered,” the detective shrugged. “Unless you have something else you think I need to know?”
Chuck hemmed. “Well, I, uh…”
“I didn’t think so,” the detective walked away.
“Wait!” Chuck called out. “I have some information.”
“Then you’d better tell me what it is,” the detective turned and his eyes narrowed.
“It’s my supervisor,” Chuck spoke in hushed tones. “You see, we have a situation here that’s very… delicate.”
“Go on,” the detective turned to a fresh page in his notebook.
“The technicians and I were working on a couple of Drones, you know, to find the missing train this afternoon?” Chuck rubbed his jaw, hoping to sell his story as a sincere one.
“Uh huh,” the Detective nodded as he scribbled in his notebook.
Chuck continued. “Well, as it turns out, one of the cars somehow got disconnected, but since no one knew about it, my supervisor told us to keep it quiet. We’re already in a lot of trouble as it is, you know? The technicians wanted to keep working to see if they could locate the missing car, but my supervisor told us to shut it down.”
The Detective stopped writing. “And? That’s it?”
Chuck became flustered. “Well, no, I mean, what more do you need? My supervisor was trying to cover up something that the technicians were working on, and now one of them is dead. I mean, she’s the one who discovered his body! Isn’t that suspicious to you?”
The Detective rolled his eyes. “Kid, that’s an interesting theory, but unless you witnessed an altercation of some kind –”
“Yes!” Chuck interrupted. “Of course! They did fight! There was a huge blowout, and… and I witnessed it. I just assumed that it was implied by my statement.”
“Excellent!” the detective grinned. “And you’d be willing to testify of this in court?”
Chuck smiled nervously. “Y-yes. Of course!”
“This is great!” the detective grinned. “Thanks a lot, Chuck. You’ve been a great help.”
“Oh, no need to thank me,” Chuck put his hand up. “I just want justice to prevail.”
The detective nodded. “I like you, Chuck. Oh, and your technician friend? I don’t know who gave you the wrong information, but he’s not dead.”
Chuck’s smiled faltered. “He’s not?”
The detective shook his head. “Nope! He’s a bleeder, and he’s got a concussion, but the doc says he’ll be fine.”
Chuck stared in shock. “That’s great,” he finally stated.
“Yep,” the detective smiled. “As soon as he’s conscious, we’ll talk to him and see if his story corroborates with yours. We should have this whole mess wrapped up in no time!”
The detective walked away, towards Chuck’s supervisor. Chuck grabbed his wallet and headed to the pantry for another cup of coffee.
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