Maria Lopez’s Point of View

  I was pissed. I tapped into the videotape that they brought back from the hospital, and I saw who was pushing out the ICU patients. It was the man again! I called my father and mentioned it to him, but he was more upset that I had backdoor access to the police network and got mad at me. He told me to get rid of my connection, but instead of doing that, I looked into the man whom the rge man repced.

  It was clear that they were two different people entirely. I met the man, and from the camera angles and my up-close and personal meeting with him, they clearly weren’t the same person… A uglier retive perhaps? That’s why I had to visit this Danny Storm and see if he knew anything about the mystery man who could make several-ton vehicles disappear.

  Finding out where he lived was trivially easy. Even someone who wasn’t a police officer could do it if they just googled around enough. He was pretty boring, and I wouldn’t have anything in common with him. Boring job and boring social life. Maybe his friends Jacob or James might know something, but that was if Danny didn’t give the man up… I would have to force him if he tried to hide it from me.

  I sat at a red light waiting for it to change to green as I thought about what my father said again. “Listen… You’re clearly more interested in this case than others, and I’m pretty sure why. You want this to be your CSI moment like the TV shows you love, but that isn’t how real policework is done, Maria… When you asked to go for a ride-along, I should have told you no…”

  I smmed my fist on my steering wheel, causing it to honk, as I was so frustrated with what he said. It wasn’t that he was mad at me, after talking with him in the morning after everything went down… He seemed more disappointed in me than anything else. I held back my tears for now. Only after I prove my father wrong and that I can handle these harder missions will I break down in tears of joy.

  I pull up to the apartment building where he lives. It looked below average, I was expecting something better, with how much the man worked. I was hoping that with the flood coming soon, he’d be at home. I wasn’t expecting much from the flood, but if his boss did what the news suggested, then he’d have taken a long weekend by canceling the next few days.

  I went to the wrong floor and was greeted by an old dy who could barely hear me unless I was shouting, while a chihuahua barked in the background. Heading upstairs, the hallway was crowded. My first thought went to a drug deal going down as I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of bringing in two druggies as a bonus for figuring out this assault/kidnapping/grand theft case I was now a part of.

  The two men were whispering to each other as I walked passed. It didn’t look like they knew each other. I walked passed them and knocked on the door, hoping it was the right pce and I wasn’t in for another goose chase. Knocking loud enough to startle the two men in the hallway, I waited as I heard a pte crash from inside and a man curse.

  The man who answered wasn’t who I was expecting. A bck man came and answered the door, I thought that at the very least, the suspect was rich enough to live by himself. I pulled out my badge and whispered so the two people wouldn’t hear. “Hello. I’m Officer Maria, I’m looking for a potential person of interest. Is Danny Storm in at the moment, and do you know when he’ll be back?” The man looked confused before I realized he was drunk… At twelve in the morning. Well, he might not have been drunk, but he stunk like a brewery, and I looked inside and saw half a case of empty beers on the table.

  I couldn’t help but get snippy. “Do you know where Danny is? I have some questions to ask him.” He realized he was talking to a police officer, finally, as I put on my firm tone, and he answered. “N-no. He put me up in his apartment room to watch these dogs so they wouldn’t drown from the flood. I think he felt bad for me, so he gave me a reason not to be out during it…”

  Hmm, that wasn’t something I’d expect from a person, but I wasn’t aware my uncle was a pothead. You didn’t know until you saw it or someone told you, that he might not know his retive was an insane serial criminal. The man seemed to light up as he answered. “Oh! He… Handed me this piece of paper with where he’d be after the flood hit.

  I couldn’t help but sigh in frustration as it was another goose chase. It would have been nice if the criminal were living with his cousin or something, and I could have just caught him here. He was still my best chance at a lead. He pulled the paper out and handed it over to me before looking at it. I wasn’t going to just take the paper, but I needed something to write down the address, so I asked. “Do you have a pen and a piece of paper so I don’t have to take this address from you?”

  He ushered me in. There were six dogs inside, and all of them jumped on me. I liked dogs like this more than the small yappy kind. Since I was on a mission, I didn’t stop and pet them even though I wanted to. As he looked at the coffee table for a sheet of paper before grabbing a pen and a piece of notepad paper off the fridge, he opened the note up.

  I didn’t want to intrude, but the note had me curious. I read it over his shoulder. “Hey Victor, if this didn’t get ruined in the flood or the wash, then come to the gated community in Fairview Point Lookout(went with a fake pce instead of somewhere real). I think this flood is going to be worse than predicted… Way worse, so buckle down and don’t leave the moment it stops raining and wait to make sure it’s safe.”

  That was utter hogwash. The news said it wasn’t going to be that big of a deal. If it was really going to be a big deal, they’d have said so. *BAM*! A loud crashing noise could be heard from the hallway. I rushed outside to look at the two men who were in the hallway fighting. I went to grab my gun to stop them… But it was still missing!

  I just watched. “Y-you mother fucker! That’s my wife you’re trying to stay with!” I watched as the two men punched and grappled with each other. The younger Mexican man was clearly winning the fight. Before I could respond, they dragged the fight to the stairwell, and the smaller/older Jewish man snapped through the railing as he pulled the Mexican man down with him. The gap was just big enough that they fell, smming against the railing the entire way to the ground floor.

  I had training for emergencies, but I couldn't help but stare, stunned, as the two men might be dead at the bottom. With a shaky hand, I called it in. At least they were still groaning… That was a good sign, right? I wish I hadn’t quit smoking now. I waited for the ambunce and police to show up, while I got weird looks from my coworkers; they didn’t say anything to me at the moment. I knew I’d have a call from my dad by the end of the day, but this time it wasn’t my fault. The bck man spoke up. “So… You wanted this address, right?”