Don't Be So Obvious

Jack has not talked to Nitte for quite some time now. He has thought about calling her, but he really has no reason to. Unlike Keith, Nitte does not pay for Jack's service. Why should he call someone just to do chores and not get paid? Right?

Yeah, yeah, Nitte says, she teaches him stuff so that's kind of her way of repaying. But..., Jack just can't find the motivation to call her. Or courage?

"Well, Nitte is not going to help me." Jack says to Bob. "If you are suggesting Nitte to be my ally."

"OK. Just something I'm sensing, that's all. The way you talk about her seems... different," Bob laughs.

Jack waves to show his denial, "Speaking of which, Keith has wired money to my account! Sweet money. If you want, I can buy you lunch or whatever later."

"Cool, yeah, that would be great."

Jack thinks he will call Keith because Amelia is dead and the hacker is gone. Jack can only assume Keith took the hacker.

Jack and Bob enter the headquarter building for the their little police records department. But when they are standing by the elevator, suddenly, they hear loud high heels hitting on the floor, approaching them.

Both men turn around. They see a girl walking towards them.

Hmm. She looks cute. She is a petite girl, with hair color that looks like red but not too overwhelmingly red. Neither of them think this girl is coming for them. They just assume she is going to walk past them.

But no. She stops right in front of them.

"Hi, you guys, I'm with city police community liaison, my name is Rosanne Young."

"Hi---"

"Did you just tell Ed he needs to... I quote... 'get the hell out of the police station'?" Rosanne stares at both of them. She is not sure who said that.

"Um..., what seems to be the problem?" Bob asks. "And did Ed complain to you about this? What a little whiny asshole."

"You guys are not supposed to use that tone and language in this day and age. People complain about everything online now. Ed just hashtag NYPD on social media to complain, saying that he was not treated politely by you."

"OK?" Bob shrugs, doesn't seem to care.

"You should tell him to wait at home for further questioning. If he is a suspect, tell him that he is not supposed to leave the city, keep his phone turned on at all time."

"Um....ha ha ha," Bob now laughs in a sarcastic tone, "Are you seriously trying to tell us how to do our job?"

Bob almost wants to say: I've been doing law enforcement job longer than you have been alive, young lady. Rosanne looks to be in her 20s.

Rosanne keeps going: "Another good thing to do is, always make them turn their phones off when you question them. Just tell them it's police standard procedure for security reasons. If their phones are turned off, they can't record or take pictures of you right away. Fortunately, Ed didn't record or take any photos. But just wanted to give you this piece of advice."

Rosanne then looks at Bob, sensing a smirk from bob. She is irritated.

"My job is maintaining NYPD's public image." Rosanne then turns her head to look at Jack, she frowns, "You are Jack Wolf, right? You have created a lot of problem for me already. If you must break the rules, can you at least break the rules in a less noticeable way?"

Jack is surprised, "What? Lady, why are you suddenly yelling at me! I've already been suspended and then re-assigned. What more do you want?"

"Are you not the one who yelled at Ed?" Rosanne asks.

Bob interrupts impatiently, "Jack didn't yell at anyone. I did. Are you done yet?"

"I'm not done yet. And what is your name, Sir?" Rosanne asks.

"Bob."

"Bob, I don't mind that you give jerks some hard time. But you must not be so obvious. OK?"

"OK. Can I please go now?" Bob says.

Rosanne puts her hands on her hips. She lifts her chin up and stares at Bob. "I will be watching you, Bob. Because, apparently you are promoted to detective now. I would really appreciate it if you can package your rule-breaking behavior with a nice bow. Meaning, you can yell at someone, but try to make it so that no one can find faults in you."

Bob shakes his head, but he doesn't say anything.

"How do we reach you, Rose?" Jack asks, trying to hide his smile.

"It's Rosanne. You can reach me here." Rosanne gives both Jack and Bob business cards. It looks like Rosanne's community liaison unit is located in this same building. But Jack and Bob have never seen her before. There are two numbers on the card. One of them might be her cell phone number.

"OK, you kids take care."

"Kids?" Jack protests, "How old do you think we are."

"I already looked up both of your Human Resources profile. You kids are younger than me for sure. Stay out of trouble for a little longer, please."

Jack then nudges Bob. "How fun. A pretty girl is going to keep her eyes on you now!"

Bob doesn't know what to say, he turns around and presses the button for elevator.

"I envy you, Bob. My job is to keep watch on a weird girl. You just got promoted and a girl is going to watch you!"

Bob finally protests, "You want someone to tell you what to do? I don't want someone to tell me what I can say or what I can't say."

But then Bob thinks: maybe it is a good thing that someone is controlling public image for him. Bob doesn't want to catch any attention. He forgets how young people take everything to social media platforms. He needs to stay low-profile, low-key. She could be a good help.

And then, Jack gets a text message from Keith: "Good job on your last task. Payment has been transferred to you. I hope you are satisfied. I have a new task for you. Let me know when you are ready."

Jack then says to Bob, "Ha. Keith just messaged me."

And then another text from Keith: "By the way, are you not watching Nitte anymore?"

== == ~~ **

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