24 Just a damn friend

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“Yes, of cour-”

Knock knock!

Who could it be at that idle hour? As far as he knew, he had no appointments. It must be something urgent if his secretary let the person in.

“Sorry, there’s an unexpected guest. I’ll call you back, sir.”

In a hurry, he smooshed his fat fingers on the touchscreen and tossed the phone at the table, making it land on a pile of pens in his cup. The police chief tried to make himself look busy doing important work and adjusted the random files on his desk to hide what he was looking through earlier.

“Come in!” the chief snapped.

Outside, Alwin jumped. The chief inspector did not sound pleased but he gathered all his nerves to enter the office.

“Good afternoon, sir. My apologies for barging in without an appointment again,” he saluted. “I’m Alwin Ermont, a junior officer from team seven if you recall…”

Ah! After a while, the police chief inspector recalled where he’d seen this young man. The young man previously wore a trendy shirt he wanted to get for his son! Also, this was the young man who had a request for the girl that the boss kidnapped.

Sighing mentally, Chief Fedora ushered the young officer over to the sofa and sat across from him.

“How can I help you today, Officer Ermont?”

Alwin sat nervously across the stern chief inspector. He knew that there were many cases for his boss to look at and it was selfish to push personal demands on such an important man when there were other cases such as murder and drug smuggling to look into. However, he couldn’t leave here empty-handed with the new evidence he found in the case!

“Sir, I know you’re busy, but I would like to ask again about Miss Leona Sandersmith…”

Alwin’s voice trailed off as Cheif Fedora’s frown deepened. Liona Zandresmit?

“Zandreismit who?”

Alwin cringed. Although he respected the chief inspector a lot, he could not help but hate how Leona’s name was mispronounced.

“It’s Sandersmith, sir. Leona Sandersmith.”

Although the chief still had no idea how the name was spelt, he knew exactly who Alwin was talking about.

“Ah, Miss Zoundrerxmyth!” he nodded with a big fake smile but the cringe on Alwin’s face only became more obvious as the pronunciation deviated more from what it was previously.

“No– yes, sir…” Alwin learned to choose his battles. If he continued trying to correct the chief’s pronunciation, they would probably be here all day. He wasn’t here to correct the chief’s poor pronunciation.

“Ahh…” the chief inspector recalled. “I remember. And you’re here today because…?”

“She’s been missing for a while now, sir. Also, I just visited her apartment. All her belongings were gone. The landlord told me that some people claiming to be her relatives took everything away. The debts have been fully paid off as well. I was wondering if you knew anything about this?” Alwin’s sad expression made it very clear just how special Miss Liona Sunderzmidt was to him and Chief Fedora pitied him.

“I’ll check,” the chief said and dug through the pile of reports on his desk.

Although his loyalty to the Teivel famiglia is indisputable, he still pitied the young officer. Who told him to fall in love with a woman that his boss wanted? He could only wish that the young officer gave up soon and found love elsewhere.

Clearly, the young man had the audacity to barge into his office because he found a new lead on the case. It would be too suspicious to tell him they did not find any leads for the missing girl. However, he also could not afford to let this hot-blooded officer snoop too closely into the Teivel family’s dealings. Chief Fedora knew better than anyone else the kind of trouble that followed curiosity and Alwin wasn’t the kind of man who would stop when he was told.

“We found Miss Zunderzmyth’s name in the loan sharks’ debt records,” the chief inspector pulled out a blue book from beneath the mountain of documents. “This came in a while ago.”

Although the book was slightly crumpled, Alwin received it with both hands and bowed with gratitude at the new information. He had his suspicions earlier about the ‘relatives’ that paid Leona’s debt off. Maybe he could find out their identities here!

On the other hand, Chief Fedora observed the starry-eyed officer with a stoic mask. He felt slightly bad for doing this but if he did not throw a hint for Alwin to chase, he might end up as fish food at the bottom of the ocean. The record should be enough to buy him time from Alwin’s investigations and potentially lead him in the opposite direction of where Miss Sandyzinc is really at.

Alwin flipped through the pages and scanned each line carefully. Eventually, he spotted Leona’s name and rejoiced at a new lead. He was about to thank the chief inspector when the number beside her name made him freeze. His eyes widened at the money she had been paying every month. Alwin immediately felt bad for not helping her. He constantly reminded her that he could help, but he knew his best friend. Leona did not want to bother or impose on him and would rather shoulder the burdens alone.

Watching depression settle down like a deadweight around Alwin, the chief officer took this chance to push the blame of her disappearance to the loan sharks that he boss permanently silenced.

“Maybe Miss Zandirsmyth couldn’t cope with the burdens of her debts and fled?” Chief Fedora said.

Resolutely, Alwin shook his head.

“No, sir. I’ve known Leona since childhood. She would tell me if she was moving.”

Chief Fedora nodded. It was hard to disagree and honestly, it was better to go along with it.

“I see. It’s quite odd that she wouldn’t tell her boyfriend where she was going.”

Boy– The young man flinched. Holy shit, reality hurts!

“I– No, she’s not… I’m just her friend, sir.” Alwin stammered and hid behind the debt ledger book.

Chief Fedora fell silent. Oops?

Hold on! Something didn’t add up and his gossip senses were tingling.

“A friend, you say? Why would you be so concerned over just a friend?”

Alwin stammered and tried to defend himself. The chief inspector was right. As a friend, he shouldn’t be this involved. However, he couldn’t tell his boss that he had secret feelings for her! It would be too unprofessional. Moreover, he failed to confess to her on the morning that she was missing. What would Chief Fedora think if Alwin told him that?

“I-It’s an important friend, sir. I’m just very worried. I managed to call her today and the phone’s line was suddenly cut. I couldn’t reach it after that. Something must have happened!” Alwin explained.

Chief Fedora wanted to cry. For someone this inexperienced and naive, why did he have to be this sharp? Then again, it wasn’t as if a sly fox like him have never dealt with before. If he could not turn Alwin away, he simply needed to buy more time.

“I understand. How about you give me her number and I will have the specialists to trace it.”

Like seeing a ray of hope, Alwin thanked his boss with unshed tears in his eyes. They exchanged numbers quickly and Chief Fedora promised to keep him updated if he had any updates from the specialists before Alwin was escorted out of the office.After Alwin left, the chief looked back at his messy desk. He was doing something before the young officer arrived. What was it again?

That’s right! The call!

The phone on his desk blinked and Chief Fedora paled. With his sweaty hands, the chief inspector placed his cellphone beside his ear, hoping that his boss had not heard everything that happened earlier.

“Hello, sir?” he uttered in a shaky voice.

“Was that Alwin Ermont?” Ignatius asked in a deep voice. He was initially annoyed that the chief inspector did not end the call properly but after finding out who the unexpected visitor was, he decided to stay and listen in on them.

“Yes, sir. My apologies for putting you on hold for so long-”

“It’s fine,” Ignatius cut the man off mid-ramble. “I heard everything.”

Something intimidating in Ignatius’ tone sent shivers down the chief’s spine. Was he going to be fed to the sharks? He always knew that his sloppiness would be the end of him someday.

“I want you to handle that lad. Keep him away from my business.”

“Yes, sir!” the nervous chief held onto the phone with both hands and cowered like a mouse. “I’ll make sure he won’t ever come near anything to do with the Teivel family. I’ll find someone else to cover those cases.”

Without giving the chief an affirmative reply, Ignatius cut the call short. He’d been on the phone for longer than he liked and talking any longer to Chrisvan’s father would make him stupid. Although hearing Alwin’s voice made his blood boil initially, the chief inspector redeemed himself by emotionally damaging his rival with a brainless comment.

Ignatius smirked. Leona Sandersmith was his. Nobody else could have her.