Chapter 1:Libro

I don't get why I make certain choices, is it out of the thrill of it? something to separate me from everyone else in this world? Or maybe it just boils down me being a complete dumbass, who knows?

"I'm pleased to inform you that you've passed your detective test, and officer thompson will see you personally certified!" A woman exclaimed over the white landline phone laying down in xiomara's mom's kitchen.

"That's…wow… that's amazing." Xiomara replied with a chuckle. "I'll come into the office as quick as possible." She added before hanging up the phone.

When the landline disconnected, she let out a large sigh before wiping the oil off her face, her puffy curly messed up afro poking up as she got up and stretched, pulling her oversized "I heart illinois" T-shirt over her underwear.

Xiomara's mom rushed into the room, awaiting ecstatic news. "So? Qué dijo ella?" She asked.

"ella dijo que sí" Xiomara blandly responded. as she walked into the kitchen to open up the fridge in her hunt for water.

Her mother looked at her confused, "Xiomara where's the excitement?" Her mom asked her as she hugged her daughter from behind.

"I am, very excited." She responded as she opened a cold bottle of water and begin to drink it.

Xiomara stood at 5'11, she was super skinny and lanky, only weighing in about 137 pounds, somehow she found herself qualified enough to be in this position.

Her mother pointed at the piece of paper framed on their living room wall. "Degree anointed to Xiomara Alvarez from UC DAVIS for completion of 2 years of criminal justice studies"

"I knew my little luchadora would make the thousands of dollars spent on tutition worth it in the end!" She said as she smiled.

"Yep, now all I have to do is stay in student loan debt for the rest of my life." She added sarcastically.

"Haha." Her mom replied.

She looked back up, staring at her daughters puffy afro.

"So uh… what are you gonna do about all that?" She asked, grabbing her own braided hair to motion to her what she was referring to.

"Ughhhh." She replied "What's wrong with my hair?" She exclaimed.

Her mother scoffed, looking at her while laughing. "¿Es una pregunta seria? Mira ese lío." She replied.

"I mean straighten at least, try to look presentable." She added.

"Mama, No." She said sternly while looking at her mother.

Her mother looked back, a deeply displeasuring look crossing her face.

Sweat poured down Xiomara's face as her eyes widened.

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Xiomara sped down the street on her moped, driving past the groups of men throwing dice down and the restaurants full of mexican gang members.

Gangster Disciples,Vice lords and the latin kings… the top three leading gangs when it comes to gang activity in chicago, and it's just a race to see who can produce the most amount of cocaine product.

Xiomara monologues to herself as she gets of her bike, parallel parking right outside of the station.

Right as she stepped into the street, a man in a muscle car beeped his horn, holding it as she backed up to the sidewalk.

He pulled up next to here, music pushing out of the speakers and spilling onto the streets.

"watch it perra." He said as he spun out and continued down the road. "Asshole." She mumbled as she walked across the street into the station.

A dinging sound could be heard, she looked around at all of her co-workers she had been working with for about 2.5 years. "Morning Xio." One of the woman said as she walked passed her.

I always hated that nickname

She thought to herself as she pressed the button to call the elevator down. She tapped her foot rapidly, matching it with the sound that the elevator made as it went pass each floor, until it opened.

She got off the elevator, walking into the room and seeing white and blue balloons around the room, with the words "CONGRATS" plastered in those birthday letter circle messengers.

"WELCOME TO DETECTIVE WORK!" One of the men there said as he shot confetti out of one of those party whistles.

"Thanks guys, seriously I really appreciate it." Xiomara said with a smile etched on her face.

"No, we appreciate you're work here, you worked hard for this and you need to enjoy it." Her boss said as he grabbed her lower back to guide her to the middle of the room, everyone conjoined around to celebrate.

"To welcome you in, we bring you one of the best rookie detectives to help you on your first case." He said as he pointed in front of him.

"Joseph Kennedy, comes from the big apple." He said, a Tall man with jet black flowly black hair and forest green eyes.

"Hey, congrats on becoming a detective." The man said as he pushed his hand out for greeting.

Xiomara stared at the man, looking down at his hand as he awaited her reaction.

She shook his hands while looking into his eyes and maintaining eye contact, her hazel eyes connecting with his green ones.

"Xiomara right?" Kennedy asked as they held each others hands.

"Just uh…just call me xio." Xiomara answered.

They both looked down, pulling their hands away as the chief of police grabbed a clipboard.

"Ok, so detective alvarez here will fill you in on the rest of the information when it comes to how this city works, but i'll do my best to break it down for you." He said as he directed his speech to Jopesh.

"In chicago, in terms of crime the highest in terms of actual substance is drug trafficking, now right now I think the gang we have the biggest shot at crumbling is the vice lords, who we have extensive intel on a multitude of crimes they've committed…with that being said, you're mission is to infiltrate places of interest and attempt to connect with the man who runs that branch." The chief of police explained.

"I'm following, just one question, how are we supposed to know who to follow and when to follow them?" Joepsh asked.

"That's what makes us detectives." Xiomara replied as he turned around to look at her, confused, he grabbed the stack of papers on the desk nearby him and read over them, looking for the key words highlighted.

"The end goal here is to find a man… we don't know much about him only that the initial of his name is J.K." The cop explained.

"Oh we share the same initials, isn't that cute." Joepsh said as he groaned.

"Wish it would be that easy, I have a couple pointers, if i were you two i would advise you follow them." He added.

Xiomara and Jopesh stared at each other, both rolling their eyes as they looked back at the chief.

"Ok, I think we got it from here." Joepsh said as he stood up, exiting the room. Xiomara looked at him confused as he exited.

"He's not exactly a local, how do you intend on me working with this chico blanco from the big apple." She said sarcastically.

"You'll navigate, it's also his first day on the job, maybe this is a great bonding experience." The chief said.

Xiomara looked at him, her face etched with a show of annoyance as she wiped the crust off her eyes.

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She'd walk outside, seeing Joepsh sitting in a patrol car, waiting for her.

"Jesucristo sálvame" she groaned out loud before walking to the car.

She tugged on the door handle, realizing that it was locked she banged on the class to make him aware.

"Sorry!" He said, his voice muffled through the car window.

With a click, she opened the car door, resting her head on the head rest.

"Ok, so i've cross-referenced multiple POI's in the city, some clubs that could be used to manufacture cocaine and maybe crystal meth, some labs that could be used as fronts, I don't know i'm just shooting." Jopesh said as he dropped the papers on the dashboard.

"So, before any of that, we need to set up a base of operations, not to be a asshole but we can't exactly keep organized in a patrol car." Xiomara asked.

"Alright, I have a small apartment we can work out of, but before we go… you got something nice to wear?" Joepsh asked.

"Why?" She asked with a hint of angry confusion behind her question.

"I think I know the first place we're gonna hit, it's a club in lawn dale, just opened, could get some good leads to build off." He replied.

"You just know all about chicago don't you huh?" She asked sarcastically remarks.

"Everything I need too, I was hoping you could clue me in partner." He said looking over at her.

Xiomara scoffed and rolled her eyes, looking away from him as he put the key into the ignition.

They rode past multiple police reinforcement zones, meant to crack down on the every growing amount of crimes being committed, it was only january 8th, but at this point 15 homocides have already been reported, 10 of which where gang related.

Once they got to Xiomara's neighborhood, She got out of the car, poking her head back in it to talk to joseph. "I'll be back, wait in the car." She said as she closed the door and walked into her apartment, pass all the men who hung out smoking on the staircase to get to the door.

She grabbed her keys, fondling to find them before she grabbed them and opened the door. She examined the room, it didn't seem like her mom was around meaning she had the entire house to herself.

She walked into her room, opening the oak closet to reveal a ton of dresses and skirts, a box full of memories from high school as well as pictures taken at family reunion.

She stared at this forest green dress laying down on a cardboard box, amazed by the hint of glitter it had trailing the ends of the dress as it flared out.

"Nah." She said out loud to herself, grabbing a black bodycon dress.

When she was heading out of the house, the door was roughly and abruptly opened by her mom.

"Xio?" Her mom asked.

"Heyyyyy!" She shouted as her voice went up a octive while she held the dress behind her back.

"What's that behind you?" She asked.

"Uh nothing, I kinda have to go." She said as she slipped her way through the door and closed it before her mom could react.

She flew down the steps covered in rubber, moving past the men that continued to blow in their cigars.

"Where are you going with that dress?" One of the men asked.

She turned around, very slowly. "Nowhere, it's for my mother." She responded.

"Well tell her to come down here and put it own, that's a sight I would enjoy." He replied with a disgusting smile.

she walked out, sighing deeply before getting back into the car. "So, did you get what you needed." Joseph asked.

"Yes, now about this lead in the club in lawn dale." She said.

"Right, another detective he um… he gave me a clue, now it's a long shot and it could possibly be incorrect but it's worth a try." Joseph answered.

"The club in lawn dale, it's called the blue note, it's a member of the vice club that I know based of intel and he should be there, we clip him, put the tracking device on him and follow the location of his vehicle." Joseph explained as he drove through the crowded streets of chicago.

he looked around, seeing the small apartment complex joint with a ton of deli's and small shopping centers.

"Not the most flattering place." He comments as he unbuckles his seatbelt.

"Oh trust me, you don't have to tell me." Xiomara commented.

They both got out of the car, heading into his apartment.

Xiomara looked around at the chandelier hanging from the inside of the apartment, staring at the pile of books that she find an interesting genre.

"The inside looks nothing like the outside, you catfished me." Xiomara said as she laughed.

"Sometimes appearances can be deceiving, don't always trust your first gut feeling." He replied as he went up the steps, opening his apartment.

His house had thousands of papers on the floor, ramen packets on the tables and the only thing that wasn't full was the dishes, those where oddly clean and put away.

"A night owl huh?" She asked.

"The coffee keeps me up, i've been thinking about this case for months." Joseph replied.

"I haven't thought of it past today." She said to him as she sat down on his burgundy leather couch.

"Well, not we make our own rules, we don't do things by the book like regular cops." He said to her. sitting in his chair and opening up a laptop.

She looked at a notecard on his desk.

The blue note.