Contacts

Since Abel and Ray had both arrived in separate cars and were both heading to the station, they drove back separately. This would be easier for Ray anyways since his car would be already at station and he wouldn't have to wait for anyone to deliver it for him.

Abel somehow managed to get there before him which made him think that perhaps despite being part of the law force, he may not have followed all of the correct speeding laws. Ray sighed as he got out of the car. He remembered what Cecile had said about working on Abel's behavior. She probably wasn't wrong even though it wasn't something that he wanted to have to deal with.

The morning felt it sudden had gotten five times worse when Ray entered the station and reached the inside office and realized that Abel hadn't just arrived before him, he was talking with the chief. The chief who he probably hadn't introduced himself to correctly. The chief who didn't take disrespectful people well and who didn't like those who worked under him acting of their own accord. He couldn't hear what was being said but they had intense looks on their face as they spoke.

"My intention in brining this to your attention Sir is not meant to be that of disrespect, but rather to inform you that I am under the impression based upon facts that are coming to light that this is a much more serious situation than was originally determined." Abel reasoned with the slightly older police chief who really didn't seem as though he was all that interested in what the other was saying.

"You're new here and you're asking me to tie up more resources based upon some information that hasn't yet been verified that our suspect may be involved in using a drug that belongs to a new class? I don't understanding what bearing this has on the case. There are a number of junkies in this city that die every day from an overdose and ten times as many who are taking drugs every day." The other replied.

The Chief was a man in his mid thirties that stood a little over six feet fall. His hair was brown and kept in a short crew cut. He had sharp brown eyes that rarely smiled or showed much interest in anything unless he was being told that a case was resolved or his station was being awarded more money. His lips were almost always drawn in a thin line and frequently chapped as he had a bad habit of running his tongue over them when he was annoyed, which was a frequent occurrence. He was lean but still built sturdy based upon the defined muscles in his arms and chest. He was not one who afraid to exercise his authority if the situation called for it.

"Are you telling me then sir that if I were able to prove that the drugs held a more relevant role in this and bring you the report and evidence that proved it you would be willing to better listen to me and take my request more seriously?" Abel asked in response to the Chief's comments, not intending to back down for one second.

Ray wanted to step in and intervene before things took a turn for the worse, but he stopped when he noticed Harold making a motion out of the corner of his eye for him to stay out of the situation and just watch for now.

"It would be a starting point." The Chief replied as he turned away from the other to unlock his office door, shifting his police hat under his arm so that he didn't drop it while using both hands to hold and unlock the door.

"I understand that you're new here so that there's a lot here you may not understand yet about how things work as not every distract deals with situations differently. But while you're here there are a few important things for you to understand if you want to be success." He continued to speak as he entered his office and placed the hat on one of the arms of the brass coat rake that as placed in the corner of the office.

"The first thing is that my authority trumps all else, if I say no, it means no. If I say a case is over, it's over and I expect a full report to be sitting on my desk the day following this decision, if I assign someone to or off a case, they aren't to touch it again without my explicit permission. If I tell someone their idea is wrong about the direction of the case, it's most likely that it is wrong because I have worked here far longer than most have. I expect respect, especially from those who are new to the office and I expect that they will quickly learn their place and I won't have to repeat myself more than once. Do I make myself clear detective?" He asked as he turned around to face Abel again. Based upon the look in the other's eyes, it was evident that the detective still wanted to challenge his authority, but he understood fairly well what the other was saying.

"Very well then Sir, I understand. I can assure you by early tomorrow morning I will have a full report on your desk stating exactly why my position is correct and giving you the evidence needed to understand why I want to pursue this case from the direction I believe is the right one." The detective replied as he turned to walk away from the other without waiting for him to respond.

The moment that he encounter was over and both men had turned their attention to other matters, the room felt as though it raised about twenty degrees as the cold tension began to wear off. Though it didn't stop some in the office from casting glances at Abel who had been the first person in a while to challenge the police chief in such a direct manner.

Ray really wanted to tell him that he ought not do that again if he wanted to keep his job at the station, but he couldn't say it there while the chief was in the office, he got the feeling doing so would just make matters worse rather than better.

Plus, Abel was already bake to being focused on the case as they had gotten ahold of the phone records from Victoria's phone that they had been waiting for. Seeing this, Ray came over to look over the other's shoulder to see if there anything interesting revealed through this.

Based upon the call sheet that had been printed out for them to review, it seemed as though Victoria made a large number of calls each day. Which came as no surprise since she was publisher. The only important thing at least to Abel was take notice of any numbers that weren't assigned a specific contact detail to them.

Looking at the call list from this perspective, six numbers stuck out as worth being of interest. They had been called a number of times over the last week, but none of them had an identifying contact set for them.

"Get these checked out for me. Either call them and see if anyone replies or try and trace the number and find out who it belongs to." Abel said as he handed the paper back to the officer who had printed out for him after he had made a mark next to each number that he wanted to be checked out. it might lead to a dead-end, but now he had more motivation than ever to find what he was looking for to prove that the direction he wanted to take the case in was indeed the right one to go.