Protection

One the way back to the station, Ace repeated everything that he told them before, except adding the part that he was the one who helped supply Victoria with the drugs she had been taking.

"I honestly don't know how she originally got into. I only started giving them to her when she threatened to turn me in after catching me doing a trade with another customer. My boss wasn't even sure who she was, but he said it wasn't a big deal to keep giving them to her as long as she was paying the going rate for them." Ace recounted, rubbing sweating palms nervously against his pants.

"He said that it was probably one of the dealers in the area, but not to bother finding out because a customer was a customer. It didn't matter they came from as long as they helped us to meet our quota each day."

"Was that Ethan you mentioned the one who is your boss?" Abel asked, he was recording everything on his phone. It was probably wasn't legal but he didn't care at this point if the information helped him to get to the bottom of the case. Plus, he felt pretty confident of the fact that Ace would be willing to repeat everything back at the station for them to legally record. He would still keep this for himself of course.

"Yes, Ethan is my immediate boss. He's the one who keeps me supplied with drugs every month. But, he's not the main guy behind this. He's just over the area I work." Ace explained glancing out the front to see how close they were getting to the station. He wanted to be inside already before anyone saw him talking with them.

"Has he ever dropped any names while you have been around or did you happen to ask Victoria who was giving her the drugs before she started getting them from you?" Ray asked glancing back the two while waiting at one of the stop lights. Even though he couldn't see it yet, he knew that here were only about eight minutes out from being at the station.

She mentioned that someone by the name of Rupert had been setting her up every month or so, but he suddenly stopped supplying her and she couldn't figure out why or where he went, that's why she turned to me once she found out I had gotten into it." Neither Abel or Ray said anything out loud, but they knew that it was best to believe that if Rupert suddenly disappeared without a trace it was more than likely that he had been killed for one reason or another which meant that looking for him would lead them to nothing but a dead end.

"Will you be willing to repeat this during an official questioning at the station. We can provide you with protection if you do and I'm sure they would be willing to lessen your sentence if you helped us to find out who is really behind this?" Abel asked as he saw the station coming up.

"Charged? Charged with what exactly?" He asked rather surprised, feeling as though the agreement was suddenly being changed last minute on him.

"You just admitted to the fact that you have been possessing and selling illegal drugs, even if it was off record right now it would still be enough to ask for a search warrant and look through your house where I'm sure we'll find them." Abel explained

"If you go on record saying this, you'll be charged for that, but the difference is because you're aiding the police in a major investigation, your penalty for it can be decreased based upon that."

"If you send me back to jail, you know that they will kill me, right?" Ace asked, the panic that had disappeared before now returning to his voice. He didn't like this one bit.

"I met the guys who got me into this there. They said that if I did my time right and wanted to, they would set me up with this job when I got out so that I could make some quick cash to help me get back on my feet until I found a proper job." Ace said looking between the two of them.

"If I go back there and they spot me, I'm as good as dead because they either will know I got caught or they'll think that I snitched. Either way it's a death sentence."

"Relax, relax. We won't send you back there. I promise." Ray assured him. This kid might've had his issues, but he certainly didn't deserve to end up back in a place like that where his life would in danger.

"We can deal with that when the time comes. We don't even know how big this case will end up being. So depending on what you can give us and how much it helps out, you might not even be looking at jail time at all. Then we can figure out about your protection and what to do going from there." Ray explained as he pulled up to the station. Putting the vehicle in park, he turned around to face the other two.

"All we need right now is a little bit of cooperation from you and until we get things sorted out, we can even keep you at our sister station which isn't that fair away. They have single cell jail cells where we usually keep people who are only for a few nights. I'm sure I can call in a few favors to get you a place there for a bit until we get this solved if you agree to help us. If not though, I can't promise you anything because it would be out of our hands at that point in time." It was a harsh but honest truth that he hoped Ace would take into consideration when he decided whether or not he would still help them out.

He was quiet for a moment as he tried to think of what the best option would be. He didn't like this arrangement one bit. Even if he decided to back out and head back home, he was sure that Ethan would be there waiting for him and without getting a ride from these two which he would have to figure out a lie to explain, the other wouldn't let him off easy for wasting his time and being late without good reason.

"Alright, but you have to promise me that you can actually protect me like you say you can." Ace conceded with a deep sigh, nervousness still noticeable in his eyes as he looked between the two detectives.

"You have both of our words that we'll do everything that we can to protect you in exchange for helping us out." Ray confirmed as he undid his seatbelt.