Law and Disorder

Scott flipped through the file, humming and nodding his head as he went along, while Greg kept his gaze locked on Victoria Neeman, their prime suspect in the Douglas Reibeck murder investigation. She looked between the two of them, slowly chewing her gum as she observed the scene before her.

Scott Coleman, who was introduced as the head detective, sat hunched over the case file, his sweaty brow furrowed in confusion. His knees kept bumping into the table every time he adjusted himself, and because of his tall stature, he was forced to awkwardly stretch his legs in a sort of ninety degree fashion, keeping one leg positioned outward and the other underneath the table. The baldness at the top of his head was glistening with sweat and reflecting the fluorescent light from the ceiling. The little hair he had left on the sides of his head was also damp with sweat, as he attempted to flatten the already-flattened blond mat. He had missed a few spots while shaving, and the buttons on his shirt were not matched to their corresponding slots.

His partner, Greg Peciolli, was such a stark contrast that she wondered if they were partnered together intentionally as some sort of social experiment. Sitting about a foot shorter than his partner, Greg’s dense arms were crossed over his torso, his lips drawn into a thin line. There was so much gel in his thick, dark hair that Victoria believed she could rap her knuckles at the top of his head and it would feel like stone.

The sound of the folder snapping shut brought her attention back to Scott, who now appeared to fully be in detective mode; his jaw was set in a way that made him look like a father about to discipline his child, and his brows were no longer furrowed, but rather set in an even line that made him look more self-assured.

“So, Victoria.” Scott began.

“Vicky’s fine.” She said.

“Okay, Vicky,” he continued, looking at her now. “Intersting that you failed to mention you and Douglas got into an argument the night he was killed.” He paused for a moment and swiped the back of his hand across his upper lip. “There something you don’t want us to know?”

Vicky scoffed, shaking her head. “Didn’t think it was worth mentioning. Dougy and I were always fighting over stupid shit.”

“Well maybe Dougy didn’t think it was stupid,” Greg chimed in, “but it’s not like we can ask him.”

“Well, technically, we could.” Scott said, not turning his head away from their suspect.

Greg shut his eyes for a second, taking in a deep breath before opening them and turning his head towards Scott. “No, we can’t. I don’t care what that psychic said.”

“I believe she professionally identifies as a medium.” Scott reached into his front pocket, pulling out a lilac business card that had the All-Seeing Eye on it and the title: Divine Medium, followed appropriately by a phone number and email. “See?” He shoves the card in Greg’s face, proving his point.

“I don’t care!” Greg snaps. His bronze face started to grow pink, and a vein on his neck was popping out. He cleared his throat before continuing. “Victo– Vicky,” he says, his voice lower and more steady now, “we know you’ve been havin’ some financial troubles, what with losin’ your job at the hospital and your mom’s medical bills pilin’ up, you were desperate. And Douglas had his extermination business, so you figured you’d take over for him, so to speak.” Greg uncrossed his arms and placed them flat on the table, leaning forward. “That sound about right?”

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Vicky gritted out from between her teeth.

“I don’t, huh?” Greg quipped back. “How ‘bout this. You had access to all his credit cards and passwords on his accounts, so you figured you’d take what you can get and use his money for you and your ma.”

Vicky snorted, failing to hold back her laughter. “Money? What money? Dougy was broke!”

The two men side-eyed one another, turning their heads ever so slightly. Greg reached over for the file, flipping through the pages.

“You guys checked his financials, right? Bank statements, all of that?” It was Vicky’s turn to ask the questions now.

“Hey!” Greg snapped his head up to face her. “We don’t need you tellin’ us how to do our jobs.”

“Clearly.” She muttered under her breath, leaning back in her seat and folding her arms like Greg had done earlier, only not nearly as tense as he was. She was curious to see how this was going to pan out.

“You mean to tell us Douglas had no money, despite having his own business?” Scott took his turn questioning Vicky now, although his tone lacked the gruffness and annoyance that seemed to come so easily to his partner.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you.” She uncrossed her arms, still leaning back in her chair. “He ran that place to the ground. As soon as he inherited it from his father, I swear you could see the dollar signs in his eyes. I mean, I loved him and all, but that man had no business running a business, you know?” Vicky shook her head at the memory of her ex-boyfriend, chewing her gum more furiously now.

“Damn!” Greg exclaimed, smacking the back of his hand against the page and sucking his teeth. “I should’ve known.”

“Why’s that?” Scott asked.

“‘Cause he drove a BMW.”

Scott nodded and hummed in agreement, as if this trivial fact was the breakthrough they needed for the case.

“Of course, we’ll have to verify this.” Greg continued, but he seemed to be talking more to himself than to Scott. He looked up and faced Vicky. “Do you know if that car was his?”

“What, now you’re going to trust what I say?” She asked, annoyance filtering her tone.

Greg made a “come on” motion with his hand, as if beckoning Vicky towards him. “Do you, or not?”

“The car was his. He had to finance it, of course, but it was in his name.”

“Well alrighty then.” Greg said and slammed his palm down on the table, and apparently that was all the verification they needed. He began gathering the loose papers that had fallen out of the file, standing up as he did so.

“Hold on.” Scott stopped him before he fully stood up, putting his hand out in front of him. He waited for Greg to sit back down before leaning in and whispering to his colleague. “How can we be sure she’s telling the truth?”

Greg looked at Vicky, who was more than over this whole interaction. He pulled his chair closer towards Scott and pulled up the file to conceal both of their faces.

“We can’t, but we want her to think that we believe her.”

“Ohhhh,” Scott began nodding his head, his mouth agape, only to shut it and furrow his brows like he did earlier. “Why?”

“Because,” Greg explained with the same restraint of an exacerbated parent trying to answer their child’s question of why the sky is blue, “she’s our only lead. We can keep tabs on her.”

“Speaking of which, you still haven’t paid me for yours.”

“What?”

“Last Friday, at Rory’s. I covered your tab, you said you’d pay me back.” Scott waited for Greg’s face to show that he remembered. Greg looked at Scott like he wasn’t sure if he should smack him or take him to get his head checked.

“Can’t this wait ‘til later?”

“Well, I figured we’d be finishing up pretty soon and I want to go to Mikey’s for lunch, and I’m sort of maxed out on my cards…” Scott trailed off, and despite towering over Greg, he angled his head down to give Greg a pleading look.

Greg let out a sharp exhale before fishing into his back pocket for his wallet, dropping the file to make it easier. He pulled out a few bills and tossed them at Scott, uncaring for the ones that fell to the floor. Scott looked at the bills strewn about, and looked back up at Greg. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times before speaking again.

“I tipped out pretty good, too.”

“Jesus–” Greg drew in his bottom lip to stop himself from spewing out a few choice words for the person whom we wouldn’t hesitate to take a bullet for. Neither of them were bothering to keep their voices down anymore. Vicky watched with mild bewilderment as the two men stared at one another, each waiting for the other to crack. She got the feeling that Greg had a tendency to take advantage of Scott’s naivete, and she found herself rooting for the latter.

Greg let out another harsh sigh and drew into his wallet again, shelling over about fifteen dollars towards his partner. “Good, okay? We’re even.”

Scott seemed pleased with this, collecting his cash and stuffing it into his front pocket, where a few of the bills poked out. Greg took in a deep breath, running a hand through his thick hair, which Vicky was surprised didn’t get stuck.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Greg said, not sounding the least bit apologetic. “You’re free to go. If we need anythin’, we’ll call.”

“So I guess I passed the test.” Vicky replied sardonically, turning around to grab her purse that had been hanging off the chair.

“What’s that now?” Greg asked, leaning forward.

“Come on.” She said, rolling her eyes. “You guys weren’t exactly subtle.”

“Hey,” Scott chimed in, pointing a finger at her. “We’re not detectives for nothing.”

“You don’t even know what she’s talkin’ about.” Greg looked at Scott, his expression once again filtered with both confusion and annoyance.

“Sure I do. She’s insinuating that we’re bad at our jobs.” Scott glared at Vicky, to which she just rolled her eyes again.

“Close.” She said with a wry smile. “I knew what you guys were doing earlier, all that bantering. I must admit though, your acting skills are pretty good.”

Scott’s glare was replaced with a frown, and Greg looked like he had just bitten into a lemon.

“What the hell are you talkin’ about?” Greg asked impatiently.

“What’s it called… reverse psychology, right?” Vicky looked between the two men, waiting for either of them to give it up. “Create a distraction to make yourselves look dumb, and then I’ll be so confused that I won’t even realize I’ve confessed to a crime I didn’t commit.” She turned her head to face Greg, repeating his words back to him. “That sound about right?”

Neither man spoke. Scott still looked like he was trying to decipher what was just said, and Greg looked like he was going to burst.

“Reverse psychology? Distractions? Lady, what are you on!?” Greg’s voice began to rise, and Scott looked like he wanted to chime in, but wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“So, this is how you really do things then?”

“How else would we do it?” Scott asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Vicky began to wonder if she was giving these guys more credit than they deserved.

“You know what? Forget I said anything.” She told them, standing up and heading towards the door. “I guess I was expecting a little more Law and Order and a little less Starsky and Hutch.” She let herself out, not bothering to close the door behind her.

“What’s wrong with Starsky and Hutch? I love David Soul.” Scott said. Greg shut his eyes and took in a deep breath.