Chapter one hundred and ten: played and Trusted.
Chapter one hundred and ten: played and Trusted.
Officer Joe was shocked that he got played.
“Joe, where is the video, you were talking about?” Inspector Eric said.
“It.. was... It was here,” Officer Joe said. He looked at his fellow police officers.
“So where is it?” Officer Ruby asked. She was also confused by Officer Joe's confused look on his face.
“Are you sure that you had a video of Mike?” Inspector Eric asked.
“Yes, I am… I got played,” Officer Joe said, as he scrolls throw his camera row.
“But how do you guys know about my investigation, I need the full details,” Officer Joe asked.
“So this is how I knew…,..” Officer Ruby started her explanation.
FLASHBACK.
Before Officer Joe left for the meeting with Mike, Officer Ruby noticed his behavior, ever since he had that conversation with Mike on the rooftop and Mason in the cell.
He brought back his old self which got him into suspension but this time, it was different, his old self had upgraded, he thinks differently at another level, and he does his stiff smoothly and unnoticed.
Officer Ruby started coming close to him, to check out what he was doing not because she just wanted to spy on him, it was because cared about him and didn't want to see him in suspension again, then she interrupted Officer Joe's analysis in the old newspaper report he found in an old file about mike's fathers' case.
When she interrupted his study on the case, Officer Joe quickly covered in it and he lied, but she acted as if he fooled her with such a lie, and he then offered lunch.
Officer Ruby noticed how talkative Officer Joe became as they drove down to the restaurant, he was still trying to cover something but at that moment Officer Ruby was clueless she assumed that he was trying to come up with an idea that would aid them but she was wrong.
After lunch, it is when Officer Joe gets the call from Mike as he steps outside the restaurant, with his shirt stained.
Officer Ruby waited by the car and she observed how Officer Joe was worried as he communicated on the phone with the caller, officer Joe looked worried and he looked left and right as if he was looking for someone, officer Ruby saw when Officer Joe looked at his shirt and the stain precisely and she heard when he said “how do you know?” officer Joe asked as he communicates with the caller.
Then Officer Ruby knew that there was something up, like an arrangement but how could she make him talk, she could not interrogate him but she decided to keep quiet.
They drive back to the station, officer Ruby does not bother to ask what happened but she has a clue that Officer Joe is doing some digging and findings but she still has no idea what he was digging.
Officer Joe and Officer Ruby got to the precinct after lunch, inspector Eric saw the stain on his shirt and he asked “Is that not ketchup, you have in your shirt? How?”.
“Long story, Ruby will explain the rest for you,” Officer Joe said. He walked up to Ruby and he gave Ruby his phone pistol and badge.
“Why are giving me all these? Are you retiring?” Officer Ruby asked.
“No...no, I am just doing down the laundering room to get this stain off with a dish wash solution, or vinegar,” Officer Joe said. He left.
Officer Ruby could not conceal it anymore, she shared what she noticed about Officer Joe with Inspector Eric.
Inspector Eric found it interesting and he asked “Should we spy on him?”.
Officer Ruby didn't want that and she replied “No, that will be rude, let him tell us himself,”.
A few moments later, a text came into Officer Joe's phone that was with Officer Ruby, she looked at it and it was from an anonymous number. Officer Ruby quickly showed it to Inspector Eric. “Look at this, a text from an anonymous number or person, this shows that something is going on,”. Officer Ruby said.
Inspector Eric still suggested confrontation and spying on Officer Joe but Officer Ruby still declined
Officer Joe came back and collected his phone and his other items as he walked away he saw the text and went to the address.
BACK TO THE PRESENT.
“So now you know how we knew?” Officer Ruby asked.
“Yeah I know,” Officer Joe replied but he was still paused by the missing video clip of Mike and he was seeing a video of himself instead.
“But the video that you alleged that is missing still pauses me,” inspector Eric said.
“Me too,“ officer Ruby said.
“Yeah, maybe unless… he.. Deleted it,” Officer Joe said, and he came to a realization.
“What do mean by he deleted it?” Officer Ruby asked.
“Let me explain it to you,” Officer Joe said.
FLASHBACK.
When I gave Mike the phone in the pub, to did a video recording of himself saying these words, so it could be used as evidence against him in court.
Mike collected the phone, and in my presence, he did the video recording but immediately after recording it, he did not save it, instead, he raised the phone a little bit and did a video recording of me speaking.
When he saw that I was a bit distracted by the old man, he saved the video of me on the phone and dropped it and he left, even without paying for his drink, but I got the drive-through.
BACK TO PRESENT
“Now you get, right?” Officer Joe asked.
“Yes, at this point if he could do that how are we sure that the drive is not a virus, that might take over the computer system of the entire police department, and cause damages? This guy is very tricky, so be careful,” Officer Ruby said.
“Officer Ruby is right, we might check it out in the Information Technology lab,” Inspector Eric said.
“No! That is not how it is supposed to be,” Officer Joe said. He disagreed with them because he knew the damages involved.
“Why can't we?” Inspector Eric asked.
“Because this has to be secret, no one is supposed to know except us, because we are going crack down on people you don't expect. I am going to be in charge of this operation and investigation. Outside this, inspector Eric will be in charge, am I clear?” Officer Joe asked his team.
“Yes we are clear!” his teammates responded uniformly.
“So what are we going to do now?” Officer Ruby asked.
“We are going to work with the piece of evidence we have now,” Officer Joe replied. He brought out the drive from his pocket again.
“I am still concerned about the content of that drive, what if it's a virus? And we are dancing to his music, in the name of doing the right thing, what if it's wrong and it might jeopardize a whole plan or system,” Inspector Eric said, expressing his concerns about the drive.
“He might be right, don't you think so?” Officer Ruby asked.
Officer Joe laughed and said, “I guess if we keep saying, what if? We might not do anything so let us take some risk, if it fails tomorrow morning, we row out with all the resources we have to hunt Mike down. So let us continue,”.
“It's getting very late,” Officer Ruby said, as she checked the time.
“That is great because everyone is gone,” Officer Joe said.
Officer Joe and his team went to Joe's office, he brought out his laptop and the drive. He gasped.
Officer Joe plugged in the drive.