Good Cop, Bad Cop.
Micheal POV:
Officer Mark and I sat in the car waiting.
"Is that her?" he asked pointing to a dark Sedan that just parked in front of a house.
"Yeah, it is" I replied.
He motioned to get out of the car, and I quickly held him back. Wait! You would scare her off"
He eased back to his sitting position, We watched the woman get out of her car, she walked to the back of her and picked up a couple of groceries from the trunk before heading to the house.
He motioned to get out of the car again, I held him back again. "Wait, let's give her five more minutes to settle down"
"Where Is her picture," he asked "
I reached for a photograph in my dashboard and handed it to him.
We waited patiently in the car, with a comfortable silence. I had obtained the CCTV camera from the motel, but it was very blurry. It was against law to have a camera to have a camera in the motel room so I had to settle for that in the receptionist. Whoever suggested the motel between the two of them knew. Either Aurora's father wanted no one to know he was ever there or the woman she was with knew what she was about to do.
After watching the footage a million times, I could see a woman rushing out of the motel but it was not clear enough to make out her face. Rushing out she knocked a woman off balance, I knew the woman got a clear look at her because she challenged her staring dead into her.
I was able to make out the woman's face from the blurry footage, but the problem was looking for her. After searching for days without luck, I employed the help of Officer Mark and with the police resources at our disposal, we were able to pin her down in a day.
He opened the door all of a sudden
"let's go in, I'm tired of waiting," he said.
I did the same, I locked the door and followed. He had already crossed the door and was almost on the porch.
I jogged to catch up to him, he was already knocking on the door by the time I did. There wasn't any movement in the house, he knocked again this time harder.
"Hey, not too hard. We don't want to put her under pressure."
"Oh' please," he said mockingly and knocked for the third time.
This time we heard movements inside the house, footsteps approaching the door. She finally opened the door. Surprised by the two strange men on her porch. Her expression turned sour at the sight of Mark, I could deduce immediately she wasn't a fan of cops.
"Good morning Ma'am," I said
"I'm Michael Angelo and this is Officer Mark" I started
"What do you want?" She asked rudely
"We want to ask you a few questions"
"What questions?"
"You were at Sony Motel on July 7, 2021, right," Mark asked whilst showing her a blurry picture of her but her face was slightly visible "That is you right?"
The way her face fell, I could deduce she clearly remembers and she wasn't supposed to be there.
"I have no reason to answer that." she bit off
"Just answer the question ma'am" He replied harshly
"I'm not obliged nor inclined to answer your question, get off the porch before I call the cops and sue you both for harassment." She said assertively and tried to close her door at the same time.
I quickly stuck in my foot to prevent her from shutting the door against our face.
"What do you think you are doing she asked"
"Please," I said "A friend needs your help, I need your help too"
"I don't know you nor your friend. Why should I care?" she asked
"You didn't even hear me out"
"I don't need to, I'm not interested"
I knew the pity party wouldn't get to her, so I tried another approach.
"You could help solve a murder a long-standing murder case," I said, your help is so much needed and will go a long way.
"All you need the do is identify someone for me, so we can place her at the scene of the crime"
"Did I stutter, I said No!" She bit harshly
"Oh, that's it! I've had enough of this nonsense" Mark said
"So, what are you going to do about it? Arrest me?" She dared
"Oh no I won't arrest you"
"Then shut the hell up and get off my porch"
"I would do more than arrest you "
"Oh' please, what will you do" she asked whilst rolling her eyes.
"I can see you are married," Mark said eyeing the ring in her hand
"Nice observation officer, I presume you have eyes. you made for what you lack in hearing with sight" She replied rudely.
I watched Mark bemused, waiting for what he was getting at.
"I know and you know that is your picture in the photograph. I believe your husband will be able to recognize his wife. And I'm sure he would be curious about why and what you are doing in a motel."
"Isn't that so Mrs. Hilux?" He asked mockingly
I watched her face turned white, completely drained of blood. I was shocked, that was brutal even for him.
She swallowed heavily
"What do you want from me?" she asked calmly
"If you had started with this attitude, there wouldn't be any need for that would there"
"Just ask whatever it is to you wish to and get off my porch" she bit off.
He showed her the picture of Amanda and asked "Can you remember that woman" he asked
She stared carefully at the picture and gave it back almost immediately.
"Yeah I do, she bumped into me and was very rude. I wouldn't forget her face"
My heart jumped with Joy.
"Are you sure, it's her" Mark asked again to be sure.
"I said I do officer, I'm not blind and I don't forget a face I have a grudge against.
"Good for you." He replied "We are going to need you to come in and testify in court"
"Hell No, that wasn't part of the deal"
"No one made a deal with you" Mark replied
"I might just tell him myself and hope he forgives me, instead of embarrassing myself infront of the whole courtroom" She bellowed
"Be my guest lady" Mark replied
Both of them would claw at each other's throat if left alone. I couldn't blame the woman, Officer Mark isn't exactly likable at first approach. His arrogant demeanor, witty reply, and lack of empathy doesn't exactly make the greatest first impression on people.
I knew I couldn't let this idiocy continue. I had to get involved or this trip and the whole effort would be in vain. I cleared my throat
"Please, I need your help," I said "I knew you are probably embarrassed about the advent of being accused of promiscuity, but I promise that won't be the case. Nobody will know nor care about what you were doing there, your main purpose and sole objective would be to place the woman at the scene and we will take over from there.
I could see she was thinking about it, she stared blankly into space. I knew she was considering it, but that doesn't guarantee her agreement. It needed one little push more.
"Please I don't want to leave you with him. He is an arrogant and manipulative bastard, I don't want to put you at his mercy. He would go any distance to prove a point. "
She stared at my face looking for clues of deceit. He glanced at Mark's face, the ever-present look of disdain was there. It was simply a case of picking the lesser evil. It was the unorthodox routine of a good cop, bad cop.
She sighed heavily.
"Fine, I will do everything requested of me" she mumbled
"What?" Mark asked
"Did I stutter?" She bit off angrily
"I said I'd do all requested of me," she said this time louder.
Mark chuckled, I knew he heard the first time. He just wished to mock her.
"Thank you for sparing us your time and Thanks in advance for your immense help," I said
"Yeah, whatever" she replied "now get out of here before my husband meets you here," she said, before slamming the door hard.
We trotted back to the car.
"You are an evil genius," he remarked loudly "You should be a cop"
I laughed absentmindedly.
"What's next?" He asked
"Get her mother to sign the exhumation request and detect any foul play"
"Fair enough," He said "We should have a couple of drinks to a job well done"
"Not yet, we still have work to do" I replied
"What? There's nothing to do till after the exhumation?"
"No, not that. I meant Jordan. We have to find out what he is hiding"
"How do we do that?"
"You are the cop, figure it out"
"We can start by watching the CCTV footage of the whole night and find out anything shady," He said
"But I doubt the owner of the house would allow us to take a look without proper jurisdiction and a warrant" he added
"That won't be a problem," I said "He is a friend"