Happy New Year....days late.  Survived Tokyo but still jetlagged. But it's all good.  Especially when I am still getting nice gifts! The latest one came all the way from Croatia (via Judi in the East Coast) - made me pretty happy when it arrived.  It shall be hung by my desk. :) Thank you Margareta!
 

Although we are working on ITW8, I will still stray and write random stuff that doesn't matter.  This is one of them.  Wrapped around the the "Fuck the Police" of all things.  This thought came from a picture of a uniformed cop posing like tourists at a back alley graffiti that said "fuck cops" while the other took a picture with his cellphone.  So, this is just another practice.  See how David sounds when he's at work.  And I just like to write cop-shop speak. :D  Anyway - no warnings. Not much of anything. Katsuya's not even there.  Just a short piece about David conducting an interview (we are not allowed to call them interrogations - PC reasons). Not beta'ed, grammar checked, etc. Advanced apologies for boring you.

The kid wasn’t someone unusual.  David’d seen the variety from the streets.  The pre-teens with clothes with terrible fit.  The odd lingo that marginally passed as English.  They were someone whom he simply don’t think very much of until guns were involved and killing the rivals’ part of the initiation.  Or for recreation.  Whatever the case, he’s always annoyed when he had to interview one of them.  He pawned them off to other investigators if he could.

“Still?” David said.  He had given the interview task to Montoya.  He had opted to take another field case in lieu of it and already returned.  A look at the watch told him he had been gone for nearly four hours.
Montoya shrugged.  He and Bellany continued to watch Richards and the suspect on the Close-Circuit TV.  Although Richards and the kid looked almost the same age, David knew they were at least 5 years apart.  
“He…” David said as he looked down at the print out flopped open in front of the monitor.  “Montoya.  First name Carlos. Hey, he one of your illegits?”
“Like one of mine would end up in a shitty gang.”
“Yeah. You sort of have to have sex to have kids too.  Your ED started years before he was born.”
“Shut up.”
David slapped Montoya on one shoulder.  “You know Richards’ not going to get shit out of him.”
“The kid has to be broken in somehow.”
“Not at the expense of passing time we don’t have,” David said.  He picked up the folder and flipped through the few pages in it.“Get him out of there, will you?” David said without looking up.  “Richards looked like he’s about to cry or beat the shit out of Carlos.  Neither looks good for the section.”
“Ye of little faith,” Bellany said as he stood up from the chair.  
David continued to read, flipping through the notes pinned to the manila folder as Bellany entered the screen – letting himself into the room.  Richards looked relieved in that instant.
“Let’s take a break,” Bellany said as he gestured for Richards to leave the room, hitching his thumb outwards.  Richards was quick to comply – rushing out of the room quickly.  
“You need a paper bag to breathe into Junior?” Montoya said to Richards as soon as the interview door closed.  He was grinning, trying not to laugh.
“It was like talking to myself in there…but with the English language I don’t understand,” Richards said.  He loosened his tie and let out a deep breath
“The guy’s started a rap sheet since he was 12.  If he ignored adults and any semblance of authority – what made you think YOU, who looked his age, would take you seriously,” David said, tossing the folder back onto the table.  “Montoya…this crusty one, is fucking with you.”
Richards looked a little hurt as he looked over to Montoya.
“Don’t take it personal,” David said as he stood.  He loosened his tie and pulled it off, slapping it at the back of the chair.  “He had me interview a guy who didn’t even speak English for three hours for my
first time.”
“Popped the cherry really quick, didn’t it?” Montoya said.  “Not so nervous after any guys after that.”
David unbuttoned his shirt cuffs.
“Trust me when I say you are not my first, old man,” David said and rolled up the sleeves.  “I wasn’t born a virgin.”
Richards looked confused.  He wrung the notebook in his hands.  David smiled and took the notebook.
“I’ll get this,” David said, patting Richard on one shoulder as he walked passed.  “But you are doing all the paperwork.”

As soon as he walked into the small, stifling interview room – David wished he had gotten coffee.  Something else in the air that weren’t pot and cheap cologne the kid wore.  Carlos looked up at him, his arms crossed and hands tucked into his arm pits.  Classic body language.
“I’m Detective Krause,” David said as he pulled up one of the two empty chairs  - up close.  “I’ll be taking over the interview.”
Carlos leaned back away – teetering on the hind legs of the chair.  A small compensation for his lost personal space.
“So the other guy gave up eh?”
David shrugged.  “I think he’d punched you in the head if he decided he gave up.”
“Ain’t you guys not suppose to talk to people like that?”
David smiled
“We are here to talk about you,” David said.  He leaned forward, encroaching into Carlos’ space even further.  He rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together. “We picked up your boss CZ an hour ago.  He’d already pinned it all on you.”
“You lyin’.  Fuck the police.”
“No no,” David said with an exaggerated shake of his head.  “You want to first write the police a nice letter.  Maybe a poem you copied somewhere or quoting lyrics from a syrupy song is more of how kids do it now a days.”
“What?”
“Then you want to ask the police out on a date.  A nice restaurant – not too high end. It’s kind of intimidating.  But definitely not any place that has a dollar menu. First impressions’ important.”
“You trippin’?”
“Movies’ kind of a cliché. Maybe a nice club with decent jazz.  Then you take the police home. And, this is very important … if the police only gave you the definite signals and initiates, THEN you can fuck the police.”
Carlos stared at David, silent.  There weren’t any expressions on his face as he tried to register what David had said.


Outside the interview room, Richards and Bellany laughed.

“Fucking Dave,” Montoya said as he scratched his mustache.  


“Anyway,” David said.  “Returning to the beaten path.  Should I call you Carlos or would you be happier if I called you by your street name? It’s kind of cute.  Green.  As in money or the Giant?”
“I ain’t saying a word. You gonna charge me or what?”
“Soon,” David said.  He scooted his chair forward another inch.  Carlos seemed to be visibly annoyed.  “Waiting for my guy to tell me when CZ finishes making his statement.  As soon as he’s done…”


“Isn’t it dangerous? He could ask for a lawyer any time and the questioning would have to stop,” Richards said.
“Krause’s playing chicken with him.  He knows the kid’s experienced and knows once he asks for a lawyer, there’s no more deals from us.  Or at least illusions of a deal.  The prosecutor will deal with him next and with his record, it’s definite prison.”
“We don’t have this CZ in custody right?”
“Not yet,” Montoya said.  “Not until the kid here implicates him.  And he will soon. And then they’ll implicate each other.”
Richards nodded and looked back to the CCTV.  On it, Krause looked like a cat playing cheerfully with the caught mice.  


“I ain’t there.”
“I have five people who put you two there.  You think we pulled your names out of our asses? The gun had both of your prints on it so I’m not going to be too picky on nailing which of you as the trigger man.  But given your extensive knowledge of the criminal justice system, I know that YOU know who’ll get hammered harder when we officially charge you two clowns.”
“I didn’t do nothing’.”
David leaned back in his chair, finally letting up.  He looked at his watch.
“And we don’t have to do a thing,” David said as he crossed his legs.  “We’ll wait until CZ’s done.  I think it’s the big words that’s slowing him down. He should have been done half an hour ago.”
“You lying…” Carlos said.  This time, his voice was weaker and without conviction.  His cheeks were flushed.  
“Cubic Zirconia’s a very strange name for a gang leader,” David said.  He interlaced his fingers and pillowed the back of his head against it.  “Kind of weak.  If I were him, I’d go with Titanium.  Because Beta Carbon Nitride sounds kind of stupid.”
“I didn’t do it.”
“He got pretty angry when I asked if I can call him “C Zirc”.”
“I SAID I DIDN’T DO IT!”
David cocked his head to the side and waited.  The kid’s breathing was labored, his fists clenched.  His face another shade of red.  He looked like he was about to leap out of his seat.
“I WON’T GO TO PRISON FOR NO ONE!”


“Bingo,” Bellany said.  “Not even 10 minutes.  New record?”
“Irritating the shit out of a suspect into a confession?  Hardly.” Montoya said, stretching.  “Dave does have a gift on eyeing precisely what unhinges suspects and have them emo-vomit enough to self incriminate.”
“Ahhh…” Richard said, his eyes wide with admiration as he stared at the screen.  
“You’ll get a hang of it with time,” Montoya said.  “Dave studied the kid’s crime pattern.  Some crimes are more personal and require more balls to pull off.  Carlos talks a lot of shit but most of his rap’s property crime.  A front.  Dave shook him up just by invading his personal space.”


“You know what?” David said, sitting up straighter in his chair.  “I know you didn’t do it.”
Carlos nodded furiously.  His fists curled so tight that they were shaking.
“You like to steal.  I don’t think you have it in you to kill someone.”
“Yes!”
“Your prints’ on the gun because CZ expected you to take the fall.  He handed you the gun after he did the shooting didn’t he?”
Carlos stilled. Uncertain how he should answer.
“I can’t promise you won’t do time but I can assure you that you will side step the murder rap if you tell me the truth right now.  Every single detail,”  David leans in again, his voice softened.  “I’m your only friend right now.”
Carlos chewed on his lower lip.  With his street façade gone, he looked like a junior high schooler.  
“I know you are having second thoughts.  That if you drop the dime on CZ, the rest of the gang’s going to skin you alive.  What do you think will happen to you in prison? You did a couple of months in jail.  
Country club.  You’ll die in prison.  Deal with me now and maybe you’ll pull time in jail out in Long Island, then you are free to disappear.  Start over.  You’re young.”
Carlos held his head down and stared at his hands.  David looked up at the camera in the corner and gave it a wink.  For awhile, neither spoke.
“What is your dignity worth?” David said.  “You can follow the code and be disposable, do time for CZ and probably die before you are half way through the sentence.  Or you can do the right thing, for yourself and others and get away from this shit.  What you choose to do next will change your life or ruin it.”
The words hung heavily.  David didn’t wait this time.  He stood up, gathering the notebook to him.
“Wait…” The kid looked up.   “If I tell you everything, you will help me right?”
“To serve and protect,” David said with a smile.
“Then…. I’ll tell you everything…”