บท 8: EP8
Moving away from the shadows, Richard called out to her. "Hey."
The man, clearly startled, raised his stick and pointed it menacingly into the air. It almost made Richard laugh. What would a stick do against a derailleur? Or better yet, a gun?
He still raised his hands to amuse the man.
"I'm not here to bother you."
"Are you a cop?"
Richard said he saw no reason to fix it. "Sure. I'm a cop."
There was an insecurity there that Richard could appreciate. He knew that walking these streets at night could always cause a problem, even if you avoided the back streets and turned into the main road.
Scammers and criminals of all kinds liked to stick around just to make a mess because they were bored.
"What kind of cop are you?" asked.
Richard shrugged.
"Someone who seeks justice." That seemed to cheer him up a little. "Oh yes? Well, I have something for you that you might want to know.
Richard raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "Ey? And what could that be?"
"Hmm... it's hard to say."
The man leaned his stick against the wall next to him to readjust the garbage bag over his shoulder. He extended his palm and curled his fingers several times in Richard's direction.
Richard looked at him, looking at the dirty fingers, then dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small wad of money he was holding. He fingered several bills and tucked them into the man's hand.
"How's that to refresh your memory a bit?"
His hand quickly gripped the bills, his eyes darting to Richard's shiny Rolex. "What a nice watch."
She let out a small grunt that made the man stumble. It's not enough to scare him completely, but rather to make him understand his place in this exchange.
"Suppression."
"Okay okay. I can't blame me for trying."
This made him roll his eyes.
Normally, she didn't mind dealing with vagrants and homeless people from time to time. Living in this kind of area came with the territory. However, dealing with scammers was another and always tended to piss him off more than anything.
"Well?" she asked.
"Oh yes." The man stuffed the bills into one of his only remaining pockets and picked up his cane again. "I saw everything."
"So what exactly could that be?"
"The fight between men. And that man was here too. Long blond hair with big old female eyes. And they killed that man. Did you know that?"
"Yeah, what about the man? What did you see?"
The man swung his stick wildly and drew an invisible picture in the sky with it.
"I was watching him watch them. Nothing creepy though; don't distort everything. He saw them both kill that man, and when I caught him peeping at him, he fled. Good thing I was out of sight or they'd come after me too.
"What happened when they caught him watching them?"
"Well, they chased him. Of course, I can't tell you how they look. I'm bad-eyed, they have masks too, but when I see a beauty, that's for sure. I can even pick her out of a crowd for you."
A low whistle sounded after the announcement.
He stopped Richard from grumbling. While she didn't agree with the raves about Alex's appearance, she wasn't in the mood to talk poetically about him to a homeless man either. Especially when he's currently tied up at the hotel and his pet ownership is increasing by the minute.
He needed more information on exactly what had happened that he hadn't told her. Even without diving into anything critical, she could smell the dishonesty on him. He was definitely hiding something and he was going to get to the bottom of it.
Richard turned on his heels and looked back at the slaughterhouse.
It seemed almost impossible for Alex to have escaped from those who killed Jimmy with how strangely carved this building was. Plus, not to mention the fact that she has two modifiers chasing her with a homeless man who is supposed to be watching her from the shadows. In fact, a small part of him felt sorry for him in a way.
"What happened after chasing him?"
The homeless man shrugged. "It's beyond me. I only stayed long enough to see that they were interested in that guy. I was going to check their pockets, but I had no luck until this place was full of cops.
Richard nodded. Pickpocketing a dead man wasn't something he felt good about, but considering this man probably had no other choice, who would he ultimately judge?
He extended his hand to the man and waved his fingers.
"I already knew all that. You don't tell me things that aren't already in the news."
The man reached into his pocket of money and moved his body away from Richard.
"You can't take it back."
"I can because you haven't provided me with anything useful."
The man's eyes lit up and he jumped in space as he tried to say something else that would give Richard enough information to get the money. Unfortunately, Richard wasn't in the business of being a philanthropist most days.
He needed answers, and if finding them was to go elsewhere and look for them, then he wouldn't let a man in rags steal him for a few hundred dollars.
Give me the money."
"Number!"
"Then tell me something that wasn't in the news. Something you saw would tell me you were really there. Because right now you look like you got The Daily Times."
The man sighed frustrated and waved at her with his cane.
"Okay, you want to know something that isn't in the news? I'll tell you that guy over there..."
Richard put his hands on his hips. "Yes? What about her?
"No one knows about it, but he took a picture."
This made Richard blink. "A picture? Of what?"
"Scene. He was here with a big camera in his hand, and just as they were beating that guy, the camera went off. I saw everything. I told you I told you so.The man hit his pocket once more. "I have to hold this now."
Son of a bitch.
Richard took his hands from her hips and ran them through her hair.
When he got to his house, he noticed several cameras sitting around. He hadn't thought much about it at the time, mostly because who cares? He was interested in photography.
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