Consequences to Being a White Knight

Chapter Ten

Detectives Weaver and Rogers arrived twenty minutes later outside the office where the real John Mesure used to work his own cases for his clients, in the older man's car since the younger's still had yet to be towed back to Rogers' residence or to the station. The two men walked up to the door and were surprised to find it was unlocked, so without having to break the door down in order to get inside, they entered the office so they could begin to look around for anything that might have been left behind by the imposter.

"So, what exactly did Victoria tell you when you went to talk to her?" Rogers finally asked after they had been searching for nearly ten minutes in silence. "The first time that is. I mean… the number of times you tried to call me implies you were worried I might have been in danger. I know Tilly called you, or sent you a message, but…"

"She wasn't too cooperative at first," the older detective responded sternly, not looking over at his partner on account of him believing himself to be partly responsible for the danger Rogers was in. "However, she eventually let slip that she had… taken certain precautions to try to prevent you from rescuing Eloise. When I applied a little pressure, she told me she had placed a contract on your head and hired a man she's had dealings with in the past to kill you. Only, he failed to before you found her. And then you arrested Victoria last night before she could call the hit off. I did try calling you, but…"

His partner interrupted, "…but I didn't exactly make it easy for you to warn me. No matter how we might feel towards one another in regard to our partnership and how we do our jobs, it doesn't mean I should have kept ignoring your calls. Just like I said before. Had I answered any of your calls or read your messages, I could have saved myself from the pain I'm currently feeling right now. I could have prevented the attack as well as you. Again… I'm sorry for that, Weaver."

Weaver finally turned his head to glance at his friend and nodded while he replied, "It's all water under the bridge. It's going to take work for us to come to trust one another just as you said."

"I agree," the younger man answered quietly. "So… do you care to share with me why you, Tilly, Victoria, Roni, and it seems like everyone else in this neighborhood are so against me in saving Eloise? Or do you still not trust me enough to share what's really going on?"

"It isn't so much the question of trust, Rogers," the former villain responded in frustration. "I do trust you, but…"

Before he could continue to try to make up another excuse for being unable to share the truth with him yet again, Rogers, who figured he was about to do so, suddenly cut him off once more when he found something buried within a hidden locked compartment concealed within one of the desk drawers, which he suspected didn't actually belong to the real private investigator… something that the imposter most likely didn't intend to leave behind when he had been forced to disappear in a hurry thanks to Rogers' investigation into him.

When Rogers managed to pick open the lock to discover what was inside, he spoke up quickly saying, "I think I just found something inside this secret compartment that I'll bet this man didn't mean to leave here before he disappeared. A knife. Still coated with dried blood. I have a pretty good feeling we'll discover this blood belongs to the real John Mesure."

Weaver turned to face his partner to see the blade for himself and upon getting a good look at the weapon's hilt, his eyes darkened upon recognizing who it once belonged to just as Hook would have if he was awake, then he replied, "I suspect you're right. These initials engraved within the hilt…"

"BB," the younger detective stated in confusion when he looked between his partner and the weapon in his hand, until Rogers suddenly winced in pain before he finally took a seat in the chair behind the desk to try to make himself more comfortable after Weaver carefully reached out to take it from him. "Do they mean something to you?"

"No… but there's something about this blade that seems vaguely familiar," his partner impartially lied to him in hope his answer would be enough to explain the sudden darkness in his eyes. "Listen, Rogers… I think it's about time you should go home. I'll drop you off and be sure to have your car towed back from the abandoned building to your apartment by morning so you'll have it back. It's really getting late and you're clearly hurting more than you're letting on."

Rogers looked up at his partner in frustration while he answered curtly, "I can't just go home, especially now that we've found something that might lead us to this man trying to kill me."

Weaver crossly retorted, "It will only confirm you were correct in thinking this man you worked that case with was an imposter and that he most likely did kill Mesure so he could take on his identity. It won't help us to find him. And you don't have to be there at the station while the forensics on this knife are run. You were nearly killed today, Rogers. You need to take care of yourself. I don't want to hear anymore argument from you. Do you understand?"

"All right… but if you plan to go into the station early for the results, then promise me you'll call me once they come in," the younger detective responded in better understanding. "I promise, I'll actually answer this time, then be in as soon as I can."

"I can do that," Weaver then replied and carefully wrapped the bloodied knife inside a handkerchief he had in his coat pocket so he could keep it better protected while he carried it on him. "Come on… let's go."

After a few minutes, the two detectives finally left the office and Weaver drove with Rogers in the passenger's seat towards the younger man's apartment. Upon their arrival, the senior detective was the first to get out of his car again and gently helped his partner out of the car, then walked with him inside just to make sure he got into his apartment okay. Rogers didn't thank him for doing so at first, but he didn't need to. Weaver knew that he was grateful for his help whether he was willing to admit it out loud or not.

Before Weaver walked off again, Rogers entered inside, then turned back to the door as he said quietly, "I'll see you in the morning, Weaver. And… thank you. Again, for being there today to save me from the fire along with Tilly. I am grateful to you for that. But there's something I need you to understand… If you want me to trust you, I need real answers. Answers that include why it is you were so against me rescuing Eloise, and why you act as though you can't trust me with the truth behind whatever is really going on here. If you can't give them to me, then you'll have to find yourself another partner. Because I can't keep working like this. I hope you can understand that."

The older man nodded and then he answered, "I do. Try to get some rest, Rogers. You need to take care of yourself too. I'll see you in the morning. And again, don't worry about your car. It'll be outside waiting for you when you leave for work."

At last, his partner left and Rogers turned to walk further inside his apartment towards his room so he could change into more comfortable clothes. However, when he walked into his room, the detective was startled when a stranger suddenly appeared in front of him as he blocked his path and swiftly blew a white powder substance into his face before Rogers had the chance to defend himself, let alone even see the man now standing directly in front of him. Upon his assailant's attack, Rogers was immediately rendered incapable of using his free will against what was to come, as he grew still and stood immobile staring blankly ahead of him in wait for orders he now had no choice but to follow.

"Devil's breath…" Black stated smugly while he looked into his adversary's blank eyes and then turned to the remainder of the powder contained within the small glass bottle in his hands. "She was smart to collect some of this drug. It's quite ingenious. It can render a person completely immobile and susceptible to suggestion. Or in this case… whatever commands I choose to give to you. You have no choice but to comply. And then once it wears off, you wouldn't even remember what it is you're going to do or that I was ever here. She wanted me to use you to take care another of her enemies and you will, but you're also going to do a few things for me too, detective. Nod if you understand me so far."

"Excellent," the imposter continued and then laughed haughtily when Rogers simply nodded like he had asked him to do. "Now… to get down to business. Tomorrow, you're to find Eloise Gardener and you're going to kill her. Publicly, quietly… I don't really care how you do it. These are orders that come strictly from the woman who wants to see you and this Eloise Gardener dead. But before you kill her, I need you to destroy any and all evidence you have against me, then erase my record from the police databanks as well. You should probably do this tonight while your station is mostly empty and certainly before your partner suspects you're up to something that's against your character. Oh… and I'm also going to need some money so I can get myself out of town and settled in some place new. Surely there's plenty of money sitting in your precinct's evidence locker going unused. I want as much as you can get your hands on."

When he glanced down at the detective's prosthetic hand upon remembering it from when he had worked with him before, he sneered cruelly and corrected himself saying, "I'm sorry… hand. Be sure to grab as much as you can get your hand on. That ought not to be too hard for you. Then, once you've completed all that, you're to leave the money inside John Mesure's office. Should you run into your partner or any of the rest of the police force here in the Heights while you're completing your tasks, you're not to give them something to suspect something's wrong with you. You're to act as though everything's normal until you get me what I need and then kill that girl. Once it's all done… Well, this drug will eventually wear off. Just make sure you do everything as quickly as possible and then… end your own miserable existence too. Nod once more if you understand everything I've just told you."

Rogers nodded again as Blake Black smiled before he turned to the window to look outside upon seeing lights coming through and saw the detective's car being towed back from the building where they had gotten into their fight, then he walked towards the door to leave while he finally added, "Good luck, Detective. Don't let me down. You will regret it if you do."