Sorry for the day late update. Fanfiction.net was being CRAZY! Last night.
0_o
Chris- **smile** **is complimented** Thank you! ^_^
Soph- Glad you like!
Blackheart Syaoran- I guess Frank isn't going to make it into this story. v_v Sorry. Next one, though! Promise! And forgive Fillmore. You know he's obsessed with catching the bad guys... OBSESSED...
Summersitesprite- Here is your next chapter! Are you gonna want the next one too since they get to know each other even more? ^^
Soulful-sin- Ah, it's not much of a confrontation. Sorry. And your guess wasn't bad! We have the Queen on our coins, anyway. I em frum Canada! ^_^
________
Ingrid slipped into the office and shut the door quietly behind her. There were officers at desks, answering phones, chatting by the water cooler. An average day at work. From an enclosed office to the left she could hear someone yelling.
She took in everything as she wandered slightly lost-like into the room. As if on cue, an officer came over to her. 'Can I help you?' a girl with pink highlights in her hair asked.
Ingrid smiled amiably. 'I'm supposed to be meeting Officer Fillmore...'
'Oh,' the officer bit her lip. 'Well, he's not back yet, but his desk is right back there by the window. Just pull up a chair. He should be back soon.'
'Thanks.'
Ingrid ventured to the desk the girl had pointed out. She already knew where it was from her last visit to headquarters. Better to play dumb, though. They'd be more likely to ignore her if they thought she was supposed to be here. She dropped her bag by the corner of the desk then glanced back over her shoulder. Completely ignored.
With smooth movements, she glided around the desk and opened the drawers one by one. Another glance up. No one looking. The bottom drawer showed her what she was looking for. She palmed it.
'What are you doing?' a male voice asked.
Ingrid looked up to find an officer eying her suspiciously. It was the same guy who had busted her on the spray-paint trip. Anza, if she wasn't mistaken. 'Officer Fillmore made an appointment to see me, something about a case he's working on. But he's not here, and I have to go. I thought I'd leave a note, but I can't seem to find a pen.' She said it all without a blink. She even added a shy smile at the end of it to play off the innocence.
He gave her a strange look, then pulled a pen out a cup sitting on the desk. 'Oh,' Ingrid took the offered pen. 'Silly me.' She wrote said note under the supervision of the officer, who escorted her to the door when she was finished.
'I'll let Fillmore know you stopped by,' Anza said.
'Thanks, he knows where to reach me.'
Ingrid strode swiftly down the hall, and when she felt Anza's gaze leave her, she slipped the concealed item into her backpack. The halls were rather crowded; lunch had started. Now that Fillmore was taken care of, she decided to pay a visit to her designated 'partner in crime'.
She found Augie kneeled on the floor picking up scattered papers in front of his locker. Said locker was broken open, its contents vandalized. There were torn textbooks and binders, and green spray-paint everywhere. Augie was muttering curses under his breath. She stopped behind him.
'Did they take it?'
'No,' he answered. 'I gave it to Sonny this morning.' He leaned back on his heals and sighed. 'Man, I hate messing with these people. You mess with them, they mess your locker.'
'At least it's only your locker,' Ingrid pointed out as she closed the locker door slightly so she could se the front. 'Step off, huh?' She read the words sprayed on the door allowed.
'Yeah,' Augie laughed mirthlessly. 'Messing with your locker is only step one. Next they mess with your face.'
'Unless of course you step off.'
'Yeah yeah.'
'So who are they?' she asked.
'What'd ya mean?' he shot back.
'These people you hate messing with?' Ingrid's eyes were narrow. She meant business. But Augie wasn't in the mood.
'Anybody bigger than me,' he answered as he slammed his locker door and walked away.
Ingrid leant back on the lockers in defeat and looked at the ceiling. Augie could be really moody when he wanted to be. God. But she could find out who had done this easily enough. The only person who had seen her put those papers in Augie's locker was the same guy who had been on the computer that morning.
She closed her eyes and sighed. How did Augie expect her to help him out if was going to be so darn stubborn about all of this? Shrimp. If she wasn't mistaken, students had to sign in to use the computers in the library. She could just check the log and find out what the guy's name was.
Her stomach grumbled. She hadn't eaten breakfast this morning. Relenting her position against the lockers, Third made for the library. She would check for stalker-boy's name, then eat lunch.
________
Fillmore tapped his foot; even if was a girly thing to do. It was more out of a sudden burst of ADD then annoyance, anyway. Well, maybe it was a bit of annoyance. The line-up for the vending machines had been at a standstill for the past five minutes. How long did it take to drop a couple coins into a machine and push a button?
When he heard raised voices, he looked up. At the start of the line was Peabody, arguing and throwing his arms around. Who he was 'conversing' with, Fillmore couldn't quite see. He pushed his way to the front of the line.
'Is there a problem gentlemen?' Fillmore asked. Peabody stopped mid- sentence to glare at the officer.
'Not that I'm aware of. Why, is there?' Peabody snapped back.
'You're holding up the line,' Fillmore pointed a thumb over his shoulder at a bunch of disgruntled looking students.
Peabody turned back to the person he had been shouting at. It was a shorter student, dressed in a mechanics jumpsuit and holding a tape measure. He had apparently been measuring the amount of space left behind by the vending machines that had taken a fall a few weeks ago. 'You,' Peabody pointed at the kid. 'In my office.'
Fillmore watched them go, then took the opportunity to grab himself a snack. Then his walkie-talkie went off.
'Fillmore, ya there?'
He pulled it off his belt. 'Yeah, Anza. Go ahead.'
'Did you arrange to meet Third at HQ?'
Fillmore frowned. 'No, why?'
'She was here just a couple minutes ago under the premise that she was supposed to be meeting you. I found her going through your desk, though she said she was looking for a pen, I don't trust her. You might wanna come and make sure nothing's missing.'
'Yeah, I'm on my way. Thanks man.'
'No problem. Anza out.'
Fillmore jetted back to HQ. What the heck was Third playing at? Only she would waltz into Safety Patrol Headquarters and pilfer an officer's desk. Anza was there waiting for him when he got back. 'Here,' he handed Fillmore a post-it note. 'She left this.'
'Sorry I missed you,' Fillmore read aloud. 'Call me if you still want to know.' 'What does she mean by "want to know"?' Anza asked.
'I have no idea... Hey Anza, what's the date?'
'Uh, the 23rd isn't it?'
'You're kidding me,' Fillmore said under his breath.
'Well it might be the 24th. I could go ask Tehama if you want me to.'
'Thanks Anza. That's alright man.'
'Yeah, whatever Fillmore,' Anza waved and went back to work. He was completely lost at whatever was going through Fillmore's head, and he wasn't in the mood to care.
The moment Anza was gone, Fillmore pulled out his walkie-talkie. If he was right, and Third was really that clever, (which she probably was), in place of the date, she had written a radio frequency. As he played with the dials, he checked the bottom drawer on his desk. Wayne's talkie was missing.
'So what is it that I want to know exactly?' he spoke into the talkie. He hardly had to wait five seconds before a girl's voice came back.
'You're the one with the questions about me. I thought maybe instead of digging around my old school records you could just ask me straight up.'
'How'd you find out about that?'
'Why were you reading up on me?'
'What are you doing hanging out with Augie and Sonny?'
'Ah, yes. Sonny. Speaking of checking up on records, I heard he used to be your partner in crime.'
Fillmore stopped. It would've come out eventually anyway.
'Back on the wrong side of the tracks again, Fillmore?' she asked in a mocking tone.
'I went straight, and I'm not going back. I have a better life now.'
'Don't get all preachy with me, especially since less than five hours ago you were hacking into the school database to check up on me. Not exactly a legal activity, you know. Or you should. It's your job to enforce the law.'
Fillmore said nothing. She was right; he'd known it was wrong before she lectured him. 'And it's not like this is your first indiscretion in the past month. Let's not forget it was you who stretched the law to keep me at X.'
'I didn't rig that jury,' he ground out.
'No, but someone had to talk to Folsom and convince her I was worth keeping around. She would've rather had me out of her school, don't you think? You're the one who enjoys a challenge. And you have one now, don't you. You've tipped those little scales of justice, Fillmore, and they're in my favour.'
'Third, are you just going to play head games with me? 'Cause I'm hungry, and I want to eat my lunch.'
'What do you know about Simon Langley?' she asked all of a sudden.
'Who?'
'Nothing then.'
'Should I have been checking up on him this morning instead of you?'
'No need, that's what I was doing.'
'You're not exactly all good either then, are you? And what are you interested in some guy named Simon Langley for?'
'We already knew I was bad news, and I'm not the one interested. I was commissioned by your friend Sonny.'
'Sonny. But this Langley kid is just a science geek. I don't understand why Sonny interested in him. I dropped the info I printed out at Augie's locker, and a few hours later find it busted in and vandalized.'
'So Sonny's poking his nose where it doesn't belong. He's trying to figure out someone else's game, and they want him to step off.'
There was a pause.
________
Ingrid flipped open the log book while she listened to Fillmore talk.
'I'll look up on the Simon Langley kid too, see what I can find out.'
'Appreciate it Fillmore,' she replied. The name Freddie Klein stared up at her. She smiled in victory.
'What makes you think I'm gonna share what I find with you, Third?'
'Share it, or lose it. I've raided your desk before Fillmore.'
'You're on Third, you're on.'
________
Next Chapter: Ingrid follows a paper trail that might be leading... she has no clue where. Augie runs into trouble i.e. a fist. Fillmore and Ingrid seem to be in a budding relationship, but will they be able to work together to figure this mess out?
Chris- **smile** **is complimented** Thank you! ^_^
Soph- Glad you like!
Blackheart Syaoran- I guess Frank isn't going to make it into this story. v_v Sorry. Next one, though! Promise! And forgive Fillmore. You know he's obsessed with catching the bad guys... OBSESSED...
Summersitesprite- Here is your next chapter! Are you gonna want the next one too since they get to know each other even more? ^^
Soulful-sin- Ah, it's not much of a confrontation. Sorry. And your guess wasn't bad! We have the Queen on our coins, anyway. I em frum Canada! ^_^
________
Ingrid slipped into the office and shut the door quietly behind her. There were officers at desks, answering phones, chatting by the water cooler. An average day at work. From an enclosed office to the left she could hear someone yelling.
She took in everything as she wandered slightly lost-like into the room. As if on cue, an officer came over to her. 'Can I help you?' a girl with pink highlights in her hair asked.
Ingrid smiled amiably. 'I'm supposed to be meeting Officer Fillmore...'
'Oh,' the officer bit her lip. 'Well, he's not back yet, but his desk is right back there by the window. Just pull up a chair. He should be back soon.'
'Thanks.'
Ingrid ventured to the desk the girl had pointed out. She already knew where it was from her last visit to headquarters. Better to play dumb, though. They'd be more likely to ignore her if they thought she was supposed to be here. She dropped her bag by the corner of the desk then glanced back over her shoulder. Completely ignored.
With smooth movements, she glided around the desk and opened the drawers one by one. Another glance up. No one looking. The bottom drawer showed her what she was looking for. She palmed it.
'What are you doing?' a male voice asked.
Ingrid looked up to find an officer eying her suspiciously. It was the same guy who had busted her on the spray-paint trip. Anza, if she wasn't mistaken. 'Officer Fillmore made an appointment to see me, something about a case he's working on. But he's not here, and I have to go. I thought I'd leave a note, but I can't seem to find a pen.' She said it all without a blink. She even added a shy smile at the end of it to play off the innocence.
He gave her a strange look, then pulled a pen out a cup sitting on the desk. 'Oh,' Ingrid took the offered pen. 'Silly me.' She wrote said note under the supervision of the officer, who escorted her to the door when she was finished.
'I'll let Fillmore know you stopped by,' Anza said.
'Thanks, he knows where to reach me.'
Ingrid strode swiftly down the hall, and when she felt Anza's gaze leave her, she slipped the concealed item into her backpack. The halls were rather crowded; lunch had started. Now that Fillmore was taken care of, she decided to pay a visit to her designated 'partner in crime'.
She found Augie kneeled on the floor picking up scattered papers in front of his locker. Said locker was broken open, its contents vandalized. There were torn textbooks and binders, and green spray-paint everywhere. Augie was muttering curses under his breath. She stopped behind him.
'Did they take it?'
'No,' he answered. 'I gave it to Sonny this morning.' He leaned back on his heals and sighed. 'Man, I hate messing with these people. You mess with them, they mess your locker.'
'At least it's only your locker,' Ingrid pointed out as she closed the locker door slightly so she could se the front. 'Step off, huh?' She read the words sprayed on the door allowed.
'Yeah,' Augie laughed mirthlessly. 'Messing with your locker is only step one. Next they mess with your face.'
'Unless of course you step off.'
'Yeah yeah.'
'So who are they?' she asked.
'What'd ya mean?' he shot back.
'These people you hate messing with?' Ingrid's eyes were narrow. She meant business. But Augie wasn't in the mood.
'Anybody bigger than me,' he answered as he slammed his locker door and walked away.
Ingrid leant back on the lockers in defeat and looked at the ceiling. Augie could be really moody when he wanted to be. God. But she could find out who had done this easily enough. The only person who had seen her put those papers in Augie's locker was the same guy who had been on the computer that morning.
She closed her eyes and sighed. How did Augie expect her to help him out if was going to be so darn stubborn about all of this? Shrimp. If she wasn't mistaken, students had to sign in to use the computers in the library. She could just check the log and find out what the guy's name was.
Her stomach grumbled. She hadn't eaten breakfast this morning. Relenting her position against the lockers, Third made for the library. She would check for stalker-boy's name, then eat lunch.
________
Fillmore tapped his foot; even if was a girly thing to do. It was more out of a sudden burst of ADD then annoyance, anyway. Well, maybe it was a bit of annoyance. The line-up for the vending machines had been at a standstill for the past five minutes. How long did it take to drop a couple coins into a machine and push a button?
When he heard raised voices, he looked up. At the start of the line was Peabody, arguing and throwing his arms around. Who he was 'conversing' with, Fillmore couldn't quite see. He pushed his way to the front of the line.
'Is there a problem gentlemen?' Fillmore asked. Peabody stopped mid- sentence to glare at the officer.
'Not that I'm aware of. Why, is there?' Peabody snapped back.
'You're holding up the line,' Fillmore pointed a thumb over his shoulder at a bunch of disgruntled looking students.
Peabody turned back to the person he had been shouting at. It was a shorter student, dressed in a mechanics jumpsuit and holding a tape measure. He had apparently been measuring the amount of space left behind by the vending machines that had taken a fall a few weeks ago. 'You,' Peabody pointed at the kid. 'In my office.'
Fillmore watched them go, then took the opportunity to grab himself a snack. Then his walkie-talkie went off.
'Fillmore, ya there?'
He pulled it off his belt. 'Yeah, Anza. Go ahead.'
'Did you arrange to meet Third at HQ?'
Fillmore frowned. 'No, why?'
'She was here just a couple minutes ago under the premise that she was supposed to be meeting you. I found her going through your desk, though she said she was looking for a pen, I don't trust her. You might wanna come and make sure nothing's missing.'
'Yeah, I'm on my way. Thanks man.'
'No problem. Anza out.'
Fillmore jetted back to HQ. What the heck was Third playing at? Only she would waltz into Safety Patrol Headquarters and pilfer an officer's desk. Anza was there waiting for him when he got back. 'Here,' he handed Fillmore a post-it note. 'She left this.'
'Sorry I missed you,' Fillmore read aloud. 'Call me if you still want to know.' 'What does she mean by "want to know"?' Anza asked.
'I have no idea... Hey Anza, what's the date?'
'Uh, the 23rd isn't it?'
'You're kidding me,' Fillmore said under his breath.
'Well it might be the 24th. I could go ask Tehama if you want me to.'
'Thanks Anza. That's alright man.'
'Yeah, whatever Fillmore,' Anza waved and went back to work. He was completely lost at whatever was going through Fillmore's head, and he wasn't in the mood to care.
The moment Anza was gone, Fillmore pulled out his walkie-talkie. If he was right, and Third was really that clever, (which she probably was), in place of the date, she had written a radio frequency. As he played with the dials, he checked the bottom drawer on his desk. Wayne's talkie was missing.
'So what is it that I want to know exactly?' he spoke into the talkie. He hardly had to wait five seconds before a girl's voice came back.
'You're the one with the questions about me. I thought maybe instead of digging around my old school records you could just ask me straight up.'
'How'd you find out about that?'
'Why were you reading up on me?'
'What are you doing hanging out with Augie and Sonny?'
'Ah, yes. Sonny. Speaking of checking up on records, I heard he used to be your partner in crime.'
Fillmore stopped. It would've come out eventually anyway.
'Back on the wrong side of the tracks again, Fillmore?' she asked in a mocking tone.
'I went straight, and I'm not going back. I have a better life now.'
'Don't get all preachy with me, especially since less than five hours ago you were hacking into the school database to check up on me. Not exactly a legal activity, you know. Or you should. It's your job to enforce the law.'
Fillmore said nothing. She was right; he'd known it was wrong before she lectured him. 'And it's not like this is your first indiscretion in the past month. Let's not forget it was you who stretched the law to keep me at X.'
'I didn't rig that jury,' he ground out.
'No, but someone had to talk to Folsom and convince her I was worth keeping around. She would've rather had me out of her school, don't you think? You're the one who enjoys a challenge. And you have one now, don't you. You've tipped those little scales of justice, Fillmore, and they're in my favour.'
'Third, are you just going to play head games with me? 'Cause I'm hungry, and I want to eat my lunch.'
'What do you know about Simon Langley?' she asked all of a sudden.
'Who?'
'Nothing then.'
'Should I have been checking up on him this morning instead of you?'
'No need, that's what I was doing.'
'You're not exactly all good either then, are you? And what are you interested in some guy named Simon Langley for?'
'We already knew I was bad news, and I'm not the one interested. I was commissioned by your friend Sonny.'
'Sonny. But this Langley kid is just a science geek. I don't understand why Sonny interested in him. I dropped the info I printed out at Augie's locker, and a few hours later find it busted in and vandalized.'
'So Sonny's poking his nose where it doesn't belong. He's trying to figure out someone else's game, and they want him to step off.'
There was a pause.
________
Ingrid flipped open the log book while she listened to Fillmore talk.
'I'll look up on the Simon Langley kid too, see what I can find out.'
'Appreciate it Fillmore,' she replied. The name Freddie Klein stared up at her. She smiled in victory.
'What makes you think I'm gonna share what I find with you, Third?'
'Share it, or lose it. I've raided your desk before Fillmore.'
'You're on Third, you're on.'
________
Next Chapter: Ingrid follows a paper trail that might be leading... she has no clue where. Augie runs into trouble i.e. a fist. Fillmore and Ingrid seem to be in a budding relationship, but will they be able to work together to figure this mess out?