Thanks for all your encouragement folks. I'm having so much fun writing this and I'm glad you're enjoying it. It will be getting slightly more angsty, I'm just trying to get the balance right between Tom's conflicting emotions about the case so all suggestions are welcome.
As the three officers and their captain entered the building they were met by Captain Briody, looking harassed as usual.
"Adam" he said as he shook Fullers hand. "He's in interrogation waiting for you, and really looking forward to your visit I might add".
"So where did you find him?"
"A couple of uniforms picked him up outside the youth hostel on the corner of 3rd with about $4000 worth of crack and a pound of coke."
"So much for being small time" Doug muttered to his partner as they walked behind the two captains.
"Well he's moved up a bit since we took out some of the heavy hitters Penhall" Briody said over his shoulder.
"So how long is he looking at?" Tom asked
"I'd say 5 years minimum. The courts are coming down pretty heavy on these guys at the moment".
"That should give us some leverage" Fuller said as they reached the interrogation room.
"Hi Carl!" Briody said as they entered the room. "You remember Captain Fuller?" he said gesturing to the tall captain, who he greeted with an arrogant grin. "And these are Officers Penhall, Hanson and Ioki. They've got a few questions they'd like answering. Help them out will you?"
"You guys are cops?" the scruffy man said looking at the three young officers with amusement.
"Yes we are!" Harry said as they showed their badges
"I'll see what I can do Sir" he said sarcastically.
"In that case he's all yours Captain Fuller" Briody said shaking Fullers hand before leaving the room.
"So I'm so dangerous they sent in the junior league."
"What can you tell us about a girl called Nikki Stokely?" Fuller asked ignoring his comment
"Don't know her" he said bluntly. "And if did, why would I tell you?"
"Because right now we're the best chance you have of walking out of here" Tom said quietly
"Why's that? We all know what's going to happen. I'm gonna get told what a naughty boy I am and be back on the streets in a couple of hours."
"Now you see, that's where you're wrong. An 18 year old girl died because of the poison you pedal" Hanson said, genuine sadness in his eyes for the first time. "Courts don't really take too kindly to that. You will go down, trust me."
"What?"
"Straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200." Doug chipped in.
"You're bluffing!"
"Are we. Well then you've got two choices. You can either call our bluff and take your chances or you can help us. The sentence is likely to be lighter if you show you're willing to co operate." Hanson told him.
"You expect me to fall for that?"
"That's up to you" Fuller added.
"We have witnesses that say they saw you supplying Nikki Stokely with thousands of dollars worth of crack. That crack killed her, makes you a co principle. So you see the predicament you're in" Tom said.
"I told you I don't know any Nikki Stokely."
"How about now?" Fuller said harshly as he placed Nikki's picture in front of Brookes. "She familiar?"
"I told you I don't know who she is?
"And we told you we have witnesses" Tom spat.
"Who?" Brookes said studying the young officer. "Why don't you get them in here, they may have been mistaken." he spat. A puzzled look crossed his face and he asked, "Hey are you wearing lipstick?"
"Yeah." Tom said before planting a kiss on the mans cheek. "Now so are you." he deadpanned before grabbing Brookes by the scruff of the neck and shoving him face down onto the table and twisting his arm half way up his back. "Have a closer look. You sure you don't recognise her?" he said his voice raised slightly.
"If I were you I'd remember real quickly, he's not very nice when he's in a bad mood." Doug said with a grin, "And he's more dangerous than he looks."
"Sometimes I have trouble knowing when to stop" Tom hissed.
"Look" he began looking at Fuller, "You call Tootsie off and I'll tell you what I know".
"Tootsie?" Hanson asked looking puzzled
"Film." Doug said "You know, Dustin Hoffman, plays a guy who pretends to be a girl."
"I don't even wanna know how you know that."
"Ok guys enough" Fuller said, "Hanson, off." Tom let go of Brookes, who breathed a sigh of relief, and went over to stand by his partner.
"Why didn't you tell me I hadn't got it all off?" he asked annoyed
"I didn't notice."
"Ok, what do you know?" Fuller asked Brookes while throwing an angry glance at his two officers.
"I've seen her around but I never sold her anything I swear"
"How do you know her?" Ioki asked
"She was dating one of my regulars, she was with him a couple of times when he came to pick up some stuff".
"Sam Taylor?" Fuller said taken aback.
"Yeah. She stood well away from us and I never even spoke to her"
"When was the last time?" Hanson demanded.
"About a week ago."
"What did you give him?"
"Few rocks."
"How many?"
"I don't know, about 5."
"How much did he pay you?" Fuller asked
"$2000 why?" he asked concerned as Fuller and Hanson exchanged pained looks.
"Thin huh?" Hanson said looking over at Doug.
"What can I say? I'm not just all charm and no brains you know."
"Taylor buy crack off you regularly does he?" Fuller asked turning his attention back to Brookes.
"No. He usually just buys weed, maybe powder sometimes. Funny really, cos he only bought some from me two days before. Must be getting hungry."
"Proud of that are you?" Doug spat as he grabbed Brookes by the front of his shirt.
"I don't force people to buy from me. I provide a service and they use it."
"People like you make me sick."
"Are we done here?" Brookes asked, his tone bored.
"For now" Fuller answered placing a hand on Doug's shoulder and pulling him firmly away." I'm guessing uniform aren't done with you though. Come on guys" he said to his officers and led them out of the room.
"He gave her the drugs. I don't believe it!" Doug yelled as he rammed his fist into a nearby wall. "He lied to me!"
"We're the police Doug", Hanson said, "People always lie to us."
"Yeah, but I believed him."
"We all believe them. You never know one day people may start telling us the truth." Tom said kindly.
"So what do we Captain?" Doug said looking towards his superior officer.
"Question him" he answered simply.
"Blow my cover?"
"If you have to"
"Hey how come he gets to blow his cover?" Tom asked angrily.
"Because he's not in a school run by a priest who likes to take advantage of underage girls" Fuller snapped. "I want to get this guy." he finished, steely determination in his eyes.
"Why?" Tom asked. He had thought about busting Mackenzie himself, but at that moment Fuller seemed to be dead set on nailing him.
"Because he's been getting away with this for years. Three girls have made claims of sexual harassment against him in the past two years and nothing's been done about it."
"Four including you" Doug said smiling at his best friend.
"This isn't funny Penhall!" Fuller glared at him before turning back to Tom. "The last one to make a formal complaint was a girl called Emily Carter. You know her?"
"Yeah. I've spoken to her a couple of times. She's a bit quiet and nervous, but she's quite sweet actually."
"Right. See what she has to tell."
"How?"
"You have a shared traumatic experience don't you?"
"Oh right. That!" Hanson said with a disgusted expression on his face.
"Yes that." Fuller snapped.
"So we've effectively got two cases here?" Tom asked. Fuller looked sadly at the younger man before shaking his head.
"I don't think we have a murder case here Tom. She swallowed 5 rocks. I think it's obvious what happened here." Hanson turned intense dark eyes on him and Fuller could see the tension buildling.
"Hey." Fuller said softly "Regardless of whether she was murdered or not if he was the father of Nikki's baby then he is partly responsible for her death. There's a history of sexual harrassment claims against him and he's not getting away with it." he said smiling kindly at Hanson. "You may not have known her but she was still family, right?"
"Thanks, Coach" Tom said returning his smile.