Chapter 306
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It had taken awhile for Hope to sleep through the night, but it was happenning. She didn't understand what was happenning, this allowed Eve and Jamal to sleep as well as anyone could these days. It helped to have someone sleeping next to them, someone to to protect them. Some in the sector were getting married for this very reason, and not worry about retaliation from the theocratic council. Then, on the night of March 5th, they got a phone call as they were trying to sleep. There'd been an attack on the warehouse. Most of the illegal contraband was stolen. The sector police needed one of them, either one, to come and help with the investigation. Jamal went, let Eve try and go back to sleep. But thoughts occurred to Eve about this raid. What was the motive? To steal goods and sell on the black market? Perhaps to negotiate their way unto the Arks? Or to use as leverage to get friends and/or family members released from prison? Perhaps the thieves' motives would become clear in a few days, perhaps not.
By the time Eve arrived at work on Thursday morning the police station was buzzing with rumors about the warehouse theft. The thieves offerred to return a large portion of what they stole, in exchange for certain prisoners being released from the jails. It wouldn't be all of what they stole. It remained a mystery what they planned to do with the rest. Maybe use it themselves, maybe sell it on the black-market. Maybe use for bribery, either sector guards, or bribing their way to freedom. Or perhaps it was simply a negotiation, they would return it all if they had to, but why make that their opening bid? The police still weren't sure who the thieves actually were. Most likely friends and/or family members of all those in the jails. All those who they wanted released had been selected for the Arks. It was always possible these people would still remain hostages, leverage for the thieves to buy their way in as well.
Eve and Jamal were sent to question the suspects. With little to actually go on, this would be a very long day. They questioned the friends and family assigned to them. They all denied having been involved in the raid on the warehouse. Some said they were home alone. Some suspects said they'd been with other suspects the previous night. A few said they were with non-suspects. They were likely telling the truth. The others, hard to tell. It seemed unlikely that they all could've been involved. Eve heard that experienced police officers were right only sixty percent of the time. And Eve was not an experienced cop. Uness one of the suspects confessed, they had nothing. When Jamal and Eve returned to the police station it became clear that the others had no better luck. The council was considering some more drastic measures.