When they arrived at the police station, the family of three found that only a few other officers were in the building working the late shift. An officer was working the front desk and two other cops were standing by a vending machine, chatting with each other.
“Come this way” Officer Adams said, as he led them to an interrogation room.
Outside of the room, the second officer spoke up.
“We want to speak to Evan first” he said.
Evan gulped nervously, as Freddy held onto his hand.
“He has to be in the presence of an adult in order to speak to the police” Freddy replied.
“Fair enough” Officer Adams said. “You two come in here. Your husband can wait outside.”
The four of them entered the interrogation room, as an officer approached Michael in the hallway.
“Looks like the ones hating on the police around these parts have something to hide after all” the officer remarked snidely.
“Not in the slightest” Michael responded. “The only reason we’re here is because someone attacked us.”
“Oh, so I guess you need the police after all. Maybe hating on us isn’t such a good idea.”
“You guys only came after I successfully defended myself. You were of no use to us at all.”
“If that’s so, then why are you here then?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
“Uh huh. Let me keep an eye on you, so you don’t go running off anywhere you don’t belong, before they have a chance to speak with you.”
Michael gulped, as he sat in a chair outside the interrogation room. The snarky officer stood next to him, watching him closely as he lost himself in his thoughts. Inside the interrogation room, the officers, Freddy and Evan sat down around a large table. Officer Adams was the first to speak up.
“Listen kid, just because your dad is a good for nothing low life—“
“Not necessary, officer” Freddy interjected.
“Don’t talk about my dad that way” Evan added.
“Let’s get on the with questions, Adams” the second officer said, with an exasperated tone in his voice. “I’d like to get this over with, as much as I know you want to as well.”
“Fine. Evan, were you aware of what was happening in your parents bedroom an hour or so before we got there?”
Evan froze, before Freddy gently nudged him to reply.
“All I know, officer” Evan replied, with a hint of defiance in his voice “was that I was asleep when it happened. The first thing I remember was there was a loud popping noise. It sounded like a gun or someone shooting off fireworks. I got up and went to my dad’s door and knocked on it a few times. Dad answered it—“
“Which dad?” the second officer asked with a snarky tone in his voice.
“Michael. He’s my dad and Freddy is my papa. Anyways, as I was saying, I answered it and he told me to go back to bed. I kept trying to go in and he wouldn’t let me. Finally, I just decided to go to sleep. The next thing I remember was you two knocking on my bedroom door. I felt panicked—“
“Why’s that? Afraid you were hiding something from us?”
“Enough” Officer Adams interjected. “Let the boy finish his statement. He has nothing to do with this.”
“As far as we know. Keep talking, kid.”
“So” Evan replied, sounding increasingly annoyed as he spoke “you knock on my door and that’s when I went up to the door. I didn’t want to open it because my father was asleep. I didn’t want to wake him up. He works long hours and I felt he needed his rest.”
“Don’t you think your father would want to know that two officers like us were knocking on your door?”
“I didn’t think to say anything.”
“I got up soon after you began knocking on the door” Freddy added. “Evan didn’t have to wake me. I heard you were there. Evan is such a good boy. He knows that I needed my sleep.”
Freddy rubbed his son’s hair, as Evan smiled in his direction.
“Yeah, about that” the second officer said. “Why were you sleeping in your son’s bedroom anyway? What kind of pervert sleeps with their kid.”
“He’s not a pervert!” Evan hissed. “He—“
“Evan” Freddy said, as he motioned him to stop. “I told you this before, officer. Michael wouldn’t let me in and so I went into Evan’s room to talk. At some point, I passed out and then woke up again when you were knocking on the door.”
“That’s all you remember?” Officer Adams asked. “No recollection of the pop. No recollection of the fight? The screams for help?”
“None. I’m a bit of a heavy sleeper when I’m really tired. I guess I just missed it, that’s all.”
“Why do you think someone was trying to kill your husband?” the second officer asked. “If that’s what they were there for, who do you think they were really after?”
“I don’t know. Maybe me. It could have been a home robbery gone wrong as well. I don’t know all the details, as I wasn’t in the room when Michael was with him.”
“What time did you come in tonight?” Officer Adams asked.
Freddy paused for a moment, trying to remember what Michael had told him to say. The officers eyed him warily, curious as to why he wasn’t answering this question sooner.
“Sometime after 11” Freddy finally answered. “I went up to try to go to bed, but the door was already locked.”
“Pretty dangerous for your husband to lock the bedroom door like that” the second officer said. “In an event of a fire, it’d make it really difficult to get out of your house.”
“He’s been mad at me because I spend too much time on the campaign trail.”
“Do us, and your husband, a favor and drop out then, commie.”
“Enough” Officer Adams intervened, as he put his hand on the second officer’s shoulder. “I think we have all the information we need from you for now. We just want to ask your husband a few more questions and you three should be good to go home.”
Freddy nodded, as he got up and took Evan outside of the interrogation room. In the hall, the snarky officer continued to eye Michael down, as he looked at the floor, feeling angry, upset and nervous over what was happening to them. When Freddy and Evan came out, Officer Adams called to Michael.
“Come in here, please” he said, as he waved Michael into the interrogation room.
Michael slowly got up, giving a brief smile when Freddy gave him a pat on the shoulder. Once he made his way inside of the interrogation room, Michael sat down face to face with Adams and his partner.
“We have a few follow up questions to ask you” Officer Adams spoke up. “What time did your husband come home tonight?”
“I don’t really know” Michael replied, struggling to keep up his lie. “I went to bed at around 10, like I always do, and locked the door. I didn’t see or hear anyone come in, except for the attempted murderer.”
“You know that’s dangerous” the second officer said. “Leaving your room locked during a fire can—“
“Enough” Officer Adams interrupted. “What time does your husband usually come home?”
“Late” Michael replied, as he let out a loud groan. “Usually by like 1 or 2 in the morning. I’m so fucking sick of it already.”
“We are too” the second officer said. “He needs to drop out already. No one wants him in the race anymore.”
“Not necessary” Officer Adams said, reprimanding his partner on the spot.
Officer Adams glared at his partner for a moment, before turning back to look at Michael with a serious expression on his face.
“Is that what caused you to lock your bedroom door?” he asked. “Your husband getting home too late every night?”
“Yes” Michael replied, allowing his anger towards Freddy to fuel the lie he was telling. “I’m sick of him showing up so late, so I decided to lock the door to our bedroom so he’d sleep downstairs on the couch when he finally got home. I guess he decided to go bother Evan this time instead.”
“Speaking of Evan” the second officer said “why would you keep your door locked if he’s around? If there’s an emergency, wouldn’t you want easy access to him?”
“I can get out just fine. Besides, Evan knows how to escape the house in the event of a fire. I’ve taught him well.”
“What if he were to sneak off from the house? He’s at that age now where he’s going to want to start doing that. Being a little troublemaker and all.”
“He’s not going to do that. He’s a sweet boy.”
“Not what I’ve—“
“Enough” Officer Adams interrupted with a growl in his voice. “So when you first saw the robber come in and screamed out for help, no one came in to help you?”
“No” Michael replied. “I had to deal with this guy all on my own.”
“You must be a really strong guy then” the second officer remarked “to take on a person that powerful, and armed, all by yourself. Sure you didn’t get some assistance? Maybe from, say, a certain dog that belongs to your neighbor?”
“No. We don’t have any dog in the house. You were in my home now twice and never saw one, because he has never been in there.”
“Hey speaking of that, shouldn’t we have closed up the crime scene so that no one could go tamper with it?”
Officer Adams began to feel nervous, before a knock was heard on the door.
“Gentleman” a voice said from the other end of the door. “Open up. We need to talk.”
“Oh great” the second officer said, as Michael smirked.
Officer Adams got up from his seat to go answer the door. When he opened it, he was greeted to the sight of his commander, glaring at him with an angry expression on his face.
“In my office” the commander said sternly to the officers from outside the door. “Both of you. Now.”
“Sir” Officer Adams replied “we’re in the middle of an interrogation here. Can it wait?”
“A sloppy job you’ve done so far. Now get in here. Now. That’s an order.”
“Yes commander.”
“Here we go” the second officer said, as he got up to follow Officer Adams out of the room.
“Wait in the hall” the commander said to Michael, as he brought his officers into his office.
“I wonder what that was about?” Michael thought to himself, as he got up from his seat and joined Freddy and Evan who were waiting for him in the hall. “Which reminds me, they did leave our house vulnerable by doing nothing about that window before we left. Someone else could easily go in there and rob us while we’re stuck here. I should have insisted that somebody stay behind to watch the house. I hope I didn’t make a mistake in not insisting on that more aggressively.”
Inside the commander’s office, the two officers sat in chairs on the other side of their boss’ desk.
“Boys, you’ve been assigned off this case” the commander said to them matter of factly.
“But sir” Officer Adams replied “we were just beginning to get to the—“
“I don’t want to hear it. I want you two off the case now. I’ll take it from here on out.”
“Sir” the second officer said. “We can handle this. We’re good cops. We know how to solve cases like this.”
“If you could handle it, then you would have done something about the exposed window before you left the house.”
“Hu—“ Officer Adams sputtered out, before a thought came into his head. “Wait, how did you know about that anyway? We haven’t filed our official crime scene report notes yet? The only people who know about that are us, the two faggots and their son.”
“I’ve been given explicit orders by the mayor himself to keep this quiet” the commander answered.
“Uh, what?” the second officer asked with a dumbfounded tone in his voice, confused by such a seemingly absurd statement.
“You heard me. I’ve been given orders by the mayor’s office to shut this investigation down and end any further inquiry into what happened tonight.”
“May I ask why, sir?” Officer Adams asked curiously.
“It’s none of your business, Adams. You are ranks below me and will follow my orders without question.”
“I just think it’s suspicious that the mayor is calling in demanding that this be handled by you directly. Does he think we’re not component enough to take on the case by ourselves? Why would he want to end it before we even began looking into this?”
“It’s more than that. The person there tonight was given orders by the mayor to kill Freddy Benson in order to end his anti cop campaign once and for all.”
“Woweee” the second officer said, shocked by what he just heard.
“Sir” Officer Adams chimed in nervously. “Is this something we should really be condoning here? I mean, I hate the commie as much as the rest of the fellas I work alongside do, but I don’t think he should be killed for his silly campaign.”
“He’s a menace to our society” the commander replied bitterly. “He is endangering my officers and making this town vulnerable to criminals. He has to go and I’m not going to stand in the mayor’s way as he tries to stop him. I’ve had my issues with our town’s leadership in the past, but on this issue, I’m in full agreement with what they are doing. Freddy Benson is too much of a threat to let him continue on pursuing a career in public office in this town.”
“But doesn’t this kind of thing prove Freddy right about what he's saying about us? If we’re going to let the mayor order a hit on his political rival, then doesn’t that speak to a problem in our ranks that needs addressing?”
“It’s not your place to interfere, Adams. Unless, that is, you want to be dismissed from this department. I can arrange for that, if you like.”
“I don’t know about Adams” the second officer said “but I’m all about keeping my job as a police officer. I’m keeping my mouth shut on this, though I wonder how you’re going to keep that commie pinko quiet about this, too. Especially if the mayor tries it again, I don’t see how you can cover something like this up.”
“Don’t worry about that” the commander said. “Leave dealing with the potential fall out from all of this to us to me.”
“I’m really not comfortable with us” Officer Adams said, as he got up to leave “but I support my brothers in blue first and fore most. Just try not to let the mayor’s thirst for blood leave a scar on our entire department, commander. All of us shouldn’t take the fall for his personal desire to remove this guy from the race.”
“Wait up, Adams” the second officer said, as he got up and followed his partner out of the commander’s office.
“Call the three of them in here!” the commander yelled out to the officers as they left. “I want to speak to them before they leave.”
When the two officers left his office, the commander pushed a strange device in his desk.
“That’s to be on the safe side” the commander thought to himself “in case they decide to share what I’m about to tell them.”
During the officers’ meeting with their commander, Freddy, Michael and Evan sat patiently waiting outside of the interrogation room. The snarky officer had left, after being called over by the other officer on duty for another chat.
“What was that all about? Evan asked curiously.
“I have no idea” Freddy replied, as he continued to gently play with his son’s hair.
“I’m just worried that those bastards didn’t do anything about our broken window” Michael added. “Again.”
“I’m sure it’ll be alright. Besides, what are the odds that someone is going to enter the house through our second floor window and rob us at this hour?”
“The same odds that they would have done so in the first place.”
Freddy shrugged, as he tried to calm his son down. A few minutes passed before the two officers came out from the commander’s office and headed straight towards him.
“The boss wants to talk to you” the second officer said, as he quickly walked past them.
Michael noticed that Officer Adams wouldn’t make eye contact with them as he passed by.
“I wonder what his deal is?” Michael thought to himself, as he got up, along with Freddy and Evan, and headed to the commander’s office.
When they were outside the door, the snarky officer approached them.
“It’s getting serious, huh?” he commented, looking that them in a menacing way.
Michael shrugged his shoulders, as the officer knocked on the commander's door.
“The anti cop commies are here” he yelled to the commander.
“Let them in” the commander replied from his office.
The officer opened the door and the commander signaled for Freddy and Michael to enter his office.
“Watch their kid while I have a word with his parents” the commander said to the snarky officer.
“One of his parents needs to be with him” Michael insisted, as he stood by his son.
“I’m not going to hurt the kid” the snarky officer replied. “Despite what your cop hating husband says, we aren’t going out of our way to hurt kids like yours.”
“Doesn’t seem that way” Evan remarked, as Michael held him tightly.
“Evan” Michael whispered. “Quiet.”
“With a mouth like that, kid” the snarky officer said to Evan, bending down to look him in the eye “you’re bound to get yourself into big trouble one of these days.”
“I’ll talk to the commander alone” Freddy offered. “Michael, wait out here with Evan. I hopefully won’t be long.”
Michael nodded, as he continued to hold his son tightly. The snarky officer continued to give his son a menacing look for a while longer, before standing back up and keeping a short distance away from him. Inside the commander’s office, Freddy stood by the desk.
“Have a seat” the commander said, pointing to a chair in front of his desk.
Freddy slowly sat down, waiting for the commander to continue.
“I see you had a bit of a home intruder problem tonight” the commander finally said, after a long moment of silence passed between them before he spoke.
“Yes, we did” Freddy replied, keeping a straight poker face.
“My officers got what we needed out of you. No inconsistent statements by either of you, so you’re off the hook from facing any criminal charges.”
“Thank you, commander. Is that all?”
“Not exactly.”
The commander leaned back in his chair, looking at Freddy with an intense stare.
“Let me let you in on a little secret here in this town” the commander continued. “Every government official, every elected official, every public servant answers to the mayor.”
“I know that” Freddy replied. “That’s part of why I ran for the job and hope to win in November.”
“Heh. Well that’s not going to happen, as long as the mayor has anything to say about it.”
“The mayor is only four points ahead of me in the polls. Three weeks can make a big difference in this race. I intend to overtake him on election day.”
“The mayor will never allow you to defeat him. That’s why he ordered the hit on you tonight.”
“Wait, what?!”
“You heard me. That was no ordinary robber. Didn’t you think it was odd that someone was able to climb up your house to break in from the second story window? Only someone with advanced training could have pulled something like that off. The mayor hired that man to kill you, Freddy Benson. He’ll do it again so long as you remain in this race.”
“This is abhorrent! If what you’re saying is true, then the mayor is trying to rub me out. Aren’t you supposed to be about upholding the law? If you know he’s doing this, then why aren’t you standing up to him and arresting him?”
“The same reason we refused to file the report about the brick thrown at your house. We don’t like you, commie, and we don’t like what you stand for. You’re a threat to our town and the way we do business around here. We ignored you before, figuring you were just some useless little wannabe socialist hoping to get some attention for yourself. Once you got yourself within striking distance of defeating the mayor next month, however, we couldn’t allow you to continue on any further. The thin blue line would never allow it.”
“This is despicable. You’re despicable. How could you allow yourself to support something so evil like this? You have no morals if you allow something like this to take place in this town.”
“You keep talking about us and interfering in the duties that come with doing our job. Let me give you a little reality check, Freddy.”
The commander leaned forward and stared at Freddy with an intense look on his face.
“If we allow communists like you to have your way” the commander continued, as he pointed a finger in Freddy’s direction “then this town will be thrown into anarchy. We are the ones that keep the peace around here and keep order in a society that would otherwise be orderless without us. You challenging us and our authority is a danger to good, law abiding citizens here and everywhere. We won’t let pinkos like you ruin the good job we’ve done around here to protect people and keep them safe.”
“The only job you’ve done is scaring away anyone who isn’t white” Freddy replied.
“If they were good law abiding citizens, like most of the residents of this town are, then they’d have no reason to move. If they had nothing to hide, then they’d have no problem in this here town of ours.”
“That’s not true. The statistics don’t back up what you say. Of all the arrests in this town, 95% of them have been minorities.”
“They’re the ones committing the crimes. I can’t help that that’s who they are.”
“The arrests are often times for things white people never get arrested for.”
“Sometimes, people like them need to know their place in society.”
“Diya’s parents were driven out by the racism they experienced here.”
“Diya Ramesh got herself into a real pickle trying to help you out, boy. You may have benefited from her support, but she took a real loss to her reputation for bailing your sorry excuse of an ass out.”
“She took a gamble on me because she believed in my message and what I stand for. It’s paying off, as I’m within striking distance of beating the mayor now.”
“She only gave your campaign any money at all because she owed your husband for fucking him over royally. I always knew that there was no way a woman could have developed a platform like iThink all by herself. I knew a man had to be involved somewhere along in that process. It turns out that there was a man behind it after all. Granted, a girly man, but a man nonetheless.”
“Enough. This is really shameful rhetoric coming out of your mouth. The minute I get elected, you’re getting fired.”
“Well good thing I don’t have to worry about that, then.”
Freddy stood up and tried to walk out of the commander’s office.
“Check your communication device” the commander remarked, flashing him a sinister smirk on his face.
Freddy paused nervously, before he reached into his pocket and took out his communication device. He tried to turn it back on, but found it would not operate.
“Thought you were going to record me and leak it to the international press, were you?” the commander asked with a sly tone in his voice.
“Why isn’t this working?” Freddy thought to himself, as he tried, in vein, to turn the device back on.
“This police department is well funded. Hence, why I have the best technology you can get.”
The commander pulled out a device from his desk and showed it to Freddy.
“This is a device jammer” the commander said. “Otherwise known as a Devi Jammy. It can shut off communication devices temporarily for thirty minutes in a ten mile radius. Makes it so that people like you can’t record what we’re doing so you can attempt to undermine our narrative.”
“Unbelievable” Freddy said with an exasperated tone in his voice, as he put his communication device back in his pocket. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to go to the press with what you said tonight.”
“With what evidence? None of what I said was recorded.”
“With the crime scene you left unattended.”
“Was it really unattended, though?
Freddy looked at the commander with a confused expression on his face. The commander smirked, as he leaned back into his chair.
“While you were here” the commander continued “the mayor sent a clean up crew to destroy the body, remove the evidence and clean up the crime scene.”
“He what?!” Freddy shrieked, not believing what he was hearing.
“You heard me. The clean up crew went into your house, took the dead body, fixed up the window and cleaned up the bedroom. There’s not a trace left of anything that would have clued anyone in on what happened in there tonight. As far as anyone else is concerned, it’s as if tonight’s events never occurred.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Don’t believe me? Go see for yourself, as you make your way out of my office now.”
The commander flicked his hands in Freddy’s direction, before making one final comment to him.
“Oh, before you go, you should know that from now on, you should consider yourself all on your own in regards to handling your own safety. We’re not helping out a commie like you, especially one who is a threat to our profession like yourself. We may not be willing to go so far as to kill you, but we’re certainly not standing in the mayor’s way of his desire to do so. Good luck, Freddy Benson. You’re certainly going to need it.”
The commander chuckled, as Freddy stormed out of his office. Further down the hall, Freddy grabbed Michael and Evan and ran towards to the exit.
“Why are you running off so fast?” Michael asked nervously, as he followed his husband closely.
“The mayor ordered a hit on me and now they’ve cleaned up the crime scene.”
“They what?!?! How do you know this?!?!?”
“Where are you freaks off to in such a rush?” the snarky officer asked, as he spotted them running down the hall.
Freddy ignored him, bolting out of the precinct, holding Michael and Evan tightly while they headed towards his car. The sun began to rise, as the three of them got into the vehicle parked just down the street.
“How could they have done that Freddy?” Michael asked incredulously, as he got in and fastened his seat belt, alongside his son Evan.
Freddy got in, started up the car and then immediately bolted down the street.
“The mayor ordered a hit on me and the police department is on it” Freddy replied, as he sped off to their house.
“But how?!?!?! How is that even possible?!?!”
“They had someone break into our house while we were at the precinct and got rid of all the evidence. The officers knew what was happening. They got assigned off the case on the mayors orders. That’s why they walked past us looking so nervous.”
“Papa?” Evan asked nervously. “You’re driving really fast. Why don’t you slow down?”
Freddy ignored his son, as they soon approached their block. Quickly making his way into the driveway of their home, the three of them got of the car as fast as they could and briskly walked to the front door.
“No signs of an attempted robbery here” Michael noted, as he Freddy unlocked the door and led them inside.
Running up the stairs, Freddy opened the door of his bedroom to find the sight he feared most and one that shocked Michael to his core. Their bedroom was as good as new, cleared of any trace of what was previously a crime scene. No blood was on the floor. The body was not on the floor. The broken window was as good as new. Seeing this shocked Freddy and Michael in a way nothing in this campaign had previously before it. It was if a murder had never been committed in their house that night.
Upon discovering this sight…