FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

~ Chapter 17 ~

Officer Wilkes' office was located in the Thomas H. Chesim municipal building located out of the way of normal bus routes. The offices themselves were a branch of the local police department and were housed in the unused third floor of the municipal building while the main station went under renovation. The renovation, as always, brought up some discussion and debate as to the warranted spending of $137 million in tax dollars. In the end, the construction project began, leaving only the Op Ed column of the newspaper to air grievances.

Chesim, as the building is more widely known as, kept the tradition of a widely spread, concrete-gray, modern-styled architecture following the footsteps of the Environmental Services building and the Human Services building. Large, glass doors pivoted into a cool, sky lighted lobby. I decided to make it my mission for the rest of the summer to visit all government buildings with air conditioning. Becky's '93 Cavalier hadn't had air conditioning since she bought it and with temperatures rising into the mid-nineties starting the next week, I prayed for air conditioning in every building I walked into. Already the newscasters were warning the city about possible rolling brownouts and to set the AC temperature a couple of degrees higher. Though the clammy air threatened rain, no rain fell and a low-pressure system stagnated over the area.

"Officer Wilkes," an older, pretty, caramel-skinned secretary directed me, "This young fellow would like to see you. Do you have time?"

A pepper-haired human looked up from his desk and cubicle to smile at the lady and assess my presence, "Thanks, Katy. Sure." And with that, Katy turned and walked away. He stood up and assessed me with a kind look on his face, "Introductions are in order, young man. What's your name?" Officer Wilkes issued forth a warm, fatherly tone. Crow's feet appeared alongside his olive eyes. He issued forth a hearty handshake.

"Ca- Caleb," I stumbled on my words as I broke the handshake. My palms were already sweating. If he noticed, he didn't show it.

"I'm about to grab a bite to eat. Care to walk?"

I nodded, secretly groaning to myself about having to walk away from the air-conditioned building.

Outside, a couple of blocks from Chesim, a hotdog vendor had set up shop. His Middle Eastern accent was thick. Heat shimmered off the aluminum van, but a shady respite was found in the awning above the order window. Few patrons stayed to mill around the van and sought shade elsewhere. Hotdog steam mixed with the turbulent heat and both beset my senses, issuing forth a hunger I hadn't realized was there.

"And what is it you're here to see me about?" Officer Wilkes chased a bite of his dog with a swallow of Pepsi.

I toyed with my hot dog, trying not to scarf the entire thing at once. My nerves calmed more of my hunger than I wanted to admit. I tried to act formally nonchalant. "I was going through some old newspaper articles about an unsolved murder last year and I was wondering if you could clarify something?"

"Mister... Caleb," Wilkes thought as he realized I only gave him my first name, "I can't say much about this investigation but I'll do my best to answer your questions. Are you going to school?"

"Crestview School of Law," I lied. I tried to read him again, but Wilkes was practiced in his expressions.

"Ah, then you're familiar with what you can and can't ask," his eyes twinkled assuredly, "Okay, what do you want to know?"

Calming my mind that everything was all right, I took a breath and asked, "The article mentioned that there were malfunctions with the security at the warehouse where the body was found."

"Okay," Wilkes nodded, recollecting.

"I was wondering what was the follow-up with the warehouse owner, Mr. Hughes. Did you find out what the holes in the system were?"

"Well the security footage was either missing, errored, or corrupted. It turned out that the surveillance system had been neglected for some time, now. Mr. Hughes was appalled at the disrepair and settled with the family of the victim, promising to fix the system so tragedies like that won't happen on his property again."

"So the family's okay with Mr. Hughes?"

"He gave the mother of the victim an undisclosed sum of money on top of paying for the cost of the funeral. She was poor and he didn't want her to become bankrupt, burying her only son."

"So he's fixed the windows, then?" I asked. When his eyes narrowed in confusion, I backtracked, "The security camera flaws being windows of opportunity for more criminal activity?"

"I do believe so," Wilkes nodded. We were on our way back to Chesim. My stomach was satisfied for now and I gulped the remainder of my drink, chewing on the ice cubes. "Mr. Hughes seemed to have taken the incident personally and has offered any of his resources to help the investigation. Unfortunately there isn't much else for any of us to do at this point."

"I see," I nodded and contemplated.

"Any other questions?" Wilkes offered. He held the door open to the municipal building but I declined.

"No, thank you," I answered, "Thanks for your help."

Wilkes produced a business card and held it out for me, "In case you have any other questions, feel free to get ahold of me. And good luck with your research."

"Oh, right. Yeah."

Officer Wilkes disappeared into the municipal building and I headed to Becky's car. I mentally kicked myself at almost revealing Bo and Aaron's entry into the warehouse as I got into Becky's car. Nothing in the news articles mentioned how they broke into the warehouse. There never was an official follow-up to Mr. Hughes' overhaul of the warehouses' security system. At least, that's what I understood from what Officer Wilkes had told me. Granted something could have been written up in the settlement, but really there was only one way to be sure.