“I know I sort of already have a task,” Francyn said warmly. “But I’d really like to help. Maybe I could use my over-talkative nature to good use with the law enforcer.”
There’d been many a joke thrown at Francyn about how much she talked during the meetings, ever since her first introduction, but everyone had made it clear that they loved her for it. I hated how small she looked asking, like she believed everyone’s joking was actually harmful behavior.
“Oh, you know we love you, Francyn,” Zxe laughed. “And I think you’d be perfect for the exact reason you mentioned.”
She beamed at that, Francyn going on a spiel about how she could talk in excess so that the officer would get the job done quicker, much like I’d been thinking about Zxe’s appearance. “I think that’s great. Anyone else?” No one else raised their hand or showed any interest, so I moved on. “Alright then, we’ll need a team in charge of canvassing the known petrylle communities for potential witnesses, as well as a team to scope out all locations where the petrylle were taken from to ask people within the surrounding area if they heard or saw anything, and another team of people helping Maxim write everything up back here and be our information station.”
While everyone spoke up about what role they’d be interested in helping with, my heart felt like it was growing in size. We were doing it. We were actually doing it. Now that we’d picked our first cause, it felt like ORBIT was a real, tangible thing that could actually enact change.
Now we just needed to figure out what the hell was going on with the missing petrylle.
Chapter 14
Sirens and lightswhirled from the police station as I made my way inside. Now that the board had voted on what our first official case was, which involved figuring out why petrylle were disappearing without a trace, it felt to me that the job I’d been hired to do was finally at hand.
When I’d called my boss shortly after the vote, she’d been ecstatic that were moving forward with our first order of business. She was less excited when I’d told her about the missing petrylle.
“Please tell me you’re on that.” Cassandra Tate sighed.
I’d been working for Cassandra for my entire time I’d been elected into the House. Being Speaker Of The House meant that she’d been fundamental in making sure that ORBIT happened, and she’d recommended me for the freshly formed position of Director of Orb Affairs. While I’d never been on the receiving end of her ire, I didn’t want to start now.
“Absolutely, Madam Speaker,” I cleared my throat. “As soon as you give the okay, the board and I are already working on our next plans of action.”
“Good. I’ll make a call down to the station and get the bestofficer I can to work with you on this. Call me with updates whenever you have any.”
And that was how I’d winded up walking inside the closest police station. Cassandra had texted me after we got off the phone, telling me exactly who to ask for. She’d already had someone in mind and wanted us to have an officer assigned to the case of the missing petrylle so that it could be tended to asap.
I pushed through the front doors and made my way to the front desk. Before I could even open my mouth to tell the nice lady at the front desk why I was there, I heard a gruff “Watson,” thrown in my direction, my head whipping around until I found the culprit stalking toward me.
The man pounding his booted heels in my direction was a stocky man, built like an absolute tank and twice as terrifying. He kept his brown hair short and militaristic, which did nothing in softening his features. He was dirt and grit made human, a snarl seemingly to permanently paint his lips as his dark eyes found me. His dark skin glistened and made him harsh but beautiful in the unforgiving lighting the police station had to offer.
“Detective Hudson Rowe,” He held out his hand and I shook it more out of fear if I didn’t than out of politeness. “I’m the one assigned to the Orb case Cassandra called about. I recognize you from TV.”
More fear swelled within me at the fact that the detective was on a first name basis with my boss.
“Oh, well, nice to meet you, detective.” I tried to smile, but his refusal to do so made me swallow mine into the void. “I wish it were under better circumstances.”
“Likewise,” he scoffed. “My office is back here, follow me.”
Hudson Rowe led me down a dimly lit hallway, with interrogation rooms littering both sides. Once we reached the end of the hallway, we turned right to a more open office setting,like a general office cubical setup at a typical office job or some type of call center. His office was in the corner, which alleviated some of my anxiety. But when he gestured for me to sit down on the opposing side of his desk, my nerves returned to me like the long-lost other sock that never usually reappeared.
On his desk was a cute picture of him and a woman of a similar age to us with long flowing blonde hair, both the detective and the woman wearing mirrored smiles. I got the inclination that this might have been one of the only times he’d smiled in his life.
“You have a beautiful wife,” When he gave me a glare that told me he was caught off guard, I gestured to the photo but he snatched it off the desk and quickly pulled open a drawer and placed the picture frame inside. I added, “Ahh, ex-wife then? Sorry, but I get it. I’m divorced too.” I was hoping we could connect on some level and I could finally ease into some sort of comfortability.
“She wasn’t my ex-wife,” Hudson growled. “She died.”
Fucking hell, I was striking out repeatedly with this guy. “I’m so sorry—”
He held up a hand, but gave me the slightest nod that told me it was fine. “Let’s just talk about the case, Mr. Watson.”
Glad for the shift in topic, I took the opportunity to explain to him what had transpired within the petrylle community and what I had everyone working on to gather more details that would help us build a case.
When I was finished extracting every detail from my brain and delivering them to him with, if I did say so myself, expert precision, the great detective leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head.
“That’s it?”
“What do you mean?”
