Chapter four

     Detective Edward Briggs was a rather unique character in the Andromeda police force. He was one of the very few African American officers in the whole city and one of only three African Americans to be promoted to detective.

    Not only that but he also managed to do all this without getting his hands dirty in the dirty politics of Andromeda city. He wasn't known to be affiliated with any of the groups that run rampant in the city, he never accepted bribes and executed his job flawlessly. His record was not only exemplary but also absolutely spotless which placed him in a rather interesting position inside of the police force.

     There was no such thing as a good cop in Andromeda. All of the policemen were working for one group or another and everybody was aware of who everybody else worked for except for Detective Briggs. He was completely clean, so clean that there weren't even any rumors about him. Everybody in the police force knew where their allegiances lie so alliances and enemities were formed accordingly but nobody knew how to treat Briggs. 

     Nobody actually believed that he was just an honest hardworking man, something that was rarer in Andromeda than unicorns, nobody was really that perfect so that led people to believe that he was backed by a group so powerful that he was always able to come out of any situation smelling like roses. Andromeda city has many powerful groups whose names are famous but it also had groups whose names are only whispers in the night, groups who only operate in the shadows. Everybody believed that Briggs was in one of these organizations so all the different factions treated him with respect and more than just a little bit of fear. Even his superiors didn't dare to give him trouble. Everybody treated him like a bomb that could go off at any second or like a poisonous viper that could strike at anytime except for one person, Ms. Jillian Reed.

     Briggs had worked with Ms. Reed a couple of times, in fact he was the one who arrested Bruce Macalister. He thought that she was an interesting blend of timid and courageous. He had worked with her enough times to know that she never broke any rules and never stepped a toe out of line which indicated that she had a timid personality but when it comes to her work, she was completely fearless. It was actually a little awe inspiring. Jillian never hesitated to take a case, she didn't give a damn about connections or identities, give her enough evidence and she would prosecute God.

     She also never treated Briggs any differently than she treated any of the other cops. She was always formal and a little cold but at least she never treated him like he was radioactive. He didn't know if she heard the rumors about him or not but she acted like she didn't and that made him secretly grateful towards her. Overall he had a very good impression of her and thought that she was good people so when he heard about the death of the two officers that were supposed to be protecting her, he was worried that something bad had happened to her. The timid little lady was one of the few people he liked and the whole situation made him uneasy so when Briggs ran into Jillian , he was relieved that she was still alive but after a second the relief was replaced by shock and worry as he noticed the state she was in. Her pretty face had been mangled beyond belief. She had bruises all over her face and neck and she had small cuts that looked less than a day old. After Briggs had accidentally knocked her down, the cuts on her lips had reopened and she had started to bleed. Briggs immediately forgot about the file he was reading and knelt down besides Jillian whose face he could barely recognize.

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     "Jillian, is that you? What the hell happened to you ? Jesus, if I had known you were in such a bad shape, I wouldn't have asked you to come."

     "I'm fine detective. It was just a little tumble, nothing to be worried about."

     Briggs looked at her incredulously, "Jillian, I'm not talking about the fall you just had. I'm talking about all of your other injuries."

     Jillian looked confused and tilted her head quizzically,"What injuries?"

     Briggs looked closely at Jillian's green eyes and noticed that they were somewhat unfocused and slightly dilated. He started to fear that she was suffering from some sort of brain trauma. He carefully helped her up and started to lead her back the way she came.

     Briggs's actions surprised Jillian since she knew that his office was in the opposite direction, "What are you doing detective? Your office is that way and you left the file you were holding on the floor."

     "The file can wait, I'm taking you to the hospital."

     "What? Why?"

     "Jillian, you are covered in cuts and bruises, you look like you have been badly beaten up, and the fact that you haven't even noticed your own condition means that you might have a head injury."

     Jillian was shocked when she heard what Briggs said but slowly she started to notice that her mind wasn't quite focused. She felt like she was seeing the world from a slightly different perspective. It was hard to put in words but it was as if everything was somewhat tilted but not tilted at the same time. That combined with the fact that she could not remember what had happened the previous night finally made her believe Briggs and she listlessly followed him to his car.