23

“It’s called good cop, bad cop,” Conway explained. “You think you boys are up for it?”

“Wot, like one of one acts like a div and the other like proper sharp?” Wally asked.

“No, not quite.” Conway said patiently.

It had been over an hour since they had brought Ty in. Conway said they were leaving him to sweat. Sarpele had disappeared to remove his disguise and ‘decompress’. Since Timmy had technically caught the drug dealer, Sarpele said it was only right he should be able to interrogate him. Neither Timmy nor Wally had ever interrogated a suspect before, so Conway was giving them the crash course.

“You want to gain the perp’s trust,” Conway said, leaning back in his chair. “The only way you can get a criminal to trust a cop is by comparison.”

“To wot?” Wally asked.

“To a bad cop, a real nasty piece of work. You wanna really turn the screws on the perp, threaten him, and degrade him the whole way. Then when the other copper is friendly and polite and talks about wanting to help the perp out, he’s gonna trust him and want to deal with him rather than the bad cop.”

“Oh right,” Wally said, nodding along.

“You think you can do that, Tim?” Conway asked.

Timmy was only half listening. The other half of his focus was on trying not to fall off his chair. He had been given a cold stone and some painkillers when he returned to the precinct. His stomach hurt fiercely and his ears wouldn't stop ringing. His focus kept fading in and out of the room. His back was also starting to stiffen, and his neck had lost the ability to turn.

“Ermm… yeah okay,” Timmy said.

“You’ll be fine, Tim.” Wally said. “Bein’ the good cop will be easy for you.”

“No,” Conway said. “Timmy will have to be the bad cop.”

“Me? Why?” Timmy said.

“Because you near knocked the fella out and you put the cuffs on him. He ain’t gonna trust you.”

“Yeah, that’s fair enough,” Wally agreed.

“But I’m no good at acting hard,” Timmy said.

“Well you’re gonna have to figure it out.”

“Can’t Sarpele do it? He’s really good at acting.”

“No. Sarpele is our undercover man, I don’t want any criminals spending too much time looking at him. He’s more valuable to us on the street.’

Timmy sighed and slumped in his seat.

“You can do this, Tim.” Wally said encouragingly. “He’s probably already brickin’ it.”

“He’s looking at at least 10% down BlackWater for dealing. If we can get him on assaulting an officer, then it’ll be 25%. These little punks can't stand up under those sorts of numbers. If he rolls over, we can reduce his sentence. But we need a big fish. No one selling a brick here or there. We need the wholesaler.” Conway said, jabbing his long, gnarled finger on the desk. “We need to start making some big arrests.”

“Yessir,” Wally said.

“Understood.” Timmy murmured.

“Good. Now come on.” Conway led them out of his office and down the hall to the interrogation room. "Remember, I’ll be right on the other side of the glass. Wally, you let Timmy lead at the beginning, when you feel like Tim’s taken it too far, you pull him back. Send him to get a coffee or something, and then you play the nice guy. Understood?”

“Understood.” They chorused.

As they made to leave the office, Conway grabbed Timmy’s arm.

“Don’t be afraid to get rough with him.”

“Yessir,” Timmy squeaked.

They walked out of the office and Timmy’s legs felt like jelly. He was already starting to sweat.

“You got this Tim,” Wally whispered to him. “You just gotta be a ‘orrible bastard. Alright? Just think about all them bastards wot made fun of you and terrorised you at school and stuff.”

Timmy nodded and then twisted the doorknob. Ty was sitting slumped in his chair with a frown on his face. He seemed more bored than scared. He looked up and grinned as Timmy lumbered into the room.

“What? They sent the fat little piglet to…”

Timmy tore across the room and slammed the clipboard he was holding into Ty’s face. He had caught himself by surprise. The adrenaline and likely concussion made his brain slow and gelatinous, so his body had taken over. Ty tumbled backwards over his chair and landed with a thump.

“What the fuck!” he cried out .

Timmy blinked and looked down at Ty. Well... since he was there already, Timmy started to put the boots to him.

“Tim!” Wally yelled as he ran around the table and tried to pull Timmy back.

“You fucking pigs!” Ty snarled and spat at Wally.

“Did 'e just spit on me?” Wally cried out, turning around and kicking Ty in the face. "You 'orrible little..."

Timmy shoved Wally out of the way to get his own kicks in. Before long, both young officers had surrounded the drug dealer and were profoundly kicking shit out of him.

*

Conway kneaded his brow with his knuckle.

“What was that?” he asked.

Timmy and Wally stood sheepishly in front of him, looking down at the floor. Ty was in the next room being examined by the precinct’s nurse. He had a swollen eye, a fat lip, and a fresh cut on his forehead from where the clipboard had hit him.

“I was being the bad cop,” Timmy muttered.

“You were supposed to interrogate him first!” Conway said, throwing his hands up. “And you?” he said to Wally.

“‘E spat on me,” Wally said sullenly.

"And called us pigs," Timmy added.

"An' called us pigs," Wally said.

“Of course he did! Your mate smacked him in the mouth with a clipboard before you even asked a question!”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Sorry,” Timmy said. “I guess I got carried away.”

“No, it’s my fault for sending in two rookies.”

“Give us another go, Conway! We’ll do it right this time!” Wally pleaded.

“No. I’ll take care of it. You two just watch and try and learn something.”

Conway took a deep breath, scratched his stubbly beard, muttered under his breath, and then walked out of the room.

“We really cocked that one up,” Wally said miserably.

“Yeah.” Timmy said, sitting down before his legs gave way underneath him.

*

Conway pushed the door open with his shoulder.

“We good here?” he asked the nurse.

“He’ll live,” she said, standing up and collecting her things before walking out.

Conway pulled out his chair and sat down while Ty glared at him.

“You come to have a pop too, old man?” Ty growled at him.

“Naa, I’ve had a lifetime of grazing my knuckles on punks like you. Besides, it looks like my boys did a number on you anyway.”

“Yeah? Uncuff me and send those little pricks in here again, and we’ll see what’s what.”

“Didn’t you already have your chance, and you turned and ran, leaving your mates behind?”

Ty shifted in his seat and frowned at Conway.

“Listen son, I’ve taken shits tougher than you, let’s drop the act and put the numbers on the table.”

“What numbers?” Ty growled.

“10% for possession with intent. Another 5% for possession of a deadly weapon. And another 10% for assaulting a police officer. If I can get the use of a deadly weapon against a police officer to stick, you’ll be looking at attempted murder. That’s 50%.”

Ty’s jaw clenched, but Conway saw the fear in his eyes. These young punks were always the easiest to rattle when big numbers started getting thrown around.

“That’s bullshit! My lawyer would never let you get away with that!” Ty said hotly.

“Oh, you got a lawyer?” Conway said offhandedly.

“Yeah… of course.”

“What’s his name?” Conway asked. “I’ll get a comm scroll out to him, and we’ll get him here ASAP.”

Ty licked his lips and then shrugged.

“I’ll get one.”

“Good. You’ll need one. And I hope you sold a lot of Burn ‘coz those lawyers are expensive. A case like this, with this many serious charges,” Conway whistled through his teeth. “Could take months. Especially if my officers are too busy to appear in court. We could stretch this for years. And every time your lawyer comes to court, he’ll be charging you. Then of course, if you don’t win, you’ll be bankrupt and doing the big stretch anyway. BlackWater’s not a place you wanna go if you're penniless. Trust me.”

Ty shifted in his seat, licking his swollen lips, sweat beginning to bead down his forehead.

“Hey listen,” Conway said, closing the file and putting his hands on the desk, palm up. “You’re just a kid. A big fucker, but just a kid. I don’t wanna see you do 25 years in the bang up. For what? For slingin’ a bit of burn, tryna feed yourself? And I’m sure you didn’t know who my officers were when you took a shot at them.”

“I didn’t!” Ty said quickly. “I just thought they was junkies tryna pull a scam! I wouldn't have shot them if I'd known!”

“Exactly. But… you’ve just admitted to a Lieutenant and three witnesses behind that glass that you did in fact take a shot at them.”

Ty’s eyes grew wide, and his lips spasmed as if trying to find the words to wriggle out of it.

“So, whether you knew or not, you’ve tried to kill an active policer in the line of carrying out his duty. That’s a serious charge. You won’t find any leniency in the courts for tryna kill a cop.”

“But I didn’t…”

“They won’t care. And I have a duty to report your confession.”

“But I didn’t mean to…”

“I know, kid. Life’s rough and it’s probably been shit for you up to this point. I can’t imagine anyone who’s lived a good life ends up in the RatHoles slingin’ Burn. How old are you? Twenty?”

“Nineteen,” Ty rasped, his mouth dry.

“Nineteen? And now you’re gonna do twenty five in BlackWater?” Conway sighed and sat back. “You’ll be 44 when you see the cobbles again, if you ever get out.”

“Wait. No. Isn’t there… isn’t there something you can do?” Ty said, leaning forward, desperation in his eyes. “I won’t do it again! I swear. I’ll go straight. I promise!”

Conway mulled over this, running his tongue around his mouth.

“I mean you saw my officers,” Conway said. “They’re pissed. The big one would have done you in right here if we hadn’t stopped him. Getting shot at in the line of duty ain’t something any copper takes lightly.”

“I didn’t know!” Ty pleaded.

“I don’t know what I can do for you, kid. I’m sorry.”

“I’ve got information!” Ty said suddenly.

Conway looked at him in mock surprise.

“You do?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I can tell you lots of shit that happens on the streets! I know a bunch of shit!”

“I’ll be honest, Tylos, is it?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be honest, Tylos, I'm not interested in street shit. And with your charges, the prosecutor’s office ain’t gonna be interested in a couple little punks going away. I’m sorry, but you’re just not a big enough fish to cut a deal.”

“But I know… I know who the big fish is,” Ty said, almost reaching across the table in desperation.

“You do?” Again Conway put on a mock surprised voice. “I'm not interested in some little hood slinging the odd block here and there. I need the wholesaler.”

“The wholesaler.” Ty swallowed and sat back.

“But I don’t expect a small timer like yourself to even know who that is,” Conway said flippantly.

He pushed his chair back and collected his folder.

“Wait!” Ty held up a hand and then looked around the room. He hesitated and Conway made for the door. “I know who it is!”

“You have a name?”

Ty nodded and Conway sat back down.

“But you have to promise me I won’t do any time,” Ty said.

“That I can’t guarantee,” Conway said. "But I can get the attempt murder charges dropped and you’ll be charged with possession with intent. It’s the best deal on the table.”

“Will I have to testify?”

“No. I just need a name and a location. We’ll do the rest.”

“So no one will know?’

“Just our little secret.”

Ty wiped sweat from his bald head.

“Gnomes,” Ty whispered. “Gnommish Triad supplies all the Burn.”

Conway snorted and stood up.

"Yeah, thanks for that. Everyone and their mum knows it’s the Triad.”

“Wait!”

“You got a name?”

“Tiko.”

Conway looked at him and then at the mirror.

“Tiko?”

“Yeah. He’s a high ranking Triad.”

“What’s he look like?”

“I dunno, like a fuckin’ Gnome! Wait! He’s umm… he’s a little dude with purple hair… and umm… he’s got a tattoo under his ear.”

“What tattoo?”

“Shit… I dunno. I never seen him up that close! Umm… I think it’s like a pair of hands or wings maybe?”

“Black wings?”

“Yeah. Yeah… I think so.”

Conway jotted down this information.

“You know where this Tiko can be found?”

“Not really. I swear! We don’t deal with Tiko directly. No one does. It’s all just workers and stuff. I know that he runs a restaurant in Little Kang but I don’t know which one.”

Conway thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Thank you Tylos, you’ve been most helpful.” Conway stood up and nodded to the officer standing in the corner. “Get him down to booking and charge him with possession with intent.”

“Thank you!” Ty said, breathing as if he’d just run a race.

Conway turned a cold eye on him.

“Don’t thank me too quickly lad. Even a few years in Black Water is a rough ride. I’d seriously consider getting out of this game, you ain’t built for it.”

Conway opened the door and walked out and straight into the adjoining room where Timmy and Wally had been watching.

“That was amazin’!” Wally said. “‘Ow did you do that? He volunteered to snitch!”

“Good cop, bad cop,” Conway said. “That kid didn’t have the stones to do the time. They rarely do. That’s the problem with drug dealers, they want the easy money, but they can never do the hard time.”

“But like you mind controlled him!” Wally said enthusiastically. “‘E was like one of them puppets on a string! Can you teach us to do that?”

“You’ll learn,” Conway said, looking around. “Where’s Timmy?”

“Think e’s ‘aving a lie down. ‘E’s a bit banged up.”

“Well it’ll be a short nap. I’m gonna run this information through the force. See if anyone knows of this Tiko fella. If we can get a lock on his location, I’m gonna need all hands on deck for surveillance. Might even be a bit of infiltration involved.”

“I’ll go wake ‘im up, sir!” Wally said.

“Naa, let him sleep for a bit. Come on, I’ll buy you something to eat. You must be starving.”

“Thanks!”

“And after that, we track down this Tiko and anyone that’s doing business with him. They're all gonna be swinging from the hangman's noose once we catch them.”