“Thank you for the help, Jack.”, I said. He answers me right away; “Anytime. Just make sure to leave a good word in with the boss for me, would ya?”. The car immediately rides off into the distance. Jack is a simple man with a large, 215-centimeter-tall build. Many of our coworkers think that it’s comical how such a man can fit in a tiny Toyota iQ, but no one has the heart to actually make fun of him. He may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but our coworkers find it endearing.
Before I moved on, I took my time to check that everything was in place. My briefcase has everything I need, check. My clipboard has all the documents I need, check. My suit and skirt have no wrinkles or dirt, check. Gloves, check. My hair is tied up and secure, check. My watch tells me that the time is 8:55 A.M. Today is a good day.
“Alright then. Time to get to work.” I started walking through the industrial sector of Cairo, Illinois, passing by a number of warehouses. As expected, the area is rather deserted. Even industrial workers seem to get a break on Christmas. I presume it would’ve been amusing for most to see a woman in a corporate suit in a setting like this, but no one is here to see it. Soon enough, I arrived at my destination.
Facing me was O’leary Brothers Meat Processing and Distribution facility. It was a relatively large building, and it apparently takes in cattle from local farmers and delivers processed meat to local high-end restaurants. At the door was a single guard, who I proceeded to approach.
“Good day Ma’am. What can I do for you?” he asks, in what I believe to be a South African accent. “Good day to you too. My name is Sarah Riley, and I am here on behalf of the Food Safety and Inspection Service to conduct an inspection.” He gets up from his chair, puts down a book, and takes his phone out of pocket. “Give me one moment ma’am, I’ll call my supervisor and let him know.”
Soon enough, he seems to talk with someone on the phone, and after about two minutes, the guard closes his phone. “Well uh, I’m sorry but the owner isn’t available today and is on a business trip to the countryside. His daughter is here though and told me to inform you that she’s on her way. Will that be an issue? Also, since it’s Christmas and all, the facility isn’t active right now. Only the owner’s daughter is here to do some paperwork. Is that going to be a problem?” I shake my head politely, “No it won’t be. The inspection I am doing today is only for the equipment itself. The inspection for worker safety is conducted by another department.” The guard nods in understanding. “Young Mrs. O’leary is on her way. It takes about 5 minutes to get to the door from the office upstairs. Would you like to take my seat in the meantime?” I then declined his offer. I noticed a lack of security cameras, so I made a pointed inquiry about it. “Do you not have any CCTV cameras? Hopefully the owners did not cut corners with production equipment.” “Ah, they’re actually upgrading the cameras. They took the old ones off last week, and were supposed to install them two days ago, but the shipment carrying the new cameras got delayed until New Year’s Eve.” I nodded and remained quiet.
He must have found the silence to be awkward, judging by his expression, but he decided to remain quiet. I decided to ask him a question while we waited. “By the way, are you from South Africa? I couldn’t help but notice the accent.” He smiled with pride, and then some chagrin, then answered. “Yes, I am. I am actually a master’s student on a student visa. I intend to get my PhD here and go back to teach in Johannesburg. It is my hope to help develop education there. God knows we need it, ignorance and poverty continue to destroy South Africa. I believe education can help eliminate the two and set us on the course to recovery. In the meantime, I work part-time as a guard to earn some spending money for living expenses. If I am gonna sit around while studying then I might as well get paid for it.” He said, with a chuckle. Soon enough, the door opened, and I found a young lady waiting for me. She seemed to be in her late twenties.
“Good day inspector. Sorry to keep you waiting, please come in. I’ll give you a tour through our facility.” Smiling, I answered her. “Thank you Mrs. O’leary. We’ll be done soon enough and I’ll be on my way.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
As we toured the facility, I looked through the equipment and marked check-boxes on my clipboard. Eventually we arrived at the freezer. It was a large room behind a locked door filled with frozen processed meat. The locked door was made of thick stainless steel, with only a tiny glass pane to peek through. “Mrs. O’leary, when did you last have the freezer cleaned and disinfected?” A bit surprised, she responded. “I think my father kept it in his drawer. Give me a moment while I find it.” She then went on to walk upstairs. After she was gone, I opened the door to the freezer. I took a look inside. As expected, it was freezing cold. I found what I was looking for right away. There was a panel with a thermometer, fire alarm, and emergency door unlock button. I took a look around to see if I missed anything else, but nothing was there. Humming a soft tune, I set down my briefcase and opened it. I took out a hot glue gun. After setting the freezer to its coldest temperature settings, I liberally applied glue to all of the buttons to ensure that they’re no longer usable. I put the glue gun back in my briefcase, and took out duct tape, which I then put into my pocket. Satisfied with my work, I closed my briefcase and headed back to the door.
Soon enough, Mrs. O’leary arrived with the documents. “Sorry it took so long! I have the receipts with me… Are you alright Mrs.Riley?” She asked with a worried expression. I answered her, shivering slightly. “Don’t mind me. I took the liberty of inspecting the freezer, and everything seemed to comply with regulations. That said, I think that I accidentally changed the freezer’s temperature, but I couldn’t figure out how to return it to the previous settings. Could you hand me the receipts for review while you get the freezer functioning again?” Puzzled, she went inside to take a look. Once she was close enough to the panel, I closed the door behind her and used duct tape to keep the door handle closed. Seconds later, the door handle seemed to move slightly, but remained in place. Mrs. O’leary seemed to be saying something and knocking on the door. She was peering at me through the glass pane. I peered right back, my hands continuing to apply duct tape to the door handle. After a few seconds of the staring contest, she ran away to the panel. I quietly opened my briefcase once more and took out a pocket knife. Hopefully it won’t be needed. Eventually, she came back to the door and continued to knock on it. No alarms went off. The door remained tightly closed. I don’t know how much time passed, but Mrs. O’leary went from shouting, to crying and pleading, to whimpering, and eventually, I could no longer see her through the thin slit. The door seemed to quiet down.
“Alright then.” I said to myself. I put my duct tape and pocket knife back in my briefcase, and I took a walk back to the exit. “Have a good day, Inspector!” the guard said cordially. I smiled, and I answered. “You as well. I hope you have a wonderful week.” The guard smiled and went back to his seat and books.
After using a ride-sharing application to get home, I took out my phone to make a call. The phone rang for a short while, then the other side picked up. “Officer Singer, what can I do for you?” It doesn’t take long for me to get to the point. “Good afternoon, Jack. Come over to my address with the patrol car. You’re going on patrol with me today. I’ll tell you more when you arrive, I need to get in uniform. See you soon.” I ended the call and proceeded to change into my police uniform. Soon enough, I heard my doorbell ring. At the door was Officer Jack. “Good afternoon, Ashley. Where are we going today?” Jack greets me the same way he always does. “We’re going on patrol through the industrial sector today. Something tells me we’re going to find a young black man we suspect of trespassing and theft waiting for accomplices at the door of a particular meat processing facility. Of course, given that we have reasonable suspicion that a theft is taking place, we can enter the facility. There, we will be searching for the thief’s accomplices after his arrest and come across a dead body. And of course, we’ll be unfortunate enough to have our body cams turned off during the whole thing.”
Jack laughed and then smiled knowingly, his hands on his handgun. A Punisher sticker is visible on it, next to the words “YOU’RE FUCKED”. “This is a good day. Catching a murderer will do wonders for our career. Probably a raise and maybe even a promotion. We could even be on the news channel today! And best of all, we get to put an uppity ni-”. “Officer Jack. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Now get in the car so we do our jobs today.” He smiled and walked to the car. Before I followed, I took my time to check that everything was in place. My handgun and handcuffs are in place, check. My uniform is tidy, check. My body cam is off, check. My watch tells me that the time is 11:27 A.M. Today is a good day.