Coal Mine Street Police House

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright didn't like that 'we'. That implied he'd have to do stuff. He didn't want to have to do that. He was better out on the streets. Inside, he didn't know what to do.

"We...we..." He was obviously trying to say something he didn't want to say. "We used to contact the Circle." He trailed off, obviously not happy about saying it. "Ahem. But we're doing things differently now, right!?" Well, he might as well give this optimism thing a go.

The Circle were usually good at sorting out what happened to the criminals next, back in the old days, when the police had been able to do its job. But these days, the Force had fallen so far it'd been quite a while since they'd been in contact. Plus, Wright really didn't like them...

"So, let's make some phone calls!" It was pretty obvious that 'let's', despite all conventions of grammar, didn't mean 'let us', but 'let you'.

[Eleri Mortymer]

"Ah..." Eleri nodded. She had come to understand very quickly the relationship between the Circle and the Police.

The sudden change in Wright's attitude made her blink. Maybe he's a happy drunk... she thought. It still suprised her a little.

"Yes, sir!" She said heartily, picking up the phone book and flipping through it. She found the number of a court, and turned the corner over on the page.

"Uhm... where's the phone, sir?" She asked.

[Nicholas Wright]

Of course, the only reason Wright was actually being cheerful was because the police were doing something useful, and they were doing it without involving the Circle. If anything would cheer him up, it was pulling one over the Circle.

He paused.
"Damn." He said to himself. "I swear, I saw it just the other day..." He started to look around his desk, moving bottles and stacks (and stacks, and stacks) of old paper work that must have been there since the beginning of time. He decided to work out just when the 'other day' had been. "I saw it...hang on, let me think...we'd just got in from my promotion party...and we ordered some food...yeah, I saw it then......so that was..."

He did some maths on his fingers.

"Ten years ago." He concluded. Even to Wright's alcohol slammed brain, this was quite a while.

He looked around the room one more time, just seeing piles of junk.

"Don't you have a mobile?" He asked helplessly.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri gave hiim a disapproving look and sighed. There should be a law against treating new recruits like this.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a black flip-phone. Checking the number in the book, she dialled and waited. After a couple of rings, somebody picked up.

"Hello, I'm calling from the Edgehaven Police Department, we have a couple of criminals here and I was wondering..." She began.

"They hung up on me!" She said indignantly, closing the phone.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright stayed perfectly straight faced. He made a mental note.

You could guarantee that he'd burst into laughter later.

He gestured for Eleri to pass him the phone, and took it. He fiddled with it for a bit, trying to find a redial button, realised he had it upside down, finally found it, and phoned back.

"Hello." He said in a fake, deep, overly macho voice. "This is Commander Austin Darkora of the Circle." He waited patiently as the reply came. "Yes, you see, my men were out fighting crime, and you know, being generally awesome, and we-" He paused. "-What do you mean? I talk like this all time. Anyway, we, you know, captured some evil doers, for justice! And puppies! And stuff! Anyway, we're far too busy saving the universe to find anywhere to keep them, so we've left them with the EHPD for the moment, and was wondering if you could pick them up. Thanks!"

He hung up the phone and tossed it back to Eleri.

[Austin]

((*rofl*))

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri caught her phone and put it away, trying not to laugh.

"Sir, that was dispicable." She said, smiling. "You know you'll have to tell them the truth eventually, don't you?"

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright looked shocked at this information. He gave Eleri a startled stare.
"I will?" He asked. "Really?" There was a certain hopeful innocence to how he asked. He had just made up a new trick, and he'd be damned if he was going to tell the b*****s on the other end of the phone the truth any time soon.

"Look, okay, I'll make a deal. Every time you get to try first. And every time someone hangs up on us-" And it would be a lot, given their reputation, "-then I get to make the call."

"Besides," He said, half straightening his uniform with pride (which somehow only made it more creased), "I thought it was clever."

[Eleri Mortymer]

"Yes." Eleri replied firmly. "You're the captain of the police, you can't go around lying to people."

Although...it did get us somewhere... She admitted to herself.

"Alright." She said, considering the deal. "If you put up the money for the calls. Calling landlines off this thing is expensive."

She had to admit, Wright's way worked. And it would probably work for quite a while.

But... She thought, Sooner or later people are going to have to start taking notice of the EHPD again.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright seemed to sulk at this revelation at first. He was the captain of the police, surely it was the exact kind of thing he could do.

"Okay, okay." He agreed. "Besides, give me a few days-" He paused for correction. "-weeks. And a few people. Urm, better make that a reinforced exploration force with full equipment..." He added looking around the place. "...and I might be able to find the phone." He made sure to use 'might'. It wasn't a promise.

"Well, I don't wanna wait here for a bunch of lawyers to turn up. Nolan can handle that." Wright decided. "So, c'mon." He wondered out of the door.

At least 90% of Wright's time on the job was spent patrolling. That way, he got to at least feel like he was doing something, rather than just laze around the office, being depressed. Besides, the feel good aspect of the previous events was wearing off, and he wasn't in the state to weather another Look (and so avoided another drink), and decided this was a good solution...

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri stood up and followed Wright to the door.

"Hold on a minute, sir! She called. She ran back into the station and into the room she'd left her clothes in. Nolan hadn't moved them. She grabbed her jacket from the pile and left the station.

"Where to then, sir?" She asked.

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright smirked at this.
"Usual patrol route." He told her. "Just follow me. You'll pick it up soon."

It occured to Wright that the 'usual' patrol route actually involved the places least likely to encounter trouble. Maybe he should avoid that.

"But I can show you the pub!" He added optimistically. He felt The Look before it even came. "Hey, the pub is a legimite source of information..." He tried to argue.

He was convincing nobody.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri raised an eyebrow and gave Wright the Look he felt.

"The pub, sir, should be the last place you visit, not the first. It might be a good source of information, but it should also not be somewhere you visit on duty."

She thought for a moment. "On the subject, sir, how long does a shift last, roughly?"

[Nicholas Wright]

Wright paused to consider this. Shifts ended? Wright might not have been a good copper, but he was a true copper, through and through. He was always on duty. It helped (in a sense) that he basically lived in the police house (it was better than his home).

"Urm...never?" He tried. He realised that this was not a good answer to give an employee. "Okay, okay, you work 9-5." He answered. It didn't matter, he decided. He could sense that Eleri was going to be like him. Finishing at 5 wasn't going to keep her off the job.

Being a policeman wasn't a job, it was a lifestyle choice. Even with the current state of things, the one thing you could say for Wright was that he never gave up on his job.

[Eleri Mortymer]

Eleri smiled.

"Never sounds about right, sir." She thought for a second.

"In that case, you might want my contact details, just in case you need me..." she said. She was about to add "I'm suprised you didn't ask for them to start with", but realised that she wasn't suprised at all.

She fished in her jacket pocket and found a bit of paper and the pen she'd used earlier. She wrote down her address and mobile number and handed it to Wright.

"That's pretty much where you'll find me when I'm not in the station, sir." She told him. "Or out on patrol, of course."