Tattered Blankets and Mending Hearts Part 6
Officer Shiro calls Coran to let him know that the cameras they set up caught a teenager picking up the belongings from behind the cafe. He goes on to explain that something just didn’t feel right about the situation so he and Keith would like to keep the cameras there for a few more days to try and catch anymore activity to help them make sense of what is going on.
Coran agrees and goes back to the duties that come with owning a cafe. He goes about his day wondering if the suspicion he has about the belongings is true or not. He has a sinking feeling it is true but he hopes that it isn’t. This is one of the few instances where he doesn’t want to be right.
Shiro waits until the end of the work day before packing up his belongings and heading over to Keith’s office across the hall. He knocks on the door but doesn’t wait for an answer, instead he steps into the room and shuts the door behind him. He waits for Keith to finish filling out whatever paperwork he’s doing before speaking.
“Come on, we‘re gonna do a short patrol around town. I think I might have an idea of what’s going on at Coran’s cafe but I wanna see if we can find any solid leads.” Shiro says and leans against the wall as he waits for Keith to get ready to leave.
Keith sets his document down and packs up his stuff so that he can head home straight from their mini investigation. He stands up and slings his bag across his shoulder as he walks toward the door. He snags the keys to the squad car on the way out.
“Fine, but I’m driving this time.” He states simply as Shiro falls into step behind him. He holds the door open for his partner as they exit the building and they both slip into the car with practiced ease.
“Where to first?” Keith asks as he fits the key into the ignition and gives it a short twist to bring the engine to life. He looks over at Shiro for a response before putting the car into reverse and easily backing out of their spot.
“Just drive towards Coran’s shop, but slowly. I want to check out the area and see if we can find any clues as to what’s going on around here.” Shiro explains and looks out the window as Keith takes a new way to Coran’s cafe so that they could cover more of the area around it.
The pair is slowly cruising past a skate shop, only three streets over from Coran’s cafe, when Shiro spots a familiar face. The teen who had been caught taking the bag from behind Coran’s cafe has just stepped out of the skate shop and is walking down the sidewalk the opposite direction of where Keith is driving.
“Keith, stop the car! Pull over! That’s the kid from the surveillance video. He might have a clue as to what is actually going on here.” Shiro says and slaps his hand on the dash board to emphasize the necessity of Keith stopping the car at that exact moment.
Shiro receives an unimpressed look for his childlike action but Keith pulls the squad car over nonetheless. Before Keith can even shut the engine off, Shiro has already propelled himself out of the car and is jogging after the teen he spotted moments ago.
“Hey kid! I need to talk to you for a sec!” Shiro calls out to the teen when he’s only a few footfalls behind him. The kid turns his head and goes pale when he sees a cop running towards him but doesn’t turn around and run like Shiro had expected him to. Instead, the teen turns around fully and looks up at Shiro.
“Sir, I’m pretty sure that I haven’t done anything illegal in my life. What do you want to talk to me for?” The teen asks, a look of confusion and a bit of nervousness stretches its way across his acne prone face.
The teen’s face scrunches up in confusion as he realizes what the officer is talking about. “Yeah, I did take the bags from behind that coffee place but I didn’t sell any of it and I swear i wasn’t stealing. At least I don’t think I was… Some guy came and found my friend and I at the park we skate at. He said he heard that we live for a good dare and challenged us to get the stuff from behind the cafe without getting caught. Guess we got caught.” He shrugs and stuffs his hands into his pockets.
“I gave the stuff to the guy on that corner over there,” He gestures to the corner, “he promised us a coffee on the house so my guess is that he works there.” He looks up at Shiro nervously. “Listen, sir, I wasn’t trying to do anything bad. I never back down from dares, is all. I’m not going to jail right?” He asks.
Shiro shakes his head and takes out a pad of paper to take notes on but has a feeling that he won’t actually be needing it. “Could you describe the guy who asked you to grab the belongings from behind the store?” Shiro requests as a formality of his job. He sighs sndmpickets the pad of paper when the teen perfectly describes a certain blue eyed worker at Coran’s shop. “Thanks for your help.” Shiro says and heads back over to the squad car which Keith has just managed to park.
Shiro pops his door open and easily slides into the passenger seat. “The kid said he took the stuff from behind the shop on a dare. Lance was the one who dared him.” He explains while turning to look at his partner. “Lets go to the cafe, I think we need to ask Lance a few questions.” He sighs.
Keith nods but his dark eyebrows are furrowed because of the thoughts running through his mind. They could both guess Lance’s motives for leaving his belongings behind Coran’s shop and neither of them liked what that instilled for the Cuban.
Keith starts up the car once again and drives toward the cafe. Neither of them knowing that Lance is sleeping on a park bench in the park they’d already passed on their way from the police station to the skate shop where they’d caught the teen from the video.
Keith parks the car in front of the cafe and walks in behind his partner. Blocks away, Lance pulls a tattered blanket closer to himself to try and shield himself from the wind blowing through the park that’s become his makeshift home.
((So this is super duper late and I’m sorry! Good news is I have a long weekend this week and I’m planning to finish the next chapter this weekend!))
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