vices and blurred lines ft. @zeldavc
Patience was not a virtue Briar had been blessed with in this life, nor was hiding that fact. If there was one thing — who was he kidding? There were countless things — that rubbed him the wrong way, it was being interrupted when he was deep in thought. His former captain didn't even bother to wait for an invitation after knocking before entering his office to find Briar looming over his desk, his hands on his hips as he scrutinized the pages from his latest case file that were strewn over the wooden surface. Briar may not have admonished the intrusion with words, but the glare he cast towards him was almost murderous enough to deserve an indictment.
"Someone better be dead or dying." The irascible detective grumbled flatly and moved to cross his arms over his chest, but the captain seemed no more perturbed by the annoyed display than a parent ignoring their child's temper tantrum. And, truthfully, that's all it was. The man had known Briar for nearly eleven years now and had learned that the attempts to ward him off were merely superficial. Or perhaps it was that Briar had learned that his stubborn friend wasn't as easily chased away.
"So a patrol officer just picked up our old friend Zelda at 14th and Park and is bringing her in now. Someone else can deal with it, but I know you used to be on her case before you took this position." The captain explained matter-of-factly, as if he didn't bloody well know this was the equivalent of an expert fisherman casting an intricately designed lure. It had been over a year and a half, well before he'd taken the promotion to detective, since they last had the pleasure of apprehending Zelda. There was no telling what she had been up to in all that time and the possibility of finding out was bait that Briar had no choice but to bite. "We could use someone who knows her game. Otherwise it'll just be a wash."
"As if it wasn't a wash before." Briar scoffed, not too proud to admit that their prior attempts interrogating Zelda hadn't panned out at all like they'd wanted. Then again, if the scum of the world simply rolled over with gentle prodding, the cops wouldn't exactly have the greatest job security, now would they? So he supposed he had Zelda and her iniquitous colleagues to thank for that. Grabbing the beige blazer draped over the back of his chair with a resigned sigh, Briar tried his best to ignore the smug grin that played across the captain's features as he wrestled it on.
Hook, line, and sinker.
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After arranging with his devious friend that he was definitely treating him for drinks that night, Briar made his way to the interrogation room where he knew Zelda was being held. Normally someone in his position wouldn't be wasting their time interviewing anyone booked on something as weak as prostitution charges unless it was pertinent to a bigger investigation, but Zelda... She was unfinished business from his lowly days as a beat cop and the perfectionist in him deeply wanted to tie up those loose ends.
The badge on the lanyard hanging around his neck prompted a soft beep from the sensor when Briar swiped it and the bolt on the door clicked back into its hollow, letting him pass through into the room that was no bigger than a modest closet. A table and two chairs were somehow squeezed in between four white, windowless brick walls, so it was near to impossible for his eyes not to immediately be drawn to the striking woman who completed the scene.
"Well, look who it is." Briar jeered tauntingly as if their meeting was pure happenstance, but they both knew better. He unceremoniously placed two bottles of water on the table before he sunk down into the chair, regarding her with an amused quirk of his lips. "We really should stop meeting like this, don't you think? You don't call, you don't text. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were avoiding me."