Eight:

Penny was shocked at the results as she finally received a search hit on the frames of CCTV several blocks up from the shooting site. She noticed a very solemn-looking woman who appeared close enough to her own age range. What made this particular dame stand out to Penny, was the ease and comfort with which she strode down the mob-ruled block.

She was modestly dressed and athletically built. What also caught her eye was when she turned to cross the street, Penny captured sight of her holster on her hip. While she could not be sure beyond doubts, since the woman was not seen again before entering the block of the shooting, Penny knew in her gut this was the one.

“Holy mother of Judas!”

Sargent Sara Hankins exclaimed, and she whistled over Penny’s shoulder.

“Well, that certainly explains a few things. Like how the fuck a broad made that shot from so far off and kept cover the entire time. She’s a former homicide detective, and the winner of several sharp-shooting awards.”

Sara explained, she noted the extreme edge of hostility in her tone.

“Boss, is she someone you know? I need to speak to her.”

Sara snorted and said, “I know her, know she went to IA and ratted out her colleagues. You don’t want to go anywhere near that filthy scum-sucking rat! Oh well, at least she’s on Marc’s hit list now. No way he’s going to let this go, even if it means locking horns with Gina.”

Sargent Hankins said, and Penny’s curious mind was ablaze now with the conundrum before her.

“Well, I need to pull her file.”

Penny said, insistent on seeing this through. Hankins’ voice cut like a whip and she asserted, “You back off this investigation, now! You’re just a boot, a rookie, you don’t need to involve yourself in this. Leave it to the suits with a higher pay-grade.”

She roared like a lion, and Penny almost clenched at how fierce Sara’s tone had turned. She had been working under the patrol Sargent since her first day and Sara Hankins had been nothing but kind respectful and supportive, and she had been a sturdy shoulder for other females in the department to cry on if needed. She had a reputation for being the resident alpha female in the hen house. Even if Penny had been threatened with a charge and a suspension, she couldn’t possibly let this go now! Not when every instinct and every fiber of her being was screaming to her that something was truly rotten here!

“Received and understood, boss.”

She said, and she logged off the terminal, and she pulled together her files on the details of the case. Now she understood some of why the shooter had not come forward, mainly because there is some old beef between her and other officers. Penny could imagine this was a case of Regina Giles, former homicide detective, being too worried about getting jammed up by the blue wall. Even a rookie knew such things happened.

“Where are you off to?”

Hankins demanded of her in an assertive tone. Penny blinked and said, “Going home, I’m done now. Ex-cop, no need to go dredging her up.”

She lied smoothly, and Sara said, “Don’t make her sound so noble and heroic. She’s gutter slime and you should forget you ever heard her name!”

Yep, a great way to make me never forget, go-ahead lady!

Penny thought to herself, as she shrugged it off and strode out the computer room. She had not technically been cleared to return to shift yet anyway, so she had days of furlough ahead of her. Why not use them wisely, like tracking down this rogue detective and maybe getting her to take on this whole mob situation. Penny had been kept in the station under guard since the incident. She was not dumb enough to dismiss the clear and present danger she was in, but her gut told her she needed to speak to this detective turned PI. Not to mention, she needed to look the shooter who saved her life in the eyes. There was something about this situation that sat badly with Penny with the woman who saved her skulking off into the shadows.

She had always believed injustice, and in the system, despite the many shortcomings. However, since her arrival in Peckford, she’s only seen the gritty and ugly side of justice. Here, she was a marked woman for doing her duty and shooting a robber and would-be sex trafficker. In Peckford, she was assisted by a vigilante ex-cop who then fled the scene. Part of Penny was deeply unsettled since she knew the right thing to do was to bring in her savior, but she also realized now just how convoluted the situation must be for this former detective.

She was tormented of the soul now. That did not mean she would not track down this Regina Giles, and demand answers as well as a formal statement of her. Ultimately, she was going to be forced to bring this case to the DA and let him decide who was charged with what crime.

As she walked from the precinct building, Penny felt many eyes on her. As she entered the parking structure, she walked over to her car and sagged in relief as she was finally out of direct scrutiny for the first time in so many hours. Penny felt a new level of sympathy for the ants and other insects put under intense surveillance by scientists in domiciles studying their every action and behavior. Even with the seeming concern for her safety, no one seemed to wish to do more than stare at Penny. No one wanted to be put into the direct path of whatever reprisal she was about to receive. Penny just hoped that the mobsters would sleep it off and cool down, realizing how pointless it is to punish a cop for merely doing their duty.

Penny had not only the ballistic evidence linking the gun of Regina Giles to the crime, but she now had confirmed CCTV coverage which placed her within two blocks just before the robbery kicked off. She had enough to go on. Also, she could bring Detective Giles in for question because her gun was used in this shooting alone.

   All the petty stuff that seemed to be rampant above Penny, did not at all appear relevant to her. She felt as if the department was being run by personal interest and less by cops. However, she was not willing to concede a loss and quit as this Giles person had. Whatever may come, she bled blue. 

“Officer Ashton, where do you think you’re going?”

Penny froze in place, and she turned around to see Detective Noland Smith standing behind her. He frowned slightly and had his arms crossed over his chest. He waited expectantly for her answer.

“I’m going home for some R and R, sir. My shift is over until they clear this shoot.”

She fibbed, and he seemed relatively certain she was lying, though he did not say so.

“I see, well, do be careful, and keep a backup piece on you at all times. You never know when these mutts are going to take a shot at you.”

His warning was dire, and he seemed to stand slightly closer to her than was preferable. She hated when men stood in her personal bubble since she was very much gay. Penny side-stepped gracefully, and popped her door open quickly, retreating to her car.

“I’ll keep my back-up nine on me, sir.”

She said in a crisp dutiful tone, and Noland winked at her and Penny closed her door without further ceremony. She felt greatly relieved when she pulled out in her little Nissan sedan. She’d paid her loan down almost three-quarters since her junior year in high school when she purchased her car. Penny had worked as a bagger at a grocery store, and then as a waitress in a tavern. However, she had only been waiting to age into the police academy. At least as a cop, she could arrest men for groping her ass! Not worry about getting fired for a single dirty look.

Penny pulled out of the parking lot and she pulled up her Google directions app and punched in Regina Giles PI firm as her destination.

***

Regina’s small office building was just off the main strip of the central-northern district. Northside was considered the middle-class region, as much as any could be. Westside was notoriously wealthy and insulated from the rest of the city, and the eastside was more impoverished than the north, but not as much so as the south, which was also the triad territory. The south was destitute, or it was the mafia. Only drug addicts and hookers usually resided in the south, aside from the mobbed-up Asian gangs. Penny didn’t know all that much about Peckford yet, so she was still gathering her information. That was also why she was not precisely looking to bust the woman who helped her. Not that Penny was opposed to following the rule of law. However, she was not looking to make the jump to arrest just yet.

She was not the only one looking for Regina Giles, because Penny spotted a cluster of large and dark-clad persons huddled outside the PI’s office. She clicked on her small flashlight in their general direction, and the mooks scattered like specters into the dark with the deft agility of seasoned bad guys.

Penny picked up her cell, and she dialed her friend from the academy who was working dispatch.

“Hello, Officer Serena Parker speaking.”

The young woman bubbled in a polite tone. Penny wondered why on earth she answered her personal line like that but opted not to say anything.

“Hey, Serena, it’s Penny, how’re tricks?”

She asked jokingly in greeting, and Serena squealed and said, “Oh my gosh, I heard all about your shooting! I heard a rogue ex-cop was blasting perps from behind you and everything. How are you, did you get hit?”

Penny blinked and took in her friend’s rapid-fire questions.

“Rina, if I were hit, how the fuck would I be calling you like this? How are you doing?”

Penny asked, and Rina paused for a moment and chirped.

“Ok, that totally makes sense, and I’m fine. We had a bit of a jam-up around the time of your shooting, but it's all settled down now. Just the regular crazies, cranks, and emergencies. All-though we did have several different men claiming to see Hitler today, which is a bit stranger than the usual brand.”

Penny frowned at that, not exactly sure what to say in return.

“Rina, I need to know if you could do me a favor. I am outside Regina Giles’ PI office, and I spotted some crooks trying to break in. I need to have her cell phone pinged so I can confirm her location and just pop over to have a chat with her about the shooting tonight.”

The girl smacked her lips and thought about it for two seconds before she finally said, “Miss Giles’ phone was off, I just switched it on and pinged it. It is currently about one hundred yards from your location.”

Penny swore to herself and said, “Thanks Rina, I guess she left it at her office so no one could follow her so easily.”

Rina chirped, “I can barrow the FBI facial-rec software, sure they will not miss it for a moment or two. Since this does appear to be a noble endeavor.

“The noblelist, of course!”

Penny quickly chirped and Rina was too distracted with the flurry of keystrokes to notice Penny’s fib.

“Strange, I had a pop in the southside, that’s deep Triad and yakuza territory. What on earth is a former detective doing down there?!”

Rina wondered and Penny spoke in a conspiratorial tone and said, “Thanks Rina, you’re the best, and please keep this under your hat. Since neither of us wants to end up riding a desk or stuck in the mailroom with a pile of rips on our records.”

Rina hummed in agreement, and they said their goodbyes, and Penny promised to take her friend to a bar to discuss things once everything slowed down.