"We've been unable to contact the owner. The phone number is invalid, and the address is a vacant block of land not deeded to the vehicle owner. So I doubt anyone will claim the plates..."
"me too", Chief agreed.
"the only witness is not talking either. We can't hold him much longer..."
"Let him go if there are no warrants for his arrest, and you've confirmed his details."
"yes, Chief"
Alone in his office once again, Chief perused the photos for the nth time that day. Asking himself the same question over and over again, "how the fuck did he do it?!" Of course, he was referring to their POI. The witness had mentioned he fought a tall black guy wearing a hoodie with the words 'off duty' emblazoned across it.
He seemed more terrified of remaining in the cell than the lack of painkillers. Nevertheless, he shrewdly used his injury as an excuse to work his way out of his cell, back onto the street ...and off into the sunset, Chief suspected.
He suddenly slapped himself 'stop asking how and ask yourself why the POI would do it?' he admonished. 'what was the POI trying to convey in his message? Stay off my turf?... Seems a little OTT'. Recalling the POI's audios, Chief hit upon the line 'will the weight of your sins crush your soul'.
"Maybe that's it. The pic fits the caption!" the Chief sighed, "but still, how did he...?"
__________________________
Lying abed for days, not only was Mvuto exhausted from crushing the mod but more so from pulling his punch. Holding back such a powerful force was not something he practised often enough to be able to skip about merrily the following day. He told his parents he may have the flu to keep them out of his room and at a safe distance.
Banned from going on holiday camp, certainly not without Mvuto as a bodyguard, Carlton's mum instead enrolled him at a gym and self-defence classes to muscle up. Mrs Davidson had greedily transformed into a drill sergeant. Dad, directed to set an example, also suffered the consequences of his inadequate physical condition. At least during down-time Carlton could renew his vigour by playing his favourite online game of dikidee.
____________________________
Chief's wife often contacted her ex-colleagues in the force, but lately, she noticed they gradually had less to chat about. Her keen instincts detected a subtle change in their tone of voice as if they were holding back more. She could also see similar behaviour arising in her husband.
"How is the venture into the gaming world going?" Chief asked his wife as they shared a coffee on the back porch with Rocket laying at their feet. His ears twitched whenever they spoke.
"I've localised a few of the players as students. As expected, there were an influx of gamers as soon as the holidays started. But I've yet to get to know all of them."
"May I join you... not as a player but to check the conversation."
She chuckled "you're not still jealous, are you?"
"A little of no and a little more of yes perhaps"
Typically, some cheeky players wanted to know what Chief's wife was wearing, not particularly caring how old the gamer-girl really was. A few constantly needled her for her physical stats too, but she brushed them all off with her practised backhanded flirting skills, something for the other wiser gamers could laugh at, even her husband. But then, suddenly, an unexpected topic cropped up in voice chat.
"you hanging with Mvuto over the holidays?" asked player1.
"Nah, says he has the flu..." replied smashedthis12
"but he never gets sick?" randomsex69 queried.
"I know, right! I think it's BS because he texted me instead of calling."
"you're his slave, aren't ya? So why aren't ya at his place holding a box of tissues for him?" randomsex69 jested.
Chief frowned at the unusual sounding name, especially within the context of 'slave'.
"Ask them who that guy is?"
Chief's wife typed, 'who has the flu? How do you spell his weird sounding name?'
smashthis12 typed 'Mvuto'.
After waiting for hours, enduring extended introductions intermixed with infuriating innuendos, perseverance had finally paid off for Chief and his wife.
"Tissues?! shut up ya creepy hooligan!" Carlton's mum could overhear the conversation, so swearing was kept above the belt. Carlton's vocal creativity in the face of adversity could sometimes be hilarious.
"creepy hooligan! So lame! Hahahaha!" randomsex69 laughed in the background.
Suddenly smashthis12 fell silent, typed 'afk' and just as unexpectedly deleted Mvuto's name and flashed offline altogether, along with player1 and others.
"wtf just happened?" randomsex69 asked into the empty void of the chatroom.
While Rowan was spending time with Jake, Brian had invited Juan and Mariana over the weekend to play games, including dikidee online with Carlton. Alas, Brian saw what was unfolding too late. Who was the voiceless girl, really? When she typed without errors and with good syntax, the 'girl' had exposed herself as not being as young as she said she was! Chances were, she could have been either a cougar or a cop. To Brian's relief, texting Carlton to delete his typing and shut down immediately was not met with hesitation, but was it still too late?
Chief searched the name 'Mvuto' and hit upon a translator app to convert the word into English. Chief's eyes fair popped out of his head,
"It's him!" excitedly, he whispered to not frighten his wife and dog.