Valerie reluctantly spat out another thank you, turning away from the man who she was speaking to despite the fact that he had given her nothing. Everyone had told her the same thing – they didn’t know anything. They couldn’t tell her if they recognized the names of the ships on her list “We get a lot of ships in here officer,” and they couldn’t tell her if they knew anything about warehouses owned by Esposito Oils, “I just work here, I don’t keep tabs on whose stuff is coming in and out,” so she was frustrated, to say the least. 

She knew going in that the majority of people were going to be hesitant to talk to anyone who introduced themselves with a badge, but she had hope that a few people would break the mould and give her a lead. 

With no luck, and no answers she thought it was only reasonable to head back to her office. She wondered for a moment if the man in the blue coat would follow her there, or if he were just there to see what she found out at the docks. Only a move towards her car would tell her the truth. 

As she walked between the warehouses she caught a glimpse of a woman looking haggard and gaunt, stumbling along the asphalt. A short skirt and stiletto heels did nothing but make it obvious she was in the wrong part of town, but perhaps she knew something. 

“Excuse me, Miss,” Valerie called out, making the woman look up from the sheet of paper she was conferring to, and also the blue jacketed man followed her with his eyes. 

“Oh hey Val,” the woman replied leaving the officer in complete disbelief as to how this person knew her. 

“Do I know you?” Valerie asked point blank. 

“Oh!” the woman laughed in a high pitched tenor, “I totally forgot that you don’t see me as me you see me as her.” 

Valerie blinked hard, her hand slowly moving to her sidearm as her scepticism increased, “I’m sorry, who is it that you think I should know you as?”

“It’s me, Nick!” the woman announced, hand on the hip, eyebrow towards the sky. 

“I’m not sure I know a Nick,” Valerie told her slowly, not sure if she should believe it was her Casper that was inside that waxy looking woman. 

“After I left your house last night I went to Toni’s to find out info about her boyfriend, but then I accidentally killed her so I figured I should probably take her body for a spin so I could get some info on this warehouse we’re looking for.” 

Valerie groaned and covered her face, “Oh god, it is you.” 

Toni’s head moved from left to right checking out the scene, “How do you know I’m not making it up?”

“Who could make that up? Idiot,” Valerie shook her head, “Ok so you’re walking around in a decomposing corpse, which is disgusting by the way, and you’re looking for what?” 

“Well when I was,”

“Wait,” Valerie interrupted, “We shouldn’t talk about this right now. I’m being followed. Brian was with me earlier I sent him home because this guy was giving me the creeps so it would probably look very suspicious if you tell me anything. I don’t want him to know what we may know.” 

“So…” Nick used his ex girlfriend’s head to take a quick glance around, not seeing the suspicious character that was following the policewoman, “Where is this guy?” 

“Hiding,” Valerie deadpanned, “He wouldn’t be out in plain sight.”

“Then how do you know he’s there?” 

Valerie took a deep breath as to not kill the dead woman for good and rolled her eyes, “Don’t question it. I know. I’ve seen him multiple times. Why do you always have to argue with me?” 

Toni’s slight shoulders shrugged, “Because I’m annoying?” 

“That’s for certain,” Valerie agreed, “So here’s what I’m thinking. I’m going to go back to my office and see if this guy follows me – do you have a phone?” 

“You think I’m carrying this for the fun of it?” Nick asked, motioning to Toni’s small designer handbag that was slung over his forearm. 

“Why are you carrying it?” 

“No pockets.”

“Right,” Valerie nodded, “So here’s the deal; call me in an hour and let me know what you found out. And if this guy doesn’t follow me and he stays here you need to be careful, I might even suggest dumping the body and going incognito.” 

“I’ll keep an eye out,” he assured her. 

Valerie merely nodded then turned and walked away, sticking her hands firmly in the pockets of her jacket. She was confident that Nick would call her with positive news, but in the mean time she had to figure out why she was being tailed and who was doing it. 

~*~

Brian tapped his foot impatiently against the floor of his car, wondering why he hadn’t yet heard from Valerie. It probably hadn’t been long enough to warrant being this anxious but he was worried about her, what with that strange guy following them and all. She was right in sending him away to protect his anonymity in the case but he couldn’t help but be worried, and curious. He couldn’t take the anticipation of a phone call that he feared may not come, and with Nick essentially missing his nerves were completely fried. 

“That’s it,” he said aloud to the dash of the vehicle, “I’m going down to her office. I’ll wait for her there.” 

He started the car and put it in gear, heading in the direction of Valerie’s office. He’d never been there, and only knew the address from seeing her business card that she had given Leighanne on their first meeting but he was sure if he explained the situation they would let him wait for her, at least he hoped they would. 

It took him about twenty minutes to arrive in front of an office building labelled with ‘LAPD Professional Standards Bureau’ written boldly across the door’s windows. He was nervous as he walked in the doors; the whole place was covered in police officers. That wasn’t unusual considering that it was supposed to be crawling with cops but it heightened Brian’s nerves none the less. 

A receptionist sat behind a large desk just inside the doors and she glanced up at Brian as he approached her, showing no sign of recognition much to his relief. 

“Hi,” Brian smiled and she returned the grin.

“Can I help you?” she asked. 

“Actually yes, um I’m wondering if Officer Torres has come back to her office.” 

The look on the woman’s face was still not one of recognition, “Torres?” she asked, “I’m not sure I know them, let me just look it up.”

“Valerie Torres,” he said with a smile to try and be helpful and waited once again as the receptionist typed away into her computer. 

“Sir I think you have the wrong place,” she told him and Brian’s brow furrowed with confusion.

“This was the address on her business card,” he explained.

The receptionist looked at him at a loss, not knowing how to make it any more plain, “There’s no Officer Valerie Torres working in this office.” 

Brian didn’t know what to do, why would Valerie have lied about where she worked to the point of coming up with fake business cards. Was this woman even a cop? 

“Are you able to look her up to find out where I should be going? I really need to speak with her,” Brian stressed, wondering if maybe he just had the wrong place. 

“Sure,” the receptionist nodded and turned to the computer once again, “Our city-wide directory is a little outdated, they’re doing work on the new servers right now but she can’t have gone far so we should be able to find out.” 

Brian smiled at the woman again, his cheeks starting to feel the burn from all of his fake grins, “Thank you so much.”

The receptionist’s fingers clicked away against the keys before finally turning up towards Brian with a smile, “Well I think I found her!” she told the man, handing him a slip of paper, “Her office is across town – Wilshire Precinct.” 

“Thank you,” Brian told her honestly as he took the slip of paper then headed off towards his next destination. He was confused to say the least by the fact that Valerie’s office wasn’t where it should have been, but he was chalking it up to his own misdirection. Maybe he had only assumed she would be at that building… even though before today he was sure he didn’t know it existed. 

Another short drive and he found himself in front of yet another police building; only this time the building had a lot less finesse, and he was sure it wouldn’t have a good looking receptionist waiting anxiously on the other side of the door. This place was less police headquarters, and more ‘we’d like to talk to you downtown’.

He was much more cautious as he walked into the brick building, squeezing past people and police officers to finally get to the desk which was behind a thick sheet of Plexiglas no doubt for the protection of the desk sergeant should any crazies come in and start shooting. There was a slightly overweight blonde woman in a police uniform seated in the middle of the desk, a set of crutches propped up against the wall just behind her. 

“Hi,” he said, stepping up to the desk.

“How can I help you?” she asked and Brian once again put on a smile. 

“I was hoping you could help me find someone. I’ve been speaking with an Officer Torres and I guess I went to the wrong office, they told me to come here,” he explained and the woman’s eyes lit up with the recognition he had been waiting for. 

“You mean Sergeant Torres?” she asked and Brian was once again confused. 

“Maybe?” he said in an unsure voice, not knowing if maybe he not only had Valerie’s office wrong, but also her rank. 

“He’s just over there!” she replied in a bubbly tone, not letting Brian get a single word in to correct her before she had summoned over a much older man, definitely beyond his retirement years. 

“You are looking for me?” the older Hispanic man asked and Brian, once again, smiled. 

“Actually, I’m sorry, there was a mix up. The person I’m looking for is a woman – Valerie Torres.” 

The older man’s features turned soft and he took Brian by the elbow, “Son, I’m sorry; I didn’t think there was anyone left who didn’t know this but… Valerie is dead.”

“What?!” Brian asked, nearly laughing at the situation, “She’s not dead I was just with her. She told me she was coming back to her office so I went to the place that was on her business card but they told me she didn’t work there and to come here – they looked her up!” 

Sergeant Torres lead Brian away from the desk and to a small break room full of a table, chairs, and vending machines, “You can’t have been with her today,” he explained to the young man, “Valerie Torres is dead, I am completely certain of it because I’m the one who put her in the ground. I’m her grandfather.”