Selena

'Why did you shoot, Selena?!'

'It was us or them, okay?'

'You completely ignored my instructions!' Sergio raged, indignant.

'You said you had full control of all the cameras!' I argued back, 'you missed one, the one he used to do a reverse search to identify me'.

'Selena!' he squirmed, standing right over me. I twisted away. 'You better pray none of those men you shot died!'

'Why? If that man is dead, at least he won't talk about us'.

'Oh – my –' Sergio faintly sighed, pinching his forehead.

'The rescue operation was messy, okay? But it worked', I reiterated, 'we did it'.

Walking in circles, he was trying to figure out how our department could remain in good standing with the public, after all the cover-ups we had. Even worse, our department was under the investigation of the Royal Police Conduct Authority.

Attorney Will Sniper, head of the investigation for the RPCA, welcomed Sergio at the entrance, with a handshake and pretentious smile.

'Chief Valdes... so we meet again'.

'Sniper'.

'Surprised law school made something out of you... Sergio', Sniper taunted, 'let's begin, shall we?' Over-confidently, Sniper walked hastily to the conference room, whiffing his strong cologne, bouncing his black hair.

Upon entering, Amy had her feet crossed on the board table, laughing with Zina. Morello, eating a donut and reading a paper, was at the far end supervising them. Sergio clearing his throat was the signal they needed to get his attention.

'Oh-oh, right', Morello mumbled mouth-filled, 'alright ladies, time to get outta here'. They strolled out.

'Oh-kay...' Sniper made himself at home, gazing arrogantly at everyone he passed by, 'We'll begin by going over the evidence you obtained to suggest Bluebridge police were framed for the murder of Cleo'.

I helped Sergio organise all the photographic evidence, witness statements, and forensic evidence for the RPCA to dig in. After, I was instructed to supervise Amy and Zina, taking over from Morello. I supervised them from inside the chief's office.

'So, hear me out...' Amy came to me, starstruck with a brilliant idea of hers, 'Zina and I were thinking of moving to Europe –'

'On an Airbnb holiday?'

'No. Permanently', Amy's face was dead serious. They had the home, the school, the whole vicinity planned out.

'Oh – girl stop giving me a headache', I growled, 'stay here'. Interrupted by some gossip I heard from outside, I headed out the office. It was Julian speaking to a member of Sniper's team.

'I don't trust him...' Julian continued his lecture, 'I've seen him touching his staff, you know... inappropriately – particularly', then Julian leaned in and whispered, 'particularly females'. The investigator took notes keenly.

Oh brother.

'Hey', I walked over, a smile beaming on my face, patting Julian in the back very hard, 'hi, I'm Selena Rose'. I shook the investigator's hand. He smiled warmly at me, 'so what are you talking about?'

Julian and the investigator went silent.

'Er – just police conduct at the workplace, er... how are you finding it?' the investigator stammered, oversimplifying their speculations. I smiled and nodded at him. He nodded, then moved on.

'Julian!' I smiled sternly at Julian.

'Hey Selena', he squirmed.

'When you were – talking about the chief touching his female detectives inappropriately, who were you referring to?'

'No-no one in particular', he responded weakly, 'just – in general, you know'.

'Well, generally – I'm the only woman in this unit'. My smile dropped slowly. Julian shrugged. 'So what's the RPCA gonna think when they find that out?'

'Well then, I guess they'll start asking you questions!' he was salty, 'look, I know what I saw'.

'Okay, so you're gonna go over there and tell mister investigator that little tittle-tale you made up was your mistake'.

'I will not! And why are you covering for him?'

'I'll tell the chief that you are spreading rumours, then we'll see how he handles that'.

'Selena – I didn't mention you when talking to any of them'.

'Well you might-as-well have! I'm the ONLY woman in this unit, Julian?!' I grunted, 'and what do you mean them? How many did you speak to?'

'Only him, and head of investigation, Will Sniper'.

'Julian!'

'What?!'

'Reverse the story'.

'Oh my God, fine!' he stormed off. I sighed. As if my headache couldn't get any worse, by the time I returned to the office, Amy and Zina were gone.

'No!'