184. Keep Your Enemies Closer

Warning: language
Glossary: ID number is the Social Security number equivalent in my country

Bridgeport, present day...

Krimsyn and J.D. spent a frustrating night with Ben.

The PI had concluded his investigations, and he was sorry to admit he had nothing to report to them.

“This is bullshit, Ben!” J.D. kicked the coffee table on his way to the fridge to get a plasma fruit.

Ben squirmed in his seat under Krimsyn’s unwavering scrutiny. For the first time in his very long life he felt something close to shame and embarrassment at his failure.

Sure with Leigh he never put much effort into finding her because she was a grown ass woman, and he was preoccupied with personal stuff then.  But when Krimsyn and J.D. told him Mickey’s life could possibly be in danger he’d done everything he could to piece together the boy’s movements in the weeks leading up to his sudden appearance at the penthouse.

Frequenting nightspots in and around town had turned out to be a useless exercise, none of the patrons he’d interviewed could give him anything solid, they may or may not have seen Joshua, he was average looking, no remarkable features that set him apart from the crowd so chances of someone remembering him were slim to none.

His last hope was the city’s CCTVs security cameras, if he could find Joshua on the tapes, then they’d know for sure that he was in Bridgeport prior to him showing up at the penthouse and it would narrow down his search considerably. But with the relations between humans and their government all sour now everything had to be done by the book and without proper clearance or a warrant the boys in uniform couldn’t give him access to the tapes.

Ben had truly poured his heart and soul into the investigation, worked himself to the bone, but in the end he had to throw in the towel. The puzzle with Joshua had too many pieces missing, and it didn’t help that his past was squeaky clean save for the incident with his sister’s friend.

“I did everything I could,” he apologized once more as he took his leave.

“It’s not good enough Ben. Our daughter turned a predator and we need to know what he’s been up to these last few weeks. His sudden appearance at our doorstep doesn’t feel right, don’t you see?” Krimsyn wasn’t saying anything new, and she was starting to get irritated with herself for sounding like a broken record. But she and J.D. needed answers, they still couldn’t shake off the feeling that something wasn’t right with Joshua.

Krimsyn tried to get Ben to stay on the case for a few more weeks .

But the PI was convinced he’d exhausted all his avenues. He’d missed out on more work covering their dead-end case.

“What about Carmen? And Joshua’s call records? Who does the number belong to?” J.D. asked. Since they were paying for Joshua’s cell phone contract they’d felt they were entitled to know about his usage and so they’d checked his call records and were shocked to see the numerous calls he’d received from two particular numbers, one was easy to figure out, it was Carmen’s, Joshua’s girlfriend. The other was a mystery they’d dumped on Ben.

“The report is there,” Ben replied on his way out. “The cell phone number is prepaid; it’s not registered to anyone. But the girl isn’t who she says she is. Before a year ago, her ID number didn’t exist, at least not in Bridgeport.”

Krimsyn leafed through the file when they were alone, but her brain couldn’t make sense of the report. She was exhausted, emotionally and physically from stressing over Joshua. She wished the mess with their daughter’s fledgling would just go away already.

J.D. pulled her close to him and began massaging her temple. 

“He’s up to something, all those calls from that phone number. He’s obviously meeting with this person. Who is it? Do you think he’s cheating on Carmen? And who is this Carmen? Why did she change her name and move to Bridgeport?” Once Krimsyn started with the questions she couldn’t stop. And it took a long time for J.D. to calm her down and get her to bed.

He lingered in the room for a bit, making sure she was sleeping peacefully before he set out to do what he should have done from the start. He’d thought they could handle things on their own, but with Ben ditching them, he had no other choice.

Celina informed him Thornton was about to leave for the night when J.D. arrived at the VC’s headquarters, but she showed him to his office anyway.

“Is something wrong with Krimsyn?” The older man asked as way of greeting. 

They shook hands and Thornton waved at J.D. to take a seat.

“Krimsyn’s fine,” J.D. assured him. In the same breath he got to the heart of his visit, he knew Thornton was a busy man; he didn’t want to waste his time. “She doesn’t know that I’m here, she hates asking you for help considering you’ve been cleaning up her messes her whole life. And I wouldn’t be here if I had any other solutions. But you are our last hope. You have access and means to make this happen. We think Joshua is involved in some shady business, and we suspect he was in Bridgeport long before he came to us. His girlfriend doesn’t check out, her ID number didn’t exist before last year. It’s like she just came out of the blue. If we can just get access to the city’s CCTV tapes, that’s all we need.”

“I see,” Thornton rubbed his chin contemplatively, but didn’t say anything for some time.

“Will you help?” J.D. broke the silence at last, it made him uncomfortable.

“Of course, anything for my children,” Thornton nodded.  “But it may take some time since finding the wolf is top priority at the moment.”

J.D. thanked him for his help and wished him a great evening. Before he could slip out of the door though, Thornton stopped him.

“Where is the boy right now?”

“At his apartment I presume,” J.D. replied.

Thornton shook his head. “Haven’t you heard of the old adage, keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”

“I have,” J.D. mumbled, wondering why they were discussing clichés.

“Letting Joshua out of your sight is the worst thing you could have done.”

There was no accusation in Thornton’s voice, but J.D. felt the need to justify their actions. “We were protecting Mickey.”

Thornton ignored him and carried on with his lesson on the art of war. “You never let your enemy out of sight; you keep them close, study them, learn their weaknesses and when the time comes, you strike. Sometimes, you have to kill them with a little kindness too.”

“I don’t understand,” J.D. frowned darkly. He wished the man could stop speaking in codes and just come right out with whatever he wanted him to do.

“You may have made things worse by moving him into his own place. If he is up to something like you suspect, there’s no telling how far he is in his plans since he’s been living on his own. My advice to you is keep him close. Watch him. Study him. Sooner or later he’s bound to make mistakes and you’ll catch him. But that can’t happen if half the time you don’t know where he is.”

J.D. nodded his agreement. Those were his thoughts from the start, but Krimsyn had wanted Joshua out of their house and in the end he had to give her what she wanted.

“She can be headstrong. She gets it from her mother,” Thornton nodded knowingly; he could read him like a book. “But you were a cop once, and your instincts told you that boy is trouble. And it’s your instincts that have brought you here. Don’t doubt them or ignore them.”

 A few days later, Carmen was surprised to find Beau and Joshua waiting for her when she returned to her apartment from stalking Krisis.

Joshua broke out the drinks as soon as they were inside. Apparently they had a lot to celebrate.  Krisis had offered him a job as a stagehand on the After Dark tour. He’d heard through Krimsyn that he was interested in studying Sound Engineering in the fall and the tour had seemed like a great place for him to start his education.

“What changed? I thought the Frosts didn’t like you anymore?” Carmen asked skeptically.

“Well, I have been on my best behavior, did everything they asked and I passed my psych evaluation with Dr. Harlow, so what’s not to like about me?” Joshua gloated.

“Touché,” Carmen smirked as she accepted the drink from him.

“To us!” Beau raised his glass for the hundredth time since Joshua popped the bottle of Vodka; they were now sitting at the dining table, altering their plan a little since Joshua would be touring with the band.

“To getting what we deserve!” Carmen chimed in, she was in high spirits; things were finally falling into place. They’d needed this, a way in again.

“To me and Michaela!” Joshua added and they all chinked their glasses once more, anticipating their perfect future just weeks away…

_______

Note: In South Africa, every citizen can apply for an Identity Document from the age of 16 years. The ID number though is already allocated at the time the birth certificate is generated.


Credits: Ben is Karima's sim. And he's the PI Krisis hired to find Leigh in Season 2, in the chapter titled Sloth.