Chapter 22

The two watch as the young woman walks out of the room and Kazimir turns to Alexei.

"She can find information quick, that's for sure."

The law student nods.

"Maybe we should consider recruiting her in being our personal informant."

"You have a point." Kazimir replies with a smile.

The two men walk out of the building and to Alexei's car where they immediately head over to the Claiza City Police Department.

Walking through the doors, Kazimir asks the woman at the front desk to see the police chief and she leads them to his office.

"Mr. Brookstone! There's two men here to see you!"

A man with gray hair and a round stomach looks up from his computer.

He smiles at the two and invites them into his office, quickly shutting down his computer.

"Well, hello there! I'm Roger Brookstone, head chief of the Claiza City Police Department!"

Kazimir shakes the older man's hand.

"I'm Kazimir Cizetto. I'm a detective for the Special Forces Department."

Roger chuckles and gives him a big smile.

"Oh, I definitely can't forget that last name! Your sister was a beautiful young woman! Sad that she was murdered.

Kazimir shakes his head in disappointment, his red eyes turning a bit dark.

He then turns to Alexei, extending his arm out as a way to introduce the young law student.

"This is my friend, Alexei La'rine."

With a tight grip, Roger shakes Alexei's hand.

"You're the late Elliot La'rine's son! I'm very sorry about the passing of your parents, your father was a very nice and smart man. Good to see at least one of his sons carrying on his legacy."

Alexei slightly raises a brow before nodding.

"Thank you. Actually, I wanted to ask you if there is anything I can do to help with the corruption in this city."

Mr. Brookstone smiles and takes a sip of his slightly cold coffee.

"Of course! We actually have a multitude of problems that should be talked about, so how about we discuss this tomorrow at around 2 P.M. at the Oak Pikes golf course?"

"Yes, that's perfectly okay with me." Alexei softly replies.

"Sounds good." Kazimir adds, fixing his earring.

"Then it's a date!" Roger says with a hefty chuckle.

The two young men nod and wave as they leave the man's office.

"I'd like to rid of him as quickly as possible." Alexei says, shutting the department's door behind him.

"He's a disgusting man, that's for sure." Kazimir adds, walking along with the young law student to his car. "Good thing he'll be dead by tomorrow."

--- Saturday: 12:48 P.M. ---

"Look, Khristina! I can stretch the cheese really far!"

The little girl laughs as Kale bites into the pizza slice, pulling it away from him which causes the cheese to stretch.

His older sister, Naydine, sighs.

"Stop playing with your food and eat, Kale."

"Shut up, Nay! Last night, I heard you crying 'cause Dré-

The older girl kicks her little brother's foot and he grows quiet.

"Can we get ice cream after this, Kale?!" Khristina asks, taking a bite from her pizza.

The little boy looks up at his older sister who sighs and nods.

"Yes!" Kale replies, swinging his dangling feet.

"And after your ice cream, Mr. Kale and Ms. Naydine, you both are invited to come along to the golf course with Khristina, Kazimir, and I." Alexei adds.

"That's kind of you, but we really can't. Mom said we need to pick up some things for dinner tonight." Naydine replies.

Dréy shakes his head and folds his arms.

"Well, damn. Why you ain't invite me?"

Alexei puts his glass of water down and turns to his older brother.

"I thought you said you were going shopping downtown afterwards."

Chuckling, Dréy takes a bite from a breadstick.

"Mane, I'm playin' wit' you!"

Fifteen minutes later, the small group finishes, taking their leftovers with them.

They exit the pizzeria and walk over to a small ice cream stand where Khristina and Kale happily jump up and down as their older siblings order for them.

"Uh, do you guys happen to sell apple pie slices?" Kazimir asks, stepping up to the stand.

The old man in charge of the stand nods and hands him a slice that was placed on a small, round plastic plate.

"$19.76, please."

Sighing at the high price, Kazimir takes out a $20 bill and places it on the counter.

"You don't have to worry about giving me any change back."

He walks over to where everyone else stood and Khristina runs over to him.

"Can I have a piece, Mr. Kazimir?!"

Pulling his little sister away from the young detective, Alexei squats down in front of her.

"Khristina, you already have your ice cream. Eat that and then we'll get you your own slice."

She shakes her head.

"But I don't want a slice! I just want a piece!"

Kazimir chuckles and squats down.

"It's alright. Khristina, you can have a piece."

The small girl happily cuts a piece of the pie off with the plastic fork.

"Thank you, Mr. Kazimir!"

Kale quickly runs over and points to the slice.

"May I have a piece too?!"

Kazimir softly smiles and nods, Kale cutting off a piece as well.

"Thank you!" the small boy says, running back over to his older sister.

"Well, we should get going. Kazimir, please call me back as soon as possible. I just want to work something out for all of us." Naydine says, picking up Kale.

She walks off and Dréy turns to Kazimir.

"What's that 'bout?"

Khristina smiles, an ice cream ring plastered across her mouth.

"Naydine is Mr. Kazimir's girlfriend! Kale told me!"

The young detective shakes his head.

"We're just old childhood friends; Naydine, Liyusk, and I." Kazimir replies, taking a small bite out of his slice of pie. "She wants to schedule some type of reunion, I think."

Dréy shrugs, putting his hands in his pockets.

"I'm off. See y'all."

"Is Dréy jealous?" Khristina asks as the three walk over to Alexei's car.

"He's jealous that one of his girls he once had wrapped around his finger is friends with other men." Alexei replies, buckling his sister in her car seat. "Sometimes, I just don't understand his logic."

"So can I have a play relationship with Kale now?" Khristina requests, swinging her legs.

Alexei sighs, turning the key in the ignition.

"You two need to start off as friends first and focus on moving on to the next grade level."

"Okay!" The small girl replies with a wide smile.

Thirty minutes later, the three arrive at the golf course, the police chief waiting at the entrance for them.

"Why hello again!" Mr. Brookstone greets. "Oh, it seems as if you've brought along someone new!"

He looks down at Khristina, who quickly hides behind her brother's leg.

"Don't be scared, Khristina. Your older brother is right here." Alexei says, reassuring her.

"But that man looks like one of those cave people and a troll from a fairytale!"

Kazimir and Alexei turn to each other in shock and Mr. Brookstone laughs it off.

"Hey, she isn't the first kid to tell me that! It's quite alright, I don't mind receiving the honest truth about myself! Besides, she's just an adorable and innocent little girl!"

Alexei lets out a sigh of relief and smiles.

"Thank you for forgiving her. Now, shall we talk business?"

Roger Brookstone nods and leads the three to the large and luscious, green golf course.

"Now, what would you like to discuss first?" Roger asks, tapping the small golf ball with his club.

"The police department's treatment of the people living in this city. It almost seems as if everyone has complaints about this particular department." Alexei replies, handing his phone to Khristina to play with.

"And as someone working in law enforcement, it's really sad to hear them all." Kazimir adds.

Mr. Brookstone laughs, hitting the ball which rolls slightly off course.

"We receive hundreds of new complaints each day. We're doing our hardest to keep them down, trust me."

"So would you all like extra help? The Special Forces Department is willing to help." Kazimir says, barely hitting the golf ball.

"Goodness, son." Roger says, disappointingly. "You must not play golf. However, no. Our department is perfectly capable in dealing with the complaints."

Kazimir sighs.

"Thanks for the eventual answer but we came here to discuss business not golf."

"Mr. Brookstone, there's been several instances where some of your officers have acted out of line." Alexei says, putting the ball on the tee. "The citizens of Claiza City always hear that the situation is being handled with but never a final result with the officer involved. So, what's really going on?"

He hits the golf ball, Kazimir and Mr. Brookstone watching in amazement as the ball lands into a hole on the other side of the course.

"It's a hole-in-one!" Roger says, with excitement. "Where'd you learn to do that?!"

Alexei frowns and adjusts the baseball cap on his head.

"Mr. Brookstone, I'd prefer an answer to my question first."

"The officers are put on administrative unpaid leave for a small while the department evaluates the situation. If we deem it to be correct, then we'll re-hire the officer." Roger replies, sighing.

Alexei shakes his head.

"To my understanding, it seems as if you've deemed every situation to be in the right since I've never read a single instance of one of your men being fired."

Roger's brows furrow a little.

"Son, you came here to talk about how you can be of use to help the department. Your father was a highly respected man, so I know that you can't be that bad of a person, but seriously, give me some ideas in fixing my so-called corrupt department instead of arguing with me."

Alexei shakes his head and smiles.

"Please excuse my deliverance, but I wasn't trying to argue with you. I was just wondering why none of the officers are actually being dealt with seriously. That is a main factor of the corruption in this city, keeping corrupt people in the department to guide the citizens."

Roger smiles.

"Ah, I'm sorry for misinterpreting! However, I must make a quick trip to the restroom."

With a quiet groan, Alexei begins to walk across the course to get the ball from the hole.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get the hole-in-one so easily?" Kazimir asks.

"I often tagged along with my father who used to host meetings at golf courses all the time. One day I got bored, picked up a club, and started swinging." Alexei replies.

"Alexei!"

The two turn around to see Khristina running over to them.

"The caveman handed me this and told me to meet him in the bathroom and not tell anyone but he seems weird!"