Jay glanced at Bastian. "You can keep him, but you have to guarantee he won't chew on the wires or the oil lines in the car."
"No problem!" Otis and Bastian nodded together.
Passing through the commercial district, Jay took Otis to a small clothing store. Jay spent just under a hundred dollars on a few thick winter clothes and had Otis change in the back of the store.
Afterward, he bought a bag of peanuts and tossed them to Bastian.
"If you dare to poop in my car, I'll…" Jay twisted his left hand, crushing a few peanuts in his palm.
Bastian opened his mouth wide and nodded frantically.
A moment later, he sniffed the peanuts, his eyes lighting up with excitement, and began chewing happily.
Otis bought an out-of-season down jacket. Although the style was a bit old, the material was very thick.
He returned to the driver's seat, stuffed Bastian and the peanuts into his coat pocket, carefully wiped the peanut crumbs off the seat with a tissue, and cautiously sat back in the passenger seat.
"Thank you, Officer, for even buying him food."
"It's just a snack, no big deal. But you have to watch him and make sure he doesn't pee in the car," Jay reiterated the demand. "Now, back to business: about clearing your name."
Otis's eyes widened, and even Bastian quietly peeked out of his pocket.
"First, we'll go see our Chief. He has agreed in principle. But the difficulty is huge. First, the officer who handled your case is a moronic colleague of mine. I don't think he'll admit what happened."
"I… I can confront him face-to-face!"
"That's the difficult part… You see, he doesn't have a personal grudge against you. He just randomly grabbed you to fill a quota. He's handled so many wrongful cases he doesn't even remember who you are. So, he most likely won't remember the situation, and thus, he can't 'admit' to it."
Otis slowly lowered his head. He was silent for a long time before choking out a bitter laugh: "So… so…"
He fiercely clamped his mouth shut, covering his face with his hands.
Bastian climbed from his pocket onto his shoulder, squeaked twice, then climbed back down and re-emerged with a peanut.
"Dwelling on the past won't help anything," Jay started the car. "At least there's hope now, isn't there? Also, don't go around advertising that you can talk to rats for the time being. You know, that's not really 'in vogue' at the police station."
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Bob MacGuinnis felt a mix of smug satisfaction and nervous uncertainty lately.
He took his cup from the coffee machine, about to take a sip to calm his nerves. Suddenly, he heard two knocks on the door.
He jumped, nearly spilling his coffee.
Then, with a click, the office door was pushed open, and a head poked in sideways.
"Hey, what's with you? Can't you come in like a normal person!" Bob cursed.
Hearing that, Jay retracted his head, then walked in with Otis.
"Just checking if you had guests. Chief, this is Otis Flannigan. We came up through the back stairs."
Bob put down his coffee cup, lit a cigarette, offered one to Otis, then tapped the desk.
"Sit down. Though if you smoke, keep away from this kid, he hates the smell," he said, pointing to Jay. "Otis, I hear you have a lot of low-level contacts?"
"Ah… low-level?" Otis held the cigarette in his hand. He had barely settled on the chair when he quickly stood up again at the question. "Yes… yes…"
He remembered what Jay had said, mistaking it for a reference to rats, and nodded repeatedly: "That's right… I… I have them find people… It's easy for them to find anyone, and they can even get inside houses."
"That's wonderful. I didn't realize you had such a wide network of contacts." Bob smiled happily. "To be frank, I won't help you for free.
If we clear your name, you have to work for us. What do you say?
If you agree, we move to the next step. If you don't agree, you go straight back to Blackgate."
"Co… contacts?" Otis froze for a moment. But the threat that followed startled him.
He didn't dare hesitate, immediately raising his right hand: "I swear, I agree."
"No need to make it sound like a wedding," Bob said, turning his gaze to Jay. "Let's talk about the good news.
First, you deal with that idiot Flack yourselves. Give him a rough time, and he'll admit he single-handedly dismantled the Soviet Union—just remember not to kill him. Also, last night I contacted Paul Perrino, and he has agreed in principle to provide support."
"Huh? Perrino?"
The name made Jay pause. The prosecutor was known to be close to Mayor O'Brien and had a rather notorious reputation. Jay had expected some figure of incorruptible integrity to step forward, but instead…
"Don't be an idiot. Did you think we'd go to that Harvey Dent? A man like that, shouting about combating corruption and clearing the innocent, will just cause a city-wide uproar. The entire legal system would concentrate its forces to fight you."
Bob seemed to read Jay's mind, flicking ash from his cigarette with a scornful chuckle. "I told him that someone had a personal grudge against old Joshua and planned to use the case reversal to hurt him. Perrino was happy to name his price."
"You see, dealing with the greedy is simple; just agree on the terms of profit. Dealing with those who talk justice and ideals requires far more consideration."
He pulled a signed slip from his drawer and tossed it onto the desk. "Go help him pick up his work supplies and temporary ID, and find him an office in that little room next to the supply warehouse. We first need to see if your friend is worth helping."
"Got it. I'll go now. Oh, Chief, there's one thing you might need to prepare for." Jay hesitated, deciding it was best to mention it. "The war machine is amazing, but… it's got terrible fuel consumption."
"Don't worry about that." Bob roared with laughter. "There's plenty of oil in the world. Our army always brings it back for us, doesn't it?"
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Hey everyone! Just popping in with a little update.
First of all, a huge thank-you to everyone who's been supporting me. Your kindness honestly makes my day and keeps me motivated when life gets a bit overwhelming.
Work has been pretty intense lately, so keeping up with the update schedule has been a bit tough. I'm still doing my best to stay consistent, even if I'm moving a little slower than usual. Thank you all for your patience, your understanding, and your encouragement—it means more than you know.
Most importantly, thank you to every single reader—whether you're quietly following along, leaving comments, dropping likes, or supporting in any way. You're the reason I keep it, even on the tough days. I'm really grateful for all of you.
On a more personal note, the temperature here has been dropping really quickly, and the weather forecast says it might even snow soon. With Christmas just around the corner, I hope all of you stay warm and take good care of yourselves. Wishing you good health, smooth work days, and success in your studies—may the end of the year treat you gently.
Thanks for being here with me, and I hope you'll continue enjoying the story!
And of course, big hugs to the amazing folks below for supporting me—you're the reason I can keep going!
LightEvil, Josephine Felderhof, Nicole Cloud, Ted Witbrodt, Perillio.32, Lucas Vasconcelos, Nader, Sander Postma, Eman, uglyhorsE, Gamma Virga, Tanner Andrew.
musashi, Bel'Ami Pandjo, Earthy.
Last but not least, thanks to the readers who threw stones at this story—you made the whole story come alive!