the vaudeville crime

vaudeville #1

"yoohoo!" josh greeted and knocked twice on the open door before proceeding inside stell's office. stell only greeted him with a nod and placed his ballpen and notebook away.

"sooo.. what do we have here, chief?"

for a bit of background, stell and josh have been working together in the detective department for over 10 years now. they've been known to everyone and some people call them "partners in crime", for some obvious reasons.

"i need you to review this case." stell handed a blue folder to josh.

"huh? eto yung case na hawak nung isang department diba? i thought they already closed this case? hindi ba napatunayan naman nang suicide yung nangyari dun sa babae?" josh said, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"i know. but the girl's family kept on insisting that it was murder. maybe the other departments have overlooked some important details. so now, they're handing this case to us."

josh groaned and sighed.

"here we go again, cleaning up other department's mess. bakit kasi hindi muna nila siguraduhin na sakto yung evidences before they close a case? this isn't even the first time na mag-aayos tayo ng case na naiwan nila."

stell clicked his tongue and ran his fingers through his hair.

"i know, josh. but we have to finish this. alam mo naman kung gaano kalaki ang tiwala sa'tin ng department natin."

josh finally agreed and they started talking about the details of the case and they immediately found holes in the investigation and mess in the evidences presented.

they worked at this case for weeks until finally, they came up with a final testimony that it was indeed a murder case.

"i'd like to raise a toast for another successful case para sa ating newly promoted, chief of detectives, stellvester ajero." josh acted, getting everyone's attention, as he held a can of soda in his hand. stell bowed his head low, embarrassed at his friend's silliness while their co-workers cheered for him.

"hey, hindi naman ako mag-isa dito. i was with josh along the way so you guys should clap for him as well." and the workers did. josh and stell treated everyone in the office as a small celebration that they were able to finish the case.

"iba ka talaga, stell. magselos nanaman sa'yo si felip nyan." josh whispered towards the other.

"tss, i don't care. why is he even jealous at me eh magaling din naman siyang detective? he should be proud of himself sometimes."

"hindi niya lang matanggap na ikaw ang na-promote as chief at hindi siya." stell just shrugged at that.

"eherm, gentlemen." the two of them immediately stood up properly when their police captain, paulo nase, called them.

"may i have a word with you two?"

"of course, sir." both of them nodded and followed paulo into his office where they settled on the couch.

paulo clasped his hands infront of him and smiled warmly. "so, first off, congratulations once again to the both of you for finishing this case. the department and i have always believed in you and i'm glad that you never fail in making us feel proud."

"a-actually po.. si stell po talaga yung naka-discover na murder talaga yung case. i did minimal things, sir."

"you're a great detective too, santos. i'm sure you did well." paulo said with a smile and josh wanted to burst deep inside.

he bowed his head, keeping himself from smiling as he looked at stell who was already stifling his laugh beside him.

"anyway, i actually brought the two of you here for a very important reason."

and as if on cue, someone knocked at the door. "come in." paulo said. the door opened and a tall young man, probably in his mid-20s entered the door. he looked shy and kept bowing his head to greet the three other men in the room. paulo called him so he sat on the space beside him, and infront of the other two detectives.

josh gave stell a glance and rose his eyebrow but stell only shrugged, not having a single idea who that guy was.

"so uhm, justin, i'd like you to meet josh, one of our forensic detectives, and stell, our chief police detective. you two, this is justin de dios. he will be an intern in our department for 6 months and his specialty is at the computer crime investigations."

"good morning po, sir josh and sir stell." justin politely greeted, slightly bowing his head.

"good morning din, justin. no need to call us 'sir'. okay na sa'min yung josh and stell. right?" stell said and nudged josh with his elbow who cheerfully agreed.

"now, he will be under your care, okay? hindi naman siya focused mismo sa departments niyo so you don't have to check on him all the time but still, justin is under your responsibility. am i understood?"

"yes, sir." josh and stell answered in unison. after that short meeting, they went back to work and since justin is just an intern and he will not be having his own office, they placed his desk inside stell's office, near the window.

"you good here?" stell asked after he helped justin fix his stuff on his table.

"yes, s-stell. okay na po ako dito. salamat." justin answered and stell tapped his shoulder before going back to his desk to continue his work.