Book- Misunderstood

Chapter 22

I strode in to the police station, my eyes quickly scanning much of the new walls and seeing many of the new police officers run around in hectic motion that threatened to almost consume all of time into this place, turning day to night if I was not careful. I walked past the many doors that littered the hallway with new names that had been foreign to me in all senses of the word, that is until I stopped seeing the police chiefs star on a familiar presence that long left me. There in front of me with a body that had not grown much, fairly taller with little defining features of a woman, her eyes still a beautiful blue that was much like ocean waters. "Jack.....? Is that.... you?"I could only shake my head at the sound of the voice which had remained without it's whine and now was much more gentle yet still held an unshakeable determination that came with her position."Yes Olivia. It's me."She covered her mouth and proceeded to grab my hand quickly, leading me to the office of the police chief before shutting the door and locking it. I stood next to the formal desk filled with pictures and a computer that was locked with words flowing across it's screen. I heard Olivia sigh and turned to her, her face down to the ground and her back to the door, leaning against it. There was a tensity in the air that seemed to grip at me but I felt it was much more weighted against Olivia who merely watched the floor as if it moved. Finally she spoke, her eyes slowly making their way toward mine."I'm sorry... Jack.... I'm sorry I left you alone and said those things to you.... I regretted it, I regretted it when I knew how much we mattered to you. I could never tell you though, I couldn't find you. I came back you know..."She slowly stood up straight and walked towards me, her eyes pleading to me for the unseen sympathies she wished I held. Though within me, I felt nothing, no relief, no happiness, nothing. It was a bittersweet reunion which I had yearned for, the one I craved for years but now that I had a life, I no longer needed someone so easily swayed. So I said nothing as she continued toward me, speaking her revelations."I came back to find you... to stop people from being as sad and tortured as you were and... I wanted to see you again. I made a terrible mistake... I... Please forgive me Jack. Please."She begged so smally and meekly as I saw pain in her eyes, her hands touching mine and holding them in hers. I watched her, my eyes accusing as I tried my best to discern how I had felt about the situation but I still felt nothing. When I pulled my hands from her, and her face turned to deject and sorrow, I did not falter as I spoke."I'm not here for the past, I'm here for the present and future. Olivia Holder, police chief, I would like any of the recovered files, if any, on the case of the 'Faceless murderer'."She sighed as she looked down, her eyes seemed to glisten a moment, from what I knew was most likely tears but she spoke anyways, a smile crossing her face, one that I knew was fake."Of course Detective Irsa. Whatever you need."She went to her desk and took out a key with a tag that read 'evidence' on it, and slowly walked toward the door and opened it again, not taking a moment to look at me. I walked past her, taking the key from her and headed toward the place that I knew to be the evidence room from the times I visited when the station was being constructed. I couldn't feel Olivia's presence behind me but I felt no pain from this anymore. I wanted to avenge what was taken from me, not take my time to grieve more. I came to the room and quickly inserted the key, unlocking it with a click. I entered as quickly as I had found Olivia and began to search burnt piles and pristine parts of drawers that held papers and bags filled with drugs, all labeled with papers that read 'Evidence'. Soon, after searching for what felt like hours, I found only one thing among the amounts of evidence that related to the 'Faceless murderer' and that was the opera mask we had found on the man who had tricked us. It held small holes from the burns but was still well put together, the mask almost fully intact save for the left corner being charred, partly revealing the inside of it. I slowly put it on and thought of something that would help find the murderer. My face felt numb again much like the first time I had tested it, but now I knew that the ticket to finding where this person was had stood in front of Rea and I the entire time. I pulled off the mask quickly and held it in my hand as I opened the evidence room and locked the door quickly. I immediately went back to the chiefs office and heard talking inside. Not wanting to disturb Olivia, I slid the key underneath the door and left with the mask, not bothering to hide it.I had a plan now.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Olivia sat in the chair across from the man who's mask held eyes all over it, save for the one eyehole. She smiled at him, her eyes closing a little in a sadistic joy that played across her face as she spoke, her voice far more sarcastic than it was moments ago."To bring the past back to torture him was a good idea but it's obvious that it's not doing anything. You employed me but it had failed, he's still investigating you."The man merely tapped his feet on the ground before standing up, and slowly pacing around the room as he held his hands behind his back. He shrugged and pulled a gun from it's holster before aiming it at Olivia. She held up her hands in surprise before he spoke, tapping the mask with the gun point."Then fix it, make it so that no matter what he does, NO ONE can save him. The system we have MUST fall without interference. Stop him or I'll shoot you right now."Olivia only smiled as she let her arms go to her sides, slack and relaxed as she began to laugh a little, the man looking at her through the mask. She suddenly pulled a gun from the desk drawer and aimed it at him before laying it down on the table. She pointed to the key that lay on the inside of the door, having slid under only seconds before."He has evidence that most likely he didn't ask the police chief for... which means we have a criminal in our midst... and with whatever it may be, it will help us catch him."The man had smiled under the mask then stopped a moment, catching something she had said that bothered him."You don't KNOW what he has? Did you not take inventory?"Olivia retracted a moment, realizing that she did not take inventory. What Jack could have taken was something that she had no idea what it was, so how could she narrow it down? She grimaced a little before the man with the mask spoke again."It doesn't matter, he can already be considered dead. Get him before he continues. If you do, I'll grant you power in the new state."She smiled at the masked man, hope reinstated in her eyes before he opened the door and left, taking off his mask, the light reflecting on a badge and uniform of a police officer. Olivia shook her head and relaxed in her chair, thinking of how good it felt to eliminate the one person she hated most.