Aphrodite Frozen

Chapter Six

Sorry this chapter is soooo long. I kind of left out a huge chunk of the story, and kind of an important part. But it's in here now :) Enjoy

Year 2408

The police station bustled with activity, phones ringing and officers at their desks talking with civilians. Matthew Hartwell walked through the entrance to the pit, smiling with a sense of coming home. He walked over to his desk, sat down in his worn comfortable chair and propped his boots on the desk.

"Yo, Drac. You have a good vacation?" his partner yelled across the room. The pit became silent as they all turned to face Matt.

Matt waited until his partner sat down at his own desk, "Petey, you have got to learn that yelling across the pit is unacceptable. Hasn't Flores gotten on your case about it yet?"

Peter Gabriel just smiled with childlike delight, "Nope, that old ball buster is gone. She's been replaced. We got a new captain now."

Matt nearly fell out of his chair in shock, "No shit, Captain Flores is gone?" At Pete's smile, he let out a whoop, "Fuck that is the best news I've heard since I left two weeks ago." He rubbed his hand across his face, "Maybe I should have shaved. Stubble doesn't make for a good first impression."

"Fuck, Drac. The new captain won't give a shit," Pete kicked back in his chair, taking a folder off his desk, tossing it onto Matt's. "You have no idea how good it is to have you back. Take a look at the case file I've been handed. Fucking Kingsley family keeps worming their way out of shit, and I don't know how much longer I can take chasing them down only to have the BBC law firm get them off."

"BBC law firm?" Matt inquired. "What, are they British or something?"

"Fuck no. It's the Barnes, Barnes and Coolidge law firm. They've been here so much in the past two weeks that me and some of the guys shortened it. Makes it more festive."

Matt laughed as he opened the file. The first picture on top was of an extremely muscular man with full sleeve tattoos who looked to be in his sixties. He looked on the back for a name or an alias, but couldn't find one. "Petey, who is this?" he asked, waving the picture in his direction.

"We don't know his name, but some people call him the Hammer," Pete shivered. "His nickname has a twofold meaning. The first reason, he uses a hammer when torturing people." Pete smiled, "The other reason, well, let's just say that he is quite the ladies' man, at least from what we have heard."

"The Hammer, huh?" Matt looked at the picture again, shaking his head. "Fucking nicknames." He flipped through the other pictures, stopping when a picture of Ad Astra Hotel came up. "Why is there a picture of Star Hotel in here?"

"Man, you must really be out of touch, Drac. In 2378, the cult Aphrodite Frozen sprung up here in Vegas." Pete rubbed a hand against his eyes, leaning back and sighing, "No one has been able to get in to find out what the fuck is going on, but we've noticed Damien Kingsley's goons watching it. His son really gets off on standing across the street with a camera taking pictures of people coming and going." He slammed his hand down on the desk, "Fuck me, Drac. We really need to get something on these douchebags."

"Detective Hartwell," a gravelly voice intoned from the captain's office. "Please come in to my office, there are things we need to discuss."

Pete turned to Matt, "Fuck, Drac, you're in for it now." He smiled at him, "Seriously, he probably just wants to welcome you back to the department after your Costa Rican vacation."

Matt got up, walked over to the captain's office and knocked on the door. The new captain waved him in and gestured to the chair opposite his desk. Matt took in the nameplate on the desk and offered his hand, "Captain Tibedeau, it's nice to meet you."