Vain City (Pt. 3)

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Hello, guys! This is a series I started a couple of days ago. If you'd like to see the first two parts, go through here: Vain City 1 and Vain City 2

Mustafa sat in his office going through the official records of Vain City police department. He was trying to make sense of the fact that the two previous commissioners had spent less than six months in the city. The first one did four before getting himself involved in a sex scandal with a junior police officer. He had been demoted and promptly transferred out of the city. But it was the case of the second commissioner that Mustafa found rather intriguing. Only two months into his tenure, the immediate past commissioner had written to the federal government requesting to be transferred from the city. He must have been threatened to do that, no two ways about it. For a city as corrupt as Vain City, Mustafa knew there was a rot, and it existed right there within the department. His only challenge was figuring out how deep the rot had gone. The question was not whether there were dirty cops, but how many they were. A knock on his door interrupted his thought.

"Come in," he said.

It was his orderly, Ibrahim.

"There's someone here to see you, sir," said Ibrahim, saluting the commissioner.

"And who could that be?"

"Must be an important personality in the city, judging by how the other officers received him, sir."

"Ok, let him in."

"Yes, sir," the orderly saluted again before exiting.

Seconds later, a hatted man in a knee-length double-breasted brown coat walked in.

"Good day, Mr Commissioner," the man greeted, extending his hand to the senior officer.

"Yes, good day, and you must be?" asked the commissioner, receiving the man's hand.

"Bodey. Bodey Deen," the visitor said, a brief smile danced across his face.

Gesturing at the man to sit, the commissioner responded, "Oh, good. To what do I owe this visit, Mr Deen?"

"No, sir, call me Bodey," the brief smile returned again. "Just a courtesy visit to welcome the new commissioner, you know. It's what good citizens do."

"Haha. Thank you for that, Mr Bodey," Mustafa replied curtly.

A brief moment of silence prevailed. Then Bodey spoke.

"You know, I also came with a proposition."

"Yeah? What might that be?" asked Mustafa.

"You see, I own a number of businesses in the city, and as expected, it's always in my interest to see the police do their job well," he paused, as though waiting for the commissioner to look impressed. "So, I'm thinking of making a sizable cash donation to support the cause of the law enforcement."

"Well, that's very generous of you, Mr Bodey. But we're fine. We have the attention of the federal government as you know. So, no but thank you for thinking about us," Mustafa said, keeping a straight face.

What! How could a man be so uptight?

Bodey, now feeling annoyed, his little smile had vanished but he did his best to keep his voice calm, "Alright. Erm, how about coming over to my place for dinner one of these days, we could make very good friends, you know?

"Ah, Mr Bodey, I'm actually a very busy man," Mustafa got up from his seat and extended a handshake to the visitor. "Thank you, and have a nice day."

The crime boss, realising that it was his cue to leave, stood up, still struggling to believe that the new police boss was such a hard-ass.

He held the commissioner's hand in a firm grip, "You really should think about it... Sir!"

Then he stormed out of the office.

Mustafa smiled. He was glad that he had turned down yet another bribe. And also for the fact that he had just discovered his first suspect in Vain City. Now, all he needed was to gather enough evidence to catch him. He looked through the window blind of his office to get another look at his catch but he caught sight of Superintendent Bashir discussing with Bodey just before he got into his car.

"Hmm. Another possible suspect?" he asked himself, smirking.

To be continued.