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Cop Craft Volume 4 Chapter 4 Part 4

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“Translator: ClefRunner”

“Editor: Weasalopes”

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「You’ve been conspiring as you deem convenient, haven’t you? Leaking out official information from investigations, or manipulating official documents on confiscated items. Making sure not to stand out particularly so far, but yesterday’s case wasn’t as you expected. I don’t know if it was you, or rather the other smugglers who were freaking out. They probably came by and told you to “do something about it”, huh? Well, I’m sure you did your best. Giving instructions to the two on the plane, and then letting the other car get away. Something like that, right?」
「You’re talking nonsense. I don’t know what you’re talking about.」
「I got a call from the Golanbitha County Police earlier. It seems like they caught the other two」
「What?」

Hernandez raised his eyebrows

「Despite how terribly things went yesterday, those guys are surprisingly good at their job. They apparently barely managed to get a lead within their own jurisdiction, and then followed it. A Semanian assistant and an Earthling pilot. They were pretty talkative fellas, apparently. Telling them how the guy who had arranged the car’s escape had been a large, hispanic man, and such… Well, apparently it had been Mr. Officer Hernandez. It was a matter of time. And apparently this was the right time」
「…….」

Hernandez was no longer trying to keep his cool act. His neck looked tense, and his clenched fists were trembling slightly. Since Matoba had been in this business for a long time, he knew exactly what was going through his mind.

So it was like that after all. This was the end. How was he going to get over this? Maybe he still had a chance to recover. Something. Do something. Do some—

「…!」

Right then, both of their actions went by in a flash.

Hernandez, who was standing on the other side of the table, started sliding his right hand to his hips. And right there, on his right flank was his Glock 40 tucked inside his Safariland Holster. Matoba had briefly caught a glimpse of it yesterday, so he remembered. He neatly read Hernandez’s arm movement, and before he could draw his Glock 40 and point the barrel at him, Matoba’s left hand grabbed Hernandez by the wrist and pulled him over the table.

「—!」

At the same time, Matoba moved his right hand toward his left armpit, where he clutched the grip of his P226 handgun, tucked inside his Ted Blocker shoulder holster. He still had not pulled it out, but he could draw it if necessary, and also shoot if needed. He could do it while he kept pressing his opponent’s hand over the hamburger side menu.

「Stop it」

Matoba replied while keeping a tight grip over Hernandez’s hand.

「Were you planning to shoot me and then put the blame of your shit on me? Or were you planning to simply get away from here and run away to South America or South East Asia? Whatever you do, it won’t work. All of that is pretty unlikely. Got it, Mr. Officer? It’s no use」
「Please… let me go…」

Maybe Matoba had figured it out. Hernandez was speaking with a shaky voice. The strength also faded from the hand that was holding the Glock.

「I beg you. Please let me go… It’s this business. You know how stressful it can be, right? And well… I was just paying myself some female company. But somebody took a picture, and started extorting me… I can stand people at work seeing it. I can understand all of the shame and ridicule that will come with it. But… how am I going to explain it to my wife and daughter? I know it might sound like a shameless lie, but I truly do love them. I couldn’t bear the threat of my family seeing that picture. There was nothing I could do」

Matoba had figured as much.

This guy was an honest man. However, there seemed to be a problem…

「Sorry, I can’t do that」

Said Matoba. Unfortunately for him, he was also an honest detective.

「However, I don’t have to tell anybody about what you were about to do right here. I’ll even make you look as good as possible on the report. That’s a promise」
「Ah… I have to thank you… Hey, do you think that this will be the end of me…?」
「Who knows… It’s your life, and it’s your call」

Hernandez was not even trying to hold onto his own gun anymore. Matoba casually took it and in a completely natural gesture, stuck it inside his own pocket. The Glock was a safe weapon. There was no particular risk of it firing on its own just by being handled for a bit.

「Hey, Hernandez. Nevermind that… but you’re at least thinking of getting back at the guy who extorted you, right?」

The two people driving the plane —the ones that had just been caught by the Golanbitha Police Department— they were just some small fry. And they didn’t seem to know much.

What he was concerned with was the big fish… the guy that was meeting with Hernandez directly and threatening him. The man who was promptly spotted by O’Neill. Nothing at all was known about that man. Only Hernandez knew who he was.
「How detective-like of you, trying to push things your way. But fine, I’ll bite. Yeah, I have to get back at him」

Said Hernandez faintly

「Thank you. So, what kind of guy is he?」
「I’m… not sure. He’s an asian man that goes by the name of “John”, and he claims to be some sort of art market agent. He has a particular infatuation with collecting Semani works of art… and occasionally he also deals with some illegal items」
「Well yesterday’s loot was all full of junk」
「In that case what would be the point of threatening me? There’s always some Semanian “magical items” mixed in with all of that garbage. They’re usually items that he reports in customs, but can’t be seen by any aliens. And whenever he wants to do it the legal way, he will contact me. Yesterday was meant to be one of those days」

However, thanks to O’Neill’s lead, everything fell apart. Because of how awry the preparations went, and because of the keen intuition of annoying detectives like Matoba, Hernandez wasn’t able to walk around as he had intended, and they ended up at this point.

「If you can truly use magic, then despite it all looking like junk at a first sight… you will soon realize just how incredible some of those items are. “John” has managed to sneak in a huge amount of different treasures among heaps of junk like that. He loves that.」
「I see… no wait, I got it! In that case, this morning when you told me to hurry and bring in that missing item…」
「Yeah, that’s right」

Hernandez nodded

「That was an item that the Asian guy… “John” was looking for desperately. It was a small crossbow that can’t even be called a weapon by Semanian standards. And apparently it can cast some mysterious magic. I don’t know exactly what it is, but John seemed to be extraordinarily infatuated with the crossbow. He was furious once he saw that the crossbow was missing from the pile of items that you had brought in to the warehouse.」
「A crossbow… was there something like that in there…?」
「There had to be. No, I’m sure it was there. It was there yesterday when we went over the items. And you… I don’t know if you did it willingly or not, but you seem to have lost it. Ah… I’m extremely sorry… but John knows where you live」
「What?」
「I told him. Like an hour ago…」
「Hey…」
「I know it’s unforgivable, but he is probably headed to your place right now. And once he gets there, he is going to search for the crossbow all over… you’re single, right?」
「Yeah」
「Then it’ll be okay」

Hernandez said

「Because if anybody was at home right at that time, John would probably kill them. He seems like the kind of guy who would be okay with doing something like that」

~o~O~o~

The incinerator’s control room was beyond Gordon’s area, so even if he asked for an immediate stop to all operations, no one would listen to him.

And Cecil’s made up story about some important evidence with blood on it, ended up playing against her. The workers operating the control room when she came running inside were neither as carefree nor relaxed as Gordon was, and instead said they would be “contacting the Autopsy Department immediately”.

Those workers were large men, over fifty years old, and they looked more fit to be working with military equipment, or as security guards, than operating an incinerator. Well, there was the possibility that they had indeed worked in the military before. Those men… any one of them could have been old enough to be her own father, and now they were attentively listening to her story.

Cecil was feeling flustered.

Despite doing it to help somebody, she made up a story by abusing her own powers, and then disturbed the workers’ duties, so if any of that was found out, she simply would not be able to keep her current position.

(Ah, it’s impossible. I won’t be able to fool them with this…)

In a display of compassion, the workers asked her once again if it was okay to make the call and inquire about the situation. Cecil replied inchoately

「Well… I think… no, don’t worry」
「Okay then, lady」

One of the workers, a man with a name tag that read Powell interrupted, crossed his arms and then sneered at her.

「In any case, right now garbage is still being brought in from all over the city. Even stopping the machinery once will cause major chaos. I don’t know what kind of important item you lost, but give it up」
「But, my cat…! That’s right, my cat! My poor little black kitty jumped straight into the garbage pit」
「What?! Why did you have a cat with you in the first place?」
「I had some important issues to take care of… ah, anyways, at least help my cat」
「What in the world? Christ sake…」

The worker took the phone, and called the person right next to the garbage pit. They exchanged several short sentences for a while, and then he hung up.

「Well, look at that, seems like you weren’t lying」
「Yeah. That’s right! Just please stop it」
「I can’t do that」

Powell said blatantly. He was lucky that Cecil wasn’t bringing a gun with her, or at least that’s what she thought. Because if she was, she probably would have threatened Powell into forcing the machinery to stop. Well, despite her only contact with guns being via forensic investigation, and practical training in ballistics trajectory investigation. She had never used a gun for a hobby either, and she had never even touched Kei’s gun.

「I see…」
「I’m sorry, but that cat is probably no longer alive」
「What did you say?」

Cecil went pale, as Powell kept earnestly explaining

「There are twelve garbage pits in this facility. Some are built for non standard vehicles, some are there to avoid congestion. But they all gather garbage from all over the place, and despite garbage not being carried straight into the incinerator as it falls down the pit, garbage probably kept falling on top of that cat. And it’s not just paper scraps and leftovers. There’s metal and debris mixed in, as well as furniture and all sorts of broken stuff mixed in as well. That weighs several tons by itself. No creature would be able to stay alive in there」

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