Chapter 2

The man on the phone gulped and went on with his speech:

‘Right now, I’m in the tall and partly destroyed building on Denmark Street. You have to hurry up or SMO or MHO will arrive here before you do!’ Suddenly, Drin’s face switched from annoyed to serious and furious. He squeezed his eyes shut and massaged his forehead. Drin: SMO and MHO these bastards always arrive before us and take the cases from us away, especially these weird ones. Not this time!

'Ok, wait. I’ll be there in 15min.’, Drin let the man at the other line know, in a calmer tone this time.

‘Ok, I’ll wait here, Drin.’ Drin tucked the phone back in his pants. However, before he could go solve that problem, he had to deal with another one, his now only half-hot date. No words were needed to express his feelings, for the tears that started trickling down Drin’s face made clear what kind of cruel decision he was about to take. He peered into the far distance, lips and eyes shaking. He didn’t want to do this, but tough times called for hard decisions. His gaze shifted back to the cappuccino.

‘I’m sorry, but I think it’s time to say goodbye!’ Drin was about to grab his date when suddenly a strong wind blew in his direction. The date was blown away, without even looking back or giving Drin the possibility to touch her a last time.

‘You won’t even allow me to bid you goodbye! Haha! So, you’re also angry! I don't blame you. Go and find a better man!’ Drin dried his wet eyes with a handkerchief. Drin: And now, the other problem! The time to regret was over and besides, he could have another date, but would it be the same?

Recovered from the emotional damage, Drin ran to the next near street. Arrived, he stopped a yellow taxi by raising his arm. Driver: Ok, my first target for today! The taxi halted

‘Mister, you look outstanding’, the driver commented ‘With this handsome face you could even seduce wives! Where shall I take you today?’ Driver: Hopefully my flatter worked and he’ll throw a tip in!

‘To Denmark Street’, Drin answered with an aggressive expression as he entered the car. Driver: Fuck! Why do I always get the weird ones? Seem like the flatter didn’t work! Without putting much effort on this thought, the man drove off.

The taxi was soiled, partly green chips were distributed on the torn and brown leather seats. The seats also bored holes in which something brown was hiding, wait, even moving. And the glasses were smeared with old and sticky cola. Surely the cola had been there for a long time, because it was already merging with the glass. A distinct smell of cigarettes and cheap vodka lingered in the air. Drin viewed the inner of the taxi. His brows and corners of the mouth pulled down. Drin: Wait, you’ll regret to have driven me with something like that!

Having reached the destination, Drin paid the driver and rushed to the building he had been ordered to come. While running to the building, Drin heard the driver cursing at him:

‘You bastard, this money is not nearly enough! Didn’t you go to school? You fucking, stupid bastard!’ Drin simply smiled. Drin: Idiot, I know that it’s not enough. Did you take a look at your fucking taxi? You can be lucky I even gave you anything! Drin was now out of reach of the man and couldn’t hear his complain any longer. He entered the building and sprinted the stairs up. The room was at the highest level. No knocking was needed due to the destroyed door. Thus, Drin invited himself in.

The room had an old brown and green touch to it. Some parts of the wall were torn off and the ceiling didn’t look any better. There weren’t many furnishings in the room, only some cupboards and fragile white plastic chairs. At the other end of the room the window was wide open. Yet, the room’s smell couldn’t be described as a good one. The only catching thing about the room were the walls right and left to the door for they were painted with graffiti.

Drin immediately noticed the dried-up corpse on the floor. Drin: He’s wearing a uniform, so he was a polices officer –

'Drin!’, a man around 1.87m interrupted him in his thoughts.

His beard was a mess and his brown hair were even in a worse shape. The man was beyond fat and it seemed like his police suit was fighting for its life to not rip apart. The probably only good thing about him was his clean white skin. Well he should start treating his hair the same way

Drin quickly regained his composure and looked to the officer. Their eyes met.

‘Jeffrey, what exactly happened here?’, Drin inquired.

‘You forgot the officer!’ Drin waved one hand in the air and said:

‘Don’t mind that!’ Thereupon Officer Jeffrey grunted though this was all he did.

‘Fine. I’ll let it pass. Well, my men followed a thief to this building, but during their chase they lost him. Therefore, they decided to split up to track down the thief faster. Drin: Split up? It seems like some people never learn! Do they only have shit in their heads? Don’t they know what happens in a horror movie once people divide into groups? And then they dare to call themselves the police! All of sudden, one of the men heard the other one shouting, so he rushed to his help, too late! When he set foot in the room, his comrade was already like’ - he pointed at the corpse - ‘this. No trace of the thief. He contacted me and I called you afterwards.’ Head-nodding, Drin praised the Officer:

‘It was clever of you to contact me! At least, you’re someone who uses his head.’ The Officer just let out some:

‘Mhh!’, then nodded. This wasn’t the first time he had done such a thing. Officer Jeffrey and all the other people never truly understood Drin, for that, he was too weird. So, when Officer Jeffrey was confronted with Drin’s strangeness, he always nodded or just went along with whatever was ging on. Fast and effective. Out of the blue, Drin rose a grin, raised one arm to the level of the chest and formed a fist.

‘Yeah, we are the first ones to arrive! These bastards of SMO and MHO always show up before us, but not today.’ Drin started rubbing his palms together while putting on a cunning smile. Then he glanced Officer Jeffrey straight in the face. Officer Jeffrey: Fuck, I’ll have to nod again!

Despite, being a police, Officer Jeffrey was far too fat and unsportsmanlike. It was really a shocking surprise that he had managed to stay alive up till now. And even a bigger surprise he had not be fired by now. Well, maybe he contributed in his own way. Drin drew closer to him and spoke:

‘Imagine that they arrive here and realize that we are already finished everything. I can’t wait to see their faces. Like idiots they will’ – ‘Idiots!’, a woman repeated.