‘Downpour’
The golden rays of the morning sun peaked out over the skyline of Philadelphia. It was a cold morning, as most in November are. However, there was a certain uneasy chill in the air, a young woman stepped out of her apartment. She clutched her jacket to her body, slightly shivering.
“One thing about this job is these early mornings…” The woman yawned, her one hand running through her cloud white hair. Walking to her car, she glanced around her neighborhood. Everything was peaceful at the moment. Most of the residents were still asleep in their beds, warm and safe.
Or, so they thought. Adelphia knew all too well the evil that lurked in the shadows of nice towns and communities. Because of this, was one of the main reasons of why she took the job as a police detective for the Philadelphia Police Department.
Starting the engine of her car, she drove off. The few people on the streets either eyed her car with anger or relief. To some, she was a beacon of justice and hope, while others viewed her as just another cop that shouldn’t be trusted.
Either way, she had a job to do, and it was a job she enjoyed doing greatly. Parking her car in the lot for the policemen, she took a brief moment to look out over the city; her city. She smiled at the thought and locked her car, turning to go into the police station.
“Hey, Adelphia, what’s up?” A young man strolled up to her, sipping his morning coffee. The orange eyed woman looked at him, “Anything new going on, Jim?” “Nah, just some drug busts, hardly anything to get a great detective like you involved.” Adelphia shook her head, “I’m hardly that great, remember the greatest detective in the world is the one who can solve the most difficult of cases.”
As the two parted ways, Adelphia frowned at the last statement she had made. She had heard stories and rumors about the greatest detective in the world. Rumors that made her ill to the stomach. Letting the feeling pass, she walked into her office. Glancing at her desk for only a moment, she noticed an envelope with an old English style L on it.
The young woman glared at it for second, before roughly grabbing at it. Ripping the envelope open, she read the letter inside quickly.
“That bastard!” She crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it into the garbage pail. Taking out her cell phone, she dialed a number.
“This is Adelphia.” She waited for an answer from the other end of the phone,
“This is Watari.” The voice on the other line was scrambled, a precaution that Adelphia herself had used before.
“I just received the letter from your Golden Boy, what’s the matter; he can’t solve this case on his own?”
There was a clearing of the throat, which sounded odd over a voice changer, “L has always admitted when he’s needed help on a case. He does not feel superior to anyone. After all, he required the aid of a FBI agent not too long ago. Being a police detective, I’m sure you heard all about that.”
Adelphia clutched her fist at what was being said to her. She had indeed heard of the B.B. Murder Cases, a case where the FBI agent was the one who truly solved the case, however, L was the one who received full credit. It put a knot in Adelphia’s stomach.
“And what if I don’t agree to help?”
“L will simply find another. He picked you for your excellent work in solving cases that were somehow linked to the supernatural.” Adelphia was silent for a moment, considering Watari’s words, then she spoke, “Where’s L? If he even wants me to think about this, he better talk to me directly.”
There was a brief moment of utter noisy silence, “He agrees. He will telephone you tonight, midnight on the dot.” Then the phone clicked, telling Adelphia the conversation was over. The young woman’s anger rose to dangerously high levels, her fingers were tightening on her cell phone until…CRACK...
“Damnit! I liked that phone too…” She glanced down at the broken remnants of her cell phone, sighing loudly, “Guess I’ll have to go and get a new one. I have little choice if I actually want to help out L.” Adelphia growled out the unusual name of the world’s most renowned detective. Of course, she didn’t have to give her answer until tonight and she had a job to get to. Placing her gun in its holster, Adelphia walked out from the police station.
She drove around town; basic patrol work was what was required of her at the moment. It was actually a quiet morning, which Adelphia was glad for. Suddenly, a call sounded over her radio. An outside disturbance had been called in from another part of town. Most likely a drug deal that went wrong, Adelphia was the closest squad car, so she turned on her sirens and sped away.
When Adelphia started to get closer to the street in question, she switched off her lights and siren. ‘One of the basic rules in this line of work…don’t alert the bad guy of your arrival.’ Adelphia couldn’t help but crack a grin at the words of her mentor as they rung out in her mind.
Coming upon her destination, Adelphia stealthily stepped out from her car. Not even closing the door all the way. She took quick note of her surroundings; she was in a remote part of South Philadelphia, definitely the wrong side of the tracks in this city. It almost made her wonder who called this disturbance in.
The quiet hung in the air, making Adelphia shiver for a moment. Taking out her pistol, she held onto it tightly. Her keen sense of hearing picked up a faint whimpering from the nearest alleyway. Silently walking over, she placed her back against the building wall. Sharply turning the corner, she held her gun, ready for any kind of attack.
“Police, freeze!” she shouted the signature phrase of all those who worked on the force. What she saw was a man, the white collar variety, standing over what appeared to be a homeless man. The business coldly glared at the police officer before him.
“What’s the problem, officer?” he grinned somewhat eerily. The look on his face sent an ice cold chill down Adelphia’s spine. There was just something dark and foreboding about this man before her.
“Back away from him, sir. He’s no threat to you, what is your business with him?”
“He and I are conducting some important business.”
Adelphia clicked her gun, “I said, move away from him. Now.” She spoke sterner, and finally the well dressed man stepped away from the other. He held up his arms in surrender, however, still with the creepy grin spread out over his face.
“Sir..?” Adelphia gestured to the homeless man, who turned to look at her, “Get behind me, please.” This man did as he was told, stepping behind Adelphia with an awkward gait. Once Adelphia knew the harmless man was safe, she looked back towards her suspect.
He was gone.
“What the Hell?”
“You actually…frightened him…” The young woman turned to look at the man she rescued, “Come again?”
“You surprised…him…he was…caught off guard.” Adelphia at last took a look at him. His hair was as white as her own, his eyes a pale blue. He had a disheveled appearance; Adelphia could gather that all he had was the clothes on his back.
“Did he harm you in anyway, sir?” The man cocked his head to the side, staring at Adelphia as he put a finger to his mouth to gnaw on the fingernail, “No…and my name…is Snow.” The white haired woman out of the blue smiled.
“That’s a different name, I must say. My name is Adelphia Dagmar, police detective for the Philadelphia Police Department.” She held up her badge, so the man knew she was being truthful.
“Look, I’m going to have to take you back to the station, to file a report. Um…do you have anywhere to go, any place to live?” The man simply shook his head in a ‘no’ fashion. Adelphia felt bad for him, “Well, I suppose you can stay with me for a bit…but we’re going to have to do something about your appearance.”
The man looked at himself in an amusing way, “What’s wrong…with the…way I look?” Adelphia smiled for the second time that day, “Come on, let’s go.”
---------------------------------------------------------
First chapter. Tell me what you think. More on the way. I'm dedicating this story to Will.
