"Socializing" - Open

Raicheal listened to his words and nodded softly at them.

"I know..." she said softly in the same somber tone as she continued to look away from him. "to be truthful, this was the first time I had ever seen those men... it was more of a case of them knowing of me rather than me knowing them."

It was at this moment that Alabaster would see two new figures enter the cafe through the door that was behind Raicheal. The first was a pointed face woman with her brown hair put in a tight bun. She had tanned skin which matched well with a pressed blue blouse and black slacks she was wearing under her gray pea-coat. The man behind her was another story, he stood there slack-shouldered with his messy black hair hanging down over his bloodshot eyes. His face was unshaven and scruffy as his sallow skin made him look ill in the fading sunlight. He wore a lightly stained tan overcoat with a ruffle white dress shirt and loose black tie under it as well as dirty black slacks. The woman flagged a waitress down before talking to her quickly in what seemed to be a stiff manner and producing a police badge from her pea coat and showing it to the waitress. The waitress nodded hurriedly before rushing off to the cafe's back, presumably to get the cafe's master and leaving the two officers to stand there waiting.

However, before Blackwell could begin Raicheal suddenly spoke up.

"ummm... Sergeant Blackwell was it... c-can...can we talk in private... if... if that is ok..." She said nervously as she glanced over to Alabaster and then once more to the floor.

Blackwell looked at her and then over to Alabaster and then to her once more before sighing in a clearly annoyed way. "Fine" she said before turning to the Cafe Master

"I need a place to talk privately with this witness" she said sternly at him

"The Backroom should be clear, all my employees are working right now. I can take you two there if you like" He said quickly

"Very well, let's go" she said shortly as Raicheal got up and with one more apologetic look at Alabaster, followed the Cafe Master and Sergeant Blackwell. As they left, Blackwell turned to her partner.

"Question the Boy, I'll be back when I'm done." she said sharply

"You got it, Boss" in a lighthearted almost mocking tone which seem to get on Blackwell's nerves a little. Finley then took Raicheal's seat opposite Alabaster and extended a hand to him.

"Detective Finley, but you can call me Paul if you wish and your name is?"

"Nice to meet you," Detective Finley said as he shook Alabaster's hand and drew it back. He then reached into the folds of his stained trench-coat and produced a battered writing pad and a pencil. He flipped through its pages as Alabaster saw a mixture of crowded notes and small drawings. He stopped at a page and then looked back up to the boy across from him.

"So would you prefer me to call you Alabaster or Mr. Eisenheim?" He asked trying to gain the boy's trust by showing him the same respect one would give an adult.

Finley nodded and looked over the boy with his well-worn gray eyes, victim or accomplice, that was what he had to determine as he talked to Alabaster. The ragged detective noticed the shift in Alabaster's demeanor even as the young meister tried to hide it. He feels off... good, I can use that... Finley thought and although he was talking to a child, in this city nothing was as it seemed and taking things at face value could make you blind to the truth at hand or worse... dead.

"You're very mature for your age, you must be about 12 or 13, Mr. Elsenheim" He finally said after a brief pause. He had guessed high to give the boy a false sense of confidence, it was a trick to give him a feeling of control over the interrogation. If he was comfortable, it would be more likely that he would slip up if he was hiding something. Finley knew that there was a high chance that this was just some fight that happened for no reason but on the off chance that the boy was involved, Finley would do everything he could to make Alabaster tell him that.

"Anyway, how about you start from the beginning of the incident and go from there" He said relaxed as he readied the pad and pencil, his grey eyes sharpening as he focused on Alabaster.

Finley nodded slightly as he listened to Alabaster's comments and stared back at this notes, his expression blank. This kid is pretty bright for his age... Finley thought tapping his pencil on the table He really believes she is innocent... That is nice of him, I hope that trust doesn't come back to bite him. He paused his tapping to look over his notes. A girl with a past, Three random thugs who started a fight over her, and a kid with a surprisingly good grasp of the mess he's in. The pieces still were not fitting but Finley knew he was getting closer. It all came back to this girl...

"Those are some interesting thoughts, Mr. Elsenheim. You're quite a bright individual"
Finley said genuinely looking back at Alabaster "and I am sure your new friend would appreciate you not repeating the things said to her... I can gauge the gist of their comments from what your waitress told me. So let's move on to the fight itself. Can you tell me how it started and what happened during it? I know from the initial police call that a weapon was drawn at some point, specifically a handgun and from the looks of it you got punched in the eye. What else can you tell me?"

Finley listen to what Alabaster had to said about the fight, writing it all down but when Alabaster murmured the last part it was harder for him to hear.

"Can you repeat that last bit?" He said now looking over the top of his notepad at the embarrassed Alabaster with a affixing gaze"I didn't quite heard it and in this types of investigations... you always want to make sure that both parties clearly understand the facts"

Finley nodded taking it all down in his notes as Alabaster talked and barely speaking a word until he was done.

"You're saying that you and a dog were winning against two full grown thugs?" Finley said clearly impressed "Not many people can say that... though in this town it isn't a rarity... still your must have gotten pretty lucky to pull it off." Finley looked over his notes before looking back at Alabaster.

"Can you tell me anything about the gun? Like what color it was or what make and model or even how big it was."

Oc: it was a medium-sized silver Beretta 92 pistol, not sure how much Alabaster knows about guns but that was the gun that the leader pulled on him.

Finley nodded as he noted what Alabaster was saying on his pad before looking back to him.

"it's fine," he said trying to play the lack of details as if it was no issue "at least you didn't tell me it was a laser gun or something... any detail is great when you start with nothing." He settled back in his chair and reached into his coat producing a few more pencils before placing them on the table.

"Now can you describe the men in question?" He said flipping through his pad till he stopped on a page "Can you tell me their hair color or height. Maybe body type or eye color. Any distinguishing marks or tattoos. Even the smallest little detail can help."

OC: The leader was a short white man with short, spiky blond hair, as well as a pointed chin and crooked nose, he wore a leather jacket. One of the tall muscle-bound men was a tone white man with a shaved head and a squared face, he was wearing a hoodie and jeans. The other one was less toned but broad-shouldered, white as well with a rounded face and long black hair, he was in a winter coat and jeans.

Finley remained writing on his pad for quite a while after Alabaster had finished speaking. His brow was furloughed as he continued writing on his pad while flipping between a few different pages and kept switching his pencil with those on the table. He did this for about ten minutes before he finally looked back over at Alabaster.

"Are these the men you saw?" He said laying his pad in front of Alabaster and flipping between three well done but rushed drawings that looked almost identical to the three men who Alabaster had fought.

Finley nodded as he pulled back the drawings "Good, this will help us should we find them. Now, I wanted to ask abo..." However, Finley never finished asking his question as something caught the corner of his eye and he turned to look at Blackwell and Raicheal walking back to the table. As they got closer it was noticeable that something was off. Raicheal's eyes had become red and puffy as if she had been crying and the tear stains on her face were more noticeable the closer she got. Blackwell looked different as well. Her look of importance and superiority had melted away to one of concern and worry. As they reach the table, Finley looked over at his partner, curious but also troubled by what was affecting her.

"Everything alright Sue?" He asked a note of worry in his voice. Blackwell seemed to snap back to the world at his words and looked at him.

"Of course everything is alright... I was just a little lost in thought..." she said as she looked down and notice the drawings "Are those the culprits?" She asked pointedly

"Yeah..." Finley said handing her the drawings "Some of my better work if I do say so myself and you said taking night art classes was a waste of time."

Blackwell ignored the joke as she flipped through the images "These look good. Let's get them back to HQ and get an APB posted immediately."

Finley cocked an eyebrow as he looked at his partner confused "An APB for what is at most Disturbing the Public, Assault, and brandishing a weapon in public?"

"I'll... tell you in the car..." Blackwell said as she glanced down at Raicheal before placing her hand on the young girl's shoulder and handing her something. "This is my card. Call me if anything happens again or if you need something." Alabaster could tell from the way Blackwell was acting that she was extremely concerned about the girl's well being. Finley got up from the table, reached into his jacket and slid his own card across the table to Alabaster.

"If you think of anything else, call me." He said and with that, the two offices left and exited the cafe. Raicheal sat back at the table, face slightly red from both blushing and crying as they sat there quietly for a few minutes before Raicheal broke the silence.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry... I...I d-didn't want t-to leave y-you... I... I j-just needed to s-speak with her alone... P-Please f-forgive m-me..." She said sadly as she shook slightly in front of him.