Police Station [For Cosette, Spencer and Lara]

[tarnishedbadge]

Levi had given Joel the rest of the day to talk to Spencer, just as he said he would. After that he had called Cosette, Spencer and Lara and asked them to come down to the station. The reassurances of "no you're not in trouble" and "we just need to talk to you" or "I can let you know down at the station" were met with various degrees of acceptance. Honestly he would have preferred to conduct the interviews elsewhere but since he was letting them know they might be in danger he thought the security of the police station would be the best place for that.

Also, his relationship with Lara, whatever it was, complicated things slightly. He was fairly certain she wasn't the blonde mentioned in the note but he couldn't dismiss the possibility that it was. Levi wanted to make sure it didn't seem like any of the potential victims were getting preferential treatment.

So he had booked one of the conference rooms, which was a lot less formal than an interrogation room but more private than his desk, to speak with each of them. None of them were under any sort of suspicion but Levi needed to find out if any of them had seen something out of the ordinary lately and then warn them they might be in danger. The order of that was important but it was never fun. People always wanted to know why you were asking certain questions but contrary to what they thought, that didn't always help with the answers. You could always ask the questions again once they knew but you couldn't put that cat back in the bag once it was out.

Setting a water bottle in front of the empty seat across from him, Levi waited for his first interviewee to arrive.

Comments

[tarnishedbadge]

This was going to be one of those interviews, he could tell. The sort where he was trying to do his best to protect the city but the inhabitants of the city were going to be difficult about it. Well, the joke was on them because Levi was experienced at dealing with this stuff and had some tricks of his own.

"In the interest of expediency, Miss Halloran, is it safe for me to assume that the issue of the Irish sea monster is one that you are not going to be forthcoming about but I can rest assured it has been dealt with in as close to legal manner possible given what sounds like exceptional circumstances, even for Siren Cove?"

He hoped that she said yes, hoped that she said yes and actually meant it. That was one of the benefits of reading minds, he didn't have to go on a wild goose chase in circumstances like this.

[suchgoodluck]

Cosette regrets not buying herself coffee before this interview. This detective seems stubborn and good at his job, which means she's going to be here awhile. She tries not to let her impatience show, but she can't keep from playing with her nails or tapping her feet against the cold floor. She'd rather be anywhere else right now.

"Let's just say, it disappeared the same way the Hydra did," she says. "For the sake of expediency."

[tarnishedbadge]

Normally impatience when you were interviewing someone was a good thing. A suspect was more apt to give up something the longer things went on just in the hopes of getting out of there. Levi had to remind himself though that Cosette wasn't here as a suspect, she was one of the people he was trying to protect.

"Well, I'm glad that it didn't kill you. As a member of the police force I feel like I should remind you that someone trying to kill you should probably be reported to us. As someone who has no idea how to even remotely deal with shit like Irish sea monsters... good riddance to it. Other than that incident have you seen or experienced anything unusual in your day to day life in the last few weeks? Even something odd that you later rationalized away."

[suchgoodluck]

"Yeah, well, considering some of the attitudes on this force towards the supernatural, can you blame me for not coming forward?" Cosette is almost tempted to actually make use of her siren powers for once, if only to figure out what this man actually wanted. It was driving her a tad bit crazy.

"As far as I can recall, the only strange thing recently was Joel telling me he got some letters from someone in his past, and he thinks I may have been mentioned in them?" Cosette shrugs. "Other than that, yeah. Life's good."

[tarnishedbadge]

"The letters Mr. Baker found do reference a 'little blonde girl'," Levi said, figuring that was as good a place as any to transition into the subject he wanted to discuss with her. He couldn't tell if she honestly couldn't think of anything unusual in the last week or so or was just being flippant about the potential danger.

Pulling the two letters, still encased in evidence bags, out of a file in front of them he slid them across the table to her. It was possible that she would recognize the handwriting or something about them, although unlikely.

"Mr. Baker's circle of friends is limited enough that both he and I believe that whoever wrote those letters means that to be you."

[suchgoodluck]

"For the last time, I'm petite, not 'little,'" she says, though there's a strain underneath her joking words. She is honestly tired of having to consider herself possibly in danger; she hates thinking that someone is using her to get to Joel. So as much as she dislikes being here, Cosette is trying to do her best to keep calm for the detective. It's not his fault her relatives and god knows who else out there are trying to kill her.

"Huh," she says, pulling the letters closer to herself. "I don't really recognize anything about the handwriting, but yeah, I don't know too many other petite blondes Joel associates with, so yeah. I'd say it's probably me."

[tarnishedbadge]

"When we find who did this you're welcome to give them a piece of your mind," Levi said. The weird thing was is that he was getting a sense of frustration from her, not any sort of fear or anything like that. Not good, because some fear in this instance would probably be a good thing.

"We believe they were written by this man, Mark Fuller. Does this face seem familiar at all?" he asked as he slid a picture of Mark across to her. "Keeping in mind he might have altered his appearance some."

[suchgoodluck]

"Oh, I'll give them a piece of my mind," she tells him. "And some other part of me shoved up their, well, probably not something I need to say here." Cosette doesn't get the point of being afraid until something shitty is actually happening. What's the point of fearing until you know?

She leans across the table to get a better look at the picture. "No, I can't say that I've ever seen him before in my life."

[tarnishedbadge]

She had spunk, Levi had to give her that. He hoped that she didn't have so much that she put herself into danger because she was reckless. He couldn't imagine how you'd handle a sea monster but it probably wasn't easy. Still, there was a worry that she wouldn't take this seriously.

"We believe that this man is behind the notes and that he intends to cause Joel harm, whether directly or indirectly. Obviously we intend to catch him before that happens. In the meantime we're urging everyone close to Joel to take a few small, extra precautions with their safety."

[suchgoodluck]

Cosette doesn't think of herself as the sort of person with "gall," as Aunt Jasmine's last shitty boyfriend used to say. She said things the way that she felt them, nothing to it. Some people might not appreciate her for it, but hey, that's life, she figures.

"What kind of small, extra precautions?" Cosette asks, quirking an eyebrow.

[tarnishedbadge]

"Checking in with someone, not Joel or Spencer, a few times a day so that they know you're okay. If they don't hear from you they should definitely call us," Levi explained. He didn't have much hope that Cosette would take all the suggested precautions. It wasn't just her, it was everyone. No one liked to think that they needed to take extra measures to be safe because that meant what they did every day wasn't necessarily safe.

"Don't go anywhere isolated by yourself, stick to public areas."

[suchgoodluck]

"Alright, just install the security camera already," she says, rolling her eyes. She realizes he's just doing his job, and also potentially protecting her life, but she can't shake her odd dislike of the police station. "That last part shouldn't be a problem; I'm hardly ever just by myself."

[tarnishedbadge]

"Yes, because I'm sure calling someone every few hours would be such a hardship," Levi said, refraining from rolling his eyes for fear they'd roll right out of his head and onto the table. Her safety was at stake and she was acting like it would be horribly inconvenient for her to try and not get killed.

"At least think about it. At the very least I'm sure Joel would feel better knowing you were being extra cautious."