C.: D.c. texted me and asked me to share chapter three of "The Inert Ingredient" with you. He is back at work trying to finish his latest book.
CHAPTER THREE: AN EXCLUSIVE REPORT
Jay awakened the next day to a startling sound. He found what he was looking for in an instant; since cops must have a firearm within reach at all times, whether on or off duty. He quickly took his police-issue pistol out of its holster and stalked his doorway. It was a false alarm. A limb had fallen on the roof of his top-floor apartment. Jay let out a sigh of relief and returned to his bed, but was unable to go back to sleep.
As a child and teenager, Jay had been able to sleep through most noises. This included a ringing phone, much to his parent’s chagrin. Adding to the tension was the fact that the phone call was almost always for the slumbering child or teenager. His parents did not like to be thought of as servants who answered their son’s phone calls. Jay’s addict parents would often let him know, in no uncertain terms, that the phone had disturbed their semi-comatose state. None of their scoldings, however, could convince their son to awaken to answer his own telephone calls.
What DID convince Jay to awaken at the drop of a hat, though, was the time he had served in the U.S. Marine Corps. If a soldier refuses to be awakened easily while protecting his or her country, he or she will suffer severe consequences. It only took one or two such occurrences to convince Private James David Magruder to quickly awaken when called upon to do so.
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After moving into his own apartment, Jay was usually on high alert at all times. He knew that undercover cops were in constant danger of being discovered and dealt with severely. The consequences of being discovered by someone he had helped put in prison would make the repercussions he suffered from not being awakened easily in the Marine Corps seem mild by comparison. For this reason, Jay Magruder was diligent about keeping his firearm within arm’s reach at all times. He also taught himself to be a light sleeper to avoid dire ramifications.
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Jay looked at his alarm clock. Even though he had not gotten home from work until after eight a.m., he still had three hours before he would need to awaken and groom himself for his dinner date with Alice. Because he had worked a double shift, he was awarded a night off. Alice had agreed to put her studying aside for a few hours to eat dinner with Jay. This gave him more satisfaction than he would ever have imagined. Since he had only seen the nurse-to-be twice, he was startled that his mind was preoccupied with his date to the point of not being able to go back to sleep. Finally, he gave in to his thoughts and climbed out of bed. He took a shower and turned on his television to kill time. Observing the midday news made him uncomfortable. The most trusted newscaster in Houston was giving a report which he deemed “exclusive.” This newscaster went by the nickname “Scoop” (because he was always the first newscaster in Houston to break a story) so he now had Jay’s undivided attention.
Jay listened as “Scoop” stated that HPD Officer Ben Jones, who had been temporarily assigned to Jay’s precinct, had found an abnormality in the paperwork concerning the death of Benito Suarez.
Jay’s head was spinning. What did Alice say was her father’s name? He knew that Alice’s father was a cop. He also knew, as Alice had stated, that Jones was a common name. Ben was also a common name. Officer Ben Jones could just as easily have been someone beside Alice’s father, but the possibility that he was his date’s dad disturbed Jay immensely. Questions to which he had no answers now clouded his mind.
Should he cancel his date with Alice? Jay quickly nixed that idea. If the officer in question WAS Alice’s dad, it would be to Jay’s benefit to keep watch over him. What better way to do so than to date his daughter? But had Jay’s instincts denied him about the nursing school student? He believed, from their first encounter, that she was a trustworthy person. His instincts about such things were what kept him alive in his line of work, Jay believed. Had she tipped her father off that there may be something amiss about the cadaver that her instructor insisted on examining? Was Officer Ben Jones someone that Jay should keep a close eye on, and discourage from continuing the investigation? That question was easy to answer. He MUST keep his secret, no matter what the consequences, he decided. Jay hurriedly dressed and brushed his thick, unwieldy hair. He then drove to the restaurant where he and Alice had agreed to meet. On the drive, Magruder rehearsed, in his mind, the questions he would ask Alice Jones.
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