Late Night Scout - The White Tower

"Please don't shout" Charlie said just loud enough for the closest policeman to hear, his voice soft and in no way threatening as he held the girl to him and looked up from the floor where he was sitting. "She's scared out of her mind already.."

He spoke gently, though he was ready to move if any of the officers reacted by shooting at them.

One of them ran over to Charlie and the little girl, holstering his gun on his way over. He knelt, his hands open in a non-aggressive sort of way. "Do you live here..?" He asked Charlie softly.

In the background, the others were bustling about - still noisily, but less so than before. One was calling for back up and forensics, while the others were making quick work of blocking off the entire desk.

"Upstairs" the records would tell them that anyways. The youth didn't really move though, only nodding towards the elevator and the girl scout cookies which had been just dropped at the sight of the dead woman.
"I was following her out when..." he paused and shook his head. "Where the Hell is mister Jameson*? What the fuck is security doing?"
There was a tinge of worried anger to his voice, which ought to come as no surprise considering the circumstances. Dead woman in the building? Hey, most people would be on edge.



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*mentioned the security guard's name in a previous thread but I can't recall what it is or where so uhm, bare with me on messing up his name. Charlie would remember, his player though is not yet properly awake.

(Jameson works for me!)

The man glanced at the little girl strangely, it was a bit late for a young girl to be out selling cookies.. Turning his attention back to Charlie, he responded, "Jameson jumped off the roof of the building, and.." For the sake of the little girl, he let Charlie finish the sentence on his own.

Good liar or not, the wtf expression on the youth's face was quite real.

Charlie turned his head slightly so he could whisper to the girl he was holding.
"Hey... kid? The police officer here wants to help. He can take you home. You want that?" he said gently, keeping the police man in the corner of his eye as he spoke, giving him a slight nod of the head as if to say that he was trying to help.

She shook her head, eyes wide. She whispered back, "They're going to take me away.. Addison says the police won't let me live with her.."

Of course not.. because that would've been practical wouldn't it?

Charlie looked up at the police officer as he brushed his fingers reassuringly through the girl's hair as if a brother holding and comforting his little sister.
"Hey... I'm sorry, she's still scared... would it be alright if I took her home? You got the the surveillance tape, you know I live here, not as if I can up and disappear" he said with a hint of a smile.

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pm

The police officer's sympathetic smile suddenly melted into a warm one, as he gazed at Charlie with adoring eyes. "Sure, that sounds fine." He reached out to gently pat the little girl's back, eyes never leaving Charlie. "You two be safe though, okay?"

"Thank you so much officer" the sweetly smiling youth said with a soft smile as he pushed himself up and back onto his feet. "I'm just going to get my car keys from my apartment, alright?" still holding the girl as if she was a fragile little figure which might break if he made any sudden moves.

The officer nodded, the little girl clinging to Charlie's shirt. "Sure, you do that. Do you need an escort?"

"Thank you, that's very generous" he reached out to touch his hand briefly to the man's arm with that same lingering smile to his lips. "I just really want to get her home with a minimum amount of fuzz. But you could maybe come with us up stairs while I grab my keys and jacket? I'd feel safer" Charlie said with a light shrug of his shoulders.

The police officer smiled stupidly, nodding. "Sure, let's go." He began to guide the two towards the elevator, pushing the button once he got there.

Charlie stepped into the elevator with the kid still in his arms, fished the key card out of his back pockets and scanned it so that they'd be able to reach the top floor.
Really, this evening was quite possibly about to match a fair few others he'd been having as of late. Go figure...

"You're much too kind officer" the youth said as the elevator reached the top floor and the door slid open. "I'll only need a couple of minutes, I promise" Charlie said with a light nod of his head as he moved over and sat the girl down on the living room table.
"Two minutes, alright? Then we'll get out of here, together" he smiled reassuringly.

The officer nodded agreeably with him, smiling. "Sure, take your time."

The little girl sat on the table, still as a statue, her hands folded in her lap. Her head moved up and down, though it was pretty obvious otherwise that she had no intention of going against his words.

Just as well...

Charlie did a quick sweep of the place, grabbed a backpack and threw in a couple of shirts (one which was his own and the one that had belonged to someone else) and some underwear, pistols, knives and weapon harness, wallet, cellphone. You know, the essentials.

Finally he grabbed a jacket and his keys, both for the motorcycle keys and the car keys, and walked up to the two with a smile as he jiggled them and threw the backpack on his shoulder.
"Got it" he moved to pick up the girl again with the same careful embrace as before.

"Come on... we're getting you back home" or, well, to whoever it was the girl wanted to go to. Because right now he had a nagging feeling about it all... or well, more nagging than "just" the two dead people.

She grabbed on to Charlie once more, nuzzling her nose into his neck.

The police officer held his hand out, holding the door for the two.

Charlie gave the man another softly spoken "thank you" as he stepped unto the elevator with the girl and the officer. Really, he smoky looked relieved to be able to get out of there.

The officer waited patiently as the elevator counted down. Once it dinged on "L", he exited, motioning once more. "Have a safe evening."

Charlie swiped his card again, effectively locking off his haven unless they got a hold of a card key or the code to get back up.
"You as well, Sir" he smiled, turning to head for the underground parking complex that could be reached through the lobby given the right set of keys. Hopefully? Hopefully he'd be able to get the Hell out of there...

There was nothing blocking his way to the garage, no reason he shouldn't be able to drive away.

Good.
Garage. Car. Kid in car. Bag in the backseat. Keys in the ignition and they were out if there even as Charlie fished out his cellphone with one hand while keeping his eyes on the road.
"Got an address we can go to?" he asked, while already dialing a number.

"I can guide you to Addison.. She doesn't have an address, we live in a tree.."

He probably shouldn't be surprised given everything else that had happened so far.
"I'm just going to make a quick call and we'll go there, alright?" he smiled, making sure to stick to the speed limit for once.

She nodded, sinking down into her chair. Her little fingers were clasped around the edges of her seat, knuckles white as she watched the world fly by outside her window.

"k.."

"I'll get you home. I promise" he said, offering a smile while mentally cursing Alex for being so slow to pick up his phone.

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Pm sent to player