Beyond The Blue

(Apologies for the long break in chapters but after a recent tragic incident in Queensland; I didn't feel comfortable continuing the story about police after what happened.)

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Trying to focus on the case at hand is tough because all I want to do is sit there and just convince whoever I can that Levi shouldn’t be locked up in a cell right now. I take a deep breath and tell myself to focus on the job at hand which is watching the traffic cameras.

We manage to find the car driving erratically down on Adams Road which thankfully doesn’t have any cars before losing it again as it continues to go down side streets which we have intermittent coverage until there is an angle from Parker Lane where the number plate is in show. “Fucking bingo… got a number plate,” I say getting excited as Henry fist bumps me and he does a registration search for the car.

“The car is registered to a Frank Stanton, 77 North Valley Drive, Hamilton Park North,” he says as we talk to Eve about what happened and she tells us to head out to the place and go and have at least a chat about what happened.

“So we’ve found the car belongs to Frank Stanton, 77 North Valley Drive in Hamilton Park North; Do you want us to pass it onto the detectives or want us to check things out?” I say to Eve who doesn’t even think about what she wants us to do. “It’s our case and I want you two to see it through because you two work well together and having done all the leg work, you should get the result,” she says as I smile and fist bump Henry and we head out to the car.

Walking past, it’s hard not to notice Levi’s name in bold writing on the arrest board and thinking about him with all the difficulties that he’s been through lately, sitting in that cell alone stewing with his thoughts about being blamed for something that is completely not his fault.

Henry and I wander out to the car as I’m still distracted by Levi that I initially head to the wrong car “Wrong car Trent” he says to me as I look down and realise that I’m trying to get into a completely different car to what we were assigned to. “Sorry man, I’m totally distracted thinking about Levi,” I say as I get into the right car and Henry pats me on the thigh.

“Yeah I totally get that but you know that everything will work out with Levi because everybody is looking out for him and I know I’ve only been around for a few days but it sounds like there probably would be a complete lack of evidence and that it’s self-defence given the story,” he says as I nod knowing that he’s right.

I sit there driving and we’re in silence for a while “I know that you are right about Levi but it’s just with Connor’s situation and then with Levi I just feel like I’ve let him down” I say as Henry shakes his head. “Look, I know that I’m not connected to either situation but I know that nobody has felt like you’ve let them down because from what I’ve seen of you Trent, you’re an amazing cop and you should just remember that,” he says as I nod.

We get to the address and there is nothing around there, the house looks all locked up and other than some scrapes on the gutter which prove to us that we are at the right place. Walking up to the door, there are no signs that the car is here which is frustrating and adding to the frustration is that there is nobody home.

“Damn it, we need to know if the person who did all that is home and whether the car is here,” I say as Henry nods. “Would’ve been too easy to have the smashed-up car parked in the driveway wouldn’t it?” he says as I laugh and nod.

“Always would be nice though” we wander back from the front door when the next-door neighbour is outside and calls out to us. “They’re not home” she calls out to us as we wander over to the neighbour to try and get some more information about who was driving the car.

“Do you know when they will be back home? We just have a few questions about an accident” I say to the neighbour who looks at me with a confused and stunned look on her face. “Not for a few months, they’ve gone on a 6-month world cruise for their retirement,” she says as this just makes things more serious from a hit and run to potentially a stolen car.

The neighbour stands there “Is everything alright? You said there was an accident with their car, was anyone hurt?” she asks as Henry shakes his head. “Thankfully there wasn’t, but just quite a fair bit of damage to some parked cars which is why we are here investigating,” he says as I have a quick wander around the house to make sure that there wasn’t any sort of illegal entry.

“Doesn’t look like anybody’s broken in so it’s just the car that looks like it was taken” I say as the neighbour puts her finger up as if she has more information. “The car isn’t stolen, instead of it being parked up here Heather told me that her brother-in-law was going to use it because they needed an extra car for some reason; I don’t know when he came to pick it up though,” she says as I write that down because it’s extremely helpful information.

Feeling like I’m at a dead end, I decide to ask the neighbour for a description of the brother-in-law but she tells me that she doesn’t see him too often more just her sister who is about as distinctive butter on white bread. I give the neighbour a contact card with our details if she has any more information as we head back to the car.

We get back into the car and sit there for a minute as I get an idea “What if we door knocked quickly? Especially say with the other neighbour and maybe a few houses around because people spot things and I know the road is on a bend, but people still talk” I say as Henry nods.

“Yeah that’s a good idea, how far do you want to do it?” he asks as I come up with a plan about what happens with the door knocking. “Maybe you do this side of the road and I’ll ask across the road maybe 3 or 4 houses each?” I say as we agree and come up with the plan to see about the car.

Door knocking at this time of day isn’t fun because most people are either out picking up their kids or still at work which doesn’t help us. I get to the final house which is just off from being across the road from the Stanton house as I knock on the door and get a nice lady probably around her late sixties or early 70s.

“Why hello young man? Nice to see somebody has finally got around to dealing with my issues about the noises from next door and that racket all night” she says as I tell her that I’m actually here on other enquiries right now. “Oh that’s a shame, nobody will respond to the music from next door that goes on every night,” she says as I just nod and reassure her that somebody will get around to it and I’ll put it to our community liaison team.

Inviting me in, I sit down on the couch “Now Madam” I say trying to ask her questions which might take a while because she’s put the kettle on for me. “Please, call me Anita,” she says as I agree to her request.

“Look, Anita, thank you for the offer of tea but I’m actually in a bit of a hurry we’re looking into a car accident last night on Jupiter Drive and the car was registered to Mr Stanton from across the road,” I say trying to explain what we are investigating but being stopped and interrupted unintentionally from her just trying to be polite to me.

“Oh no young man, it was not Frank who was driving last night because they have gone on the Spirit Fortuna cruise that left a few days ago, they had planned it ages ago and now they are both retired and sweet Jeremy is at University, they finally took this trip,” she says to me as I nod taking in the information that I already know.  

I sit there listening to her telling me all about the story about their lives which is a lovely story but it slows me down a lot from getting to the relevant information but I can’t lie the homemade cookies have made the doorknocking worthwhile. “We know that it isn’t the Stantons at fault but we’re wondering if you know anything about the car disappearing either last night or in the early hours of the morning,” I ask her as she sits there thinking about things for quite a while before remembering.

“Oh yes, it was about 2 or 3 am, I didn’t have my glasses on to check my watch but the noise from next door was dreadful with the music going and I looked outside and there was someone driving the car, not breaking in which I thought was odd but Heather said her brother-in-law did work weird hours and would pick up the car,” she says as I nod learning that whoever had the car had the keys for it so it wasn’t stolen.

I feel my phone vibrating with texts, which is probably Henry wanting to know where I am but I just ignore them “Do you know anything about what the man looked like at all? Was he tall, short, average height and weight?” I ask as she shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head.

“At my age” starts moving her finger as if I’m supposed to say my name which I do before she keeps going. ‘At my age, my eyes and ears aren’t that good anymore so I didn’t see much other than it was totally dark and it was probably a man” she says as I take the information and get up to leave. I get kept for 5 more minutes as she fills me in on the suburb more and about how lovely the Stantons are as a family.

Wandering out of her house I turn back and ask Anita whether she knows who the brother-in-law is but she doesn’t because, like the other neighbour, she hasn’t seen him too much either. I start to head out but notice the security cameras on her place that all face the street, some quite advanced.

“These cameras Anita? Do they work and do they see across the street?” I ask as she nods though not really sure about all the tech stuff. “I assume so, my grandchildren bought them and set them up because they wanted me to be able to see what was going on before I opened the door so I wasn’t going to be attacked and so that they could see if I was outside gardening and had a fall or something.

My time with Anita this afternoon is pleasant even if 90% of it was irrelevant and with her grandson agreeing to let us use the camera footage we might be on the next stage of cracking this case wide open. Henry is sitting in the car just playing on his phone waiting for me as I get in “Was starting to think you’d walked back to the station or got held hostage” he says as I just laugh cause it did feel a bit like that.

“It was getting close to feeling like that with Anita, but at the end of the day she gave me some really good information and that her son who is at work will send through the data off his server tonight” so that we can check it out tomorrow when he sends it through.

We drive back to the station, without the information that we were looking for but at the same time, I’m hopeful of getting the result that we want tomorrow. Parking the car at the station, we head inside and we talk to Eve who is happy with the work that we did and that we can pick it up the next time that we are on shift.

I walk back towards the main holding area where I know Levi would be and try to get to see him “I need to talk to Levi” I say to the custody sergeant who looks at me and just shakes his head. “Come on Trent, you know that I can’t do that as much as I want to,” he says as I know that he shouldn’t but I just wish that he could.

“What’s the word on what’s actually happening with him?” I ask trying to get some more information about what’s going on and whether he has to spend the night in the cells which is the worst thing for him, especially with how fragile he is right now.

“I don’t know much, he hasn’t been charged looking at the paperwork so Richards has to either put through the paperwork within the next 2 hours to officially charge him or he has to be released,” the sergeant says as I just nod and wandering off as I feel like this is all my fault for not protecting Levi fully despite not having any control over what happened this morning.

Heading into the lockers, I get changed as some of the others come in “Hey Trent, you wanna come down and join us for a drink?” they ask as I shake my head knowing that I’m not really in the mood and want to get back home to find out what happened today with Connor.

“Nah, it’s all good I’ve got to get home and do some stuff with Connor and get your mind out of the gutter,” I say to them as we all laugh and eventually start to head home as I head towards the custody area again trying to get some more information.

I wander down there and find Mitch who is in the custody area and he just looks at me “There’s nothing new that I can tell you, Trent, Richards is still adamant that we charge Levi but ultimately in the next hour so it’s got to be decided upon by a senior officer which could be anytime” he says as I nod and thank him for the effort he is going to.

Heading home, this is up there with one of the most frustrating days that I’ve ever had because as much as everybody has told me not to, I can’t help but blame myself for everything that happened because if I hadn’t taken Levi to Tom’s then his dad wouldn’t have hurt anyone there.

6:04 pm: “Hey Trent, any word on Levi and him coming home?”

My phone buzzes and I read the text from Tom while I’m parked at the lights even though I fully know that I shouldn’t be reading my phone whilst sitting in the driver's seat.

6:05 pm: “Nah, nothing yet the decision is pretty much decided by someone senior and there isn’t anything final”

I put my phone back in its holder and drive back home where Connor is already waiting with dinner for me as I come in and just give him a massive hug and it’s nice just to be back in his arms. “One of those days I’m guessing?” he says as I just nod and kiss him.

“Yeah, just frustrating you know because hearing about everything that happened at Tom’s and then seeing Levi being treated like a petty criminal when he has made so many improvements in his life both physically and mentally from that day at the station and it just worries me that all this is going to send him so far backwards,” I say as Connor just rubs my back as he listens to me before going back to finish off cooking.

The smells of the food in the Kitchen are amazing as Connor is trying hard to match the recipe book “Levi is a strong kid, he’s gonna need help over the next few days and weeks again, but he’s strong and the progress that he makes is going to be perfect” he says to me as I nod and sit down at the table waiting for dinner.

Connor dishes it up and puts it in front of me and I start eating “Now enough about my day, tell me what happened about the gym today with the full information” I say just needing a break to focus on other things right now, especially with our gym project.

“It was alright, could have been a lot worse you know because there were some major issues which we were worried about but the building inspector has said that what we have planned and want to do would most likely alleviate those issues totally which is good without adding too much to the budget,” he says as I smile and know that this next step of the project can get underway once the final permits get through which should only be in the next week or so.

After finishing dinner, I wash up and clean up after all the hard work that Connor did in the kitchen and then we go and sit down on the couch as I check my phone trying to see if there’s any information but nobody has contacted me yet which is extremely annoying. “Want to just watch a movie tonight?” Connor asks me as I nod my head and decide that I just feel like something light to watch and just go back to feeling like a kid and watching Lilo and Stitch.

The lightness of the movie is what I need as I fall asleep with my head on Connor’s shoulder snoring away for a while as he just sits there for a while playing around on his phone and watching the movie which surprises me when he says that he has never seen it before. I’m asleep until well beyond the movie finishes as he ends up moving with my head making his shoulder numb and having to move.

“Sorry didn’t mean to wake you sexy,” he says as I smile at him and kiss him “How long has the movie been finished?” I ask as he just smiles. “About an hour or so, you were sleeping so soundly that I just wanted to let you go and sleep there for a bit,” he says as I reach down for my phone and have a look and see that Mitch text me not long after I went to sleep.

8:15 pm: “Hey Trent, not good news Levi’s been kept overnight, DS Richards spoke to DI Jansen who said it was serious enough to hold Levi until a court appearance in the morning… sorry man, I did my best and Branning helped as well”

I roll my eyes and hit the pillow as I know Levi is spending the night in the cell when all that he should be doing is focusing on his schoolwork again and I hope that what happened doesn’t derail what happened.

“Guessing you didn’t get any good news?” Connor says to me as I shake my head and just let out a frustrated groan thinking that I’ve failed Levi and everybody. “Nope, Richards got his way and they’ve charged Levi with assault pending a court appearance and a decision tomorrow,” I say as Connor just shakes his head.

I know what he is about to say and know that he is right about the fact that I’m not going to be able to do anything but it’s just frustrating it’s out of my control. “Everything will work out but remember you need to stay calm and just let the situation play out which I know is tough and the overwhelming majority are on Levi’s side and once everything is presented we will know that it looks better for him,” he says as I nod and know that he’s right as I go up and have my shower before just getting into bed.

I sleep right through the night, just so exhausted from the past few days both physically and mentally with everything going on and I’m awake at 5 am like normal as Connor is still asleep as I decide to go for a morning walk just around the block as I’m trying to just put everything out of my mind.

I’m out for about an hour just walking and shutting my phone off other than just for Spotify to keep playing the music as I get back Connor has just gotten up “Morning sexy” I say as I walk back through the door and he smiles at me and kisses me.

“Was wondering where you got to” he says as I wrap my arms around his shirtless body which has lost a slight bit of his muscle tone without being able to hit the gym as hard as he used to but is still so sexy no matter how he looks. “Just needed to get out and about to have a walk you know, just get the right mindset for the day ahead with Levi and then trying to figure out this hit-and-run situation,” I say as Connor looks at me prompting me for some more information.

“Oh yeah, Henry and I had to deal with a car that sideswiped about seven cars on Jupiter Drive and drove erratically around the area and we lost it but got a plate ID which is fine but following that up you know, we actually found the car’s owner only to find that the owner is on a six month Cruise around the world and the brother-in-law is the one who is looking after the car but we don’t know who he is,” I say as Connor nods as he is trying to think about ways to help.

“Did you ask the neighbours if they know who he is or anything like that? He asks as I just look at him with a look that just asks can you be serious. “Oh yeah, I guess that you would have and otherwise you wouldn’t know that it was the brother-in-law,” he says as he hits his head and just laughs realising how dumb his question was.

I get breakfast and sit down at the table and Connor and I talk through the case with him trying to get a different view of the situation as he tries to think about what we could do with what we know so far but Connor doesn’t have anything extra. Taking a shower and getting ready, my phone has gone off a couple of times where I read the texts that have come through.

6:12 am: “Hey Trent, any word on Levi? I rang the station and they told me that they couldn’t tell me anything until morning” – Tom

6:23 am: “Hey mate, I’m not gonna be in today because Tash’s grandad passed away and the kids are sick” – Henry

6:30 am: “Hi mate, I’m gonna talk to Ange this morning to see if she can push any influence on Levi’s case because she has the ability to press the Prosecutors because I’m not comfortable with what’s happened either” – Mitch

“Your phone has been going off all morning,” Connor says as I finish getting ready and reading the messages. “I’m just Mr Popular I guess,” I say laughing and for some reason flexing as well as he punches me and calls me conceited which is far from true given the selfies he takes.

I head to work and straight away Mitch and Ange are talking when I get in there and she calls me over “Trent, come here for a minute” she says as I wander over to the two of them.

“What happened yesterday? I came in this morning and saw Levi’s name on the custody board for assault with an asterisk meaning that there could be an upgrade in the charges” she says as I nod and just shake my head. “As far as I got told because I was limited on what I could talk to him about by Richards was that Levi was headed to school when his Dad turned up banging on the door, breaking the door down at the hostel then trying to grab Levi and according to Levi he tried to drag him back down the stairs which is where Levi reacted in self-defence pushing away and his Dad fell down the stairs and ended up apparently with a fractured skull,” I say as Mitch nods telling her that is what happened.

“It sounds so simple and thankfully there are security cameras that we’ve got but I don’t know if they’ve watched the vision of it or not because every time that I ask about it, I’m shut down and DS Richards is adamant that Levi was the aggressor,” Mitch says as Ange just shakes her head not believing what happened at all.

“Look, I will do what I can and I read through the initial response that you wrote Mitch and Levi’s statement and it looks like there is nothing there especially given that his father is not allowed anywhere near him and I will talk to the Super and maybe the commander to try and make sure that Levi isn’t punished,” she says as I nod and go to get changed into my uniform as I hope that I’m still looking to deal with the accident.

In the briefing, Eve is in control and tells me that I’m still looking into the accident that happened the other night which makes me happy and that I’m going to be with Branko again dealing with this which is going to be like dealing with an eager toddler. “Yep that’s all good and I know that we can get some good work done,” I say as we head out to the car and head back to Jupiter Drive to get any more witness statements which we don’t before heading back to the Stanton residence to see if there is any sign of the brother-in-law or other family but there isn’t frustratingly.

Driving back to the station, I fill Branko in on everything that happened with the accident and he pretty much just asks if we have done what we had already done and he nods. Checking my phone, there is still no information on Levi which is annoying me a little bit but soon after there’s a radio call that needs us back at the station.

Heading back, I get there hoping it’s about Levi but it’s just Eve telling us that the camera footage from Anita’s house that her grandson dropped off for us to go through. Branko and I sit there going through hours’ worth of footage where not much happens.

It’s after a little while where I’m up using the bathroom that Branko finds something that the cameras picked up of a good shot of the man we want to identify walking across the road to put a parcel that looked as if it was wrongly delivered onto the porch whilst Anita was away.

“TRENT… we’ve got an ID on the guy I’m sure of it,” he says like a kid at Christmas having just got the present that he did and I look at the face of the guy and am absolutely astounded that I know the face from the first glance.

“Fucking hell… I know who exactly that is” as we keep watching and see him getting into the car which had the accident. I sit there shaking my head as Branko looks confused at me which is understandable because it was someone that I absolutely was not expecting.  

I get up and quickly leave Branko sitting there confused by my urgency as I quickly run past Eve’s office right now “Excuse me Sarge but there is something that you need to see” I say as I text Mitch.

‘Hey man, I know there’s nothing new at your end but I really need you to come down to the computer room right now” I text as what seems like a routine case takes a turn in a direction I was not expecting.