Chapter Text
« After all this time, I can’t believe he didn’t tell us he was moving away.
- I know right ? You would have thought five years of almost monthly meetings would mean something to him and yet…
- To think we bought him a cake for Christmas….
- Chief Lawson really fucked us over on this one…
- Language young man ! »
Chief Hopper had finally decided complaints time was over for the four teenagers currently in his office. Why he had to deal with them on his first day as chief of Police in Hawkins, he didn’t know, but clearly he had some bad karma to get rid of. He tried not to think too much about this « monthly » thing.
« Names. » He asked. Ordered, to be more truthful.
« Lucas Sinclair. » Answered the black kid with a fancy hairstyle, eyes fixed on the floor.
« Dustin Henderson. » Followed the second kid, lots of curls, bright blue eyes fixed on him in an apologetic look.
« Maxine Mayfield » said the red haired girl, with a sigh, fiddling with the wheels of her skateboard.
« Michael Wheeler. » Finally said the last one, clearly defying Jim with his tone, fire in his eyes, dark hair framing his pale face. Oh, this one was going to be a pain in the ass, he could tell.
« Right. Ages ?
- We’re all 15 » the Sinclair boy said.
Great. So they’ld likely all be in school with El and Will. He sincerely hoped his kids would stay away from that bunch and that there were better behaved teens in Hawkins. God, he needed some coffee.
« Alright, before I call your parents to come and get you… »
Maxine laughed. Okay, maybe the Wheeler kid wasn’t the only one he should worry about.
« Sorry. You’ll laugh too when you call home. » She said. With a sigh, Jim started again.
« …Before I call your parents to come and get you, can you tell me what you were doing in a restricted area ? And don’t tell me you didn’t know, there is literal barbed wire around the site which, I must add, is restricted for safety reasons. »
He watched expectantly as the teenagers exchanged hesitant looks. When he got tired of waiting an answer, he pointed at Henderson, hoping the regret he was showing was genuine enough for him to admit the truth.
« You, why were you there ?
- The question, chief », he said, « is how did you know we were ? Were you there too ? What were you doing in a restricted area ? »
Ok so the regret was definitely fake.
« I saw you through the wire fence. It’s see-through. Alright, Sinclair ?
- We got lost. We were just playing around and we ended up here.
- And you went through the fence without noticing. The one with, as I said earlier, barbed wire. »
The boy looked at him, lips pursed, and Jim couldn’t help but sigh once again.
« Mayfield, any better answer ?
- I’m not sure why you care. I mean, does it really change anything what we were doing ? Are you trying to trick us into admitting we were doing drugs or something ?
- Well were you ? »
The girl simply rolled her eyes. So his last chance to know the truth was…
Knock knock.
« Come in ! » He shouted, irritated, expecting Florence to bring him the coffee he asked for. When the door opened, though, he immediately felt a warm smile forming on his face. The coffee was here, but it was his daughter, El, who was carrying the cup. Behind her, his son, Will, wasn’t empty-handed either.
« You forgot your lunch, » he said, lifting the lunchbox Joyce made for him with leftovers the day before. This caused some laughs from his detainees, which he immediately shut down with a stare.
« Thanks kids » Jim said, taking what they brought for him. He was about to send them on their way when it happened.
That little rascal Michael Wheeler talked to Will.
« Wait, you play DnD ? » He said, with that smug face of his. Not even asking humbly, more like confirming something he somehow thought he knew. As if he could know anything about a good boy like Will. And even worse, Will started to answer.
« Oh, only solo campaigns for now, but how did you…
- Stop talking to him Will, this boy is a criminal, » he warned, before opting for the easy way out. « Come on, it was nice seeing you, kids, but I’m in the middle of an interrogation and I’m pretty sure Jonathan is waiting for you in the car, so let’s not make him wait too long, I’ll see you at home. Joyce works late so I’ll bring back pizzas for dinner. Oh and on your way out can you tell Florence to call their parents ? I got their names written down on this. »
He gave the note to El, then waved his hand at her and Will as they slipped out the room, then went back to his task at hand.
« Michael Wheeler », he said in his most intimidating voice, « if I catch you so much as looking at my children again, I’ll make sure to find out anything you’ve done that could allow me to put you in jail, and I’m sure there is enough clues out there for that. Now…
-What if he comes to me ? Should I just ignore him ? »
He had the gall to look pleased with himself. Jim was close to breaking his mug against the desk. That wasn’t good. He couldn’t do that on his first day here. Instead, he stared right at Wheeler, who was staring back with no shame.
« I’ll make sure he won’t. Now tell me what you were doing in that restricted area.
- We were just looking for a place to shoot a video, » the teen answered with a shrug. « It seemed like a good place for what we are planning but we wanted to check before bringing the video camera. Those are expensive. »
It took Jim a moment to process. Did Wheeler just answer without a second thought ? Was it a trick of some kind ? He couldn’t tell. He tried checking on his friend’s faces for some clue, but they just looked kinda confused, which could indicate they had no idea what he was talking about, or that they didn’t know why he would tell the truth.
« What ? » Asked Wheeler, still staring. « Disappointed we weren’t running a drug cartel out there ? We’re just teens, Chief. »
This little…
« Fine. » Jim said through gritted teeth. « Well I hope it is now clear that you can’t do that, and I’m sure I can trust your parents to… »
Knock knock.
He answered the door. This time it was Florence.
« Chief Hopper, there’s a slight problem with Miss Mayfield’s parents. » She said, which was followed by a « Told you. » from the girl.
Maybe moving to Indiana wasn’t such a good idea.