Selena

'Dammit! Sergio, where are you?!' 

After arriving in Chinatown to help him with the footage app, I called him five times, but had no answer. Neither did he return my phone calls, yet he wanted me here. Police had closed off a crime scene area, where a man had been shot on his thigh. 'Is he still conscious?' I asked an officer on site.

'Yes'. From what I heard; the injured man was a gang ringleader. He was often caught in trouble, raising my suspicions.

'Can I talk to him?' I requested.

'Sure'. I limboed under the yellow tape to the man who was being bandaged up.

'Heya. My name is Selena Rose', I introduced, proudly flashing my new badge, 'so I heard you were causing trouble in Chinatown?' He didn't respond, but through his exasperated facial expression, I could tell his mind was heavy in distress. 'Do you know who shot you?'

'I don't know. Can't remember', he lied. Men and their pride. Sliding out my phone, I could only think of one theory.

'This girl', I showed him, 'I'm looking for her. You must know her. She's Bluebridge's most wanted thief right now. did you encounter her?'

'Gggrrrh', he grumbled breathing heavily, 'that – bitch!'

'Tell me about it, right?'

'She shot me. It was her. Amy'.

'With your gun?' I asked. He paused. I caught him off guard. No matter what way he spun the story, he would still end up incriminating himself.

'Look, I had no intentions of hurting that girl. I'm no murderer. After all, I'm just like you, detective. We're all after the diamond, right?'

'Do you know where she went?'

'Nah. I don't', he replied agitatedly, 'she shot me then ran'. Being the detective left in the dark was no fun. Even my own department lacked communication with me, to the point where I felt I was lagging behind everyone else.

'Okay cam-shazam. Find me footage of Chinatown from the last hour', I demanded my app, and behold it obeyed. 'Oh shit'. It sure gave me hundreds of clips from the past hour, most of which were irrelevant, ordered according to the map coding. Since it was gonna take for-ever for me to go through all one-hundred-and-thirty-eight clips, I moved across the road to sit in The Rosewater Hotel bar. 'Can I get whatever non-alcoholic drink you have, please?' I asked the bartender.

'Of course'. He smiled, handing me a drink menu. Three seats from mine, I caught a suited man glimpsing at me. I glimpsed back, then looked away, but couldn't help glimpsing back. Clean-shaven, tight afro hair, with silky brown skin and an expensive yet down-played suit like that... had I seen him before? Picking up a phone call, he diverted his eyes.

'Pink rosewater', which was just a fancy pink lemonade, 'it's the only non-alcoholic option we have'.

'That's fine, thanks'.

Fifty clips into the footage list, I found Amy coming out of a confined back-of-house area. Fast-forward. Shortly after, her accomplice, a taller and older girl appeared beside her smoking. One hundred clips later, I found her at gunpoint, and a gang of men all pointing guns at Sergio. Then I found that man staring at me again. Whether he and the bartender were having a casual conversation or laughing at me was ambiguous. Finally came the shoot-out clips, which I had to examine in different angles, because I couldn't quite comprehend what I observed. Then, I picked up my butt-buzzing phone.

'Sergio. Is everything okay?'

'I have the girl. She's apprehended under max security'. Phew. That was a relief to hear. 'I almost lost her when she tried to escape'.

'Thank goodness we're making progress', I pivoted in excited circles, 'Okay – okay, I'm on my way'.

'Also, can you get me a large pack of Cheetos?' he requested.

'Sure'. Guess he was hungry. So was I. Grabbing my jacket and gulping down the rest of my rosewater, I rushed for the door, but heard the bartender call me back. That's right. I forgot to pay, 'sorry-sorry-sorry'.

'It's on me', said the classy man who watched me.

'No, no', I didn't want chivalry, 'you don't have to, really'. Without a flinch, he tapped his watch onto the card reader. Too late. 'Erm...' I didn't know how to react, except gazing down to the carpets too proud to accept his tip, 'I'll refund you'. He just laughed. 'what?'

'Have you never accepted a tip?' Honestly, no man I knew ever paid for me, so I wasn't used to his courtesy.

'Thank you, erm –'

'Michael'. Caught in his bright eyes, cool demeanour, and soulful cologne, I stood stiff. Snap out of it, Selena. Like a robot, I twisted and headed for the exit again, 'err – you dropped something'. Not again. As I turned back, I noticed it was only my sister's business card, 'Harlem Interiors? Lavish company'.

'You... you know it?'

'Actually, I do. I was contacted by the owner'. As the pieces finally came together, I gasped.

'So you're... the one...?' with a puzzled face, he prompted my explanation, 'erm, my sister owns Harlem interiors. She was telling me about a – nuanced lawyer. I'm guessing that's you'.

'Nuanced? Now I know why Solange's sister is a detective', he marvelled, 'who drinks rosewater at a bar'. Of course he was making fun of me, yet I couldn't help but giggle like a little girl. 'Can't be drunk on duty, right?' I rolled my eyes. 'Don't worry. I don't drink either'.

'Stop dissing my rosewater', I snapped, 'it's nice'. Sergio called again, 'sorry, I gotta take this'.

'Selena, are you close by?'

'Er – yeah. Nearly there', I lied, 'I have to go, sorry'. Although I left abruptly, I couldn't be swayed by this mysterious Michael, otherwise I would never leave, 'it was nice to meet you'.

Ten minutes later, I arrived at max security with the Cheetos and some extra snacks. The custody was designed for the most dangerous of offenders but was not designed for juvenile offenders with unpredictable powers.

Unlike other offenders, Amy was kept in 'the Vault', an experimental cell design which hadn't been used on dangerous offenders yet. Behind a round and shatter-proof, triple glazed glass door, she lay like a dead girl on the floor.

'Is she okay?'

'She's fine', Sergio assured, 'just playing possum because I won't give her what she wants'. From the shade of his tone, his grudge for this girl ran deeper than I knew. 'Typical drama queen'. As he requested, I pulled out the Cheetos. 'It's for Amy. Give it to her', he ordered.

'You give it to her', I retorted, but he gave me a plain look. Now I saw what was going on here; we were all afraid of her, too afraid to closely interact at least. Two militarised officers sat behind a small communication room, closed off with glass; their duty was to control potential chaos. Sergio had taken a risk explaining her superhuman abilities to all staff on duty, whom suddenly became overly precautious. Now I understood why he wanted news on her powers kept low-key. 'Let's go in together', I suggested.

'Okay'. Slow and climactically, the round vault door slid up, we stepped in, and it slid back down immediately. Prostrate on the ground, hands cuffed, eyes closed, Amy looked unconscious. 'What are you doing?' Sergio mumbled.

'Harnessing my inner-energies', she replied, slowly sitting up, legs folded. Sergio and I shot eyes at each other, then gripped our straps thinking she would pull a trick with her powers, 'I'm just chatting shit, alright?' Amy taunted with us. Detecting our fear, she raised her cuffed hands as a calming measure, 'woosah'.

'Out of all diamonds to steal, why this one?' I asked.

'Do you like it?' her voice was deep and whispery, 'it's called Amelia'.

'Does it give you powers?' I asked. A sly smirk grew on her face. When she raised her cuffed arms, Sergio and I instinctively pulled out our guns. Turns out she was just undoing her choker, with the jewel attached to it, and leaving it on the floor.

'Why don't you test that for yourself?' she pushed it closer to our feet. Sergio wasn't saying anything when I looked at him. I assumed his distrust for this girl was slowly being compromised. What if she wasn't as dangerous as we suspected? Taking a leap of faith, I crept down to pick up the jewel. Nothing happened, neither did I feel anything.

'What did you do back then when we were in the explosion?' I asked, 'how did you do that?'

'Look lady', now she was agitated, 'even I don't know how my powers work. I've never done that before'. Still with distrust, Sergio lowered his gun. 'If I saved you guys, why would I try to hurt you now?' her question made us ponder, 'and if I actually knew how to control my powers, do you think I would still be here? Killing time with the cops? Not my forte'.

'You've got a lot of explaining to do, girl', Sergio finally broke his silence.

'Okay', she replied, 'but can I eat the Cheetos first?'