WPOV

I lingered in the doorway, trying to rehearse what I should say to her in my head.

My mom eventually glanced away from her computer. When she saw me, her expression softened and she forced a smile. "Will, I was just about to call you downstairs. Come in, sit down."

I sat across from her. "What are you working on?"

"Responding to an email." She paused again, cutting her eyes away from the screen to meet mine. She resumed typing. "There was something I needed to talk to you about."

"Is it about the case? Have you found anything?"

I was desperate for her answer to be yes, but she shook her head. "No, nothing significant."

"Then what is it?" I asked. I tried to hide my slumping shoulders and disappointment.

It was hard to have faith in my mom because I couldn't see a reason to. Finding Nico was the only thing on my mind. I didn't want to blame anyone for struggling with the case, but I couldn't help it. It's her job. She's supposed to be good at this type of thing. If it wasn't about Nico, I honestly didn't care what she had to say.

"Do you remember Hades di Angelo? Nico's father?"

Of course I remembered him. His sadness was so hard to forget.

She waited for me to nod before getting to the point. "He called me earlier today. He wanted to meet with you... I told him I'd ask you if it was okay."

Dread filled my body, mixed with something else. There were thousands of questions Hades could have for me. Millions of the things he could justifiably blame me for. He needed someone to hate, and I could understand that.

I owed him that.

"I'll meet with him," I said, trying to hard to keep the shaking out of my voice.

"Are you sure? He'll understand if-"

"I'm sure."

"I'll take you with me to work tomorrow, then." She said, sighing. I could tell that she wanted me to turn the meeting down; it was written in the way she clenched her jaw and tensed her muscles. "Hades is going to be there already to go over the case again. It'll at least save us a drive."

If there haven't been any significant advancements in the case, what do you have to tell him?

I held back my questions. She wouldn't have answered them, anyway.

~

Sitting in the same, familiar corner at the precinct, I waited on Hades and my mom to finish their conversation. My mom had made sure they met in a different room - the two of them were away from view and impossible to eavesdrop on.

When they finally emerged, the first thing I noticed was their sober expressions.

Hades stood in front of me, tall and pale and a painful resemblance to his son. "It's nice to meet you again." He turned away from me to address my mom. "Mrs. Solace, is there a place where Will and I can talk privately?"

She hesitated, confused. I gave her a look and she cleared her throat. "Oh, um, there is. Follow me." 

She led us down the hallway. The building was a beehive of activity, so the other cops only glanced at us before they moved on. They had their own jobs to do.

My mom stopped in front of an empty office. "Here's fine. You can shut the door, I'll just wait outside."

"Thank you."

I followed Hades into the room, shutting the door behind me. The room was sparsely furnished with a desk and two chairs. Judging by the mustiness, it was obviously not used very often.

"We need to make this quick," Hades whispered. He edged closer to me. "your mother's right outside, probably listening in."

"What did you want me to tell you? About Nico, I mean." I asked, half expecting him to start screaming at me.

"What? Nothing. I plan to have Nico answer my questions himself... Eventually. Still, there are things you need to know, things other people don't want to tell you. Something strange is going on this precinct. I don't know who to trust."

The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and I could feel my stomach drop. I've known half of these cops since I was a baby. Why was the precinct even in question?

I stepped forward. "You're not making sense. What do you mean?"

I found pain when I searched his eyes. He was probably just a concerned parent, grasping at straws in order to hold onto something.

"Don't look at me like that. I know exactly what I'm talking about." He lowered his voice again, eyeing the door. "These cops have too good of a track record for my son to still be missing - especially with the fresh evidence. Back when I first started looking for answers, I ended up tracking one of Kronos' men all the way to Alaska. But the second the Police Department got involved up there, the trail vanished. Now the same thing is happening all over again. You can't tell me that's a coincidence."

"Are you suggesting a dirty cop? Here?"

A cop working for Kronos? That sort of thing wasn't unheard of, and paying someone off to make the rest of the Police Department blind is the best way to get away with a crime. It would explain why the case was struggling. But I couldn't see it happening in this city. Our police wouldn't do that.

But maybe if the price was right...

We were suddenly interrupted by the commotion coming from the hallway. Yelling.

In a quick stride, Hades slung the door open. "We'll continue this later."

I nodded. I didn't know if he was right, but I wasn't about to put all of my trust in the officers anymore.

My mom was busy trying to calm an excited coworker down.

"Wait, wait, wait. Who are you? What's got you so worked up?"

"The name's Hedge, ma'am. They hired me last week. We haven't met, I'm a traffic cop."

"Well, where's the fire?" She asked, with a little bit of sarcasm in her voice. This earned laughs from the group of cops that couldn't help but stare.

"I arrested a prostitute, ma'am. I figured she might have something to do with the case you and Mars have been investigating."

Noticing Hades and me for the first time, my mom shot Hades an apologetic look. She put her arm on Hedge's shoulder and tried steering him away. "Listen, some random prostitute isn't going to help with the case, it's bigger than that-"

"No, there might be a chance! She could be connected somehow!"

"How?"

"For starters, Kronos is supposed to have a bunch of underage kids in separate places. These kids are typically forced into sex work, right?" He pulled away from my mom to face Hades. "The girl I arrested can't be older than sixteen."

My mom's eyes widened. She knew what it meant.

Even if the girl had never met Nico, she could still be working under one of Kronos' men. There could still be a connection worth following.

A/N ~ This shit is so late it's almost laughable. LOL SORRY OOPS

I've been out of town for almost two weeks, though. Plus I'm on break now, so I'll hopefully have more time for this.

I'm just glad WPOV is finally getting some plot tbh.