6th Standoff ☆ Voice

[cowboycop]

(( ooc: Forward-dated to about 7PM, action opportunity for housemates. ))

Got a question fer all y'all. You ever... wish you could change somethin'? Y'ever had one of those moments when you just... wish you could go back'n... fix it all?

[A pause, as he seems to tap his foot down. His spur jingles in time, so one can only assume.]

... though I figger that here, it'd be goin' forward an' fixin' it. Three years ago fer me, three years ahead fer Siren's Port, I reckon... [One could probably hear a faint sigh if they tried. This is hard for him to admit, even bring up again.] ... a man named Neil Marshall was killed. Man I loved like a brother, 'cause... he was my brother. An' no matter how long ago it's been, I keep wonderin'... maybe I coulda... done somethin' different. Maybe I coulda jus' stayed behind a bit longer. I dunno.

... so how do y'all keep it from gettin' to ya? Even I'll admit I ain't got a clue. Guess that's my real question I should be askin'. Jus' lemme know. I'll... I'll get back to ya.

[He tries to turn off the voice, but just before, in a quiet voice that was meant to be just for himself:]

Dammit, Marshall, keep it together...

Comments

[cowboycop]

That's the general gist of it, hombre. [He sounds pained to even say that. Yes, of course his brother would die in one of the few instances when a murder happened because of it.]

Man in charge of this case was a low-down, good-fer-nothin' coward that wanted a quick way to advance his career. Circumstances made it so's he could kill my brother and make it look like our suspect did it.

[madeinoblivion]

Oh. Geez He got used. Bad.

[There's an understanding bitterness in his voice which suggests he knows what that's like.]

[cowboycop]

We all got "used". Every last one of us was a means to his end. Angel and I lost my job so's he wouldn't get caught. Bruce got murdered to cover it up. Just glad that ratfink finally slipped up. Should'a caught him sooner, but, well... I didn't have the authority.

[madeinoblivion]

Who cares about authority? Even a person who isn't in charge can still do what's right in their heart.

[cowboycop]

With the law it works different, kid. We gotta follow the rules same as everbody else. If you don't have the clearance, they won't let you. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you work... 's why I had to beg Bruce to lemme look over the evidence one more time, piece somethin' together that they'd missed at my brother's murder trial. And that's why, when he said no, I had to find another way.

[madeinoblivion]

So you did break rules. For the right reasons.

[cowboycop]

Had to. Wasn't another way around it. Fired all the detectives on the case but one, and he couldn't help me. But breakin' the law still has consequences, kid, especially fer a cop. I ain't gonna see the light of day for a long time, back home.

[madeinoblivion]

You fell into darkness?

[cowboycop]

Naw, got tossed into the hoosegow. Y'know, prison.

[madeinoblivion]

Yeah, I know.

Claire taught me.

[cowboycop]

My sob story ain't nothin' compared to some of the ones I heard about 'round these parts. Ain't like I should be complainin', really. Thanks to the Core I'm a free man again, an' I can do what I love... an' that's detective work.

[madeinoblivion]

Have you sent any company goons to the hoose-gow?

[cowboycop]

Well, if they done somethin' wrong, 'course I did. My job's to collect evidence so's the prosecutors can lock 'em up fer what they done.

[madeinoblivion]

They do a lot wrong that the law lets them get away with. Like they set it up that way on purpose.

[cowboycop]

'fraid I can't do much about that. All I can do fer the moment is try to catch 'em when they go outside the law. Cop like me doesn't change the law - just enforces it. It's others that change the laws 'round these parts.

[madeinoblivion]

Isn't hard to enforce a law you know doesn't work?

[cowboycop]

It's always hard to be a cop, pardner. Y'work long hours for some people who ain't grateful and some who don't even deserve it, and y'can't save everyone, even outta the good ones. Bein' a homicide detective, all you can do is make sure it don't happen again to somebody else.

[madeinoblivion]

What about the agents for the companies?

Are you really allowed to bring them in?

[cowboycop]

If they do somethin' wrong, sure. Only problem is... most of 'em escape on bail. Ain't fair, but, it's the law.

[madeinoblivion]

Then they should get rid of bail.

[cowboycop]

Bail's one of the few ways we make money, kid. That and parkin' tickets.

[madeinoblivion]

So the companies cheating to let out criminals on their affiliate list puts the munny in your wallets.

Good to know.

[cowboycop]

Everyone's allowed to post bail. That's how it's always been since the dawn of time, kid. Only the real bad ones ain't allowed bail by the judges, and that's fer a damn good reason.

And it ain't like it can be helped anyway, hombre, most of the money in this Port's been used for illegal things, anyways. Drugs, mostly, though the black market here's a lot bigger'n most places.

So if you wanna look at it that way, all the money in your wallet's come from someone cheating, lying, stealing, killing, you name it.

[madeinoblivion]

I work for Sam. He's neutral.

And so's the Stadium...sort of.

[cowboycop]

Don't matter. Somewhere down the line, it got used fer somethin' bad. Stadium's easy, it's probably some illegal racketeering goin' on 'round there.

Point is, I ain't happy about lettin' folks like them go free. But I sure as hell ain't complainin', so long as I can keep bein' paid to do what I want to do with my life. Simple as that, kid. No matter what kinda stuff they pull 'cause I'm a newcomer, and no matter how long I work... all I care about is catchin' the man I'm lookin' fer, that's enough fer me.