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My name is Charles Leclerc. Although I'm still too young for this kind of work, I'm only 26, but at my young age I already managed to become a detective. Of course, I’m only a beginner, but not everyone immediately becomes Hercule Poirot. Of course, I haven't managed to solve high-profile cases yet, but everything comes with time, doesn't it? So my “finest hour” will come someday, and I’ll solve some high-profile case that’s for sure. On the one hand, it sounds great: I’ll be successfully investigating a major case and will literally write my name into the history of the police, but on the other hand, such cases are most often associated with some kind of tragedy, and often not for only one family. I’m waiting, and at the same time I’m afraid to face such a case.
After graduating from school, all my friends and classmates decided to go to study different professions: lawyers, doctors, directors, some have found their vocation in science, and others in - mechanics. So my classmates are a very diverse group. But it's good when you have friends in different industries and professions, because the devil knows what can happen in life and whose help will be useful. Especially with a job like mine, the help of doctors or lawyers will never be superfluous, because no one is safe from various injuries or lawsuits, even a detective who is trying to unravel this or that case.
I went to the police academy, and no matter how arrogant it sounds, I graduated with honors. So after the academy, I had a fairly easy internship with the Monaco police, and then decided to “upgrade” my qualifications and studied to be a detective. I also thought about taking criminology courses, but decided that it would be too much for now – I’d like to succeed in at least one branch of the profession, and then I could think about studying other aspects of it. It sounds extremely ambitious and arrogant, but I want my name to one day stand on a par with such famous detectives as Alan Pinkerton, Charles Field, Eugene Francois Vidocq and Dave Toshi. I would love to add Dwayne Chapman to this long line of famous persons, but I consider him more of a “bounty hunter” than a detective in the literal sense of the word, although there is plenty of detective work in his activities.
Why did I decide to become a detective? Because, as strange as it may sound, I have always been attracted to the dark side of life: murders, assassination attempts, serial killers and maniacs, and all that sort of thing. I don't know why, but even in the darkest things you can find something fascinating. It’s still difficult for me to say whether such things captivate me, or whether I just have a burning desire to unravel the motives of a crime and punish the perpetrator. But I’m well aware that it isn’t easy for me to understand this now, just because I haven’t yet directly encountered this world, because I’m still a newbie to this business.
I certainly can be attributed to those people who adore the “true crime” theme: I watch everything related to this topic – from short videos on social networks to feature films about a certain case or a famous or infamous maniac. Yes, all that these people are doing, if you can call them people at all, is terrible, and it's not even discussed. But there are a lot of people who are fascinated by this gloomy topic – many people consider watching materials on the topic of “true crime” as their hobby, like it’s a common thing, well, or what’s ever more unsettling – many consider “true crime” materials as their “comfort movies” or something like that. It sounds scary, but that's life – even creepy and vile crimes can arouse genuine interest in society. And I’m one of these persons. And often, the more terrible and improbable the crime, the more willing people there are to dig into its details and find out as much as possible about it.
As I mentioned, I’m a young detective, which means that my more experienced colleagues think I’m a young man who can’t handle anything bigger than assault or battery. Maybe it sounds very arrogant, selfish or God all like that, but such "tasks" with the disclosure of petty thefts I unravel in two seconds. At times, I think I'll be able to get rid of all the surveillance footage of the same petty theft or assault, unnecessary and extremely simple interrogations where a criminal can tell you everything he knows without much pressure. All because I am not so interested in it. So I'm still humbly waiting for my exciting and frightening "hour of fame".
It was a huge surprise to me when my boss came to me and told that a new detective from the Netherlands would be coming to our precinct. "He’s just as young and the same hot-shot guy like you, so I thought you’d be good to work together," said Frederick, handing me a dossier on the new guy. Aren’t newcomers assigned to more experienced detectives so they can learn from the older generation? That’s what happened to me: when I joined the station, I was assigned to a long-time detective for a year, and I learned some sort of business method from him that wasn’t taught at the academy. It’s a pity that after our work together, he retired - age and emotional state didn't allow him to continue at the same pace, so he decided to leave at the first opportunity. He left, and I took his place and his office at the station. Now, apparently, it’s time for me to take over my role as my mentor and train the newcomer myself.
It's strange, why did they decide to send a guy from the Netherlands to us here? And we're the same age, that's funny. Well, yes, Frederick said that they would send "the same young and hot-shot guy" as me, so it would be foolish to expect that they would send someone much younger than myself and ask me to be his mentor. And yet why was he sent here? Precincts decided to arrange an exchange of experience with international colleagues? But then one of our policemen would have to be sent to the Netherlands to take his place, but I didn’t hear anyone discussing a transfer to a precinct in another country. It would probably be rude to ask a rookie about that as soon as he steps his foot in my office. It's better to just meet him first, and then maybe he will tell me everything himself. So to speak, I'll play in the "good policeman" card.
"Max Emilian Verstappen, 26 y.o. Graduated from the Apeldoorn Police Academy. Graduated with honors from the courses of extreme driving and firearms; has excellent physical shape, as well as excellent reflexes and reaction; in addition to the above, M. E. Verstappen is well versed in criminal psychology, ballistics and toxicology."
His dossier included his achievements at the police Academy and a list of courses he had completed during his training. In addition to the paperwork, a photograph of the newcomer was also attached to the dossier - a dossier without a photo of the employee can't be considered complete, as well as without a fingerprint sample and blood type data. I caught myself looking for a few minutes, no, staring at a picture of a young guy. Although, to be more precise, not just at the picture as a whole, but his eyes. He has fascinating blue eyes, like an ocean in which you can easily drown if you let yourself slack and look into them for too long. If I’m so impressed with his eyes in the photo, what will happen when I see him in person? Damn it, Leclerc, what are you thinking? It’s been a long time since I've been in a relationship, so now I decided to make a move at the first stranger I meet? Although, well, I haven't even met him yet, and I'm already staring at him like a creep. What a shame.
In fact, there was nothing out of the ordinary in his dossier: just basic information about him, a couple of phrases about his qualities - I never believed in what is said in the column with qualities, because it is a very subjective opinion, which is formed by an essential communication with a psychologist to assess the psycho-emotional state of the future employee. Each police officer undergoes such mandatory psychological examinations once a year. As we were told at the academy, this is necessary to track the dynamics of the employee’s condition during his work in the police. On the one hand, it’s not bad, because the work, for example, of the special departments, requires a lot of endurance - not everyone's able to handle work related to murders or rape for a long time, and surely not everyone can withstand constant examination of the mutilated and disfigured bodies of poor victims. But on the other hand, these checks can knock the worker down, because they can cause him to doubt his condition, and even worse, he may fear that his condition has worsened, and he may lose his job because of it. "Why do I need this check if I’m totally fine?" is a phrase I hear from literally every policeman on the eve of this inspection. "Because even though you may not notice it, but your roof is already leaking," I think when another sergeant starts to sing this the same old annoying song.
But back to the working aspects. Yes, although I'm as new to this business as this Dutchman, but I already have my own office. Although almost all employees have offices here, except for ordinary guards and ordinary officers. And since I’m the one who got the new guy to mentor, that means I’m gonna have to share my office the way my mentor used to share his office with me. Well, I just hope he doesn’t act like a pain in the ass and then we can work together.
Frederick has already arranged for another desk and an additional cabinet for maps to be delivered to my office. Luckily, the office space allows it, so there’s no need to do any rearrangement. Yeah, some things need to be removed, but I’m thrilled I don’t have to share a working desk with anyone, even my partner. Share a cabinet - no problem, share a desk - never in life. There must be my personal "island" in office just for me. My mentor taught me that. He always said that: "Sharing a desk with someone is like sharing an "easy" girlfriend with someone: she seems to be entirely yours, but everyone can use her, and she won't say no." The comparison, of course, is so-so, but that was my mentor's sense of humor. Nevertheless, it's thanks to such strange but vivid comparisons such life lessons are remembered the best.
When the desk and the chair for the Dutchman were delivered, and his new workplace was more or less well-equipped, I rearranged a couple of my things and several boxes, and then I cleared out some lockers for my future partner. Still, we’re gonna have to work together, so each of us needs to have separate lockers for both things and papers. Yeah, and I wouldn’t be happy if I had someone looking through my stuff while I was gone. I don’t keep personal things here anyway, but I value order above all. I really hope my partner shares my views on how the order should be maintained here. If so, then we may not have conflicts. But don't make a guess in advance, otherwise hopes tend not to justify themselves. This is especially true for people - the more hope you have for a person, the more likely your expectations will fail.
But anyway, now I just have to accept the fact that I have to share the office and that now I'll have a partner. For how long? I don’t know. Will we find a common language? I don’t know either, although finding common ground with people has never been a problem for me. So we can only wait until... What was his name? Oh, yeah, when Max Verstappen shows up at our precinct.