I-Mode: Becoming A Famous Detective With A System

2. I- just lost my job

Manchester trudged through through front door of the police station, his 1-year-old was strapped securely on his hips. It was the first time bringing his child to work and he was already running late because of all the preparations.

He had tried calling Mel again numerous times forgetting that she had blocked him, even on a social media account Manchester couldn't reach her. He sent a long apologetic message to her email, and one to his mother-in-law's phone, hoping that she might read them and have a change of heart.

He also drove to her parent's house that same evening since he suspected her to be there, but they asked him to leave, stating that Mel did not have any business with him. She did not come out to see him and he wasn't allowed to go in and see her.

Manchester lost his mind, he was unable to sleep throughout the night, and caring for a one-year-old was not an easy task. The constant crying wasn't something he's used to, plus they didn't even help him to know what the baby wanted. Feeding him was war, and getting him to take a nap was another battle entirely, is it no surprise that he was late today?

He set Nelson down in his stroller at the entrance, and as he walked through to his office, his colleagues cast sympathetic glances at him all while whispering behind his back. He made his way to the desk but couldn't help feeling a sense of unease.

He knew they weren't staring at him because of his son, in fact, none of them even walked up to him and Nelson or touched his cheeks like normal People would do to babies, so felt that there was something wrong, but he couldn't tell what.

He let the toddler gaze around the office while booting up his computer, there is nothing more he wanted in the world than to crack the case and get some reasonable amount of money from it, but these were one of those cases that appears unsolvable.

Just as Manchester started to get settled, his boss stormed into his office looking like a thundercloud, seeing the old man's face this way, Manchester knew that he had gotten into some sort of trouble, and who knows what it was this time?

"I'll just ignore the fact that you came late to work, and tried to cover it up by bringing your son along with you. I am not a fool Mr. Manchester." His boss barked, his furious gaze shifted over to Nelson, the innocent boy playing with the toy hanging from his stroller and then back to Arsenal.

"I am sorry sir, it's complicated, but I can assure you that it wasn't intentional." Arsenal tried to defend himself, if only his boss could see how tired his eyes were.

"Just save it," Captain Lewis snapped,

"That's not the reason why I am here. Mr. Manchester, I appreciate you coming to work today... with your toddler, but I'm afraid I have no choice but to let you go."

Manchester felt his heart sink,

"What, why?" He asked, standing up Immediately and staring at his boss in confusion.

"It's come to my attention that you have been investigating a case on your own without clearance or authorisation." Captain Lewis replied, his eyes narrowing.

"You have been warned about this before and it wasn't too long ago, your colleague at the time got fired and I expected you to learn from it, but you didn't. You can't just keep doing these things and expect to get away with it."

Manchester's face fell, it is true that he has been investigating a case on his own, it wasn't the first and it wasn't even the third time. He made ten times more money from these cases, especially because they were connected to larger conspiracies.

He has broken a protocol and this was the price he had to pay, but what Captain Lewis said next left Manchester speechless.

"I have eyes everywhere, and I am happy that John was trustworthy enough to tell me the truth."

"Sir," Manchester wanted to say something but held back, John had brought the investigation to him and asked him to work on it. If it's successful, they would share the profit. So to hear that it was John who reported him, made Manchester's skin crawl.

He knew that Captain Lewis wouldn't believe him if he said that John was also involved, but would he let someone betray like that and get away with it?

"Sir ... I...

"Spare me the explanations, Manchester, I will not waste my time listening to them, just go home. I will employ your replacement immediately. "

With that, Captain Lewis stormed out of the office, leaving Manchester alone, devastated and confused. He knew for sure that this was the end for him, these would surely show up on his records making it impossible for him to find another detective job.

He just didn't know why his world world chose to fall apart on the first week of the new year, losing his wife and now his job, he certainly needed to wake up from this nightmare.

He ran his fingers through his hair not knowing what to do from here, he finally understood why his colleagues stared at him that way, because the captain was fond of announcing his decision to fire an employee even before the person finds out.

Manchester's replacement arrived in less than an hour and he had no choice but to hand over the office and all the cases that he was working on to the new detective. He did not bother begging Captain Lewis again because the man gave him no listening ears.

So he left the police station with a heavy heart, wishing that the earth beneath him would give way, because what more was there to live without his family and without a job to sustain a family?

On his way home, Manchester's mind was so consumed by thoughts of his termination that he didn't notice the red light ahead and missed the car that stopped in front of him.

The sound of screeching tyres and crunching metal jolted him back to reality.

"No no!" He exclaimed, but it was too late. His head snapped forward, and his forehead hit the steering wheel just before everything went dark.