The house was dimly lit in the dark night. It was on the edge of the town called Wallopsberg where there were occasional marches, riots, scientific experiments and so on. The house was a small cottage made entirely of wood with some metal; the firm windows were opened to let the cool air inside. A slow yet melodious song played in the background in a low volume as a figure shifted from the island kitchen table to the couch. This figure was a man who was fat, tall and old. His eyes had dug inside the skull and his unshaved beard had started to whiten around the chin. He picked his glass containing clear liquid and his took a sip as he closed his eyes upon gulping. He glanced to his left where a small table lay with scattered files and papers. A small framed picture of him and a woman. He looked away and drank a bit more. He set down his glass and turned the volume of his speaker a bit. It played 'Strangers in the night' by Frank Sinatra.

The man went into a trance, his chin touching his chest as he tapped his fingers on his right thigh to the song. He was thinking... about his life of 45-years. His mind replayed his wedding as he saw himself dance with the same woman from the picture, he was a bit younger then. In the white room with bright sunlight and his black suit shining and her red dress flowing in the wind. He gave a smile to the woman as she blushed looking around and biting her lip. His heart pounding while twirling the woman around. He was perhaps the happiest person in that white room where they danced before everybody. Strangers in the night...

The song switched and the man came back to reality. Suddenly he felt like crying. For past six months nothing had changed. The same routine of waking, eating and sleeping. He had not felt this down since... since her death.

He shook his head and walked over to the table. A small trophy was laid beneath a bunch of paper and it fell as the man picked it up:

To, David Pearl, Chief inspector

For his excellent service to the Dale County of North Wallopsberg.

We greatly appreciate your service of 30-years.

David smiled and then threw the trophy into the bin next to the table. It fell with a thud. Cheap plastic, he thought and scoffed as he looked at the papers. He began to rearrange them.

They were all case files. He had some of them at his home but some he had to arrange with the storage guy at the station. They were all copies of course and not original case files but they had been so hard to acquire because they were scandals. Scandals which some people paid the cops to keep quiet. There had been surprisingly many in this town.

David had decided to read upon them as he passed his time in retirement. He was only 45 and was very well capable of going on for more than 4-5 years but he had been replaced. By none other than Henry, a 35-year-old cop with much better contacts than David. The reason David was removed had officially been because of the current policy applied by the mayor about young cops and having up to date laws. David was baffled about this because he had been very up to date with the current changing laws of the government but he soon found out the unofficial reason for his sudden retirement.

Corruption.

Henry was close friends with Sheldon, who was the son of the mayor. David knew Sheldon very well. A brilliant mind which had wandered into drugs and crumpled under pressure. The first time he had arrested him was due to a small crash with a passer-by. He had of course not charge him initially because David knew if he charged the mayors son then those charges would be paid by his salary.

He had taken Sheldon aside told him to not do this again and let him go while the passer-by was consoled and told off. The next time it had been vandalism and he let him go, another time it had been drunk-driving and he let him go after making sure that the next time he caught him his father would hear about it. The next time came with illegal drugs and he had made sure that the mayor, Ralph, knew about his previous activities but he was paid an amount $5000 added to his salary and he was kept quiet.

By this time David knew that the study-loving Sheldon was gone. This was a drug-fuelled Sheldon who for the last time had been caught on the charges of attempted murder. He had broken into a fight with a student at the university of South Wallopsberg and burst his eye out.

Since that incident, David had taken Sheldon straight to jail and put a huge amount on his bail. He had made sure that Sheldon was sentenced to prison and made public announcement about that incident.

Since then, Sheldon had gone off to Canada and David's salary had been cut-off by three-quarters. But still, David worked. He worked to provide his wife, Deborah. Until she was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

David inhaled a deep breath as he sat down on the chair, immersing himself into a case which happened in South Wallopsberg when the phone rang.

He was surprised as the phone that rang was on the wall, it was a cordless phone kept simply because Deborah used to pretend to talk to her mother about her day during her illness.

He looked at the phone, not believing his eyes. Maybe he had taken too much of vodka. He could still hear the first ring in his ears as the second ring went off. David nearly stumbled from his chair as he ran to grab the phone.

Still, he waited for the third conformation of his reality and it came. He lifted the receiver from the box and put it too his ear.

Initially there was no sound which made David mad but then a sudden sound of a bus honk came and he could hear people talking in the background, something about Jean-Claude Van Damme and Die Hard.

Confused David frowned to himself and then came a voice. It was a bit deep but surely came from a young man and it said: Case 115.

Then the line was cut.

Still, David held the receiver to his ears. First of all, the phone did not work. It had no connection whatsoever and the second, the voice sounded human but the accent... it was American but old.

But the words were fixed in his mind, Case 115. Was this a prank? But the phone never worked...

He rubbed his eyes and yawned. Maybe he was a hallucination. He hadn't slept right since weeks. Now, he may have been sulking over his retirement but David had no intention of losing his mind.

He put the receiver back in the box and turned off the light and went to sleep on the couch.