Wind swirls around them, guiding them to clues as the clock ticks and the day goes by. Fortunately for Detective Noone, the wind guides her to a clue that may crack the case after all. A hair, not just any hair because neither Noone nor Leas had red wavy hair. Noone was on task immediately, off to contact the forensic employees to bag the evidence. One step closer to finding their killer. Leas found an earring too that was quickly bagged.
An hour later, the scene was ready for the secondary officer to cross-examine. As they were packing up, Noone noticed Leas’s stuff. What looked like evidence bags were hidden into the M-seams of her blazer. Noone called her out on it but Leas couldn‘t keep her cool.
“Why do we have to find the killer anyway? They’re not doing anything wrong: the killer is taking the escaped fugitives off our hands. That’s less money we have to pay. The prisons are already overcrowded enough. They’re letting out death row prisoners after a quarter of their sentence. So what if the killer is killing them off before they kill an innocent civilian again?”
Noone has never seen this side of her partner before. They have been partners for the longest time. They trained in the academy together, became probational officers together, made detective in their third year together. There was not one thing Noone didn‘t know about Leas.
“We can‘t choose who we save, Leas. It’s part of the job you signed up for. I don‘t want to be the one who takes you off this case.”
Leas says nothing, Noone stunned. They had never had a fight like this before. They were thick as thieves, some even said. People were often envious of their bond, but nobody would be envious of this.
Leas storms off, upset and enraged, taking the evidence bags with her.
“Wait! Don‘t leave like this!”
Noone grabs the back of Leas’ jacket, accidentally pulling her hair. Pulling her hand back, she held a blond wig.
Noone looked up.
What she saw was not the Leas she knew but a Leas with red wavy hair…
Tales to Scale focuses on creative engagements between Fighting Words and Deis primary and secondary schools across Ireland. Creative workshops run by Fighting Words offer positive spaces in its centres, in local libraries and classrooms for young people to tell their stories.
Across more than 500 activities in 2024, Fighting Words met 9,352 young people from more than 200 Deis schools through workshops, summer camps, an after-school program called Word Warriors and its Book Project. More than 200 stories have been published at fightingwords.ie
