I mentally ran through the list of clients Jasper had talked about. As I thought about it, I realized three of the clients he mentioned recently were local businesses I had seen closed or for rent. I never paid much attention because Jasper always paid his share of the rent on time and in full. There were holes all through his work stories, and I had just tripped into one in front of the police.
"A lot of businesses try shutting their brick and mortar stores and going online," I said.
One of the officers ducked into Jasper's room and came back out with a business card and folio. "Looks pretty polished to me. Your roommate's got a solid business plan. What? I went to business school before academy."
The bald policeman shook his head at his partner. "So, your roommate is a go-getter with a business plan and real clients. And you play an imaginary game for money."
Quinn called again. I took another swig of my beer and enjoyed knowing her quick wit was only a button away. What would she say to the room full of police? The thought made me smile.
"Another client?"
"No. Same person," I said and showed him my phone.
"Oh? You get a lot of ladies by playing video games?" the bald officer asked.
"You'd be surprised how many attractive women play Dark Flag, officer. She's actually very good at it. A novice, but I think if I trained her up a bit she'd be amazing," I said.
He took the phone and considered the photo of Quinn that accompanied her ring. It was one of my favorite pictures.
Sienna and I had gone together to visit Quinn the day she arrived on campus. She had just pulled on her UCLA sweatshirt. Her hair was a riot and she was brushing it back and smiling a wide grin when I snapped the picture. Sienna dismissed it for not being posed or polished. That was what I loved most about it. Quinn looked natural and happy with a bright shine to her eyes.
"Is that why so many people come and go from your place?" he asked.
"What?" I put down my phone.
"Sounds like people are in and out of here all the time. You 'training' other people?" the officer asked.
"I did not know it was a crime to have people over to our apartment," I said. Jasper had a very lively social life. He could not bear to be in the apartment more than 20 minutes on his own. He was always inviting people over for a drink, to watch a show, or to gather and head out on the town.
The only person I ever had over regularly was Sienna, and that had stopped nearly a year ago. She did not have time to leave UCLA except to visit her parents, and she much preferred the interior-designed surroundings of her family's home to my bachelor pad.
"We both work off-hours and know a lot of other people with the same work-from-home type schedules," I said. "Jasper works with other freelancers – logo-designers, artists, etcetera. I have an agent and other industry colleagues that come here. So, yeah, people come over a lot."
"Well, Mr. Redd, all I can say is you should stay in town. This is not over yet," the bald officer said. He was happy with his final word, and lead the way out the door.
I took another long sip of my beer and hoped that Quinn would call again.
#
After a few minutes, I picked up the phone to call Quinn. Then, I put it down. It wasn't like I did not have other people to call. Other women, too. It just seemed like she was the first one on my mind. I shook my head and moved away from the phone.
Then it rang. It was Quinn. I picked it up on the second ring.
"Owen, are you alright? I was driving to pick up a pizza and I think I saw cops outside of your apartment building," she said.
I forced myself to take a sip of beer and slow down. "Yeah, they were here, but everything is alright."
"Seriously? Why were there cops at your place?"
"I don't know, someone trying to mess with me." The first explanation that came to mind took hold. "I bet another Dark Flag player got ahold of my address and thought they'd rattle me a little bit. There's actually a tournament coming up and maybe they hope I'll cancel."
"People do that?" Quinn asked.
It made sense. The players who focused on taking me down were usually very serious gamers, and hacking came easily to many people in that set. Finding my address from my IP would not be impossible. I made a mental note to adjust my security settings and encrypt my IP address.
I heard the front door opening. There was one other explanation as to why the cops were searching my apartment for drugs. "Look, I gotta go. Everything's fine. Maybe I'll s
ee you in Dark Flag later."