Will Graham (purelyempathic) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-11-29 23:21:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, scholar ling, will graham |
Who: Will Graham and Ling Bu
What: Ling helps out the cops
Where: Irvine Police Station
When: 11/27
Rating: PG13
Status: Complete
Will had encountered some unusual things even in the relatively short time he’d been in law enforcement. A potential immigration case wasn’t that unusual. A potential immigration case who spoke only Lhasa Tibetan was. Kirsty seemed to be having some luck in tracking down a translator, but until she found one, there wasn’t much to do.
Kirsty’s phone rang and was answered. Jotting down some information on a piece of paper, Kirsty handed it over to Will. It had the translator’s information on it - an immigration lawyer who also spoke Lhasa Tibetan, wasn’t this guy’s lawyer, and was close enough to drive and visit. Kirsty, on the other hand, was stuck babysitting a judge for a warrant.
Will was there now, hoping there was still time to catch this woman Ling. Or was her last name Bu? Hopefully she’d introduce herself. He’d never been that good with Asian names. Still, he knocked on her door, worrying his hand in his pocket, toying with a loose thread.
Ling had been sitting at her desk, researching precedence for a case that she had coming up after the holiday. At the knock, her eyebrows knit. She’d been expecting someone - a police officer had called her about possibly doing a favor in translation - but she’d been expecting them later.
Opening the door, she saw a man, which she guessed was the woman cop’s partner. “IPD?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Will instantly felt awkward, given her somewhat impatient look, but he powered through it. “My name is Will Graham. I appreciate you offering your time to us.”
“Oh, of course. I thought you were one of those friggin’ Jehovah’s Witnesses again. Tell someone you’re an atheist once, and all hell breaks fucking loose.”
Will managed a laugh. “No, promise. Policeman. Though you are an attorney; I know sometimes we’re not friends. And we are definitely grateful for your help with this.”
“Eh, you and I can be friends, it’s the client that’s sometimes not our friend. I think cops and lawyers probably want the same things at the end of the day. Pride just gets in the way, come on in.” Ling moved so she could show Will into her office, a spartan yet functionally appointed room done up in dark blues and mahogany. She looked much the same: she wasn’t wearing much jewelry, but she was still somehow lovely. Little makeup touched her skin, enough that she looked professional, but enough where it looked as though she was barely wearing any.
“How can I help you, Mr. Graham?”
“I think Detective Cotton gave you most of it. We popped this man for breaking and entering. He is here on a lawful non-immigrant visa. However, his visa will be canceled if he’s convicted. And as far as we can tell, he speaks only Lhasa Tibetan - not even any Mandarin or surrounding language - Nepalese, Mongolian, nothing.” Will shrugged.
“Huh.” Ling shrugged. “It’s more common than you might think, there’s thousands of dialects in the surrounding cities.” She stood up and went to a minibar to pour herself a glass of juice. “Do you have anything you need me to translate, or do you want me to sit in on an interrogation?”
“That last one, please. We need to figure out why he did it - I do know that there’s increased Triad activity here, unfortunately, and it’s standard procedure to ask all suspects of Asian descent about it.” Will shrugged. “This man has absolutely nothing to do with the Triads, but I still have to ask.” One look at the man had told Will that he’d broken into the store for an altruistic reason - still culpable, but not malicious.
“I don’t mind at all. Should we go now?” Ling stood up, putting on a light jacket. “No time like the present, right? Plus he won’t have time to rehearse. What’s his name, just so I can make sure he’s not one of my clients already?”
“Now is fine, if you’re willing. And his first name seems to be Cetan, but I didn’t get the rest of it.” Will grimaced. “Sorry. I’m sure I’m just unfamiliar with the syntax.” He waited for her to put her jacket on.
“Oh, I don’t mind, and I’ll ask him when we get there. Tibetan to me is all about the sinuses. You have to try to sound really ill.” Ling smiled at Will, walking with him out and locking up the office. “Thanks for not being a Jehovah’s Witness. I’ll take cop any day over those fuckers.”
“That’s understandable.” Will didn’t have to fake making a face. “They don’t take no for an answer.” He hated people like that. Unreasonable, as if they were entitled to your time and space.
“Well, not until you threaten to call the cops for trespassing as this is a private building.” Ling chuckled. “It’s like they don’t see the big plaque that says I’m a fucking lawyer.”
Will chuckled. “I don’t actually know if you can do that in a police station. But at least I live out in the middle of nowhere, so they don’t come to my home.” He held the door for her as they headed over to his unmarked. He’d just been glad he hadn’t had to use his ancient old Ford.
“Lucky you.” Ling walked with him to the vehicle, standing by the passenger’s side door and waiting for it to be unlocked. “I live close to work, so no such luck for me. But I get to walk to work, that’s nice.”
He unlocked it and waited until she got comfortable before starting the engine. “I’m ... I like my privacy. I hope I can say that without sounding alarming.” It wasn’t too far back to the station, if she was weirded out.
Ling chuckled. “Why would that sound weird? Honestly, the opposite would sound weirder. ‘I like for people to know everything I’m doing’ sounds creepier to me. It’s why I can’t do any social media very well. Well. I do that Valarnet thing, but that’s about it.” She shifted her weight a bit in her seat, getting comfortable.
“I don’t know. Many people look at you funny if you say you aren’t the proverbial social butterfly.” It was rather nice that this lady seemed to get it. “I like just being able to go home to my dogs.” He managed a smile as he started the car, sliding it into traffic.
“Many people are fucking stupid and expect everyone to be normative,” Ling sighed. “Trust me, I hate going out, and I kind of hate people more. You’re okay though, you get it. How many dogs?”
“Four. Used to be seven - I was a trainer before I joined the police force.” Will smiled. “I have some land, so they can run.”
“That must be nice. I always wanted a pet growing up, but I wasn’t allowed one.” Ling smiled a little to herself, looking out the window. “Your commute must be hell, though.”
“It’s worth it.” Will said without hesitation. “Sometimes I do stay with my girlfriend, though, and she lives a lot closer.” Was that too personal? He was never sure. “She lives near the water.”
“That sounds like it’d be nice, you get the cozy bits but can have your space when you need it. So many people think alone time is bad in a relationship, but I’d guess it’s a good thing. I don’t really know, I haven’t ever really had one. Too focused on school.” Ling folded her hands. “Let me know if we get too personal, I never know what is.”
“Alone time is necessary. My girlfriend and I both understand that, and it means a lot.” Will smiled a little. “Lilo sort of surprised me. I’m not much for dating and all that myself. And thank you, I’ll say something if it’s too personal. I’m bad at judging that myself. I think it happens being a detective.” Everyone’s secrets were yours, so you just sort of shared yours with everyone.
“You’re lucky that way. I’ve never had anyone awesome just fall into my lap.” She’d never understood when people said they felt sparks. She felt varying degrees of annoyance.
“I was walking on the beach and saw her go for a dive. She didn’t come up for four minutes. I was a bit alarmed, so I went over, and then she reappeared and explained what free-diving was.” He could laugh about it now.
“... what is it?” Ling blinked. “She can hold her breath for four minutes? That probably has some awesome outcomes for you.”
Will blinked, then blushed, then laughed. “Free-diving is just that,” he said, hoping he wasn’t too red. “Diving down as far as you can, to see if you can set new distance records.” The thought had crossed his mind, in truth, about Lilo’s ... capabilities. But he’d kept it to himself.
“Well that seems like ... I don’t know, I guess if you like diving. I’m kind of allergic to sports.” She’d pled cramps all through high school and then just not bothered. Luckily for her she forgot to eat half the time anyway.
“She’s a professional surfer. She was born in Hawaii, so I think it’s in her genes.” Will swung into the police station parking lot. “Here we are.”
“Probably.” Ling would’ve made a joke about being a lawyer because as a girl born to immigrants, overachieving was in her own veins, but the police station headed her off.
Getting out of the car, she followed the detective’s lead, unafraid and as cocksure as she’d been in her own office.
Will didn’t react to any of the shouts from the bullpen as he led the attorney in, figuring she wouldn’t either. “My partner Detective Cotton is around somewhere; I think she’s with the suspect. Do you need to prepare first, or would you prefer to go right into interrogation?”
“Really, I’m just translating. This is your gig, so it’s totally up to you.” Ling shrugged off her jacket, putting her hair up with an elastic. She found it made her look more professional when her hair was up.
“All right. Come in here, then, please.” Will smiled. He liked her no-nonsense ways; too many people beat around the bush for ages. “That door there. My questions will be fairly standard, but obviously, ask me to rephrase something if you need me to.”
Ling nodded, stepping into the room first, sitting down in the chair opposite the man. He looked young, but not stupid, and he appraised Ling with a smirk.
Will’s eyebrow shot up. “Either he thinks you’re pretty, or he’s done something I ought to know about.”
“Or he thinks I’m just a stupid woman. Either or.” She folded her legs and introduced herself as the translator, then waited for Will to ask a question.
Will began with the obvious questions; name, age, address, et cetera. Then it got interesting right off the bat, without warning. “Are you working for the Triads or just greedy?”
Ling couldn’t help a snort as he translated. “He says greedy - he’s not that fucking stupid. Emphasis his on the fucking.”