Wojcik supported his head, covering his eyes with his right hand. In the last hour he had almost nodded himself to sleep. He tried to divide his attention between secretly watching Ivan and reading his files but both actions bored the Inspector to death. At some point he even tried to read the newspaper he had hidden in his coat, but he couldn't focus on that either. Edmond almost wished for his Detective Sergeant to be a normal, lazy young rookie who would realise that the task he had received from his superior was nothing more than occupational therapy; unimportant cases that could wait and after a while be forgotten in the police archives. Something to keep the newbies busy. Any other, regular, employee would figure that out and find a way to entertain himself, like doodling or telling a joke to stir the dust in the office. However, Farnicki was not that type of guy.
In the first hour Farnicki meticulously studied the skinny folders on his desk. Next, he took notes for each of the files, using a pen and notebook. Wojcik didn't notice how Ivan got those, he probably nodded off when it happened. Then, the young man revised his summaries, while mumbling something underneath his breath. Last, he called the telephone numbers mentioned in the files and that was when Wojcik gave in to slumber and closed his eyes.
Carl didn't do a damn thing.
Ivan was doing too much.
But Wojcik didn't want to berate him for his enthusiasm. At least, the young man was passionate about something. Enthusiastic about work from all things! Reprimanding him and telling him that his efforts were useless was cruel. Wojcik knew that. He was once a rookie himself, and he remembered how it felt like being told off in front of the whole office for doing too much. For doing his job. He dealt with embarrassment and humiliation almost daily until one day Wojcik turned into who he was: a man who realised that it wasn't worth it. That his good intentions were good for nothing.
Strangely, that change in his demeanour got him promoted and not because of him being a genius in his field. Wojcik became an Inspector because he knew when to keep his mouth shut, when to lose his hearing, and when to look away. Edmond didn't feel any shame for the choices he had made, he wasn't that kind of person, but he also recognised that there was not that much to be proud of. That was why he let Farnicki do whatever he thought was best with the hopeless cases he gave him. There was no point in taking away the young man's zeal. At least, not for the time being. Maybe Farnicki could solve a few cases, however Wojcik didn't put his hopes on that.
There were thirty minutes left until lunch break. Only thirty more minutes to endure before Wojcik would lock himself up in his car and sleep for a whole hour. Nothing was supposed to happen in that half hour to disturb the peace in the drowsy office. But it happened.
Agnes Gott.
Edmond had almost forgotten about her. He didn't believe she would return in the first place. He thought he made himself clear when he told her that his people wouldn't occupy themselves with her dead cats. The nerve she had to begin with: walk into their office, demand to speak to the chef and file a report for animal cruelty. The mad woman claimed someone was intentionally poisoning her cats. Even if that was true, subconsciously, she had to know the reason why. Agnes said she lost four of them. Four cats, for Christ's sake! Which meant that she had more! And she acted as if she didn't understand why someone would do that, living next to or underneath her and her horde of cats in a five-story apartment building.
Wojcik tried to be courteous in the beginning, patiently hearing her out. However, she refuted all his arguments, accusing him of siding with animal abusers. Eventually, after he got tired of arguing with her, he took her report, but it ended up on the pile of dead-end cases that no one would ever investigate, somewhere in the depths of Farnicki's desk.
And there she was again. Looking more emaciated than before, with her poofy greying hair as always uncombed, wearing a tailored blue dress with white daisies. They were both in their forties, but her appearance made her look ten years older than Edmond. If that woman had curves, Wojcik thought, she would be almost beautiful, but she wasn't, because she was Agnes Gott, the crazy cat lady he grew to despise after their first encounter. She walked straight to his desk, her dark wild eyes staring deep into his sleepy soul.
"Inspector Wojcik, have you got any news concerning my case?" she asked at once.
"First of all, good day to you, too, Miss Gott. And second, no, I don't have any news for you," Wojcik replied, annoyed.
"But you promised me!" the woman shouted, drawing everyone's attention in the office.
"What did I promise you, Miss Gott?! I told you we would investigate it if we could. Clearly, we didn't have the time to occupy ourselves with this," Wojcik snarled.
"You were sleeping when I walked in! Of course, you wouldn't have time for anything!" Agnes screeched.
"Why don't you investigate it yourself if those damn cats are so important to you? Bring their food to a lab and let them tell you whether it's poisoned or not!"
"I don't have the money for that!" she yelled in response.
"Oh, so you think that the government has that extra money to spend on analysing cat food?!" snorted Wojcik, "as I said before, Miss Gott, when, and if, we will have the time, then maybe, just maybe, we might do something for you," Wojcik lowered his voice as he noticed how distressed Agnes was, trying to hide his obvious disdain towards her. But the damage was already done.
Agnes didn't seem to hear or see anything. She only had eyes for her archenemy: the cold-hearted, pockmarked asshole sitting behind the desk. The woman stepped forward and aggressively struck the organisers on Wojcik's table. The plastic tower hit the floor with the compartments detaching from each other and the documents fluttering out of them and gliding under the furniture in the office. Agnes threw profanities at Edmond, calling him a lazy bureaucrat and leech, accusing him of discrimination. When someone tried to calm her down, she burst out crying as she sank down on a nearby chair.
"Please, it can't be that hard. I lost another cat today. I love them. They are all I have! They have the right to live, too! The neighbours have no problems with me or my cats if you think they are the ones to blame. I clean my house every day, it doesn't smell. The one that died today was just a kitten. Don't you understand? Someone is poisoning them! If you don't want to do it for my cats, at least do it for public safety. They leave the poison somewhere where the cats have easy access to it. Neighbourhood kids always play with my cats, following them into the basement and other places. Those children are also in danger!"
Agnes had a point, Wojcik hadn't thought about that, but she had pissed him off and he didn't want to listen to her any longer and ordered one of his people to lead her away. When she saw his reaction, she cussed him out for a filthy pig and aggressively pushed away the man who tried to approach her. She stormed out of their office, somehow managing to slam in rage the heavy door behind her.
Wojcik crouched and started to pick up the files from the floor. By the time he finished it was already lunch. He was about to inform Farnicki that it was time to take a break but when he turned around, he found his assistant's desk empty. That made Wojcik happy for some reason. At least his new partner had something recognisable and humane about himself, like leaving work on time to go home or have lunch.