“Poker Face! Who the hell is Poker Face?” yelled the police chief.

One of the rookies spoke up. “Well, apparently Chief, he’s the new mob boss in town. He...”

The Chief turned on the rookie, who had been standing nearby, and leaned close to his face. “Oh, really? Are you sure about that, Muldoon? ‘The new mob boss?’ Gee, I’m so happy that you cleared that up for me. The bulletholes in the back of these victims’ heads had me thinking he was a circus clown!” The Chief slammed down the photos of the victims he had been waving around when he was yelling at Muldoon. “Now! What I want to know is who Poker Face is, people! I seriously doubt that his mother gave him that name at birth. If we don’t find this guy soon, he’s going to tear this town apart, looking for that ding dang vigilante, ‘The Face!’ These two have got some sort of war going on, and I want it stopped!”

The Chief punctuated his sentence by slamming his fist down on the desk again. A full coffee mug jumped off the desk, shattering on the floor, sending coffee in all directions, and a spoon skittering across the floor. The room was totally silent, and everyone seemed to be holding their breath, looking wide-eyed at the Chief, waiting to see if he was going to blow up again. He stared at the broken mug for just a minute, and picked up a napkin off the desk. He picked up his foot, and laughed to himself, as he started wiping coffee off of his shoe. Nobody moved, staring in disbelief, wondering that the Chief was laughing, and not turning beat red in anger. Suddenly, the Chief’s head jerked up, and he barked, “What the hell is everyone staring at? Didn’t I just give everyone a job to do? So hot dammit! Hop to it, people!” He took three strides towards his office, spun on his toe, and thrusting a stubby finger back in the direction of the desk he’d been standing at, he hollered, “Muldoon! Get that mess cleaned up!”

“Y-yes sir, Chief!” Muldoon jumped into action, kicking a roller chair as he half ran around the desk, and knocking over a cup of pencils, as he reached out to steady himself.

The Chief scowled at Muldoon, and spun on the balls of his feet, striding back to his office in a huff. As he went through the doorway to his office, he grabbed the doorknob, and flung it behind him. Just before it shut, his hand snapped out, and caught the edge of the door. Flinging it open again, he pointed back into the room, at no one in particular, and yelled, “And another thing: From now on... I don’t wanna see anything but paper cups in here!” With that, he slammed the door, and let down the venetian blind over his door. The office was suddenly abuzz, and everyone went back to work.

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Story and characters owned by Chris Bishop, copyright 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.