Unexpected Pt. 04

Author's Note: This will be a slow burn type of romance/drama with more emphasis on the love rather than sexy times. If you're looking for more of the sexy times this may not be your cup of tea.

***

End of Part 3

As we reached the parking lot Kaitlyn, and I hugged as I put my bag in my car. "I hope you enjoy your vacation. You've earned it."

"Thanks." I said. "I'll talk to you when I get back."

As I drove off, I still felt torn between feeling sad at not being able to finish the job I had been given and relishing the chance to revamp the homicide division on the west side.

Part 4

My brother and I sat on the back of the long fishing boat in mounted swivel chairs sipping beers and watching our lines in the holders on the railing. When I told him I had some time off we both agreed that nothing would help us catch up like a deep-sea fishing trip. It had been at least ten years since we had been able to go, and he was able to finagle some time off so we could catch up. By midafternoon after being out since early that morning we had each caught about half a dozen large tuna and consumed at least a case of beer that sat in a cooler between us.

As we headed back to the dock I reached into the cooler and opened another cold beer. I wasn't usually a big beer person, but for some reason my brother and I couldn't fish, or play golf, or cards, etc. without drinking beer so we brought a cooler full of ice and beer to enjoy between us. Just after I grabbed a fresh beer, my brother crushed the clearly empty can in his hand and tossed it in the makeshift trash bag we had and mirrored my action and grabbed a fresh beer from the cooler.

My brother, Carl, popped the top on his fresh beer and took a long swig before setting it down in the cupholder of his chair. He sighed contentedly before saying, "This is just what I needed Matt."

"You and me both Carl." I said.

"I don't want to know what my caseload will look like when I get back in a couple of days, but at this point I don't care." Carl said. Carl is a former cop turned private investigator who ran his own firm and much like me his case load had been pretty large the last couple of years keeping him from taking time off.

"Same here." I said taking another swallow of my beer. "When I get back I've got to reinvigorate the homicide team on the west side. Even with just the quick glances I got when getting the lay of the land from my outgoing predecessor I can tell I'll have my work cut out for me. Morale and discipline are low."

Carl chuckled a little as he heard me complain about my new assignment. "You could always move back here and join me at the firm." he said.

"Nah." I said chuckling along with him. Carl was always trying to get me to join him at his private investigation firm and while I always appreciated the offer, I couldn't imagine myself not being an actual cop. "As hard as this might be at the offset, I'm actually looking forward to jumping in and resetting this team."

"Only you would be crazy enough to join the cops and stay with them." Carl said.

"What can I say?" I said. "I bleed PD blue." and we both laughed.

I knew we were getting close to shore when suddenly my phone which had been silent all afternoon since we were out of tower range suddenly came back to life and the backlog of messages started filtering in and as such beeping. I pulled it out of my pocket long enough to put it on vibrate deciding to enjoy the rest of the ride back to shore.

Once we reached the dock my brother and I half hazardly got our coolers off the boat and onto the dock where Mellissa was waiting for us. We weren't drunk, but we damn sure weren't sober either so I couldn't blame her for shaking her head in amusement as we struggled to get our stuff off the boat. As we got up to her, she gave us a pointed look and said,

"Why are you guys half drunk?"

Without missing a beat Carl said, "Because we ran out of beer." and we all laughed as we lugged the coolers towards Mellissa's car. As Mellissa got the coolers loaded into her car Carl was taking our fish and getting them filleted by a worker on the dock. Carl got back a few minutes later with our catches filleted and wrapped and ready to cook. We were about to get in the car when my phone started to ring. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw it was Kaitlyn calling.

"Hi Kaitlyn, what's up?" I said answering the call.

"Matt, I'm not sure what happened, but your police cruiser has a flat tire on it." Kaitlyn said. Kaitlyn was watching my house while I was away.

"I'm not surprised." I said. "That tire has had a slow leak for weeks. I've just been too busy to get it looked it. I've just been adding air as needed. Don't worry about it, I'll look at it when I get back."

"Oh ok." Kaitlyn said. "You having a good time down there?"

"We're having a great time." I said. "My brother Carl and I just got back from a deep-sea fishing trip."

"Oh, wow that sounds like fun." Kaitlyn said as Carl, Mellissa and I piled into her car.

"It was." I said. "We hadn't been able to do this in about ten years. We caught a few tuna that Mom will grill up for us when we get back. Mainly we just drank beers caught up."

Before I could say anything, Mellissa said quite loudly, "Yeah Kaitlyn, your perfect cop here is half drunk." I reached over and gave my sister a playful punch in the arm as she drove.

Kaitlyn laughed before saying, "Are you really half drunk?"

"Probably." I admitted. "Carl and I polished off a 12 pack between us."

Kaitlyn laughed again as she said, "I wish I was there to see that. You and your brother half drunk."

"Hey, we're not that bad." I said. "We can still move halfway decently. And we've got good tans from being in the sun all day. Although my dumbass kept my shades on, so I'll have a racoon look for a bit."

Kaitlyn and I shared another laugh before she said, "Well I've got to get off of here and get ready to go to work. I just wanted to tell you about that tire. I'm glad you're having a good time."

"It was good to hear from you." I said. Kaitlyn and I said our goodbye's and hung up.

As I dropped my phone back in my shirt pocket Carl said from the backseat, "So who's Kaitlyn?"

Before I could chime in Mellissa said, "His girlfriend."

"She is not my girlfriend." I protested.

"Oh yeah?" Mellissa said pointedly. "Then why did you get her to watch your house while you're down here?"

***

It was after 5:00 and strictly speaking I was supposed to be off by that point. As head of homicide my schedule was 8-5, but one of the main things I needed to reinvigorate on the west side was the night team. As such, much of the beginning of my tenure I found myself working 8-8 or 8-9 or later as I needed to personally get a view of what was happening with my second shift detectives. I glanced at my watch and saw that it said 6:15.

One of my detectives was an hour and fifteen minutes late. The scuttlebutt around the precinct was that this person was almost infamous for being late and especially if he had to work nights and I was learning that it was true. Part of it I know was defiance, because he was one of Harrington's favorites, so he always got the 8-5 shift. One of the first things I had to change was the day night rotations so that everyone would work nights at least once or twice a week and everyone would get equal amounts of nights and weekends off.

At 6:27 I watched from my office as the man in question strolled into the main homicide area and sat down at his desk. I gave him a few seconds to get himself settled in before I picked up my desk phone and dialed his extension and asked him to step into my office. As he crossed the threshold of my office door, I could see a look of indifference and defiance on his face that old me this wouldn't be an easy conversation.

Not wanting to beat around the bush I came right out and said, "Max you were supposed to be here over an hour ago."

"So, I'm a little late." he said shrugging his shoulders. "Nothing's happening."

"That's not the point. You were supposed to be here at 5. This is the third time you've been late when you're scheduled to work second shift, and it can't continue." I said. "You're also out of uniform. Everyone has been warned about being in proper uniform when on duty. The next time you're late and/or out of uniform it's going on record."

One of the many laxities I was forced to address was detectives being in proper unform. While I was clear that they didn't have to wear a shirt and tie like I did, they did at least have to wear chino style pants or dress slacks and at least a department issued golf shirt. Max was currently wearing black jeans and a plain black golf shirt that made him look more like a club bouncer than a homicide detective.

"What's the big deal?!" he asked clearly getting agitated. "Nothing ever happens at night around here."

"That's not the point." I said calmly. "The point is I expect every detective in my bureau to be at work on time and be in uniform, and if they can't conform to those standards to either apply for transfer or submit their resignation."

"This is bullshit man." Max said sounding even more agitated. "We got to be all dressed up to come in and do nothing."

"If you had been here on time, you would have learned at the meeting that there are 3 cases that came in during the day the need follow up's on." I said still staying calm despite a growing desire deep inside me to cuss him out. "So, there is in fact quite a bit going on."

"So, what, that's the day shifts problem?" Max said sounding incredulous.

"No, it's everyone's problem." I said. "In the absence of cases coming in at night, the night shift's duty is to follow up on other current unsolved cases."

"This is a bunch of bullshit man." Max said. "You're just trying to work us to death so the day guys can work their bankers' hours."

"In case it has escaped your notice." I said, my voice going lower. "I'm technically only supposed to work days since I'm head of homicide, so I should have been walking out the door when you got here, if you had been on time. Now, I'm not going to argue about this anymore. If you're late again and/or out of uniform, it's going on paper." I then picked up a stack of files and thrust them towards him. "Now this is what I need you to look at tonight and I expect a full report on my desk in the morning. Dismissed."

I expected more argument, but that seemed, at least for the moment, seemed to work and he simply nodded before quickly walking out of my office. I wasn't surprised when two days later I found a transfer request from Max on my desk along with his daily reports. It was the fourth such request since I had taken over homicide on the west side and I quickly approved and signed off on it like the others. Many of the people had gotten used to Harrington's lackadaisical management and weren't prepared for the higher standards I was setting. It was sad and frustrating, especially since I was supposed to be dealing with professional police officers, but it was what it was, and I wasn't going to shy away from the hard problems.

***

I sat in a chair in the command center watching a couple of my detectives interrogate a suspect they had just brought in. The suspect was irritatingly insistent of his innocence despite the eyewitness and forensic evidence that showed otherwise. As the detectives confronted him on his story that didn't match the facts, he got more hostile.

"Come off of it son!" Detective Raynor said. "The neighbor across the street saw you pull your gun out during the confrontation. And that's one of several witnesses to say the same thing."

"Those people are lying." he said, and I wondered how he could keep a straight face. "They've never liked me and would love to see me locked up for something I didn't do."

I shook my head in disbelief as Detective Raynor and his partner stood up and walked out of the interrogation room. They'd been in there for over an hour and knew it was time for a break. Let the guy stew for a few minutes and try again. A few seconds later I saw Detectives Raynor and Phillips walk into the command center.

"This guy thinks we're idiots." Phillips said as he sat down in one of the many chairs around the conference table in the center of the command center.

"Yeah, I was born at night, but it wasn't last night." Raynor said.

At that second one of our forensic techs walked into the room. "Guys I have good news." she said as she set her laptop down on the table. The three of us huddled around her as she pulled up a home surveillance video of our suspect clear as day pulling out his gun and unloading it into the victim.

"Well, well, well, would you look at that." I said grinning. "I think it's time to have another chat with Mr. Riley." I glanced back up at the screen and saw that Riley looked just as disagreeable as he did when Raynor and Phillips had left him there by himself.

"Great job Gracie." I said to the tech as she pulled the thumb drive out of her laptop and handed it to me. Phillips went to grab his own laptop while Raynor and I waited for him at the door of the interrogation room. Phillips arrived seconds later and the three of us entered to confront our suspect.

"Hello Mr. Riley, I'm Lieutenant Ryan, head of homicide here on the west side." I said as I sat down in the chair across the table from him. "I believe you already know Detectives Raynor and Phillips."

"When do I get to get out of here?" he asked sounding impatient.

"Unfortunately for you no time soon." I said. "You see there's just too much evidence pointing straight at you, and you haven't been able to give a satisfactory explanation for it."

"Man, you guys got nothing on me." he said clearly getting riled up. "All you got is a bunch of people lying and that don't prove anything."

"So, you mean to tell me that almost half a dozen people are willing to lie and see you arrested for a crime you didn't commit." I said calmly.

"I told those two already that all those guys hate me and would love to lie on me." he said. "Y'all just don't get it."

"What don't we get?" Phillips asked.

"I've told y'all I didn't do it!" Riley shouted. "I told these two dumbasses I didn't even have a gun on me that day, but y'all still think I did it."

My eyes narrowed as I stared back at him. In a low voice I said, "First of all don't disrespect my detectives. Second of all we have proof that you're lying and did have a gun that day and did shoot Franklin in cold blood."

"Whatever you got nothing." Riley said. "Just a bunch of circumstantial he said she said bullshit."

I motioned for Phillips to hand me his computer and I stuck the thumb drive into it and pulled the video up. I enlarged the player to full screed and turned it to where we could all see. After we all watched the clip, I shut Phillips' laptop and looked back at Riley.

"Anything you'd like to say Mr. Riley?"

"That motherfucker disrespected me!" he said sounding more enraged. "What was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know." I said my voice rising. "But one thing you shouldn't have done is pulled a gun and fired it in the presence of innocent people. You sir, are a threat to public safety and one I'm glad won't be able to endanger anyone else for a long time."

"Who the fuck do you think you are talking to me like that?!" Riley shouted at me. "Who are you to come at me like some kind of public avenger?!"

In a dead calm voice I said, "I work for the department of public safety and it's my job to keep the city safe from people like you who would threaten public safety just because you get your feelings hurt."

Seething Riley said, "Whatever man, fuck you, I'm done talking. I want a lawyer."

"Very well." I said as I stood up. "Just to be clear you're going to jail for murder."

As the detectives and I exited the room and uniformed officers entered Riley said to us, "I won't forget this and I'm going to sue all of you when I get out of this." None of us even dignified him with a response as we headed back to the command center.

Once in the command center Phillips, Raynor and I exchanged handshakes and pats on the back.

"Well done men." I said to the two detectives.

"Good job bringing it over the finish line boss." Raynor said.

I looked at my watch and saw that it was about 3:30. "You two take the rest of the day off, you've earned it."

Clearly not ready to argue with me Phillips said, "Whatever you say Lieutenant." Both Raynor and Phillips shook my hand and quickly headed off to pack up their desks for the day.

As Raynor and Phillips left to enjoy their early day I went back to my office. It was turning out to be a pretty good day. After finishing up some reports including the one on the Riley case that I had just witnessed the climax of I decided to leave on time. At a few minutes to five I was gathering my things and getting ready to leave when my phone rang. I looked down and saw it was Kaitlyn calling.

Sitting back down in my chair I answered the phone, "Hi Kaitlyn. What's up?"

"Hi Matt." Kaitlyn said. "You never call me anymore, so I figured I'd try calling you."

She wasn't lying when she said I didn't call her. In the three months since I had taken over west side homicide we hadn't talked much. I was often working late into the night and even if I wasn't Kaitlyn was either working or trying to get ready for her final exams and we never seemed to find time to catch up. Not that I didn't think of her often as I worked to get my feet planted in my new position.

"You picked a great time." I said. "I was actually about to head out the door."

"Wait a minute!" Kaitlyn said dramatically. "You're leaving work on time! Hold on I'm calling a press conference."

After we both laughed at her exaggerated sarcasm I said, "Yeah one of my teams closed a case this afternoon, so I figured why not actually knock off on time for once."

"Oh, wow that sounds great." Kaitlyn said. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, it feels good to get one in the win column again." I said. "I led the final part of the interview myself. While the guy didn't crack, far from it in fact, we had the evidence to arrest him."

"Since you're getting off why don't you join me over here at Harvey's Bar and we can have a drink and celebrate?" Kaitlyn asked.

"That sounds great." I said. "I'll be over in a few minutes."

I got to Harvey's Bar about 20 minutes later and after ordering a drink from the bartender found Kaitlyn at a small table in the back corner of the room. As I got closer, I noticed that she wasn't alone. Sitting next to her was a younger man, probably mid 20's with slightly tousled brown hair and a sort of nonchalant look about him.

Once I got to the table Kaitlyn stood up and we hugged and greeted. As we moved back towards the table she said, "Matt this is Mark."

I extended my hand and said, "How are you doing sir?"

"What's up man?" Mark said casually as he weakly gripped my hand not even standing up. The second Kaitlyn and I sat back down his hands were all over Kaitlyn. It was clear that in Mark's mind that they were more than friends. And while Kaitlyn wasn't exactly welcoming all the physical contact, she wasn't clearly pushing him away either. Needless to say, I suddenly felt very awkward as Kaitlyn tried to start up a conversation.

"So Matt, you were saying you solved a case?" she asked.

"Yeah, had him dead to rights but he still had the nerve to deny it and say my detectives and I were trying to railroad him." I said before taking a sip of my drink.

"And he really got mad when I showed him the video of him shooting up the neighborhood up and called him a danger to public safety. Called me a public avenger and lawyered up." I said.

"Wow, how absurd can you get?" Kaitlyn asked before having push Mark's hand away from her neck. He was clearly trying to expose her neck. "Not now Mark."