It had taken a lot of convincing on his part, but Rick somehow talked his daughters to go back to sleep until he was ready to leave for work. Somehow a bribe was involved although he doesn't know if they were they ones doing the bribing. He shaves, and showers and gets dressed. Knowing that this case will be the first thing he faces this morning. His only hope is that the captain has not yet arrived at the 12th so he can at least get a jump on what Espo and Ryan might have found out. It's not that he can't get his head into any case, it's just that with his captain always wanting an update every 15 minutes he finds that his time is better spent investigating than explaining what he has pieced together.
Rick pours himself a travel mug of his favorite coffee. Kona coffee. It always makes him think of Hawaii when he drank it. Sure it was expensive, but it was so worth it. That's why he only had a cup once a week. Walking up to his daughters door he knocked twice and waited for a reply. Not hearing anything he gently pushed between the door and the door frame to find them still sleeping. He could be a really mean dad and make all sorts of noise and scare them half to death, but after thinking about it, he decided not to torture them.
"Girls, come on it's almost 7 am. The bus will be here in 20 minutes. Chop, chop. Let's get going."
"Cmon dad just 5 more minutes." Alyssa pleads.
"Yeah, dad." Olivia agrees.
"Nope, now let's get out of bed. If you don't the next step will be the cold water treatment."
Rick has never seen them get up and out of bed so fast in his life.
"That's better. So I will see you two after work okay?"
"Yeah, dad. I love you, me too dad."
"Remember Pam will be here in about 10 minutes and she will be here when you get home. If you need any help with homework or a project let her know. I should be back by 5:30 or 6 depending what I can have done by the end of the day."
"Okay dad, have a great day!" He broke into a large smile. His girls were his life. He would do anything for them. He made his way to the subway to catch the next one to the 12th. He thought of a possible motive for the case he was working, but he needed to see what Espo and Ryan found out before seeing if his theory will pan out or not. As he walks to the lobby of the precinct it's just as he likes it when he walks in. He throws a nod to the desk sergeant and takes the stairs two at a time. He moves the little magnet by his name to the "in house" column and walks over to the digital smart board that sits near all of their desks. He touched it gently and it comes to life. Seeing that his partners have added the information from yesterday's interviews he reads the witnesses statements. Taking the information and sitting down at his desk he pulls out a file and reads it totally oblivious at what is going on around him.
"How long has he been like that?" Ryan asks Espo.
"Hard to say, Kev, the man was already here when I got here at 7:15. You know what I think? I think he left and then came back after we all called it a night. Now that would not surprise me at all."
"Come on Javi, There's no way. He has two kids."
"I'm just sayn..."
"I did not leave and come back Espo"
"Okay boss then what's got you here so early?"
"You know, I do like to get some work done without any distractions...especially from the two of you." Rick shows a small smile towards them.
"Come on Rodgers, we complete you. You know this to be true. Without us your just a paper pusher." Javi could give as good as he got. Kevin snickered at his comment and then turned away at the sound of the captain calling Rick.
"Rodgers, my office NOW!"
"Man, what did you do now? He sounds beyond pissed! Espo says hoping to keep the heat off of himself. Rick just shrugs his shoulders and gives him a worried look. On the inside, he is smiling knowing Roy the way he does it's nothing bad...or so he hopes. He gets up from his desk and goes over to the captains office.
"Captain, you bellowed?"
"Rodgers get your ass in here and sit down now...and close the damn door while you're at it!"
As Rick closes the door the boys hear him come back with a snappy "Yes Sir!"
"Well now that's done with, how many more times do you want me to do that? You know that I've been stringing them along for the last 3 years."
"Come on Roy, you like doing it...right?"
"Yeah, but that's beside the point. I am going to start toning in down. They actually fear me, and I'm not like that Rick!"
"Jeez Roy, calm down. Okay just forget it. If I even give a reason for you to be pissed at me then you can really unload on me. No more kidding around anymore."
Rick makes a move to get up and leave. But before he can actually get up Roy tells him to sit back down.
"Rick I just ended a phone call with 1PP. It seems that we will be adding to our squad. There will be a freshly promoted detective reporting here soon."
Rick already did not like Roy's tone. There was something he was keeping from him.
"Roy, what aren't you telling me?"
"What Rick, I'm just telling you that we will have more manpower to get some of this backlog cleared. You know all the cold cases."
"Well, that's a relief. Whoever it is will be assigned to the cold case files under Sargent Big Mouth."
"Rick watch it. Peterson is a good guy, and he takes a lot of the undesirables off your hands little do you know. So tell me, Rick, when was the last time you actually had a partner?" Roy asks.
"Ohhhh no you don't Roy. I work fine without a partner. I have been for the last 5 years. And anyway I have the brothers Grimm out there, so you don't need to dump this newbie into my lap."
"Rick, we both know that it's way past time. You need to be kept in line and she will be doing just that."
"WAIT, she's a girl?"
"She" usually means a member of the opposite sex Rick."
"Come on Roy, don't be funny. I really don't need the stress of having a newbie and trying to solve this case or any case for that matter."
Rick, she's yours so you had better get used to it"
Well, thanks for at least giving me the heads up. When does she report? In a couple of days right?"
Roy shakes his head and says "wait for it."
Just then there's a knock on his door and Rick's face turns white as a sheet. Slowly he turns and takes her in through the half glass door and then he snaps his head back to Roy. "Your freaking kidding me right now, right?"
"Nope, I ain't. Enter." Roy yells and then the door opens and in walks a young 20 ish woman. Short reddish/brown hair hazel eyes, and she stands about 6 feet tall. She approaches front and center raises her hand in a snappy salute and says, "Detective Beckett reporting for duty sir!"
Rick's head lands into his hands. Roy tells the new detective to go out into the bullpen and take the desk closest to Detective Rodgers and get her desktop computer set up. Someone will be with her shortly to guide her through the rest of the check-in procedure.
The new detective leaves and that's when Rick lets loose.
"Roy she was wearing 6-inch pumps. Do you know what she's going to need to do to actually run down a perp? I'm not going to be her wardrobe adviser."
"Rick give her a chance. This is all new to her. She came from patrol and she is the fastest cop to actually make detective second grade."
"Wait, second grade! Who does she know? No one jumps from a beat cop to second grade."
"Well, she did. She's smart Rick, she placed in the top 5% of her academy class and she was number one in her graduating class when it came to hand to hand combat."
"Roy she has no investigating skills what so ever. And why is she not with Narcotics or Organized Crime? Don't tell me she has an in with someone. No one gets assigned to homicide their first time out."
"Rick just deal with it. The other units were overmanned. So that's why she is here. Dismissed Detective! And be nice to her!"
Rick gets up and mumbles something inaudible under his breath as he walks by Roys desk.
"What was that detective? I did not catch all of it."
"I was saying I hope she at least knows how to reload her Glock."
Roy gives him a look and waves him out of his office and as a parting quip he says
"And I want results for the double homicide like yesterday!"
