Chapter 3: Fallout and a beating

January 19, 2001

It has been almost two weeks since Sam started his new job at the Coolsville Police Department. During that time, he also got to meet the commander for East Coolsville Division, Captain Jason Hindley, as well as the commander of East Bureau, Commander Rupert Gosnell. Both men seemed welcoming to Sam, and had repeated the chief's emphasis of him providing his best work.

However, as he settled down with his new work as the detective commander of the station, Sam started to become increasingly aware that things have not changed at all in Coolsville, as he was unable to keep the 1985 incident at the Docklands out of his mind.

As a matter a fact, he can't help but notice the frequent, what he considered to be unethical conduct of officers working in the division at work everyday. Even though he did occasionally encounter similar conduct back in his days in New York, the fact that he sees those type of conduct everyday at work gave him the feeling that the department hasn't changed at all since his transfer to New York sixteen years back.

As he was putting the newspaper into his briefcase, Claphammer came to his office and said, "Sam, we've got a call out and we need to get over to Woodwerns Groceries at William Snyder Avenue. It was a robbery with a guy behind the counter with stab wounds."

"All right then, Claphammer. Let's get going." Sam replies as he got his keys out, ready to lock his office door before following his partner to their department-assigned car.

As Claphammer drove their department-assigned car to the crime scene, he said, "What did I told you about the newspaper, Sam?"

"What about it?"

"I thought I told you not to trust the information the newspaper provides or from any single news report."

"You didn't." Sam said but then raised an eyebrow. "What problem do you have with me getting the paper every day?"

"Let's just say that the news about the chief facing conspiracy charges is totally false, and believe me, man, the way things are running in the department is the best for the city. We don't need the biased media to tell us what we are doing wrong." Claphammer replies in a calm but firm tone.

"It's called accountability, Claphammer." Sam replied. "News media plays an important role in our democratic society. Without news media, who can hold our government accountable if we don't have media to inform us what is going on?"

"You do realize that there is such thing as fake news, huh?" Claphammer said. "They're run by people who always have nothing better to do than criticizing the government and the police chief with the intention of drawing attention to themselves, and believe me, Sam, the way things are in the city is the best."

Sam was left speechless by his partner's remark and fuming, he was about to say something before changing his mind and stayed silent.

The two spent the rest of the drive in silence, until Claphammer pulled the car into the curb of the road.

"In heavens name, Claphammer, what are you doing?" Sam asks, noticing the fact that they weren't at their destination. "We have a robbery to check out and –"

"Stay in the car, Sam. I'll be right back." Claphammer replies as he gets off the car.

As Sam looked on, Claphammer walked over to a group of teenagers gathering near a vandalized garbage bin.

One of them, upon seeing Claphammer, blurted out "Oh, no" and turned to walk away.

However, Claphammer managed to catch up with him, grabbed him by the shoulder, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled the boy towards him and said "What on earth are you doing here, Jake? Aren't you supposed to be at school right now?"

Then, to Sam's astonishment, his partner proceeded to punch and kick the boy known as Jake, while the other boys looked on, not moving a muscle.

As Sam watched his partner beating up the boy, the frown on his face grew.

Finally, Claphammer finished beating the boy, but not before lifting him up and dropping him in the garbage bin. He then returned to the car as the boys went to carry Jake out of the garbage bin.

His partner then shifted the car into drive, and they carried on to their destination.

After several uncomfortable moments, Sam finally broke the silence. "Was that really necessary?"

"Oh come on, Sam. That guy had this knife in his pocket and was skipping school." Claphammer replied with a laugh, not taking Sam's question seriously as he handed the "knife" to Sam.

Sam took a look at the item, but it turned out to be a comb.

He turned to his partner with a frown, saying "Seriously?"

"That was just for precaution, Sam."

"Oh, yeah? What will you do if that boy sues you for what you had done?"

"That won't happen, Sam. The kid is scared of me. He won't have the balls to launch a lawsuit against me."

"Then, I guess I'll have to let Internal Affairs know what you had done, Claphammer."

"Yeah, yeah. Internal Affairs." Claphammer says with a mocking tone. "They won't give a you-know-what on what I did. Not while I have the man on the ninth floor on my back."

Sam was stunned by his partner's last remark and the anger inside him only grew, together with his suspicions.

They spent the rest of the drive in silence. Sam refused to speak to his partner after that conversation, as he was too angry to even think of a response.

He couldn't believe his partner, a Sergeant in the police department, who should be investigating crimes, who should be mentoring younger, inexperienced detectives, who should be supervising the detective unit in the division, would do such a thing.

But then again, he figured that he can't be surprised by what he had just witnessed.

After all, this is Coolsville, and he knew first thing just how corrupt the city is, especially from the incident at the Docklands back in 1985 with his former training officer and her husband breaking into a warehouse and stealing diamonds.

February 20, 2001

A month went by since Sam witnessed his partner beating up a teenage boy just because he was armed with a "knife", which turned out to be nothing other than a comb. During this time, he made the determination to set things right through the establishment of a set of new rules that he expects his men to follow.

First, all of the detectives in his unit are to follow orders from him directly, not from Claphammer, and he makes sure personally that they are not slacking off and are doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Next, he made sure the officers and detectives don't come back with anything suspicious on their person. That includes extra cash obtained through bribes and drugs.

Third and foremost, he had placed a strict, zero-tolerance policy on breaking his rules.

Officers who broke his rules would be disciplined, which includes being placed on probation.

One of those officers placed on probation was Detective Sean Oldfield, who got into a heated argument with Sam after Sam stepped in and stopped him from accepting a bribe from a drug dealer, who was then arrested by Sam in spite of Oldfield's protests.

Those new rules were unpopular with some in his unit, and had also landed him into trouble with both Captain Hindley and Commander Gosnell. Both men were concerned that Sam hasn't changed at all since his transfer to New York following the incident at the Docklands and have tried to reason with the lieutenant.

Gosnell was the one who had a talk with Sam in his office, but it ended with the commander threatening to have Sam dismissed as Sam angrily walked away from the commander's office.

Claphammer was also unhappy about what Sam is doing, since Sam is making massive changes to the way the squad operates, which is different than the way the other police divisions operates in the city, including Sam's zero-tolerance on accepting bribes. In addition, he had took away much of his authority in the squad, as the detectives are now forced to comply from Sam's orders and rules.

After seeing Sam's angry conversation with Gosnell, he decided to jump command by going to the chief to talk about what Sam is doing.

That afternoon, the chief listened silently in his office as Claphammer describes what Sam is doing, mentioning one time while on a case, while Sam is shaking hands with a convicted con-man, the con-man slipped a one-hundred dollar bill into Sam's hand during the handshake.

"And then he sees the $100 bill, looked at his hand as if his hand got a disease on it, and threw the bill right into the guy's face." Claphammer says, finishing the description of the event before continuing, "And then, every morning, he gives the squad a 2-hour lecture on some boring junk he believed to be important, and get this, he had placed Oldfield on probation for arguing with him over his move of forcing Oldfield to refuse the bribe from this drug dealer, as well as trying to help that guy escape from custody."

After taking a deep breath, Claphammer looks up at Strickland and said. "I'm telling you, Lou. That lieutenant is just not fitting in."

"I see what you meant, Walter." Strickland replies with a frown. "I had high hopes for Rogers on being able to fit into our team, especially after that unfortunate incident at the Docklands back in 1985, and now we realized how much he hasn't changed at all. I was hoping you can find out some way to teach him a lesson."

"I sure do, Lou." Walter replies with a smirk. "I can use the boys to soften him up. That should teach him a lesson for trying to make the squad his squad."

"Sounds like a good idea, Walter. But you better not do it while I'm in town, because there is already enough heat on me as it is right now. Wait until I'm away for that police chief's conference in Washington next week."

After the discussion in the office, Claphammer walked out with a smirk on his face.

As he waited for the elevator, he ran into Commander Gosnell, who was at the ninth floor of Central for another pressing matter.

"So Walter..." Gosnell says after making sure that no one was around listening. "What did Lou say about dealing with the way Rogers is running the squad?"

Prior to meeting with the chief, Claphammer confided with the commander on his topic of discussion with Strickland about Sam's conduct.

"I can use the guys in my squad to soften him up, Rupert. That's the only way for us to teach him a lesson, I'm afraid." Claphammer replied as the elevator doors opened and he and Gosnell walked into the car.

"Well, as long as he changes his mind on how things should operate in the department, then we're good."

February 28, 2001

A few days later, one night at the parking lot behind East Coolsville Division, Sam walked to his car, which was parked in the dimly-lighted part of the parking lot.

As he made his way to his car, he saw three figures with ski masks and baseball bats walking towards him. They then swing their bats at Rogers, who ducked and counterattacked before he suddenly felt something hitting him in the head.

As it turned out, more men in ski masks showed up behind him. They first knocked him down and then beat him with their bats. During that beating, Sam recognized laughter from behind one of the ski masks.

"Claphammer." Sam thought to himself before blacking out. Before that happens, he heard a voice warning him that they will go after his wife if he continues to run the squad the way he does.

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