Chapter 7

"This is absurd, Sarge! I didn't do either of those things to Lana during that arrest. She fell when she was getting into the squad car. I included the incident in my report."

"I hear you, Reagan. But it's out of our hands. Lana Jensen claims that you knocked her down during the arrest. She said you propositioned her and she turned you down. That you got forceful with her because of it and has a bruised face and wrist because of it."

"That's bull!" Jamie shot out of the guest chair in front of Renzulli's desk and began pacing the small room.

Renzulli was at a loss on what to say to make this better because there was nothing that would. So he did the only thing that he could at that moment and allowed his officer to vent.

Jamie turned around and looked at his sergeant pleadingly. "Sarge, you know me. You know I wouldn't do that."

"I know that. I do. But I can't do anything about it." Renzulli shook his head and regarded Jamie sympathetically. "IAB is stepping in to investigate her claim. I'm sorry, Jamie, but until the investigation's over, I'll need your badge and your service weapon. You're on administrative leave until then." He really hated his job sometimes.

Jamie felt like he'd been punched in the gut. This was like the problems he'd had with his reports and the squad car - all without merit and used by one person to make his life hell. Jamie pressed the heels of his hands into eyes to try and relieve the pressure that had begun to build in his head. "He did this. He did this and I'm gonna prove it," Jamie whispered to himself, but still loud enough for his sergeant to hear.

"Who, Jamie? Who did this?" Renzulli already had a sneaking suspicion who Jamie was referring to, but he needed the kid to come clean with him if he wanted his help.

Jamie dropped his hands to his sides and stared at his sergeant. He couldn't share his suspicions without something to back them but he knew of a way to clear his name. "If I could just talk to Lana, I could clear all of this up."

"No!" Renzulli jumped from his chair, walked towards Jamie and jabbed his finger into his chest to stress his point. "No. You do not talk to or go near Lana Jensen. You hear me, Reagan? You do that and you help whoever's digging your grave bury you completely."

This wasn't happening. One moment he's on patrol with his partner and the next he's getting a 10-2 back to the precinct to get this news from his old TO.

Renzulli breathed deeply. "I know you. And I know you didn't do this. But let IAB get to the bottom of this, huh? Don't jam yourself up more than you already are."

Jamie removed his weapon from his belt and his badge from his uniform and placed both items on the desk before him. He avoided eye contact with the older man and asked coldly, "Am I dismissed?"

Tony stared at Jamie for a moment and let out a long sigh. "Yeah. You're dismissed."

Eddie was waiting for him when he came out of Renzulli's office. "Hey. We ready to go back out?" Her eyes narrowed as Jamie stormed past her, completely ignoring her. "What's wrong?" She moved quickly to keep up with his fast pace, glancing back towards Renzulli's office. "You okay, partner?"

Jamie shook his head but did not look at her. He was so angry, he thought he might explode if he got into it with her here. "I gotta get out of here." He needed to leave before he ran into Nash and punched him in the face like he'd felt like doing a few days ago. He made his way out of the precinct, still dressed in his uniform, leaving his bewildered partner behind.

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A few hours later, Janko found him at their favorite cop bar nursing a beer. He looked awful, like he'd just lost his best friend. And she didn't blame him one bit.

She slipped onto the stool next to him. "Hey, Jamie." She signaled the bartender to bring her one of what he was having and looked back at him. "IAB talked to me today. Filled me in on what's going on."

"I'm sure you're not supposed to talk about it. Least of all to me." He took a swig from his bottle and began to pick at the label.

"So they told me this crazy story that you, Jamison Reagan, Boy Scout extraordinaire, propositioned and assaulted a prostitute we collared." She nodded at the bartender when he brought her drink and took a sip. "Crazy, right?"

Jamie didn't respond.

"Then they wanted to know if I could confirm or deny the incident, but I wasn't much help because I wasn't there when she fell. Only after when she told me herself that her shoe had gotten stuck and that she'd fallen, you know, with no urgency or distress about her. And that I then removed said shoe from the sewer grate it was wedged into."

She waited for a response, but got none. Her sullen partner continued to methodically remove the label from his beer, so she continued. "Then they asked if I'd ever suspected or witnessed you being involved in any kind of illicit activity. I asked them if they had ever met you." He still hadn't looked at her so she took a drink from her bottle. "Boy, they questioned me like I was just looking to cover your ass. Is IAB always so distrustful?"

"I wouldn't know. The last IAB guy I dealt with actually had a hand in covering up my brother's murder and helped the guy who pulled the trigger rig my car to kill me." Jamie's tone was flat and distracted.

Eddie's eyes widened at his statement, but knew that was a painful story for another day. "Jamie, he's gone too far. This is your life we're talking about."

He finally looked at her. "I know that, Eddie."

"You've got to talk to your father. This is no longer about having our dad get you out of a jam. This is about this scumbag harassing you for no reason other than your last name and somehow having a woman make a false claim that could get you kicked out of the department and possibly charged with assault and solicitation."

"I know that too."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna start by talking to Lana."

"Jamie..."

"I need to know what he did to make her do this. To see if she'll tell the truth." Jamie got off his stool and pulled a few bills out of his pocket which he dropped on the bar top and headed for the door.

"Jeez, I barely drank the neck off my beer," she mumbled and reached out to grab the sleeve of his jacket. "I'm coming with you."

"No, Eddie. That'll only jam you up," he replied with a serious expression on his face.

"You're worried about me getting jammed up?" She smirked before saying, "You really are a Boy Scout. Not letting you go alone, Reagan. You need back up, or at least a witness in case Lana tries making more accusations."