Chapter 7
"Just like old times, eh Harvard? You behind the wheel and me sitting over here telling you where to go?" Renzulli smiled from his perch on the passenger side of the RMP.
"Yeah, Sarge," Jamie replied from behind his dark aviator glasses. It was Monday and his first official tour with his old TO in ages. No matter what, it was going to be bittersweet for him to leave the 12th if the call came; it had been his house since his first day out of the academy and Renzulli was a big part of the reason he became the cop he was today. "Nothing beats it... except maybe having a prettier partner next to me. No offense."
"About that," the older man pried as Jamie pulled the cruiser away from the precinct and turned left at the corner towards their assigned area. "Damn, kid… I never dreamed I'd live to see the day there would be two women fighting over you. I thought I was going to have to call another bus for you at the bar the other night. I mean you can tell me now since you're halfway out the door anyway. C'mon you and Janko, never?"
"Never, Sarge," Jamie answered with carefully concealed regret. Despite the circumstances it felt wrong to admit anything to the man who had previously called him out on his feelings for Eddie and threatened to separate them if necessary. "She didn't even come to see me once the whole time I was recovering at my dad's house."
"You numbnut," Renzulli spat in disbelief. "That's because she's scared to death of your family." Sometimes this kid was just too dense for his own good, and Eddie was like one of his own. All the young officers that came up under him at the 12th were.
"Well, then what good does that do me, Sarge?" Jamie answered with a bit of growing frustration as he scanned the street ahead for any signs of trouble, no longer worried about hiding his interest in his former partner. That appeared to be water under the bridge at this point. "It's not like I can avoid them or they're going to go away anytime soon."
"Maybe if she got to know them a little…"
"Don't see that happening in the near future," the younger officer replied. "Besides, I'm seeing Addie now, she's nice and…"
"...looks like a smokin' hot cheerleader," Renzulli grinned and finished the thought for him. "Not that I can blame you, it's just I never picked you as one to rob the cradle, Reagan."
"She's 23!" Jamie defended, thinking back to yesterday's dinner when Danny had pretty much implied the same thing in a low whisper while the two of them were in the kitchen clearing dishes, with the added jab that Addison was the virtual twin of her older sister… Joe's girl Angie, as if that somehow twisted everything into something that was just plain wrong. It did succeed in making Jamie even more uncomfortable with the comparison and he noticed that his own father had not called Addison by name once. "I'm only six and a half years older than her."
"Six… and a half. Got it," the sergeant chided, "those missing few months really change things up. It would be totally wrong if you'd said seven."
Jamie was trying in vain to formulate an appropriate comeback when an old cream-colored and rusted Ford Explorer blew through a clear red light in front of them headed north on Wilshire. Renzulli hit the lights and siren and called into Central as the pair took off in pursuit of the speeding vehicle. Jamie skillfully dodged slowing traffic to pull in behind the SUV just four blocks up and he watched with some relief as the driver ahead slowed and swerved off to stop at the side of the road. For some reason he had the sense that this traffic stop would be anything but ordinary. "I don't like the looks of this guy. Watch my back, Sarge," he commented as he carefully exited the RMP and approached the front of the vehicle while Renzulli stayed to the right to provide backup.
"License and registration," he ordered as he came in view of the driver, a gruff-looking twenty-something man with arms littered in tattoos. There was a young woman sitting next to him in the passenger seat, and Jamie's heart dropped as he caught sight of a car seat and a small moving form in the middle of the back. The fool was driving like a maniac with an innocent little child in the car with him.
"Carl Richardson," Jamie read from the license after it was handed to him. "You in a hurry to go somewhere today, Carl? Enough to blow through a red light back there?"
"No, sir," Richardson replied. He's been through the drill enough times in the past to take an instant read of Jamie's face and know that he wasn't going to sweet talk his way out of anything today. Another few points and his license would be suspended again. The woman had other ideas though. She eagerly rolled down her window after glancing back and spotting Renzulli.
"Uncle Tony!" she called.
Carl couldn't believe his luck once he'd heard her. He smiled as he realized there was hope in getting out of this ticket today after all.
Jamie watched the man with continued suspicion as his partner approached the passenger-side door. "Jayne," Renzulli remarked with a heavy sigh. "What are you doing back in the city with this dirtbag?" he asked.
"We were just headed over to Queens to visit Brian," she answered sweetly. "He's so grateful to you for helping him get the appointment to the police academy this fall. Dad would be so proud of him," she added, knowing exactly how to play the cards in her hands. "Carl was giving us a ride since we didn't have any other way to get there."
"Jesus," Renzulli griped as he took a glance in the back seat. "You let him drive that way with the baby in the car?"
"I'm sorry, sir," Richardson piped up. "The little runt was crying, and I missed the light when I turned around to see what was wrong."
"Jayne," Renzulli said as he tried to ignore the man's comment. At this point the sergeant considered the piece of scum lucky that he had not found himself staring down the barrel of a loaded duty weapon. "I thought you promised me you would stay clean and out of trouble."
"I am Uncle Tony!" she insisted. "Ever since I had Kaylin. You can ask my parole officer. Not one problem until today…" she added suggestively.
"Alright," he conceded as he frowned and shook his head. "As long as Carl here comes back without any outstanding warrants, we'll let this slide, but this is the last time Jayne Marie Jeffers," he admonished strongly. "Your dad would have cracked both of your heads together if he would have pulled the two of you over for driving like that with his granddaughter in the car! Reagan!" he beckoned. "Can I have a word over here with you?"
"Sure, Sarge," Jamie answered as he turned to walk over to the other side of the vehicle and join his partner on the sidewalk.
"This is a tough one, kid," Renzulli said in a low voice as they stood back from the old SUV. "I'm gonna go back in the car and run his license and registration. That's my old partner Bill Jeffers' daughter in there. She got in some trouble dealing a little weed a while back and ended up on probation after serving a few months. If they find out she's been hanging out with the wrong crowd they'll take the little girl away from her. Bill passed last year from cancer. Worked the pile back when the towers came down and was never right after."
"I remember. Sorry to hear that," Jamie replied, listening carefully.
"Jayne's got no one left except for her twin brother Brian. He's slated to start the academy this fall, and I don't want to mess that up by having him pissed off at me for getting his sister in trouble. This is the last pass she's ever going to get from me though," he said, shaking his head. "I promised Bill I would try to look out for the two of them when he was gone but there's only so much I can do." Renzulli looked over at Jamie to confirm that the younger officer was okay with the plan. He knew if there was one thing that set the kid off, it was people taking unnecessary chances with children.
"If that's what you think is best, Sarge," Jamie conceded evenly. He knew his old TO wouldn't be granting the two of them any courtesies if he didn't think it was the right thing to do.
"Good, now do me a favor and go check out that kid in the back seat and make sure she's okay. She's not even two years old yet," Renzulli whispered before turning back to speak to Jayne again. "Officer Reagan is going to perform a thorough child safety seat check while I look up these records, Jayne," he said sternly. "You pull any more of this crap and CPS is going to come and take that little girl away. I'll see to it myself," he warned.
Jamie stepped up and opened the rear passenger-side door, keeping a careful eye on Richardson in his peripheral vision. He didn't trust the guy at all, no matter what his record came back as. He was greeted with the sight of a beautiful tiny blond-haired child with amazing big blue enchanting eyes. "What a pretty little girl, ma'am," he addressed Jayne. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to her, right? Slow the car down, please."
"I promise, officer," Jayne replied nicely while offering Carl a snarky sideways look.
Jamie smiled at Kaylin as he approached. "Hi baby girl," he said softly as he tried to make contact without scaring her. Her eyes were wide open now and fixed on him. He gritted his teeth though as he discovered that not only wasn't the car seat installed properly, but no one had even bothered to buckle it in at all. In a crash situation the poor little one wouldn't have stood a chance. He quickly secured the seat correctly and did his best to swallow his anger as he deferred to Renzulli's read on the situation. With a firm tug on the belts to double check his work and another smile at the baby, he backed out of the car and closed the door. Something about that little girl tugged massively at his heart, and he had to admit that his job just plain sucked at times like this. "Make sure that seat stays fastened," he warned coldly as he looked into the front window. "If I find you driving around like that with her again, nothing Uncle Tony can say or do will stop me from arresting you for child endangerment," he hissed as Renzulli came up from the back.
"All clear, Jayne," he said, handing over the papers. "This time... partner or no partner if I catch you on the wrong side of anything again I'm going to make sure you face the maximum I can throw at you. Understood?" he growled as he looked at her companion. "And as for you, knucklehead, I'll make it my personal mission to hunt you down if either one of these two get so much as a splinter while they're with you. Capice?"
"Yes, sir," Richardson answered with just the hint of a smirk on his face as he started the car and pulled slowly away from the curb.
"Damn kids!" Renzulli barked and threw his hands up in the air as he watched the old distinctive vehicle drive away into traffic. "If they were mine I would have told them to go pound sand a long time ago!"
"I know you're trying to help," Jamie commented as he slid back into the driver's seat and removed his hat. "But you're not doing that little girl any favors. She'd be better off if Child Protective Services came in and found her a foster home."
"We like to think that, don't we?" Renzulli replied, still steaming as he crawled in on his side of the vehicle and closed the door. "It makes it easier to sleep at night when we clock off from this job. Fact is, a lot of those kids fall through the cracks all the time, you know that as well as I do. At least I can keep a bit of an eye on her this way. I swear if me and the missus were younger we'd take her in ourselves in a heartbeat. Jayne doesn't even know who the father is. The kid deserves to have a dad, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I do," Jamie agreed as he sighed while Renzulli called into Central and put them back in service. He wondered if men had biological clocks like the famed ones that women were supposed to possess. The whole time while he had been out sick and it had appeared like he was looking at the end to another promising relationship, he thought about how far away he still was from a family of his own. It irked him to the nth degree that there were people like Jayne and her scummy friend Carl who took such a precious gift as that little child for granted. "I can't believe you were willing to give them a pass, though… I mean they showed no regard for her. That's not exactly in the sergeant's rule book, is it? Or did I miss that page?" he added sarcastically.
"We all bend the rules sometimes, Harvard," the older man admitted. "Especially when it comes to looking after your partner, and it doesn't matter if they're no longer here with us. Partners always come first, even when they're not in the car with you anymore. Remember that, kid... that's rule number one."
So circumstances bring Kaylin into Jamie's life a little earlier this time. Wonder how that might play out? Remember the butterfly? Some wings have been flapped in a different direction now. Next up, the much anticipated test results come in and Jamie pitches one in slow and easy over the middle of the plate to give Eddie another big chance to come around. Does she connect and put it out of the park or is the game over?
