Chapter 21
The brass showed up right after roll call.
"Lieutenant Severide? A word?" A captain named Hollister said.
Kelly shot looks at Casey...Shay...and Boden. What was goin' on? He had no clue.
A lieutenant he'd never seen before opened the door to Chief's office and once everyone was inside he stepped in and shut the door.
"What's goin' on?" Severide asked.
He looked from one man to the next. Hollister...to Captain Cressman...to Chief Wrobles.
"What's this all about?"
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Chief Wrobles circled around Boden's desk and took a seat.
He was the highest man on the totem pole...and he was gonna make the most of it.
Chief Boden folded his arms across his broad chest.
"There's been an accusation, Lieutenant Severide." Wrobles began.
"What kind of accusation?"
Wrobles folded his hands in front of him and leveled a pointed stare in Kelly's direction.
"A 'Scott Weinhart' was downtown yesterday...raising Holy Hell. He filed a complaint with the Commissioner personally...and accused you of taking advantage of his developmentally disabled sister. He says she's pregnant with your child."
"WHAT?!"
Severide couldn't believe what he just heard.
"That's ridiculous!" he said.
"So you're denying it?" Wrobles asked.
"You're damn right I'm denying it!"
Captain Hollister stepped forward.
"Do you know Dorrie Weinhart?" he asked.
Kelly looked at the men around him.
"Yeah...I know her." he said. "I pulled her out of a car about the go over the Wilson Street overpass about two months ago."
"And have you had any contact with her since then?" Wrobles wanted to know.
Severide licked his lips nervously.
It was like he was on trial here.
"She's been makin' a nuisance of herself around the firehouse." he said. "Tell 'em, Chief...I had to get a restraining order against her!"
"The Lieutenant's right." Boden agreed. "The girl seems to have developed an infatuation with him."
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Wrobles didn't seem moved at all.
"Well...we'll be undertaking a full investigation into these allegations." he said. "Lieutenant...as of now you're suspended without pay until we can get to the bottom of this mess."
"WHAT!?" Severide exploded. "Are you fuckin' kidding me? You're gonna just take her word for it?"
Kelly's breath was coming hard and fast.
He couldn't believe the Department wasn't even backing him up!
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Chief Wrobles laid his palms on the desktop and pushed himself to his feet...all the while glaring at Kelly.
"Do I need to remind you, Lieutenant? This isn't the first time you've been accused of improprieties? And you'll watch your language...or I'll add 'insubordination' to the charges."
The chief's words...that steely glare...the venom in his words. It was like getting kicked in the balls.
He was reaching back through the mist of time and dredging up ancient history. Stuff that had happened almost fifteen years ago.
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Severide laid his hands on the desk and looked the Chief dead in the eye.
"I didn't do anything...anything...to that girl except save her life." he said. "I'm not the same punk I was fifteen years ago. I'm married to an amazing woman...and I've got a family I'd do anything in the world for. I know which side my bread's buttered on...and I'm not gonna do anything to fuck it up."
There was dead silence.
Kelly could hear his pulse pounding...feel the veins pulsating in his temples...he was so angry.
What happened to firefighter's taking care of their own?
Chief Wrobles straightened up...straightened the suit jacket of his Class A dress uniform...and delivered his verdict.
"Lieutenant...you are relieved of your duties here at Station 51...pending the results of our investigation." he said formally. "You're dismissed."
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Severide straightened up himself and took a step back.
"That's it?" he asked. "Twenty-five plus years...and I'm dismissed?"
He turned to Boden.
"Chief? Aren't you gonna say anything?"
"Kelly...we'll get to the bottom of this. We all know there's no truth to these accusations."
"Do we?" Severide said mockingly. "Cause it's pretty cold out here..."
He turned and headed for the door...and yanked it open.
Then he slammed it so hard behind him the glass rattled.
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Kelly grabbed his keys and his gym bag out of his locker and went out the side entrance to avoid seeing anybody. He threw the bag across the seat...started his car...and roared down the street.
He had no idea where he was going...he just wanted to get someplace far...far...far away. Away from all the lies and the hypocrites. The people who said they had your back...then turned around and stabbed you in it!
He stopped at a twenty-four hour mini-mart, went inside, and grabbed a case of beer out of the cooler in the back. Then as he made his way to the register he grabbed a bottle of Jack from the shelf.
Back in his car, he jumped on 55 and just headed south.
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He just drove. He had no idea where he was going...what he was gonna do. He just put the pedal to the floor and went.
How could this happen? He'd served the city of Chicago for over twenty-five years. He was the youngest man in the history of the CFD to make Squad and he'd been on it longer than anyone. He'd seen hundreds of men come and go and he'd lost some of his closest friends.
The injuries he'd racked up over the years...any man in his right mind would've quit...just said 'I'm done'. But Severide fought his way back time after time because that's who he was. It was hard...it hurt like hell...but deep down inside, like Alyssa always said, he had to go out on his own terms.
Why were people so quick to believe the worst about him? Chief Wrobles and Captain Hollister and all the rest of the brass didn't know him from Adam except for what was in his personnel jacket. Yeah...there were transgressions there...the accusations from the paramedic candidate and Nicki what's her name's father. But those all turned out to be false. The paramedic candidate had a history of making allegations of sexual harassment in order to collect a payday...and Nicki, the girl was a nymphomaniac, quite frankly. She sent him her thong in an inner-office envelope for God's sake!
But what cut the deepest was Boden's reaction...or lack thereof. Why hadn't he gone to the mat for Kelly? After all they'd gone through together? True, they hadn't always seen eye to eye...and Severide had done some things that put the Chief in a tight spot over the years...but what happened to all that shit about 'the CFD was like a family' and 'a brotherhood forged in fire'? Was that true...or was that just something he saved for eulogies?
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The engine began to sputter and seemed to lose power.
It shook Severide from his thoughts...and he looked down at the dashboard. The gas light was on...and the gage was down below E.
Great...perfect. Just perfect.
He steered the car off the road and into a cornfield where it just died.
He turned the key and yanked it out of the ignition...then he tossed it on the passenger seat. He smacked the steering wheel with his hand...and just yelled out of sheer frustration.
Then he grabbed a beer...twisted the top off...and drank.
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Alyssa wiped the sweat from her face as she reached for her phone.
She was trying to clean up the store...trying to salvage whatever they could...see what they'd need to replace. The more she cleaned, the more ruined items she carted out to the dumpster, the more broken glass she swept up the madder she got. What gave this Jax...or whoever did this the right to just destroy someone else's hard work?
She grabbed the phone.
"Hello?"
"Alyssa...Wallace Boden." the Chief said. "I've been trying to reach Kelly all day and his phone just goes straight to voicemail."
Alyssa was confused.
"Why would you be trying to call Kelly?" she asked. "He's on shift...he should be at the firehouse."
There was a moment of silence from the other end of the line.
"You haven't spoken to him?" Chief asked.
"No...why?"
Another long silence...followed by a deep sigh.
"Dorrie Weinhart is claiming she's pregnant and Kelly's the father. Her brother filed a complaint with the Commissioner...and Kelly's been suspended."
"What?!"
"The brass was here this morning." Boden said. "He was pretty upset."
"I'm sure he was!" Alyssa said. "Chief...you know it's not true. You know Kelly would never...never..."
"Of course we do." he quickly assured her. "But we've gotta let the investigation play itself out. It's gotta be totallly by the book."
"So where'd he go after he left the house?" Lyssa wanted to know.
It was almost five o'clock...according to what Boden said he'd left in the morning. That meant Kelly'd been in the wind for hours.
"I don't know." said the Chief. "But let me know if you hear from him."
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Severide had shut his phone off hours ago. It was either that or toss it out the window.
He didn't want to talk to anyone. He didn't want to hear the fake concern in Boden's voice...or the very real worry in Alyssa's. He just want to be left the hell alone. The world could get along without him for one stinking day.
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He'd gotten a nice little rhythm going. A beer...a couple swallows of whiskey...then another beer to chase it down.
Things were starting to get a little fuzzy around the edges...but not nearly fuzzy enough. He could still feel the burning in his gut. And it wasn't from the alcohol.
After twenty five years...more than twenty five years...Chief Wrobles had just...dismissed him. After everything he had done...not that he was ever looking for recognition...but still...dismissed? Like he was someone of no consequence.
He took another long swallow of Jack...then Kelly reached for another beer.
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He woke up with the sunlight glaring him right in the face.
"AAAAHHHH!" he yelled as the light pierced his brain.
Fumbling above him, Severide managed to pull the visor down, blocking the worst of the glare.
But it didn't do anything for the pain.
"OOOHHH..." he groaned.
He hadn't had a hangover like this in years. His head was pounding like a jackhammer, his stomach felt sour...and his mouth tasted even worse.
And where the hell was he?
Kelly looked around and all he saw was corn fields. He looked across the highway...at more corn fields.
Then he remembered he'd run out of gas.
He groaned as he shoved open the driver's side door and almost tumbled out of the car.
Thank God he didn't run out of gas in the middle of a cow pasture.
The ground dipped and slipped and Severide had a hard time keeping his legs under him as he pushed his body into a standing position. It took another minute before he could trust himself to take a couple of steps...but once he was sure he wasn't gonna do a face-plant in the middle of the corn...he staggered off down a row to relieve himself.