Author's Note: Oliver's up first to give some of his Shawesome words of wisdom.
As always, thanks to those who have reviewed/followed/favorited this so far. Honest feedback means a lot!
Chapter 21: Brotherhood
"I'm coming over to your place tonight, and you're going to fill me in when I can look you in the eye and tell you how nuts whatever you're considering is," Oliver insists.
Sam sighs, "OK. Yeah, tonight's good."
Oliver nods in satisfaction, "Good. Let's go get some lunch then."
Sam shakes his head but smiles fondly, "At least some things never change."
"Come on in, buddy," Sam says, trying not to show he's not sure confiding in Oliver is a good idea.
"Happy to lend an ear. It's good to have a friend in high places. I'm even buying," Shaw says, raising the six pack of Sam's favorite microbrew.
Sam snorts, "Whatever. Don't start treating me like one of the prima donna Ds already."
"Hey, man. We all have our burdens to bear. Just because you managed a deal where you don't have to wear a suit, doesn't mean I won't have to work to keep you from getting a big head. You were cocky enough when you were riding patrol," Shaw teases, following Sam into the house.
"It's only cockiness if you're not good," Sam counters with a smug grin.
"Is that what you've been telling yourself? I guess we all write our own scripts to get through the days. Cheers, brother," Shaw says, after Sam hands him one of the beers after stowing the rest in the fridge.
After they settle on the couch, he continues, "Seriously, though. I'll miss your surly mug on the street helping me keep the kids in line. But you're gonna make out just fine in your new slot. We could use someone with good street sense helping Nash out. They've had a hard time filling all the missing shoes."
"No one's gonna fill Jerry's shoes," Sam say sadly.
"No, I know. But I think he'd be glad that you'll be working with her there. You know, they had some growing pains in their relationship too when he had to be her direct supervisor. You and McNally weren't the only ones," Shaw observed.
"I know. Kate thinks it might make things easier. You know, when McNally gets back," Sam admits, glancing at Shaw from the corner of his eyes.
"Is that why you agreed to do it? Oliver asks curiously.
"Not exactly. Well, yeah, I guess that's partly why," Sam shrugs. "It can't hurt anyway. Trying to pretend we could ride together just like always didn't work out so well. So… why not try something different?"
"Just tell me the rest of the reason isn't that you'll be in a better position to pursue some freelance agenda that's likely to make me attend another friend's funeral. I can't take that again any time soon," Oliver says, turning his tone dead serious.
Sam sighs, "OK. I guess we might as well get right into it then. Let's just say I might want to reserve the option down the road. Look, I don't know if it's right to lay even the basics of this on you. But I need someone without an agenda to help me think this through a little. And you're the only person I think I can trust."
"Sammy, I'm here because I want to be the voice of reason. I know I wasn't there the way I should have been after the Brennan thing. I should have noticed you didn't bounce back the way you pretended and that he worked you over more than you let on. And I feel even worse about that because you were there for me in my worst, weakest moment. So don't sweat this for a minute. Sharing is a big step for you," Shaw teases before turning serious again.
"Seriously though, let me do something to keep you from doing something unwise for family reasons. You said that whatever is bothering you has to do with whatever went down between your dad and the Connollys all those years ago, right?" Oliver pauses and hopes Sam won't change his mind and keep things to himself like usual.
Sam nods, "Yeah. Well, you know what my Dad plead to, right?"
Oliver nods, but stays silent.
"When I was really little, my mom insisted he was innocent and that we needed to keep faith in him. She was always trying to come up with a way out for him. By the time I was ten, I had big plans to be a lawyer and do it myself. But he told me flat out that he did it, and not to waste my time. He was so convincing. I figured from then that my mom was just blind to his faults. It never occurred to me that he was the one lying to me…" Sam swallows thickly.
"From then on, I mostly just tried to forget him. Otherwise, I just got too mad watching how the consequences of what he did took a toll on my mother and sister. I just tried to do what I could to make things better for them. When the system said that I couldn't do that either, I turned into a punk for a while. But a priest go a hold of me, and talked me into at least channeling the frustration into something less self-destructive. Like trying to beat the crap out of Frank in the boxing ring. Which, I even managed to do a couple times," Sam pauses to give Oliver a self-deprecating smile.
"But now… Kate told me last night that my father didn't actually do what ended up in the pleas deal. She said he took the job thinking it was legitimate, and only found evidence of dirty money flowing through the books after he'd been working there a while. As soon as he was pretty sure he'd gotten indirectly caught up with a business connected to the Irish mob, he went to the police. But apparently the detective working with him talked him into getting more evidence before any warrants and subpoenas were issued. He was probably right that the Connolly's would be tipped and destroy anything else there before they knocked on the door. But the asshole asked my dad to do stuff he wasn't equipped to pull off. And then he left him hanging with no protection while another bust went down early.
The Connollys caught wind of it and got to him before he turned over the new documents. Kate said her dad first wanted to kill my dad and bury everything, but her mom talked him into threatening my Dad instead. So they doctored everything to make it look like his original evidence was forged. They told him to cave under pressure and 'admit' to his handler that he'd made the whole thing up to get into witness protection because he thought he was about to be caught skimming some book making cash that was being laundered through the firm. The illegal gambling scheme was just small time stuff, not leading to any big mafia activity.
The detective, Steve Peck's godfather no less, piled on a bunch of charges on top of the original supposed money laundering and theft because he didn't like being jerked around. Because of the threat against us, Dad agreed to a plea deal with very long term. All this time I thought he did it. He told me he did it, and I believed him," Sam shudders and looks over with pained eyes before continuing.
"Oliver, I just found out that he's been stuck in jail for over 30 years for something he didn't do. After things fell apart and Sarah and I went to our foster family, the few times I went to visit him… I didn't try to hide my contempt. I blamed him for everything, and now it turns out he was just an honest guy trying to do the right thing who got in over his head." Sam slumps forward, elbows on his knees, and rubs his hands over his face.
He straightens and then continues, "I always thought he agreed to such a shitty plea deal instead of going to trial because he was playing the good foot soldier taking a fall for the Connollys somehow. That they agreed to let him go to jail instead of killing him for stealing from them if he agreed not to rat them out for anything serious. I don't know. Maybe I just didn't want to think about it too seriously. I never even looked into his file to check the details out," Sam leans back against the sofa, closing his eyes tiredly.
"Kate said she thinks the last incident that got a new five-year sentence added to his term was some bullshit thing cooked up by the warden. Who, wouldn't you know it, is on the Connolly payroll. Dad's got a parole hearing coming up next month. She says she thinks she can get her father to lean on him to make sure he's released. I guess that really means she can talk her mother into getting him to do it.
So I guess that's what I should let her do it's just… Kate's known about this for seven years. She went along with everyone else keeping this from me and letting him continue to rot in that place. I don't' know if I can trust her anymore. And even if I can, even if there's an explanation and her intentions are in the right place, all the information she finally came clean and told me is coming from her mother. Who knows what's still been left out?"
"Brother, I don't think you have any choice. There's nothing you could do on your own to make things happen any faster for your Dad, right? So why not see if this is a legitimate offer of help, and if Kate can pull off getting her parents to intervene? I assume she's got more leverage with them than anyone, and if they put him in there, they probably are in the best position to get him out. Does she have a plan for doing this without tipping them that you know the real story?" Oliver asks, worried.
"Yeah, she said she'll tell them that after working with me for a couple months, she can't stand the guilt of knowing about Dad's situation any more. Her mom stopped by her office when I was there for a final visit. She seemed concerned about the two of us spending time together again. Maybe she knew Kate would have trouble keeping all the secrets. Maybe Kate plans to threatened just that if they don't do something for Dad. I don't know exactly. I'd sure as hell like to know why she didn't do that before, and what's changed," Sam says, gritting his teeth.
"I don't blame you there, brother. But focus on your Dad first. Keep her as an ally on this at least until he's out. Ask her the questions you need, but don't burn the bridge until you give this a chance. Then you can decide if you're willing to forgive her and have anything to do with her. And don't start looking into anything else until you get as much information as you can from her, and you see how this parole hearing goes.
These are serious players, Sammy. I don't have to tell you that. But listen. You don't know who they have as paid moles on the force…." Shaw pauses, running one nervous hand over the side of his face.
"Alright, look. I've never told anyone this. But you know my old partner, Patrick Murphy? Apparently, he was one of Connolly's low level guys. They have a thing, they call them sleepers. It's street coppers who are paid what amounts to two overtime shifts a month. Supposedly, if you take the deal, you're just there as insurance. All you have to do is keep your eyes open to any major threat to the Connolly organization. That's it. You're not asked to do anything else, or so the story goes.
So Patrick came to me and asked if I wanted in. Zoe and I were having money problems and she was on me for working too much overtime back then. I'm ashamed to admit that I actually considered it for about a day. It would have made life a lot easier. But then I came to my senses. It sounded like a deal that was too good to be true, and I wasn't about to sell my soul or take the chance that once I was in some day, they'd come back asking more for the money invested. I figured once they have leverage, who knows what might happen.
Anyway, things were never the same with Patrick after that. He claimed he'd say he decided not to pitch the deal to me rather than tell the Connollys that he'd tried and I turned it down. I didn't turn him in to IA, but every day we were out on the street, I doubted that a little. I was also afraid the deal he'd taken wasn't as simple as he thought, and that sooner or later he'd ask me to make some compromise because of who he was in bed with. The day he took that bullet, I wondered after the fact if it intended for me. Then I started wondering, did I hesitate a moment because of that, which made it necessary for him to throw himself in harms way? It's corrosive, man. It gets in your head. So I hate what the Connollys do to trust on the force too.
But my point was that even I was tempted for a minute. You don't know who else might have given in if approached. So right now, sit tight. Let things with Kate play out, and don't tell anyone else about this OK? Not even Frank or Noelle. And don't use police resources to start looking into anything, at least until your Dad is out."
Sam lets out a long sigh, "I know you're right. And it's not like I'm the blind hot head everyone seems worried I'd be. It's like they thought if I knew I'd be like Russell Crowe in LA Confidential, throwing chairs through windows and dangling weasel detectives or DAs out windows or something. I know life isn't like the movies. But I'm just so sick of this whole mentality of giving them a pass because whoever takes over will be worse," Sam says, his hands balling into fists.
"You know, I used to give McNally the dirt bag food chain lecture whenever she would bitch about plea deals," Sam laughs bitterly. "Well, I'm not so on board with just accepting it as the way the world works anymore."
"I know, brother. It sucks. But this is the king of all dirt bags we're talking here. A family doesn't stay at the top of that food chain, with very few foot soldiers getting pinched without being smart and careful. Right now, the whole police hierarchy is comfortable with the way things are. You can't start making any sort of moves rashly. I know you're emotions are probably running hot, and you want t do something. Believe me, I of all people get that.
But you've got to ride that out. I'm sure they didn't think you go all Russell Crowe or try to be Serpico or something. That's not what I'm talking about either. But Sammy, I know you. You do feel like it's always on you to make things right for those you're close to. So it's not completely crazy for them to worry that you would be compelled to try more subtle but still insanely risky means to take matters into your own hands. You're mad that everyone kept all this from you because they were afraid of what might happen. Well, then prove them wrong. Prove that you can handle the truth, keep your cool, and sit tight. That's the best advice I can give you right now. Promise me," Shaw says, dead serious.
"Yeah, OK…for now anyway," Sam agrees, expelling a frustrated breath.
"Good," Shaw says, clapping him on the shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "Otherwise, I might have to kick your ass myself."
"Look, you don't have to worry. You told me not to confide in anyone else. Well, I'm telling you the same thing. Don't go pulling in Frank or anyone else because you think you need backup to protect me from myself. This needs to stay just in this room," Sam looks Oliver in the eye to make sure he knows this secret is right up there with the Izzy incident.
"Of course. Sammy, I promise this is just between us. I've got your back. I can't do anything that will put my family at risk. But what you told me tonight is just between the two of us," Shaw meets Sam's gaze squarely and steadily.
Just then the doorbell rings. "I'll get it. I should be heading home anyway. Things are finally good with Zoe again, so I'm trying not to come home too late these days," Shaw says, getting up and stretching.
"Thanks for coming by, man," Sam says, giving Oliver a quick man hug before trailing him to the door.
Just as Sam thought, Kate was waiting on his front porch. He exchanges raised brows with Oliver, who makes some brief small talk with her before begging off to head home.
"I guess I should have expected a visit tonight. We do have some unfinished business," Sam says, trying to keep his tone even.
Kate shuffles nervously, "Yeah. I, um, didn't think I should stay last night. But I don't want to just leave things hanging either. I'm sure you have more questions. Or maybe you just want to tell me off," Kate grimaces. "Anyway, I thought I should give you the chance to do both…and I wanted to make sure you're OK. So… I hope it's alright that I came here."
"It's fine," Sam says shortly. "Come on in. There are a few things I'd like to get straight, as a matter of fact," Sam turns on his heel and leaves Kate to close the door and follow him inside.
AN: OK, I expect the temptation of Oliver Shaw angle might be a little controversial. We'll see what you all say.