Jim sped up to grab the door, intending to hold it open for Pete. As he started to pull on the handle, the door flung open; knocking Jim back into the brick wall. The door was opened with enough force to cause Jim to bang his head and lose his breath. While Pete grabbed hold of Jim's arm to steady him he heard Ed Wells' voice.
"Sorry Reed, but that's what you get for hanging around with Him." Ed's disposition had definitely gotten worse since this morning. Pete took that as a good sign.
"I like him better than I like you." Once again, Jim took up a position to Pete's right. He clearly had no intention of letting Ed hit his partner. This time, Pete was glad to have Jim as his faithful companion.
"Enjoy it while you can Reed, but don't turn your back on him. He won't hesitate to kick you when you're down." Neither man made a move to stop Ed from proceeding to his car.
Pete couldn't help but wonder when Ed was referring to. He had been hounding Wells about the training evaluation of Fraser, but Pete didn't count that as kicking someone when they were down. Any other problems Ed had stemmed from his failure to do that report. The threat to remove him as a training officer was spoken out of frustration; of all the training officers, Ed was the one who tried his patience the most. It finally occurred to Pete that Ed might be referring to something besides his job, but what? If he had any outside problems, Pete was the last person Ed would confide in.
The hall was empty as Pete, and Jim, made his way to the WC's office. It was the perfect time to ask Jim a few questions. "I saw the inside of Ed's car. Did you hear anything about why he was living in his car?"
"Brady showed it to me yesterday, but he wanted to ask me if I knew anything about it. Some of the other guys might know." Jim could see that Pete was bothered by what he saw. He also knew that Pete couldn't go around asking other officers about Ed's private life.
"Did Brady know how long it's been going on? Has Wells been behaving strangely?" Reed didn't bother to point out that he thought most of what Ed did was strange.
"There's only one reason that Ed would be living in his car. I need to know when that started." Pete wasn't technically asking Jim to look into whatever problem Ed was having, but Reed knew fishing when he saw it. Jim was willing to discreetly ask a few of the older officers if they knew anything, but he hesitated unsure about leaving Pete alone. Mac had told him to keep an eye on Pete, but that was because of Ed's behavior and Ed just left.
"Will you be okay if I sniff around some?" Jim was also a little worried about Pete's health, but he had noticed that his partner was moving more easily now.
"That's a stupid question. I'm fine and what do you think is going to happen to me in here?" Well, he could find another teenager with a gun, but Jim decided against mentioning that too. Pete assured Jim that he would be in the office making a phone call and would not be around anyone that would kick or hit him. Jim made his way to the locker room, after making Pete promise to stay put.
Pete shook his head and grinned. Sometimes, his partner could be a real mother hen. He grabbed a cup of coffee from the breakroom before going back to the same tiny office he was in before. He wasn't sure he would have all the time he needed for this phone call, but he wanted to at least try. Eventually, he was going to have to go back to see the Captain. He settled in and picking up the phone, he dialed a number he knew by heart.
Betty Wells answered after the sixth ring. Pete was about to hang up when he heard a soft and hesitant "Hello". He had known Betty longer than Ed did and never once did he hear her answering without her usual confident tone. When he identified himself, Betty told him that she was glad it was him. From what she said, it was clear that she was the unnamed caller. He asked her if everything was okay, but her answer was "I think I can come over and help; my mother is here."
Everything was not okay, but she couldn't speak about it around her mother. Pete had met Betty's mother more than once and had found her to be a kindly woman. Whatever was wrong wasn't something Betty wanted her to know about. If that was the case, why talk to him?
"Betty, would you like to meet me later, at my apartment?" As soon as he finished asking, he knew that his apartment was out of the question. There was too much a risk that Ed might show up again. "Maybe we should meet somewhere else." Pete was wracking his brain trying to figure out some place to meet that wouldn't arouse suspicion when Betty spoke again.
"I think that's a good idea. Mrs. Reed would gladly help." Reed's house was certainly a better choice than his apartment or somewhere out in public. He wasn't sure if Betty had suggested it because she wanted them to know too or if she trusted him enough to keep whatever she said to him private. Jim and Jean would definitely wonder, but he knew they wouldn't ask questions. The problem now was time; could he push off the Captain long enough to find out what was going on with Ed. A meet was set up for an hour from then; he would call Betty if there was a problem.
Pete went off in search of both Jim and Mac. Reed wasn't hard to find. He was sitting in the breakroom nursing a cup of coffee. Pete jerked his head a little to the side signaling to Jim that he wanted to speak to him minus the three other officers in the room. Once they found an empty room, Pete filled Jim in on the phone call. Reed agreed to call Jean and let her know they were coming. He also gave Pete his key and the answer to his question. As far as he could find out, Ed had started living in his car about ten days ago. Whatever the problem was, it started more than a week before Pete gave Ed that dressing down in the hallway.
Mac was quite a bit harder to deal with. It was true that the Captain had gone down to Parker Center, but he might come back at any time. He hated to mislead Mac, but he couldn't tell him where he was going. Not yet. Pete had taken a look at the roster for the am shift and knew they were running short. He told Mac that he wanted to get checked out at the hospital to see if he could be cleared for duty. The Sergeant was receptive to that idea.
Pete left the station with Reed's house key in his pocket. With any luck Pete would have time to both speak to Betty and stop at the hospital.
Betty Wells was waiting outside the Reeds' house when Pete pulled up. She gave him a peck on the cheek and thanked him for meeting her. She asked him about the black eye, but he put her off with his standard answer: bar fight. Jean wasn't home and neither was Jimmy. Just as well, he wouldn't have time to impart some more wisdom on the boy. Pete held the door open for Betty before leading her into the kitchen. It wasn't as comfortable as the living room, but Pete thought Betty would be more comfortable there. She took the bottle of Coke he offered her; fiddling with it as she started speaking.
"Do you know about Ed's brother?" Pete had met the man; he sometimes played on the division softball team, but he didn't know anything was wrong. He shook his head.
"Pat's sick, really sick and his medication is very expensive. His insurance doesn't cover it" Pete listened carefully, but didn't know why she was telling him this. What did it have to do with Ed sleeping in his car? He wanted to ask but nodded for her to continue. One thing Pete did know was that Betty's eyes had started to tear.
"Ed and I had a big fight over it. He's been paying Pat's bills without telling me." She paused to take the clean handkerchief from Pete. She wiped her eyes before continuing. Was Ed having money problems?
"You know what Ed makes. We can't afford for him to pay the medical bills. I don't want Pat to not get the medicine he needs, but…" Her voice trailed off and the crying got worse.
"But what? Is this part of the reason that Ed is living in his car?" Pete didn't want to push her, but time was short. He still needed to go to the ER.
"But I don't want to lose my house either." She hesitated, not able to meet Pete's eyes. "I threw Ed out because he's been using the mortgage money to pay Pat's bills."
"How far behind is he on the mortgage?" Pete was dumbfounded. How could Ed do that? Pete understood helping relatives, he sent money home, but to risk his wife and kids safety? Maybe he didn't have the right to ask how much they were in debt, but he needed to know.
"Four months. It's over six-hundred dollars." Her mood was starting to go from despair to anger. "When I noticed that the food budget had gotten tighter, Ed brushed it off. I wanted to get a job but he wouldn't let me." That didn't surprise Pete. More than once he had heard Ed's opinion about letting his wife work.
"Can your family help you out? Loan you the money?" Over the next ten minutes, Betty explained why her family and Ed's couldn't help with the bills. Either they were already helping pay Pat's bills or they were barely making ends meet. Most of their friends were cops and they don't get paid enough to be able to help. Pete cringed when she asked if they lost the house, would they qualify for welfare even though Ed had a job.
"Has Ed told you about what's been happening at work?" Pete couldn't tell her the details, but if she was counting on Ed's salary, she needed to know what might happen. If Ed hadn't told her yet, he would have to.
"Ed and I aren't talking. What's wrong?" Betty knew Pete well enough to know that whatever he had to say was bad. "He's not hurt, is he?"
"Physically, he's fine. Did you know that he's sleeping in his car?" Betty shook her head "no". He was living with his mother, or she thought he was.
"I wish I could tell you what's been happening, but I can't. Ed's in trouble. He might lose his job." Pete held her while she cried on his shoulder. It was all he could do.
"Can you help him? Maybe talk to the Captain?" Pete was starting to feel like a heel. He should tell Betty that some of Ed's problems were partly his fault. Ed was sure to blame him when they finally talked to each other.
"We'll think of something…"