Maas POV
"I want in on this meeting."
I made my declaration and then stood squarely in Moran's office, watching him as he formulated a response.
I was prepared for battle, and I had half a dozen reasons at the ready, reasons for why I should be invited.
"Okay."
"Because, Chief, I…what? Okay?"
"Yeah," he said with a smirk. "Okay."
"Oh. Good."
"I got your little care package that you dropped off last night. Was that your idea?"
"No, sir. But I wish it had been."
He nodded thoughtfully and then checked the clock.
"We're doing this in the conference room," he stated. "And it won't take but a minute, so are you ready?"
"Yeah," I said carefully. "Won't take but a minute?"
"Holt's going to have some thinking to do before he makes a change that'll leave him down two dozen detectives and two chiefs, don't you think?"
He got up from his desk and gave me a triumphant smile and for the first time since I saw Ross in this office last Thursday, I started to feel like maybe things were going to go our way.
Two chiefs?
I mean, I'd wondered how Moran would respond to the flood of support for Alex, but I hadn't actually expected him to add his own resignation to the pile.
"Yes, sir. I hope so," I said as a slow smile spread across my face.
"I'll tell you one thing," Moran mumbled to me as we walked down the hall. "I can't wait to see how they like being the ones not calling the shots for once."
I can tell you how they liked it.
Not one damn bit.
"Kenny, have you completely lost control of your department?" Mayor Holt yelled.
"I don't see it as a loss of control. I see it as a show of solidarity. And for the record, I didn't start this little revolt, but I'm definitely proud to be a part of it."
Holt stood slack-jawed, staring at Moran.
And I don't mind that the addition of the chief's resignation kind of took the punch out of mine.
Collectively, we were still packing a wallop.
The chief told me that mayor likes numbers…well, now he had them.
A grand total of thirty-three resignation letters.
And as annoyed as Holt was about this turn of events, Ross was even more exasperated.
"They won't do that," he said.
His words were firm, but his tone was shaky, almost like he was making an interrogative rather than a statement.
"They? We," I corrected.
"It's a shameless, empty threat," he replied.
"You want empty?" I asked as I took a step closer to him. "I'll show you empty. How about nearly three dozen empty desks? How's that for empty?"
"They can be filled just as quickly," Ross countered, accepting my non-verbal challenge and stepping up in front of me so that we were practically nose to nose.
"Gentlemen," Zaring said. "Let's keep this civilized. Sit down, Danny. Stanley, you, too."
I continued to glare at Ross until he finally obeyed the order and backed off, slowly moving away from me and then sitting down in a chair.
I remained standing, but Zaring didn't seem to care since he'd managed to keep the situation from coming to blows.
So far, anyway.
"Kenny, where's this coming from?" Holt asked. "We're not suggesting that Eames be terminated. We're offering her a position that will showcase her talents."
I scoffed loudly, unable to hold back my response, and Moran looked at me slightly reproachfully as he answered the mayor's question, using the tact that I was presently lacking.
"You'll be wasting her talents in the media department. The reporters have a love affair going on with her right now, but you know as well as I do that they're fickle and in a week or two, they'll be ready for someone else. Using her intermittently will be much more effective, not to mention the fact that Major Case will suffer a tremendous loss if you move her out."
Now it was Ross' turn to scoff.
"Thank you, Chief," he said bitterly. Then he turned to Zaring and said, "Is it really necessary to play these games? It's no secret why there's an Eames crusade going on here."
"Because they respect and admire her?" Zaring posed, and I swear I felt like kissing the man.
"Because the deputy chief is sleeping with her!" Ross shouted in frustration, waving a hand in my general direction. "He probably started this whole thing!"
Holt whipped his head around to look at me, and Moran reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. I'm not sure if it was to keep me from strangling Ross, or just to tell me to keep quiet.
"You're as bad as the damn reporters," Moran responded. "There's a woman in a top position, so it's automatically assumed that there's a sex scandal involved. Yuille, Logan, and now Maas."
"I saw it with my own eyes," Ross insisted as he glared at me.
"You saw what?" Holt questioned.
"Nothing," I answered after Moran nodded at me. "I've recently separated from my wife, and I don't have a place to live yet. Captain Eames' apartment was empty because she was staying with her sister, so she loaned me her apartment. That's all."
"Sounds reasonable to me," Zaring said as he looked to Ross for a rebuttal.
"He was in his underwear at eleven o'clock at night," he said lamely.
"And he just stated that Eames wasn't there," Moran stated. "So now we know why Stanley was there. Why don't you tell us what you were doing there at that time of night? Were you going to try to strong-arm her out of her position? Maybe try to strike up a deal with her?"
"I was going to try to encourage her to take the transfer," he admitted. "I thought it would be better for her if she did it on her own rather than waiting until it was mandated."
"Oh, so you were looking out for her well-being," I said smartly.
"Yes."
"Not to mention the fact that it would make it easier on you because then you wouldn't have to fight to get your job back," I retorted. "You wanted her to surrender."
"It's not a battle," Ross fired back as he once again stood up and approached me.
"I think it is. You walk back in here, making demands and acting entitled…why should she bow to you? Why should any of us?"
"Because I was here first."
"That's a good argument," I said scathingly as I rolled my eyes. "Give Ross his job back because he was here first. Not because he's better."
"Maybe I should apply for the deputy chief job instead. It was supposed to be mine anyway."
"Yeah, before you went into hiding."
"Witness protection," he corrected.
"Tomato, to-mah-to…"
"Gentlemen," Zaring said, once again attempting to restore order.
But I wasn't done.
I picked up the stack of resignations letter that were now laying on the conference table and I waved them in front of Ross.
"Thirty-three people are putting Eames over their own careers. How many people would do that for you, huh? Because right now, I can't think of one."
"You're holding nothing but paper unless people follow through," he replied.
I stared him down for another moment, and then turned to Holt.
"Are you willing to take that risk?" I asked him. "And you know, it'll actually be thirty-four, because Eames will never stay here after so many people quit for her. You'll have an empty squad room on the eleventh floor, and you still won't have her as your media liaison."
"And it'll be awfully quiet on this floor, too," Moran added.
"I don't like being bullied," Holt replied carefully.
"Isn't that what you're doing to Eames?" I asked.
"No, it isn't," Ross interjected. "You're replacing her with a more qualified candidate and moving her into a position for which she's better suited."
"More qualified?" I asked on a laugh.
"She bungled that Schuler case," Ross said quickly. "And how many girls has the FBK slaughtered?"
"An arrest was made in the Schuler case," I corrected. "And a confession was obtained. Don't you watch the news?"
"Yeah, she got a confession, but only after she let the killer go."
"Should I bring up the Kathy Jarrow case?" Moran asked, staring pointedly at Ross.
"My point is," Ross said as color filled his cheeks. "That Eames is a good detective. Maybe even a great detective. But she's not a leader."
"Thirty-three people say otherwise," I said as I dropped the stack of letters back onto the table.
"Excuse me, Mr. Holt?"
We all looked over and saw his secretary standing in the doorway. The man couldn't seem to go anywhere without an entourage.
"What is it, Mindy?"
"You told me to let you know when Captain Eames' press conference begins. It's starting now."
Holt nodded at the secretary, so she walked over to the television that was mounted on the wall and turned it on, tuning in to the circus going on outside.
"If there's one mention of me and Eames being in some kind of affair…" I muttered viciously to Ross.
"Then you should keep your pen out of the company inkwell," he retorted.
I lunged towards him, grabbing onto the lapels of his jacket.
"Stanley," Moran said firmly.
I took a deep breath and then slowly released my grip. Ross was doing to me what he'd tried to do to Logan yesterday.
Setting the bait so that we'd write our own suspension ticket.
The prick.
"If there is a mention of that, we'll know where it came from," Zaring stated, looking at Ross. "And I don't like leaks in my department."
"I didn't call any reporter," Ross replied. "If someone asks her, the information didn't come from me."
Holt shushed us and turned up the volume, and we all shifted our focus to Alex as she stood at the podium.
And no one looking at her would ever suspect that on the inside, she was surely tied up in knots over the outcome of this meeting.
"An arrest warrant was issued for Father Ian Carson this morning, and detectives arrested him in his home. He is presently being booked on two charges of murder."
"Didn't one of the murders occur while Father Carson was in custody?"
"It appeared so at first, but due to the exemplary work of our medical examiner, we were able to determine that the time of death was actually earlier than we initially thought."
"Damn, she looks perfect up there," Holt said. "Doesn't she look perfect?"
"If you want a pretty face, hire a model," Moran said. "She's a cop. She didn't sign on for this."
"She signed on to protect and serve," Ross spouted. "This is the serving part."
"There has to be some kind of lawsuit involved in transferring a person to another department based on looks," I suggested.
"I'm sure there's a lawsuit for superior officers sleeping with their subordinates, too," Ross said smugly.
"Yeah? What about the one for assault and battery?" I warned. "And I won't mind at all. I know a good lawyer."
"Stanley," Zaring said. "Kenny, this was supposed to be a closed-door meeting."
"He's my right-hand man. I need him here," Moran said. Then he turned to Ross and added, "And you know, I wasn't sure about you before, but now I am."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That I don't want this department moving backwards. We've been working hard to weed out the bad apples."
Holt shushed us again, this time more vehemently, so we closed our mouths and looked at the TV.
"What about FBK?"
"New leads have emerged," she said confidently. "I'm confident that this case will be resolved quickly."
"She has new leads?" Holt questioned.
"Goren and Logan have made two arrests so far," I told him. "They just don't want the word out because otherwise the other four might go into hiding."
"Huh," the mayor replied thoughtfully. "And it's only been a week. Not bad."
"Captain, I got a tip this morning about another matter that I'd like to ask you about," Channel 7 said. She made it sound like she was asking permission, but then she jumped right in. "Sources say that you're on the payroll of Italian mobster Alfredo Toscano. What do you have to say about that?"
"I say it's not true," she said, and I was impressed with her composure. "Feel free to check my bank account, Theresa. It's possible that my balance of thirty-two dollars might look suspicious to some, but I promise, I'm just a hard-working member of the NYPD."
Several of the reporters laughed at her response and Theresa looked embarrassed.
And angry.
"Then explain how Gino Bisetti got a walk after he killed a federal agent. And explain why two of your detectives went to another precinct yesterday in order to help Enzo Lettiere skate on murder charges."
"There's nothing shady about the deal that was made with Bisetti. The DA can provide you with details, and I'm sure he can also give you numbers on how often deals are made in order to catch more dangerous criminals. As for Lettiere, he hasn't skated on anything. He's still in lock-up at the 7th precinct."
"But your detectives went there."
"Yes."
"Because it's a Major Case? Why would the death of a shoe salesman be deemed a Major Case?"
"When you're qualified to decide which cases should fall under the purview of Major Case, then apply for my boss' job, okay? Until then, I'll answer questions about ongoing cases, but I'm not going to defend the decisions made."
"You didn't answer my question! Is the murder of Christian Newman a Major Case?"
"No."
"So why were your detectives there, if not because it was at your behest or at that of Alfredo Toscano?"
"And there you have it," Ross said arrogantly. "That's why Eames isn't the man for the job. She can't control her detectives. She gives them so much rope that they end up hanging the whole department."
"Sir," Moran said to Holt. "You know how reporters are. There's more to this story, and you need to give her the opportunity to sort it out."
Holt stared at the screen thoughtfully while Eames continued to deflect a barrage of questions, most of which stemmed from Theresa's accusation.
"Should I remind everyone in the room that the only reason why Captain Eames even knows these people is because of her investigation into Ross' death?" I pointed out. "Not to mention the fact that there isn't a dishonest bone in her body. There's nothing to this Toscano thing."
"I need some time," Holt said at last. "Ross, take care of your pre-requisites."
Then he glanced around the room, settling his gaze first on me, then Moran, and then the stack of letters on the table.
"We'll meet again on Friday and I'll state my decision."
TBC...
