Red Light Duex

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N: This is one of the few chapters-I believe two only-in which a character that isn't major but still has an important impact on the storyline will have his perspective. There is an important reason why this must happen this way, you will understand as you read.

Chapter 38 (The Good Chief)

"The people want to know," said the investigator seated across from Gary. "You're the acting Chief right now, Los Angeles wants to know who shot their chief of police." Gary leaned to the right and cast his gaze off into space. He felt numb and listless discussing this matter, primarily because he didn't care.

He had nothing to do with the attempt on David's life, but he didn't think an investigation on the matter would be needed. Only, he did realize that if he told the investigators to ignore this, it would make him just as corrupted as the man himself.

"Well I don't know, and I'm not going to speed the investigation by planting an innocent person as suspect." The investigator he was talking to was a good friend that knew how corrupt David was. He didn't know about the matters with the Vega family, but he knew how many criminals David beat up throughout his career for no apparent reason. Including Juan Carlo, who'd been hospitalized for wounds David caused him.

This investigator wished to expose David as the corrupt man he was, and Gary wanted to do the same. "This could be the opportunity you need, by the way." Gary's gaze drifted back to the man and he turned his hand over his mouth, casting a shadow across the bottom of his face. "You've wanted to find something, to build a case and get him without him ordering any investigations on him to end. He's hospitalized, he can't do his job right now-this is your moment."

"I see what you're saying, but there isn't anything I can use." He hated the man, hated him enough to ruin his career and his life. Yet, he had to do so in a way that was legal, and it wouldn't affect Holly or the girls. The only thing truly that he had was his home life, and there was no way he was going to expose the girls to an investigation on David's life at home.

"Yes there is! There's Juan Carlo, for one. Think about it." The investigator set a spiral notebook in front of him. Gary lowered his hand as the investigator moved a set of folders beside him. "Juan Carlo is just one victim here. There's a list of all the inmates that during, before or after questioning, was either beaten or hospitalized by Chief Vega over the last fifteen years." Juan was only the most memorable because he'd been an innocent man hospitalized by David, and later came out with brain damage "With at least one who never had trial because the 'investigating officer' put them in a coma."

"Okay, let me see this." Gary grabbed the notes compiled by the officer and raised his eyebrows as he read over the list of names. He was shocked to see at least twenty criminals, each charged with different degrees of sex offenses, brutalized by David. "How the hell did he manage to cover all of this up? He wasn't even Chief fifteen years ago!"

"No, but you know he was always good friends with the chief at the time."

"Shit…" Gary scratched his head and threw the notebook down while uttering a string of curses. It boggled his mind that the chief before David could have been so corrupt that he might have covered David's tracks for him. "I don't care what crimes they committed, police brutality is not something that I can tolerate on the force. Did his actions force a confession out of any of these men and women? If so, we might have an issue."

"Not that I can find pending my investigation, sir. Most of these were put in by the DNA evidence found against them along with witness testimonies. They were simply beaten by Chief Vega, for reasons I haven't discovered."

"We're not going to investigate his reasoning." Gary's blood boiled as he continued to skim through the remaining notes compiled by the investigator. "If we can get these victims to testify, to sue…if we can build a case off this, we can expose the corruption in him."

"All of Los Angeles would hate this man," warned the investigator. Gary's lips curved up and he shrugged his shoulders. "The city council might even vote to remove him, to fire him. The only problem is, all these victims are not just ordinary criminals. They're sex offenders-how can we possibly gain sympathy from the people?"

"We can't. The only thing that matters is getting his ass in court. Seeing that justice is served. Criminals or no, his actions are negligible and need to be brought to light."

"I understand. Just keep in mind that now is the best time to investigate, while the chief is incapacitated." Gary laced his fingers together and perched his chin atop his bent knuckles, narrowing his eyes at the investigator. "Because now, he can't stop an investigation on his misconduct."

"I will need some time to think on this matter…" He wanted to discuss this with Holly, to make sure she would be okay with such an investigation on her husband. "I will let you know if this is an investigation I wish to pursue."

"Yes sir."

It didn't help that as an acting chief, this misconduct had 'officially' been brought to his attention. If he turned down the investigation, it would seem he was trying to cover it up.

As the investigator left, he closed his eyes and moved his forehead down against his hands. "I'm in a difficult spot now." It sickened him to think he had to make an effort to arrest the person responsible for nearly killing David, then he was going to have to champion a bunch of sex offenders that might want justice for what David did to them. "Why the hell couldn't those bullets kill you, Dave? I'd rather be investigating your murder, not your attempted murder as well as misconduct."

He curled his hand over his chin and grabbed the notebook from the desk. His eyes trailed the list of names and stopped on one Annabel Franklin. He recognized the name, she was a girl he and David investigated in 2006 on charges of indecent exposure and attempt to seduce a ninth grader at the park.

Anna was only twenty-three at the time. She had soft brown hair, deep brown eyes, and an oval shaped face. When they arrested her and took her in for questioning, Gary had been called away to the emergency room. Holly had taken Trina in because she was having difficulty urinating, and when she did, only blood was coming out. This left David to question Anna.

The next thing he remembered of the young girl was her being transported into the hospital that same night. She'd been beaten and put into a coma. After Gary questioned David about it, the man was firm that he had no idea how she got beaten. David claimed to have released her to the jail for the night, so he accused one of the guards of having done the job.

The sitting Chief at the time took David's word and the guard watching Anna's cell that night lost his job. Days later that guard would be found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"Mark my words, David. I will tear you apart." His hand covered his nose, mouth and chin. He flicked his eyes out over the top of his hand and narrowed them at the wall containing photos of all Los Angeles's police chiefs. David's was at the very bottom, the man was smiling with confidence and seated with a strong demeanor. "Not violently…but you will go down. If not for the sake of Annabel, if not for Juan Carlo, if not for your wife and daughters…for that guard who lost his life because of you. When I'm done, you're going to wish that shooter killed you-but now I'm glad he didn't."

Within the hour he was visiting with Holly, asking her opinion about the case. "And you-you said the poor girl's still in a coma?" Holly's brow furrowed as she sat beside Gary.

"Yes. I checked before coming over, she's been on life support ever since."

"Did they-did they ever find out if she was guilty of what she was accused of?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

"I know, I just-I hate to think that he attacked all those people. I know they're criminals too, but-"

"Not a single one of them deserved what they got, Holly. I can tell you this much." He crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch as Holly's gaze drifted into his. "None of them, not one of these men and women were ever charged with something as heinous as what David did." Holly's hand flew up over her mouth and she let out a loud sob. Gary frowned as she leaned into him, putting her head to his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Holly…"

"No, it's fine." She pulled back and wiped her eyes. "This is too much. I just, if you think you have a case. I'm fine, just make sure my daughters don't get pulled into it."

"I wouldn't want to do anything that would involve them. This investigation will only investigate his misconduct."

"I appreciate you looking out for us, Gary." She took a deep breath and clenched her eyelids shut. "Thinking about those people, and you say none of them ever did anything as bad as my husband. Then none of them deserved what they got. None died?"

"Not that I can find." Only Anna seemed to come closest. As he investigated her case more, he discovered the reason that the guard took his life. He'd been accused of sexual assault, the doctor on staff found evidence of recent assault. Gary was horrified and shocked when he learned this, and it only fueled his desire to bring David down.

"You and the girls won't be affected by this investigation, Holly. I promise you that."

"Good." Holly moved her hand through her hair and looked to the window. Tori was outside with her cousins Peter and Sarah. She turned up a smile, which quickly faded. "Are there any potential leads on who shot him?"

"Not yet. The investigators say they found a puppet discarded by the back bushes. Looked like it had been dropped. I know David didn't own any of those, so…" Holly's jaw fell and her hand drifted up to her mouth.

"No." The word came out in a quick breath. "One of Tori's friends owns a puppet, but he hasn't been around since…since David came home that night. Robbie, I think the name is. David attacked him after he told him about Trina, I think Robbie thought he was helping…"

"So he knows David's abusive?"

"As of that night, probably. I don't think he knows the extent, but he definitely is aware." It could be Robbie shot David, thinking that he would be helping the family by ridding them of the monster. Whether or not this boy had anything to do with it, this information meant he'd have to be brought in.

"Alright." Gary pressed his lips together and pushed himself from the chair. "I'll have to bring him in for questioning." Holly curled her fingers against her chin, then lifted her hand up to him.

"Go easy on the boy, Gary. If he did do it, I don't think-I don't know what he was thinking." Gary moved his hands to his sides and a single chuckle fell from his lips.

"All things considered, I'll go easy on him." Hell, he was the good cop at this point. For investigation purposes, it truly did seem the chief before David was just as corrupt for letting David have the run of the place. They had a deadline to reach, though, so he needed to start building up a number of investigations. "Maybe I'll offer Mr. Shapiro some leniency."

"Really?"

"No, I can't do that without seeming corrupt, if he's guilty he's to be held in the full extent of the law. Still, I will be kind to the boy." Sadly true. Part of him wanted to congratulate the boy while the other part of him wanted to say he should have aimed for a more vital location. Still, no matter how much he hated David, the only and best way he could get the man was by investigating the misconduct towards these various criminals.

For all intents and purposes, the two he wanted to focus an investigation most on were the innocent man, Juan Carlo, and the comatose Annabel. Even if all other prisoners were to aid in cementing David's downfall, those two in particular could gain the public sympathy that his investigator said they might need to succeed.

Annabel will become a crucial part, I'm sure. It looks like the chief before David was corrupt too, turning a blind eye and all. Let's hope Gary and his investigators can fix things before David can get out of the hospital to put a stop to any pending investigations.