Chapter Fifteen
"What is happening in here?" Rosita asked as she walked into Michonne's bedroom to see clothes piled on her bed.
Michonne was looking at everything while biting her nails. "Girl, I don't know. I'm just trying to get everything ready for this graduation."
"Umm, I thought you have to wear your special dress uniform and shiny shoes?" Rosita stood with her hands on her waist tilting her head at her friend.
"I know but I'm thinking of changing for the dinner we are all going to." She huffed and plopped down on the bed in distress.
"Why would you do that? You should wear your uniform proudly and get all the accolades you deserve, Chica."
"You think?" Michonne sat up to look at her.
"Of course." Rosita sat on the bed next to her and went on. "But what's really going on? Nervous about Rick?"
Michonne sighed. "It's just…academy seemed like it would take forever. This job and new life were so far in the distance. I didn't have time to fully adjust. Then, I met Rick and that just pulled the rug out from under me." Rosita nodded urging her to go on.
"Now, after speaking to his friend, I know that he's been through so much too. And I just want this to work with him."
"So you will make it work."
"What if I messed it all up? Rick was trying to let me know he was all in. I'm the one that pushed him away."
"I know, but you can't give up. He'll come back to you."
"I have to be the one to make the first step."
"Vale, como?" Michonne stood from the bed and paced while Rosita watched.
Then she suddenly stopped.
"You thought of something?" Rosita eyed her.
"I… I think so. Go big or go home, right?" Michonne was pensive.
"Uh, sure." Rosita replied then realized Michonne needed her backing. So she clambered off the bed as well.
"Yes!"
"Yes?"
"Yes! Si!" the two women jumped up and down then hugged one another as Tara was walking past the open door.
"So we are having hug parties without me now? I thought I was a part of team family."
Michonne and Rosita giggled while extending hands ushering Tara into their embrace. The three danced to music that played in their heads.
"Not that I mind but, what are we celebrating exactly?" Tara asked after they untangled.
"Michonne's got a plan!" Rosita exclaimed while clapping.
"I've got a plan!" Michonne said triumphantly.
"That's great! I hope that plan includes cleaning this room because it's a mess." Tara trailed off while looking around the room before landing on Michonne.
Tara and Rosita chuckled while Michonne playfully rolled her eyes.
"Morning." Rick stated as he exited his Ford F-150 to greet Shane in the diner parking lot.
"You mean, Good Morning Brother." Shane announced as he walked over towards Rick with a huge smile on his face.
Rick just chuckled recognizing that glee on his best friends' face.
"I had the place all to myself last night so let me guess, you're in love?"
It was Shane's turn to laugh as they headed towards the busy diner's entrance. "Not love Brother, but you never know where this could go."
"What?" Rick stopped at the door eyeing this apparent stranger.
Shane rubbed the back of his head and pulled open the door to enter with Rick hot on his trail wanting answers.
The pair spotted Daryl and Glenn in their usual booth near the back. It was late morning but the diner was still full. As the duo walked through they nodded or waved at citizens of King County who knew them as they approached their seats.
"So who's it this time?" Rick was amused as they slid into the booth on their usual sides.
"You wouldn't know her. She's from Alabama."
Daryl looked bored drinking his coffee while Glenn's interest was piqued.
"Who are we talking about?" he leaned forward.
"I went to this honky-tonk bar and I met this woman." Shane stressed.
"Now, Shane apparently thinks she could be the one." Rick smirked and Glenn's jaw went slack.
"You don't know. Man, something about this one. We got a hotel cause she was ready to go, if you know what I mean." He smiled impressed with his exploits.
The auburn haired waitress that was usually friendly, walked up and poured Shane and Rick each a cup of coffee then departed without taking their order.
"I ain't been with a woman that could wear me out like that in ages. She gave ole Shane a run for his money." He patted his chest and Rick rolled his eyes.
"Ok, you obviously want to see her again, so what's her name?" Glenn inquired.
Shane scratched his eyebrow. "That's the thing, I don't know."
"What do you mean?" Rick asked this time.
"I have her phone number and everything but when we were going at it she wanted to be called… Alpha." Shane raised his hands in the air and shrugged.
"And you think she's the one?" Glenn questioned looked shocked and Rick pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You never know."
Daryl turned to stare at Shane. "She wanted to be called Alpha in bed and you think she's the one. She's probably crazy just like your ass." Then he motioned for the waitress yelling across the room. "Four of the regulars!"
All while Shane threw daggers at him. "You know what let's talk about one of yall's love life."
They all turned to Rick even though other options were presented.
"Umm, I'm still figuring out my method."
"The other night, I fell back in the run to give you two a chance." Glenn supplied.
"You what? I thought you were just getting tired." Rick was taken aback.
"Dude, you can't outrun me on my worst day but I think Michonne could take me."
Rick smirked and Glenn chuckled.
"Well, don't take too long. I think she has something to say to you."
Shane continued in a hushed tone.
"Michonne was looking for you. She came and asked me where you were."
"Really? What did she say? How did she sound?" Rick was suddenly nervous and he chewed his lip.
"She didn't say much but I told her she needs to think long and hard before she comes around you again."
Rick rubbed his head and sighed knowing his friends' harsh approach to most situations.
The waitress returned with their plates sitting one down in front of each of them, dropping Shane's somewhat carelessly then without a word departed.
"And what did she say?" Rick asked while everyone else dug into their food.
"She seemed to appreciate my advice, even gave me a compliment." Shane raised an eyebrow at him.
"You know what Shane; I'm going to ignore you right now. This isn't a Sheila situation." Shane chuckled.
"Who's Sheila?" Glenn looked riveted before shoving pancakes in his mouth.
"Oh, that was old Ricky boys' first shot at going all the way back in high school. You see he was messing around with her but I stole her away." Rick shook his head while Daryl ate as though he was starving.
'Connie must be away on assignment.' Rick mused.
Shane continued. "Our boy Rick here, didn't quite know all the bases so I had to show her myself." Shane laughed and Rick shook his head annoyed.
"Well, that's not happening this time. Michonne is mine." He tapped his fingers on the table for emphasis.
All the guys chuckled around mouthfuls of food and Rick didn't understand their merriment.
"Hell everybody that's seen you two near one another can tell that." Daryl added. "When are you gonna do something about it?" Rick looked at them all.
"I spoke to Hershel…" They all paused mid bite. "and I can't until after graduation."
"Alright." They all nodded at Rick and continued to eat.
"I just gotta focus on taking this son of a bitch down. I met with the Deputy Chief of IAB, Morgan Jones. All the evidence I got from Eugene will be admissible in court since Philip saved it all on the King County PD servers."
"That's good, because we don't need anything to get thrown out because it's deemed 'fruit of the poisonous tree'." Glenn offered. "I'm tired of Blake walking around with his chest puffed out."
"Asshole, thinks this is finished." Daryl muttered.
"It's definitely not." Shane paused to take a sip of coffee. "Apparently, his buddies send over their doctored reports for his approval. And that Nabila isn't just a pretty face, she's been keeping copies of all the original paperwork. She says she's been waiting for the chance to take Blake down." He smiled.
"Smart woman." Rick nodded before Daryl added to the conversation.
"There's a few good guys I still know from when I was working undercover. They have all types of info from informants about Blake and his gang. From switching evidence at scenes, pressuring witnesses to not testify and tacking on crimes to help make their arrests stick."
Next, it was Glenn's turn. "I found out from a few rookies I trained that he's made sure they got partnered with his corrupt cops. Knowing they are on probation for two years after getting the job. They'd be too scared to say anything, needing their training officer's recommendation to stay on the job."
They all scrunched their faces in disgust.
Shane looked at Rick cautiously. "I think we should bring Zeke and Dianne into the fold."
Rick shook his head apprehensive.
"You can trust them; they are good people." Glenn plead.
"I didn't want to ask anyone else to follow me." Rick sighed.
"Maybe you should." Daryl eyed him and after a few moments of thought Rick nodded in the affirmative.
"I just want to thank you all for your help with all of this. You have your own careers on the line." Rick conveyed.
Glenn leaned forward. "I don't want to be the type of guy who's scared to lose anything, so I give up. We are with you on this. Also, ever since we met I've been saving you from being a dumbass and I guess I can't stop now." They laughed.
Shane looked around then back at Rick. "How long you've been preaching to me about integrity, responsibility and being of service? So even though we are family, this isn't just about helping you. It's about the greater good of this community. Just happens to be a plus that we get to take down this asshole." They bobbed their heads at one another.
Finally, Daryl spoke. "C'mon man, you think after all the shit we've been through we couldn't handle it? You may not have faith in all these other people but you can have it in us, we got your back. Besides Connie is an investigative journalist and she's out there exposing sleaze ball politicians every day. What I look like letting that type of shit fly around me." Rick squeezed Daryl's shoulder.
"Thank you. Either way this goes, you are all my brothers." They all smiled in agreement. "I need to get out of here. I have to go meet up with Morgan in a few." Rick stood from the booth.
"Man, you didn't even eat any of your food. You should take it to go." Glenn suggested.
"Naw, I'll grab something on the way since who knows what was in it." Glenn looked perplexed so Rick went on.
"Ask good ole Shane what he must've done to Barbara that she's not speaking to us." Rick smiled looking to Shane who averted his eyes. Glenn looked queasy and held his stomach.
"You're paying for all of this, plus a big ass tip." Rick could hear Daryl making his demand from Shane as he walked to the exit.
"Once you let us know about the sexual threats, we got someone I trust in Special Crimes to help us look for other women. Turns out Blake has contributed to the disproportionate number of women we have working in the stations or as PAA's."
"How so?" Rick turns in his seat to further face Morgan.
The two men sat in Rick's jeep that was parked a few blocks away from IAB headquarters so they could meet privately.
"Any woman he or his flunkies have intimidated, he's had them request those spots so that they could use them to look away when things were not quite right."
"Shit." Rick covered his face.
"We all know that when women come on this job, they are already in an uphill battle to be respected. They can shatter that glass ceiling but with guys like this in the way it only makes things that much harder."
Rick massaged his temple, anger evident on his face. "There's no doubt that there are women that probably transferred or resigned all together then to deal with this bullshit."
"You're right." Morgan sat up straighter making connections in his mind. "I'll have some people look into that for the trails, that will be inevitable. We'll need as many victims and witnesses as possible to get the lengthiest sentencings."
"Yeah, most of the people that were jailed because of him were criminals in some other capacity so a jury's not as quick to believe them." Rick empathized by tapping his hand on the dashboard.
"But once we get through all of this, they'll be able to have their attorneys get those charges dropped. It'll take time but it can be done." Morgan assured him.
Rick nodded his head in agreement.
"Once Blake goes down the rest will fall. They'll be spilling everything on one another and begging for plea deals." Rick expected.
"Everything's coming together with the DA's office on the warrants front. IAB investigator Jerry Andrews will be gathering statements from Jessie and Nabila today to round this all out." Morgan reported to Rick.
"That's good."
"Oh Rick, this rabbit hole goes so much deeper than the sexual assaults, bribery and misconduct."
"How so?" Rick raised an eyebrow.
"I took Andrea Harrison to meet up with Milton Mamet. He's an accountant to not only Philip Blake but allegedly a few other key members of his circle. We are talking five of the seven majors and forget about the minors. Milton is singing for a reduced sentence at one of those country club facilities. Anything additional we find after these preliminary charges will be added on later."
"I…I could've done more to stop him before he crossed paths with other people. When that investigation against him failed, I knew the judgement wasn't correct. I should've done more to make it right but I- "
"Rick, there is no right, it's just the wrong that doesn't pull you down." Rick just breathed a sigh.
"I didn't end it." He hung his head, heavy from the magnitude of this investigation hitting him.
"Naw, you started something but we are gonna finish it. Just remember Rick, it's all a circle. Everything gets a return."
Morgan extended his hand and Rick shook it.
"Thank you Morgan."
Morgan smiled and climbed out of Rick's truck proceeding back to his office at IAB headquarters.
As Rick pulled off, he thought more regarding this sting operation. There were so many lives being affected by Blake that he didn't even know about. Now that he knew, restoring the honor back to King County was close to the top of his list.
But despite this huge undertaking, he thought of Michonne and what she would have experienced having to work in these conditions. His sole purpose before was to give her happiness regarding their relationship but now he knew he wanted to give her so much more.