"1 Adam-12, Day Watch, clear." Larry had already put the mic back when dispatch responded. "I Adam-12, clear and a call, 459 there now, see the woman, 158 Benton Way. Code 2" Peripheral vision allowed Jim to refrain from turning to look at the blushing Kasak. No need to correct him; he realized his mistake and acknowledged the call.
"At least we don't have far to go." Jim wanted to help Larry get over the awkward moment. "I don't think I can remember any 459's this close to the station." The house was literally down the block and easily spotted because of the old woman standing in the street waving a dish towel.
"He's in there again. Stealing from me; his grandmother!" She led them to an open window on the side of her house. "There's only one way out of my bedroom besides the door. You catch that little thief." Jim left Kasak on the window and went inside with the grandmother. When the kid heard the door, he tried to bail out of the window. That's where he was when Jim got into the bedroom, legs dangling in the house and Kasak's hands on his shoulders, holding the boy in place.
"Alright son, give it up." Jim put his hands around the kid's waist, helping him back down in the room. He seemed to be in his early teens.
"Let me go. I wasn't doing anything wrong. This is my grandmother's house. She is gonna….."
"I'm gonna tan your hide is what I'm going to do!" Jim put out a hand to block her from whacking her grandson on the butt with a wooden spoon. Undaunted she tried an end run but Kasak had shown up and disarmed the woman. They found two rolled up twenty dollar bills in the boy's pocket which he claimed were his.
"You're a liar as well as a thief. Take the rubber band off and unroll them officer. You'll see." Written on the backside of the inner twenty were the words: This bill was stolen from Mrs. Roger Seals. "I knew you'd come back you little creep. Take him away officers, I'll press charges. Maybe this will wake up my son and that ditzy wife of his."
Jim let Kasak take down all the information as he kept an eye on the now cuffed boy. With a little prodding at the appropriate times he made sure that the rookie got all the pertinent information. Back at the station, they processed him, notified Juvenile and called the boy's father.
Jim was going to write the report himself when he remembered something Pete had done after one of their first calls. It made an impression on him so he decided to try it out on Kasak. While he wrote a report, he had Kasak write his own version of the report. When both reports were done, Jim had Kasak compare the two; noting the differences.
"I forgot a lot, didn't I?"
"Yes, beginning with not stating that he was given his Miranda Rights. Without that in the report, he could get off on a technicality. I think his grandmother would be furious after all the trouble she took to snag the kid." Jim was impressed at the lengths the grandmother had gone in order to catch her grandson. According to her, his parents think he is a misunderstood angel.
"That's horrible. Would you do that? Turn on your own grandson?" Kasak was definitely leaning on the kid's side; projecting his own feelings into the facts. "How could she have him arrested? I'd hate it if my grandmother was that nasty."
"He's a thief no matter his relationship to her. Remember, she's tried talking to his parents and they didn't do anything." Jim had Kasak sign the properly written report. "She did him a favor; turned him in before he got into worse trouble." He picked up the report intending to take it to Mac for approval. "You're a professional now. Leave your emotions at the door."
"Yes Sir, sorry Sir." Jim managed to stifle a laugh as he noticed Kazak's reaction to his voice; somewhere along the way, Reed had acquired a TO's imposing tone. He sounded like Pete did during their early months riding together. Maybe Pete was right, he could be a good training officer.
O~O~O
Sally had fallen asleep on Pete's good shoulder in spite of the ice pack he held against her cheek. As much as the nightmare had upset Pete, the fact that he, even accidently, hit Sally kept him awake. He always hated men who hit women; the worst fight he had as a teen was when he beat the crap out of a guy who was slapping around a girl they knew in school. The fact that he left for basic training two days later probably kept him out of jail. Thankfully, sniper training in the army taught him to control his temper.
"Time to wake up, sleepy head. If you're late for work they might bust us for sharing a bed in here." He gently jostled her shoulder as he spoke in what he hoped was a semi-cheerful voice; not that it fooled Sally.
"They wouldn't dare try it." As she looked up at him, she saw the pain in his usually sparkling eyes. He was staring at her swollen cheek. Sally reached up to touch his chin stubble in a tender caress. "Pete. It's not your fault, so get that guilty look off your face. If you don't cheer up I'm going to ask them to give you some nitrous oxide."
"Threats? I usually get kisses when you play with my stubble." One of the things he loved about her is her ability to make him laugh in spite of himself.
"I can do that instead of calling for laughing gas." Sally shifted up enough to plant a very inviting kiss on his lips. Ten minutes of passionate contact later she was off to work and he was frustrated, but she had distracted him from his dour thoughts.
O~O~O
It was still early in their shift, yet Jim couldn't help but yawn. Operating on little sleep was more challenging when he both had to drive and answer all of Kasak's questions. They ranged from the simple to the serious.
"If we have to respond code 3, do I turn on the lights and siren?" Answer: no
"Where should I keep my handcuff key?" (Asked after it fell out of his shirt pocket when he took this notepad out) Answer: The right or left back pants pocket depending on which is your dominant hand.
"When you first started working, were you worried that you couldn't shoot a person if you had to?" Jim tried not to smile at the first questions, but the last one stopped him cold. He remembered that first shooting; a teenage sniper.
"Yeah, but Pete told me the same thing they said at the academy, about you not having time to think; only him I believed. He was right. It was over before I had time to worry." Pete's steady presence had gotten Jim through that first rough night and the weeks after he killed the boy; would he be able to do that for Larry if he had to?
"Sir?" They were near the intersection of Acta Place and Coma Lane when Larry interrupted Jim's unvoiced concerns. "Over there, Sir. There's a woman on the ground by that big tree."
"Put us code six and then join me." Jim had stopped the car and was partially out of the car before turning to say one more thing to Kasak. "Don't call me Sir."
"Excuse me Ma'am. Are you alright?" Kasak had run past Reed to get to the woman first. She was in her mid-twenties and wearing a purple sweat suit. Even at a distance, the blood was clearly visible in her blonde hair.
"Do I look alright to you?" Kasak blushed and Reed did his best to stifle a smile. Jim got down on one knee; offering the woman a clean handkerchief.
"Are you hurt, Ma'am?" Kasak continued, taking out his note pad and pen, all ready to take down her story. Instead, Jim sent him to call an ambulance. The woman muttered "moron" under her breath as he ran back to the squad car.
"He's new." Jim felt some compulsion to make an excuse for his trainee despite the stupid questions. "While we wait for the ambulance, would you mind telling me your name and what happened?"
"Karen Weiss. I was jogging with my dog, but she tripped me. I hit my head on the walk and I think I broke my ankle. I crawled over here to wait for help to show up."
"We'll get you to a hospital. Do you want me to have Officer Kasak look for your dog?" Jim saw squirrels and a few rabbits but no dogs were in sight.
"No thank you. She'll find her way home. Besides, I doubt that he could find a dog if it was in his lap."
O~O~O
Pete looked up from the book he was reading when he heard the familiar sound of knocking. He chucked, only Jim knocked like that, besides no one else ever bothers to knock on a hospital door.
"What are you doing here in that get-up?" The Class A uniform confirmed what Pete already knew; that Jim was supposed to be working the day watch. Reed had left Kasak down in the ER to wait for the doctor's report on the victim. This was a conversation he didn't want the rookie around for.
"You can thank that watchdog of yours for me being here." Pete wasn't often dumbfounded but he had no idea what Jim was talking about. "She woke me up in time for me to get to work."
"Um, Partner, I don't have a dog. You know that." Pete shook his head, laughing. "I may be heavily medicated, but even I remember that much."
"Sure you do. You know the one; the Doberman that bangs on your apartment door at 2 a.m. with a frying pan if she thinks a burglar is in there."
"Aww, Mrs. O'Brian wouldn't hurt a fly, an intruder, that's a different matter." It took a second or two for Jim's whole comment to register. He eyed his partner questioningly. "What were you doing at my….. Never mind, you don't have to answer that."
"What was I doing in your apartment at 2 a.m.?" Jim took one of those plastic chairs found in hospitals, turned it backwards and sat on it. "What do you think I was doing?"
"Sleeping, maybe thinking." The question made Pete uncomfortable; Jim only spent the night in his apartment when Jean threw him out.
"A little of both, but I was asleep when she banged on the door." Jim hesitated, unsure of how to broach the subject. He decided on the direct approach. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"About what, Partner?" Yes, Pete was stalling; he had to be careful how he handled this. "What did you want me to tell you?"
"You could have told me that Jean came to see you yesterday and made some questionable comments." Jim's tone of voice held some anger, but there was something else beneath that; curiosity mingled with doubt.
"To what end, Jim?" Pete adjusted the bed controls so that he was on an eye level with his closest friend. "If I told you that Jean came to visit me and said that I was going to get you killed just like I got my last partner killed? What would you have done?" Pete actually wanted an answer, but Jim didn't offer him one. "Defend her? Say I was mixed up because of the pain meds? Or believe me and wonder about your wife?"
"I…I…I'm not sure."
"Either way I lose, because it would put me in the middle of your marriage; a place I am trying very hard to stay out of." Pete took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I honestly hoped that it was a tactic to force me to drop you as a training officer and that she would never tell you what she accused me of."
"So instead, you put yourself through the anguish of telling me what really happened to Baxter; just in case Jean did tell me that lie about you?" Jim always knew that he had never had a truer friend than Pete, but he was amazed at the depth of commitment. "She's why I needed to know."
"Yes, your wife is afraid, Jim. Usually, she keeps it under control, but all this has been too much for her. You remember how my mother reacted?" While Pete's mother was in Los Angles right after the shooting that had landed him in the hospital, she went a little over the deep end; to the point of trying to give him a sponge bath.
"Yes, yesterday, I wanted to strangle Jean…so did Sally." Pete could help chuckling at the memory of a feisty Sally all set to fiercely defend him; just as quickly getting serious. "You have a big problem, my friend. Either she gets some help to deal with the fear or she forces you to compromise what you are inside. If you leave patrol or the force because of her fear, you'll start hating her for making you give up a job you love." Pete had a few friends whose marriages had ended in divorce over the job.
"I'm so sorry for what she did to you Pete. She wasn't like this right after you got shot, but this past weekend I caught her standing by the sliding glass doors in the kitchen and she was shaking." Jim rubbed the side of his nose with his index finger; a familiar gesture that often told Pete when Jim was torn between choices – none of them alone would fix this problem. "It happened in our backyard; is Jimmy safe anywhere?"
