"Now, tell me what happened." While what Jim said wasn't at all threatening, the blue eyed glare he was giving Kasak would freeze an erupting volcano. Accident or intentional discharge, there was no excuse for the rookie firing that shot.
"Well Sir…" Kasak swallowed twice, trying to stall long enough for the answer to come out. Part of him was sure that this incident could get him fired; if not, he was still in big trouble.
"Spit it out so we can get back to the station and report this before MacDonald finds out from someone else. You're in enough trouble as it is. Don't make it worse." In the back of his mind, he was hearing the dressing downs he got from Pete and knew that he had to be as tough as Pete had been on him. "Did you mean to shoot at the suspect and miss or were you careless with your weapon?"
"It…it was an accident, Sir." Kasak was slowly sinking into the car seat; hoping to become invisible.
"An accident, you could have killed one of those people and you say it was an accident? How can you accidently fire your weapon?" At this point Jim wasn't sure which was worse, intentionally firing early or being a moron who shot the window out by accident.
"It's a new gun, Sir. I got it at graduation." The rookie sort of shrugged his shoulders, as if that was enough of an explanation to satisfy his training officer.
"And?" Clearly, Jim wasn't willing to jump to "it'll be alright" just yet. In fact, Jim wanted to shake the rest of the explanation out of the rookie; surely he hadn't driven Pete this crazy, right?
"I was getting ready to point the gun at the suspect when I realized that I've never shot this gun before. So, I thought I should check to see how hard the trigger was to pull." Kasak, his head hung down, sat in the passenger seat; unable or unwilling to look at his training officer.
"You were testing the trigger then? Didn't you listen when they taught weapon safety at the Academy? Always check a new weapon at the firing range before using it on duty. For all you knew, that gun might not have worked at all! You're lucky that guy panicked and tossed the gun before dropping to the ground." Jim paused for a breath before continuing. "He could have shot either one of us or both while you were holding a weapon that wouldn't fire. You might find this hard to believe, but I don't want to get shot because some rookie doesn't take the time to check to see if his weapon will work before having to point it at someone." As Jim's voice got louder, Kasak melted like an ice cream cone on a hot day. Jim took another deep breath and continued the lecture. "MacDonald is going to haul both our butts before a shooting review board for this! All because you were too stupid to check your weapon before you came to work! You're my responsibility so I'm going to get chewed out over this too. Don't forget the store owners, the Mays are not going to pay for that window, we are! Do you have any idea how much a large storefront window costs? Well, answer me!" Jim rarely got this angry, but when he did his ears turned a deep red and his voice dropped an octave.
"I'm sorry Sir; I thought it was best to test the trigger." Somewhere in the back of his mind Jim remembered Pete putting a curse on him; a wish that Jim would someday have a rookie just like him.
"You're not supposed to think yet Junior; it's when you start to think before you're supposed to, that you think yourself dead." Jim almost chuckled; he heard it before he said it.
O~O~O
Walters sat alone at the table outside of the taco stand. It was having lunch alone that made him hate working an L car. Bill looked up when he heard a woman call his name. She was what he would call a knock-out; a tall, pretty and well-endowed blonde. He knew her on sight as an old girlfriend of Pete's, now if only he could remember her name.
"Do you remember me? My name is Donna and I used to date Pete Malloy." She smiled at Walters as she took a seat across from him.
"I remember you, but didn't you move away?" One thing he did remember was that Donna had definitely wanted to marry Pete. He and Pete had hoisted a few beers to her departure.
"I did, to take care of my mother, but she's gone now so I moved back here last week. I was hoping that you would be willing to help me." She leaned over the table, giving Bill a full view of her cleavage. It was hard to not notice.
"Um…help you how?" He wondered if he should mention that he was a married man, but decided to let the flirtation go on a little longer; if only to find out what she wanted. Donna began twirling a finger in her hair.
"I've been trying to call Pete, just to see how he is. I even went over to his apartment, but Mrs. O'Brian chased me away with a broom. She wouldn't tell me how to get in touch of him." Donna let her finger slide down along her neck to touch the dip in her neckline. "Surely, you know where he is and how happy he will be to see me."
"You should know that Pete is involved with someone." Walters was trying to calculate the odds that Pete would want to see Donna versus the odds of Sally killing the flirt.
"I only wanted to say hello to an old friend, but not being able to get in touch with him is making me worried." She used her right hand to brush her hair behind her shoulder. "Please tell me where he is."
"Oh, well, he's in the hospital; has been for a few weeks, but they won't let you in to see him." She was making him uncomfortable and he didn't see any real harm in telling her that he was in the hospital.
"Central Receiving then, thank you." She flashed him another smile before leaving the table. Walters shook his head before returning to his lunch. Funny, she didn't ask why Pete was in the hospital in the first place.
O~O~O
"Pete?" Through a combination of lying and flirting, Donna had managed to find Pete's room. When he looked up she was leaning against the door frame, giving him a side view of her bust line and flashing him a come-hither smile.
"Donna? What are you doing here? How did you even know where I was?" She was about the last person he expected to see at his door; they hadn't parted on good terms, mostly because he didn't want to get involved with a long distance relationship. That and the fact that she wanted him to resign from the force, marry her and move to Maryland to take care of her mother; an older woman he met once and didn't particularly like.
"I see you remember my name; that's a good sign." Her voice was sultry and her walk had the same wiggle that made Marilyn Monroe famous. "I heard that you were in here so I thought I'd come and cheer you up." She had gotten close enough to lay a hand on Pete's right thigh and give it a squeeze. Looking past her for a second, Pete saw his nurse watching the attempt at seduction.
"That's nice of you, but how did you find me? No one is allowed to give out my room number." Pete reached down to lift her hand off his thigh without mentioning the pain her hand caused.
"Walters told me that you were in here. After that, I asked a male orderly on each floor until one told me that you were on that floor and what room you were in." She took a step closer, brushing her fingers up his chest. "What did you do to your shoulder?"
"The same thing I did to the rest of me." He took her hand, moving it off his chest. Pete decided then and there to give Walters a firm talking too. "Donna, it's nice to see you, but the answer is no."
"Ah Pete, did I ask you a question? Besides you aren't married yet; no ring." She was reaching to brush the cowlick from his forehead when Sally entered the room; it was pure luck that Pete was blocking Donna's attempt to play with his hair when Sally saw them. Without saying a word, Sally stepped around Donna (who had taken a step back to avoid interfering with Pete's nurse) and gave Pete a very passionate kiss. Then she took a seat on the edge of the bed.
"Pete, Honey, how about introducing your friend to me?" Sally smiled sweetly as she ran her fingers through Pete's chest hair. Score one for Sally.
"I'm Donna. Pete and I spent a lot of time together before I had to move away." While she didn't try to dislodge Sally, Donna did run her hand along Pete's right thigh. "Surely Pete has told you about all those nights we spent together."
Pete wisely kept quiet, although he did let out a low groan at Donna's touch; whether from pain or from the situation is up to debate. He did remember many dates with Donna, but her emphasis on "spent together" made them see more meaningful than most of them were. Sally moved to the offensive side of the ball.
"I remember you, but shouldn't we leave the past where it belongs? Pete's changed, but you haven't; still chasing after other women's men or are you limiting your hunt to just Pete?" Sally knew a homewrecker when she saw one. She pulled Donna's hand from Pete's right thigh. "Stop that, you're hurting him." Score: Sally 2, Donna 0.
Pete has seen enough catfights on the job to know that the only safe place for the man was somewhere else. Since he couldn't escape the bed, he closed his eyes and tried to stay out of it. He also knew that Sally could take Donna in less than three rounds.
"Sorry Pete. I didn't know." Donna took a step back, resting her hand on his shin, turning back to Sally. "I don't see a ring on your finger so Pete's still in play, isn't that right Pete?"
Pete groaned, she would pull him into this mess. The nerve of her, after all he's been doing to try and stay out of it.
"No, he isn't in play. Why don't you try hunting someone else?" Sally took Pete's right hand in hers; she stood ready to defend her claim on the man in question.
"Why don't you let him answer or are you afraid he'll choose me?" Donna slipped her hand under the blanket; whatever her intended target was, Pete knew it was time to put a stop to this before Sally grabbed her.
"Donna, I am planning on marrying Sally. Please respect that and leave."
Both women were shocked by Pete's comment, but one of them had a smile on her face. The other stormed from the room.
O~O~O
"Hey, Dead Eye is here! Shoot out anymore windows kid?" There went any hope Jim had of getting back to the station before the word got out. If Wells knew about it, the world did. The sound of laughter followed them to MacDonald's office. Through the window of the office door, Mac waved both of them in.
"It's about time you two showed up. I thought I was going to have to put an APB out on the car." MacDonald stood up, pointing at the two chairs opposite the watch commander's desk. "Sit down. I don't want to hear what happened, yet. For now, tell me why Woods and Brinkman got back here before you two."
"That's my fault Mac; I wanted to hear from Larry why he took the shot so I stopped in an empty lot." The Sergeant's anger was making Jim rethink that decision.
"Why, because you wanted to get your stories straight before you talk to the detectives?" Mac slapped a hand on his desk to emphasize the point.
"That's not fair Mac. You know that I wouldn't do something like that." It was a cheap shot and they both knew it, although it made sense to give Mac the benefit of the doubt; he must already be taking some pressure over the incident.
"Sorry Reed, you're right, that wasn't fair. Tell me this; was this a problem with the weapon or carelessness?" It was the first thing everyone would want to know.
"A little of both Mac." Jim was starting to calm down enough to feel sorry for the rookie; he didn't like the thought that Kasak could lose his job less than a week after graduation.
"I am going to assume that you were reading him the riot act." Kasak was as dejected as any rookie Mac had ever seen. Not that the kid didn't have a reason to be worried; there would be consequences to this shooting. He stood, waving a hand towards the door. "Let's go. Everybody has been notified and Sergeants Miller and Powers are waiting to start the interview."
"Now, let me get this straight…." Jerry Miller sighed loudly while using his right hand to brush back the hair over his ear; they had been at it for over an hour. "You weren't sure that your gun would work, so you pulled the trigger to test it?"
"Yes Sir, I didn't mean to pull it hard enough for the gun to go off. It was easier than I thought it would be." Kasak couldn't help but see the expressions and looks the others in the room were exchanging; smirks and eye rolls had the rookie sure that his career was over.
"You are admitting to recklessly firing your weapon?" Miller was pressing the rookie, who sat trembling in his chair. "Is that your story?" After Jim had detailed everything the pair did during the hours prior to the shooting, he was asked to refrain from commenting while Kasak told his side of the incident.
"It was more stupid than reckless Sergeant." Reed had been through enough shooting "interviews" to see that this one was going badly for his young partner. "He was testing the give in the trigger. At least he took care to not point it in anyone's direction while he tested the weapon."
"Reed, stay out of it." MacDonald sat off to the side, along with Sgt. Murphy, who had been sent out to examine the damage and speak to witnesses. "We haven't figured out your responsibility in this mess, yet."
