After talking with the brass for half the afternoon, I had a bad feeling.
It didn't seem to me that the department was in a big hurry for me to take
Cruz down. But now I'd presented them with a theory that was too much of a
coincidence to ignore. Trouble was, even with my theory, I knew they were
going to drag their feet a while longer. Cruz was a loose cannon and every
hour I worked with her made me feel more ill at ease. I needed to resolve
this as soon as possible.
Cruz and I got back in around 11:15. During a break, I'd called Faith and asked if she wanted to meet me for a beer. She'd offered to wait for me at the precinct but I didn't think that was a good idea. Besides, it threw a monkey wrench into the other part of my plan. I had no intentions to see Cruz after work. My plan was to develop a stomach ache around 10 o'clock. It would gradually get worse over the course of the next hour. Arriving back at the station I would make a comment about stopping by ma's bar and give her a chance to play mom.. I figured if I talked about going home then Cruz might want to come with just to make sure I was okay. So, by bringing ma into the equation, she'd know that I wasn't home alone. And since I had no intentions of going home, by saying I was going to ma's, Cruz wouldn't get suspicious if she called and got no answer at my place.
In fact, I would be meeting Faith and a few others at ma's bar so that part was actually true. Cruz had never met ma and she had no idea where her bar was or even what it was called. I knew that since it was Friday night, ma would be too busy working to join us at least not for any length of time. Faith was taking care of things on her end. She'd talk to Sully and Ty. I knew I could count on Ty but I wasn't sure about Sully. Instead of worrying about it, I did was made logical sense. I put my faith in Faith. Besides I had enough on my mind.
Around 11:35 I walked into ma's bar. She greeted me with a hug and I knew the snickering was coming from our table. Faith had outdone herself. Not only were Sully and Ty there but she had most of Squad 55 there as well as Alex and Kim. I wasn't sure I liked the idea.
Faith met me at the bar where we talked with ma for a few minutes. When ma went back to work, Faith explained her theory.
"Look, they already know about the fire yesterday and it'll only be a matter of time before word gets out of the arsons. We may not need their help but what if we do? I'd rather they know the facts."
I listened to what Faith had to say. I still had my doubts but I reluctantly agreed with her.
"Fine but they don't need to know everything, just the stuff to do with the fires."
"Deal."
We joined the others.
"So, what's going on?" Sully was quick to ask. It was nearing the time when the old guy turned into a pumpkin so I wasted no time getting to the point.
"Jimmy, you remember that fire we talked about last night?"
"Yeah, the one where the whole neighborhood came out to watch."
"That's the one," I confirmed.
"We were talking about that earlier," D K commented. "Boss said it was no accident."
"What's all this about Bosco?" Ty asked.
"There was a fire at a drug house yesterday. Fire Marshall thinks it was arson. That one fire wasn't an isolated incident. I'm pretty sure I know who's behind them."
"Them?" D K asked.
"I've been working Anti-crime for the past few days. We've conducted drug raids on almost thirty buildings. I've been to seven. The same day we raided them six of the seven burned."
"Damn," Jimmy replied, his words echoing the thoughts of everyone at the table.
"So what are you saying; a cop did this?" Alex questioned.
"So how many officers were in the buildings?" Sully asked.
"At the time of the raids, it varied; usually between eight and ten."
"And it probably wasn't the same eight or ten each time either," Ty replied. "That doesn't narrow it down much."
"No Ty it wasn't. Each place we raided we came up empty. No one inside.always abandoned in a hurry. Each time though the other officers left and we went over the place, looking for anything to tie the locations together. Before we left we went through each place one last time. At that time there were only two of us inside."
"And if you were setting these fires, you wouldn't be here telling us about it." D K concluded.
"Who is it Bosco?" Jimmy asked with a look in his eyes that I'd never seen before. I didn't blame him for how he felt about this. His life was on the line every time a call came in and to learn that it was set was a tough pill to swallow.
"Sergeant Cruz," I replied, my feelings at the moment were the same ones Jimmy was experiencing.
"You're telling me a Sergeant is behind this?" he asked.
"Her sister was a drug addict. Cruz did everything she could to keep her clean."
"Is this the same girl we dropped everything on about a month or so ago?" Ty asked.
"Yeah, same girl Ty. Cruz tried to keep her clean but with all the drug houses and dealers it was a losing battle. Her sister died at the drug house that exploded. Since then she's out for revenge and if she can't take down the dealers, she'd going after the drug houses."
"Who all knows about this? Sully asked.
"I talked with Lieu about it. He brought in the top brass and the Fire Marshall. I'm sure they plan on doing something but who knows when. Personally, this is getting a little too personal for me. If I had my way, I wouldn't be working with her but that's not how the brass sees it."
"So where do we come in?" Alex questioned. "I mean I take it were not here for just a beer?"
"So far we've been lucky. The houses have all been empty. I don't have much notice on where the next raid will be but with Cruz and I doing one final sweep of each location, I'm hoping to get a minute to make a call. I'll let Faith know where we are and she's going to relay that to you guys. If I can give you guys a heads up on where we are, at least you'll know where we are and what you're facing. I don't want a replay of that first fire."
"I wish we could be closer to where you are but I don't know how we'd do that without the Chief finding out," D K replied.
"You're right about that first fire," Jimmy added. "That was a little too close if you ask me."
"Anyway, I wanted you guys to know what's going on," I explained. "Besides if I hadn't over heard you talking about that first fire, I wouldn't have put two and two together."
"Then I'm glad we were all here," Jimmy said patting me on the shoulder. "Thanks for the info. I gotta get going."
"Can you give me a ride?" Kim asked as Jimmy turned to leave.
"Sure, I guess," Jimmy replied before he left with Kim.
"Me too Bosco," Sully said swallowing one last drink of beer. "Take it easy out there. Call us if you need anything."
"I will, thanks Sul."
The rest of the bucket boys left as well with the exception of Ty and Alex.
"There's more to this isn't there," Ty questioned with that strictly Ty look. The guy had this persistent child like look that when he got something on his mind, you weren't going to change it. I had my doubts when he joined the force especially since he was training with Sully but Ty's okay. He'd figured this one out.
I looked at Faith who nodded. Ty, Faith, Alex and I left, getting in my car. As we drove I explained the truth, the whole truth, leaving nothing out but one the one night I'd spent at Cruz's place. That much remained between Faith and I.
"I'm really sorry about all this Bosco," Alex replied. "It's like your damned if you do and you're damned if you don't."
"That's pretty much it Alex," I agreed with her, especially the delicate way she put it. The girl had a way with words.
I dropped Ty off and Alex got out as well. I had a feeling that was going to happen but I didn't say anything. Faith and I rode in silence for a mile or so.
"You did good partner," I replied, looking her way. She smiled and I had this feeling she had something on her mind.
"Its almost over Bos," she replied with the most positive look I've ever seen. "Then maybe things will get back to normal."
"Normal?" I asked. "What's normal?"
"Normal is you and me Bosco. You know 55-David?" she smiled as she explained. "Normal is you being late for role call. Normal is you getting under Christopher's skin. Normal is your comments about Sully and Krispy Kremes. Normal is you eating all the fries. Normal is."
"Alright, alright, I get it" I laughed, glancing over at her. "If it was this nice just talking to her in my car, I can imagine how it would be to work with her again. I really hoped this would all be over soon.
Three days and two fires later I was nearing the end of my rope. The brass was still making plans as they called it. I called it stalling and I'd had enough. Faith and I moved on to plan B. If we were on a drug raid, I'd find an opportunity to call her. She'd move to the sector I was currently located in. The next day Ty and Sully agreed to do the same. I'd made up my mind that Cruz was going down.she was going down soon.she was going down on my terms.
I was off the following day so I spent it trying to catch up on my sleep. I'd had too many nights with little or no sleep. Right now I needed to have a clear head. I needed to be able to think clearly and I couldn't do that if I wasn't sleeping. It was a good thing I had the day off. I managed to get some rest and clear my head. That night though, I think I only slept five hours. Cruz and I were scheduled to work again the next afternoon. I was in no mood to deal with her. I knew it. Lieu knew it. Hell, Cruz knew it. What the hell was anyone doing about it?
"What's your problem today?" she asked with that my mouth is full of shit voice.
"Sleep, I didn't get much sleep. When I don't sleep, I get grouchy. That okay with you?"
"No, it's not okay with me. It's not my problem so deal with it. I don't have to deal with you."
"What's going on today?" I asked wondering if another drug raid was in my future.
She didn't respond causing me to make a quick check of my coat pocket. My cell phone was there. I'd made sure it was fully charged. I wasn't going to get trapped in another building hoping my radio worked.
It was after eight o'clock when we made our first raid. I followed Cruz inside, once again not finding a single sole. Greeted once again by empty premises, with the exception of lots of cash, drugs, and an unlocked back door. Seven backup officers were on scene. It was after nine o'clock when the last left. As we searched the place during that hour I made mental notes of the location of the bedrooms, the front and rear door, and any squeaks in the flooring between the two. With it just down to me and Cruz, she headed upstairs. I headed for the doors making sure both the front and rear doors were unlocked. I could hear Cruz walking around upstairs. While she was on the north end of the house, I headed for the south side, making my call to Faith.
I made my way upstairs. Being as quiet as possible was easy since I knew exactly which spots to avoid walking. Finding her location was easy but what I found shocked the hell outta me. For the first time, we weren't alone. She had a guy with her. Handcuffed,face down on the bed was what I guessed was a dealer. Straddling the guy with her gun in his back, she spoke in a quiet voice. I couldn't make out what she was saying. As she crawled off the guy, I watched as she pulled out what appeared to be a flask. As she started to turn I pulled back into the hallway hoping she hadn't seen me. From my stand point, I could watch her in the dresser mirror. She doused the bed with whatever was in the flask before reaching in another pocket, pulling out a second flask. She then poured the contents of this one on the floor as she headed towards the door. I took a deep breath, still not believing what I was seeing. Every bone in my body suspected this was going on but to stand there and watch it was unreal. As she stepped outside the door, I raised my gun. She turned to find me standing there, gun in position to take her down. One shot was all it would take. I didn't want to use my gun if it was at all possible. I could say that she was a cop and that was the reason but the truth of the matter was that one gunshot was the easy way out and she deserved worse..far worse.
"Boscorelli, what the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked surprised that I was there.
"Trying to keep you from making a big mistake," I explained never lowering my weapon.
"Stopping me would be the mistake," she replied in a calm voice which made the hairs on my arm stand. "You've seen what the likes of these people do. We take him in he'll be back on the streets before we get off duty. Why waste our time. I can take care of him myself right here."
"No, its not going to happen. Not today," I replied as I watched her pull a book of matches from her pocket.
"So who's gonna stop me?" she asked. "You? I drop this match and then what? You gonna stay here and try to rescue that scum.gonna be the big hero? Tell you what, you wanna stay here and play hero, you do that. But while you're doing that, I'll be outta here so fast."
"I don't think so," a voice from the other end of the hall replied. Cruz turned to see Faith standing at the top of the stairs.
"What the hell is she doing here?" Cruz said her voice showing her agitation.
"I'm here with Bosco. You might not understand it but its something called partners," Faith explained, her weapon drawn on Cruz as well.
"Oh I get it. You're jealous. Boscorelli's been working with me lately and you can't take it."
"I can take anything you dish out," Faith responded.
"So what's it gonna be?" Cruz asked another question as she glanced between the two of us. "You gonna shoot me Boscorelli or is you 'partner' gonna do it? Then what.you both leave me here to die in the fire while you rescue that scum in there. You won't make it out this time. This place will be nothing but embers by the time the fire department gets here."
"Wrong again," Sully replied as he moved in behind Faith. I couldn't see Ty but I knew he was there as well.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Cruz replied being the usual bitch that she was.
"Take a look out that window," Ty replied from his location. Cruz stepped towards the window just far enough to see two engines standing by just across the street but within a safe distance.
She was pissed and what happened next happened so fast I don't think I really know what all happened. All I know is I saw a flash as the match scraped against the wall igniting it before she dropped the match onto the carpet. The flame followed the trail of whatever she poured from the flasks. As she turned towards the stairs, Faith slammed her into the wall. Sully and Ty moved in behind her, quickly getting her in handcuffs and escorting her from the property. After trying to stomp out the thin line of flames, Faith and I managed to get inside the bedroom. As Sully and Ty escorted Cruz out the front door, the fire department converged on the house, dragging hoses with them.
Inside that bedroom Faith and I watched as the flames once again came to life. We'd managed to douse them once but the contents of that flask had seeped down into the carpet and it wasn't long before the flames were closing in around us. Without much time to think, we uncuffed the guy on the bed. I had three handcuff keys and it was the third one that released the locks. By the time we did that, Jimmy and DK were in the hallway, knocking down the flames. The room was smoking, making it difficult to breathe much less see where we were going. All I knew was that Faith was right beside me, right where she belonged.
Five minutes later, I was tired of the fussing Kim and Alex were making over us. I'd inhaled some smoke but it was no big deal. I was growing accustomed to it. It was while they were administering oxygen that three of the top brass showed up followed by Lieu.
"What the hell's going on here?" one of them questioned, not at all happy.
"I believe it's called arson with a little case of attempted murder thrown in," I explained.
"What?" Lieu asked.
"Cruz was upstairs in a bedroom. When I went upstairs she had a guy handcuffed on the bed, dousing it with something."
"Then she threatened to light a match," Faith added.
"Course she didn't know the fire department was right outside," Ty added.
"Actually she thought it was just her and Bosco inside," Sully added. "For once Bosco, you called for backup."
"What do you know about this?" the question was aimed at the fire department captain.
"Someone called in a report of smoke coming from a building."
"Where'd the call originate?"
"It was called into the station." The captain explained.
"Who called it in? Did he leave a name?"
"No, actually it was a she and no she didn't leave a name."
"So what are all of you doing here?" the chief referred to Faith, Sully and Ty.
"Well, I called Faith," I explained.
"And I called Sully and Ty," Faith explained her part of this.
"And they called me on my cell phone," Kim explained.
"Then Kim and I used our cell phones to call the station at the same time," Alex explained.
"When two lines rang at once, the Captain picked up one and I picked up the other one," Jimmy explained.
"I hung up after saying I had a wrong number," Kim replied.
"While I gave the boys this address," Alex replied, gesturing towards the drug house.
By this time there was a crowd surrounding the department brass. Lieu couldn't help but smile at all of this. The rest of them were shaking their heads trying to follow it all.
"King and Arthur.Camelot," Lieu replied after being silent in all of this.
"What's that?" the Chief asked.
"What happened here today just reminded me of the old days You put the King and Arthur fire department with the King and Arthur police department and what do you get?"
"Camelot," Sully replied.
The Chief couldn't help but smile. He knew all to well what Lieu was talking about. "I'll expect a full report on this.on my desk.before role call Boscorelli."
"Yes sir," I replied with a hardy salute. The chief smiled, returning my salute, before shaking his head and walking away.
"Sir?" I replied, getting his attention.
"What about my two weeks suspension?" I asked.
"What suspension?" he replied, smiling before turning to leave once more.
As the scene started to break up, I suddenly realized something.
"Damn it!"
"Bosco, what is it?" Faith asked.
"Cruz, she's got the keys to the car," I replied slamming my hand on the car hood.
"Sully gave them to the Lieutenant," Lieu explained. "I think he took the car back in."
I glanced over not seeing the car I'd arrived in. Turning my attention to Faith, she read my mind and smiled.
"You wanna drive.partner," she asked.
"Nope, I think I'll ride," I said, opening the passenger door.
"So, you up for a beer after work?" Faith asked.
"A beer would be great but after today, I might need something a little stronger," I replied as Faith started up the car.
In one night, two traditions were re-born. Camelot had returned, drawn out of mothballs after a good fifteen years. But most importantly, 55-David was patrolling the streets of New York City.
"I give you a week," Faith replied, looking over at me.
"A week? For what?" I asked.
"Before you're ducking calls and Sully's bitching about it," she barely got the words out before breaking into what I can only call a Faith laugh.
"A whole week huh?" I laughed. It might take that long but I doubted it.
We got back to the precinct shortly before eleven. There were a lot of people on the streets. Most of them were firemen from across the street. Jimmy jogged over to invite us to have a beer with them.
A half hour later Haggerty's was getting crowded. I was sitting at a table with Faith when Jimmy and DK arrived. Strolling over to our table, I watched as Jimmy pulled something from behind his back.
"We talked to the Capt tonight and decided that you should have this," he said, handing me a medium sized box..
I glanced at the box then at Jimmy and across the table at Faith. Finally I opened the box. Inside I found a Squad 57 helmet. This was too much.
"We figured you might need one of those," D K replied with a laugh.
"Hell, lately you've been to as many fires as we have," Jimmy added. "You keep it up we'll get you a turnout coat to go with it."
"I'm kinda hoping that won't be necessary," I said with a smile. "Thanks guys."
Faith managed to hold her laughter until Jimmy and DK had left the table. She tried to cover it but she never had been very good at that sort of thing.
"That was sweet," she replied. "I think they're actually starting to care about you Bos."
"Yeah sure," I debated the idea. "Give 'em a week and they'll be calling us to direct traffic again."
We stayed at Haggerty's for about an hour. Just long enough for the helmet story to get around and for Kim and Alex to repeatedly question me on how I was feeling. Obviously they'd forgotten that Faith was in the smoke-filled room with me. Or, they had just decided to ignore that little fact.
The next day I arrived at the station by one thirty. I figured that would give me time to complete my report. Faith had agreed to come in a little early too so, between the two of us, the report would be on the Chief's desk.
Role call started right at three o'clock. The report was turned in and Faith and I were sitting in our usual back row seats. Before sending us out on the streets, Lieu passed around a small cardboard box.
"Camelot pins," Sully replied as the box reached him.
"I don't recall when or why exactly we stopped wearing the pins," Lieu explained after telling the story behind the pins. According to Sully, it's been at least fifteen years since we'd last wore the pins. Of course, several old timers had continued wearing them but for the new recruits, it became a past tradition whose time had come and gone.
Faith grabbed our radios as we headed out. We'd been on patrol for only about a half hour when she brought up the subject.
"So, you seen Nicole since that long discussion the two of you had?"
"No, lately sleep hasn't come easy for obvious reasons," I explained. "Long, well into mornings conversations have been out of the question."
"So now that things have settled down, maybe you should call her," she suggested.
"Maybe," was all I had to say. I'd be the first to admit that things hadn't ended well with Nicole and I knew that most of the blame for that was mine. I'd changed a lot since then, especially during the past few months. The long talk we had was nice. Okay so it was more than nice. It'd been a real eye-opener to a lot of things.
"You know, I still owe her a thank you," Faith replied.
"So maybe we should swing by her store and you could tell her," I suggested, knowing full well Faith was going to read more into it.
"Good idea," she said. Ten minutes later we pulled up in front of Nicole's store.
'Hey you two, back together I see," Nicole greeted the two as they entered her store.
"How you feeling?" I asked remembering her stitches and bruised ribs.
"Better than I was the last time I talked to you," Nicole replied before turning her attention to Faith. "How's it feel working with him again?"
Oh great. Two women in a room together and suddenly I'm invisible.
"It's only been a half hour or so," Faith replied after glancing at her watch. "Ask me that again in a week or so?"
"How's your mom?" Nicole asked.
"She's fine I guess. I haven't had much time to sit down and talk to her lately."
"She still dating the cop?" she asked. One look at Faith and I knew I had some explaining to do.
"Yeah, I think so," I replied. With all the stuff going on with me and anti- crime Lieu and I hadn't had much time to talk about ma. Faith glanced at Nicole, then at me. I decided to give the two of them a few minutes. I excused myself to use the bathroom.
"I just wanted to stop by and say 'thank you'" Faith replied after I'd left the room.
"Thank me?" Nicole asked. "I should be thanking you. You have no idea how relieved I was to see a familiar face the other day."
"I was glad to help out," Faith accepted Nicole's comment. "But I owe you a thank you. Bosco hasn't been himself lately. A lot has been going on and I've tried getting through to him without any luck. Apparently you were more successful with him when the two of you talked."
"It really wasn't that much Faith," Nicole tried to explain. "I think he already knew what I told him. It was probably nothing more than what you'd already said. Maybe he just wasn't ready to act on it yet."
"Well, he did and I can't tell you how relieved I am that everything worked out."
"I meant what I said. I think the two of you work well together. You have a good balance."
"Thanks, he's not just my partner, he's a good friend too and I was beginning to think I'd lost my friend as well as my partner."
"Well it looks like everything's fine now."
"Did I interrupt anything?" I asked joining the two of them.
"Nope, just waiting for you," Faith replied.
"Maurice?" Nicole called out as we were just about to leave.
"Yeah?" I replied turning around.
"You still got my number?"
I recited her number from memory, surprising myself as well as Nicole and Faith.
"Call me sometime."
I didn't answer, instead returned her smile as I nodded.
"Would you consider that normal?" I asked Faith when we were back on patrol.
"What's that?" she questioned.
"Me and Nicole?"
"You and Nicole were a lot of things Bosco but normal? Never."
"A lot has changed Faith," I replied in my defense. "Nicole and I didn't used to have five hours talks."
"You and Nicole were lucky to have five minute talks."
I didn't respond to her last statement. The two of us rode in silence for a while. Not a bad silence, just a comfortable silence.
"So when were you going to tell me about your mom and Lieu?" she asked.
I cringed when she asked the question.
"I have to say I was a little surprised, I mean Rose and Lieu. How did they ever meet one another in the first place?"
"That was my doing," I admitted. If I thought Nicole had found my admission to be hysterical, Faith was ten times worse. We eventually had to pull off the road while she pulled herself together.
"You mean to tell me you introduced your ma to Lieu?"
"We went to the bar for a beer. It was Sully's fault."
"Sully? Why is this his fault?"
"If he hadn't made a scene at Haggerty's, Lieu would have joined us for a beer there. Instead Sully creates a scene, we started to leave and just then Lieu comes by. He was going to skip the beer since we were leaving but I suggested we go somewhere else."
"So you took him to ypur ma's bar?"
"It was Sully's fault." I repeated. Faith's laughter was contagious. For some reason, I was laughing right along with her. Maybe it was the discussion about ma dating Lieu. Maybe it was the fact that they never would have met if it wasn't for me. Maybe it was because I was thinking about calling Nicole again. Maybe it was the Squad 57 fire helmet sitting on my TV at home. Maybe I was just happy to be back working with Faith. You know, the whole Camelot returns thing. Or maybe it was because it just felt normal.
Cruz and I got back in around 11:15. During a break, I'd called Faith and asked if she wanted to meet me for a beer. She'd offered to wait for me at the precinct but I didn't think that was a good idea. Besides, it threw a monkey wrench into the other part of my plan. I had no intentions to see Cruz after work. My plan was to develop a stomach ache around 10 o'clock. It would gradually get worse over the course of the next hour. Arriving back at the station I would make a comment about stopping by ma's bar and give her a chance to play mom.. I figured if I talked about going home then Cruz might want to come with just to make sure I was okay. So, by bringing ma into the equation, she'd know that I wasn't home alone. And since I had no intentions of going home, by saying I was going to ma's, Cruz wouldn't get suspicious if she called and got no answer at my place.
In fact, I would be meeting Faith and a few others at ma's bar so that part was actually true. Cruz had never met ma and she had no idea where her bar was or even what it was called. I knew that since it was Friday night, ma would be too busy working to join us at least not for any length of time. Faith was taking care of things on her end. She'd talk to Sully and Ty. I knew I could count on Ty but I wasn't sure about Sully. Instead of worrying about it, I did was made logical sense. I put my faith in Faith. Besides I had enough on my mind.
Around 11:35 I walked into ma's bar. She greeted me with a hug and I knew the snickering was coming from our table. Faith had outdone herself. Not only were Sully and Ty there but she had most of Squad 55 there as well as Alex and Kim. I wasn't sure I liked the idea.
Faith met me at the bar where we talked with ma for a few minutes. When ma went back to work, Faith explained her theory.
"Look, they already know about the fire yesterday and it'll only be a matter of time before word gets out of the arsons. We may not need their help but what if we do? I'd rather they know the facts."
I listened to what Faith had to say. I still had my doubts but I reluctantly agreed with her.
"Fine but they don't need to know everything, just the stuff to do with the fires."
"Deal."
We joined the others.
"So, what's going on?" Sully was quick to ask. It was nearing the time when the old guy turned into a pumpkin so I wasted no time getting to the point.
"Jimmy, you remember that fire we talked about last night?"
"Yeah, the one where the whole neighborhood came out to watch."
"That's the one," I confirmed.
"We were talking about that earlier," D K commented. "Boss said it was no accident."
"What's all this about Bosco?" Ty asked.
"There was a fire at a drug house yesterday. Fire Marshall thinks it was arson. That one fire wasn't an isolated incident. I'm pretty sure I know who's behind them."
"Them?" D K asked.
"I've been working Anti-crime for the past few days. We've conducted drug raids on almost thirty buildings. I've been to seven. The same day we raided them six of the seven burned."
"Damn," Jimmy replied, his words echoing the thoughts of everyone at the table.
"So what are you saying; a cop did this?" Alex questioned.
"So how many officers were in the buildings?" Sully asked.
"At the time of the raids, it varied; usually between eight and ten."
"And it probably wasn't the same eight or ten each time either," Ty replied. "That doesn't narrow it down much."
"No Ty it wasn't. Each place we raided we came up empty. No one inside.always abandoned in a hurry. Each time though the other officers left and we went over the place, looking for anything to tie the locations together. Before we left we went through each place one last time. At that time there were only two of us inside."
"And if you were setting these fires, you wouldn't be here telling us about it." D K concluded.
"Who is it Bosco?" Jimmy asked with a look in his eyes that I'd never seen before. I didn't blame him for how he felt about this. His life was on the line every time a call came in and to learn that it was set was a tough pill to swallow.
"Sergeant Cruz," I replied, my feelings at the moment were the same ones Jimmy was experiencing.
"You're telling me a Sergeant is behind this?" he asked.
"Her sister was a drug addict. Cruz did everything she could to keep her clean."
"Is this the same girl we dropped everything on about a month or so ago?" Ty asked.
"Yeah, same girl Ty. Cruz tried to keep her clean but with all the drug houses and dealers it was a losing battle. Her sister died at the drug house that exploded. Since then she's out for revenge and if she can't take down the dealers, she'd going after the drug houses."
"Who all knows about this? Sully asked.
"I talked with Lieu about it. He brought in the top brass and the Fire Marshall. I'm sure they plan on doing something but who knows when. Personally, this is getting a little too personal for me. If I had my way, I wouldn't be working with her but that's not how the brass sees it."
"So where do we come in?" Alex questioned. "I mean I take it were not here for just a beer?"
"So far we've been lucky. The houses have all been empty. I don't have much notice on where the next raid will be but with Cruz and I doing one final sweep of each location, I'm hoping to get a minute to make a call. I'll let Faith know where we are and she's going to relay that to you guys. If I can give you guys a heads up on where we are, at least you'll know where we are and what you're facing. I don't want a replay of that first fire."
"I wish we could be closer to where you are but I don't know how we'd do that without the Chief finding out," D K replied.
"You're right about that first fire," Jimmy added. "That was a little too close if you ask me."
"Anyway, I wanted you guys to know what's going on," I explained. "Besides if I hadn't over heard you talking about that first fire, I wouldn't have put two and two together."
"Then I'm glad we were all here," Jimmy said patting me on the shoulder. "Thanks for the info. I gotta get going."
"Can you give me a ride?" Kim asked as Jimmy turned to leave.
"Sure, I guess," Jimmy replied before he left with Kim.
"Me too Bosco," Sully said swallowing one last drink of beer. "Take it easy out there. Call us if you need anything."
"I will, thanks Sul."
The rest of the bucket boys left as well with the exception of Ty and Alex.
"There's more to this isn't there," Ty questioned with that strictly Ty look. The guy had this persistent child like look that when he got something on his mind, you weren't going to change it. I had my doubts when he joined the force especially since he was training with Sully but Ty's okay. He'd figured this one out.
I looked at Faith who nodded. Ty, Faith, Alex and I left, getting in my car. As we drove I explained the truth, the whole truth, leaving nothing out but one the one night I'd spent at Cruz's place. That much remained between Faith and I.
"I'm really sorry about all this Bosco," Alex replied. "It's like your damned if you do and you're damned if you don't."
"That's pretty much it Alex," I agreed with her, especially the delicate way she put it. The girl had a way with words.
I dropped Ty off and Alex got out as well. I had a feeling that was going to happen but I didn't say anything. Faith and I rode in silence for a mile or so.
"You did good partner," I replied, looking her way. She smiled and I had this feeling she had something on her mind.
"Its almost over Bos," she replied with the most positive look I've ever seen. "Then maybe things will get back to normal."
"Normal?" I asked. "What's normal?"
"Normal is you and me Bosco. You know 55-David?" she smiled as she explained. "Normal is you being late for role call. Normal is you getting under Christopher's skin. Normal is your comments about Sully and Krispy Kremes. Normal is you eating all the fries. Normal is."
"Alright, alright, I get it" I laughed, glancing over at her. "If it was this nice just talking to her in my car, I can imagine how it would be to work with her again. I really hoped this would all be over soon.
Three days and two fires later I was nearing the end of my rope. The brass was still making plans as they called it. I called it stalling and I'd had enough. Faith and I moved on to plan B. If we were on a drug raid, I'd find an opportunity to call her. She'd move to the sector I was currently located in. The next day Ty and Sully agreed to do the same. I'd made up my mind that Cruz was going down.she was going down soon.she was going down on my terms.
I was off the following day so I spent it trying to catch up on my sleep. I'd had too many nights with little or no sleep. Right now I needed to have a clear head. I needed to be able to think clearly and I couldn't do that if I wasn't sleeping. It was a good thing I had the day off. I managed to get some rest and clear my head. That night though, I think I only slept five hours. Cruz and I were scheduled to work again the next afternoon. I was in no mood to deal with her. I knew it. Lieu knew it. Hell, Cruz knew it. What the hell was anyone doing about it?
"What's your problem today?" she asked with that my mouth is full of shit voice.
"Sleep, I didn't get much sleep. When I don't sleep, I get grouchy. That okay with you?"
"No, it's not okay with me. It's not my problem so deal with it. I don't have to deal with you."
"What's going on today?" I asked wondering if another drug raid was in my future.
She didn't respond causing me to make a quick check of my coat pocket. My cell phone was there. I'd made sure it was fully charged. I wasn't going to get trapped in another building hoping my radio worked.
It was after eight o'clock when we made our first raid. I followed Cruz inside, once again not finding a single sole. Greeted once again by empty premises, with the exception of lots of cash, drugs, and an unlocked back door. Seven backup officers were on scene. It was after nine o'clock when the last left. As we searched the place during that hour I made mental notes of the location of the bedrooms, the front and rear door, and any squeaks in the flooring between the two. With it just down to me and Cruz, she headed upstairs. I headed for the doors making sure both the front and rear doors were unlocked. I could hear Cruz walking around upstairs. While she was on the north end of the house, I headed for the south side, making my call to Faith.
I made my way upstairs. Being as quiet as possible was easy since I knew exactly which spots to avoid walking. Finding her location was easy but what I found shocked the hell outta me. For the first time, we weren't alone. She had a guy with her. Handcuffed,face down on the bed was what I guessed was a dealer. Straddling the guy with her gun in his back, she spoke in a quiet voice. I couldn't make out what she was saying. As she crawled off the guy, I watched as she pulled out what appeared to be a flask. As she started to turn I pulled back into the hallway hoping she hadn't seen me. From my stand point, I could watch her in the dresser mirror. She doused the bed with whatever was in the flask before reaching in another pocket, pulling out a second flask. She then poured the contents of this one on the floor as she headed towards the door. I took a deep breath, still not believing what I was seeing. Every bone in my body suspected this was going on but to stand there and watch it was unreal. As she stepped outside the door, I raised my gun. She turned to find me standing there, gun in position to take her down. One shot was all it would take. I didn't want to use my gun if it was at all possible. I could say that she was a cop and that was the reason but the truth of the matter was that one gunshot was the easy way out and she deserved worse..far worse.
"Boscorelli, what the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked surprised that I was there.
"Trying to keep you from making a big mistake," I explained never lowering my weapon.
"Stopping me would be the mistake," she replied in a calm voice which made the hairs on my arm stand. "You've seen what the likes of these people do. We take him in he'll be back on the streets before we get off duty. Why waste our time. I can take care of him myself right here."
"No, its not going to happen. Not today," I replied as I watched her pull a book of matches from her pocket.
"So who's gonna stop me?" she asked. "You? I drop this match and then what? You gonna stay here and try to rescue that scum.gonna be the big hero? Tell you what, you wanna stay here and play hero, you do that. But while you're doing that, I'll be outta here so fast."
"I don't think so," a voice from the other end of the hall replied. Cruz turned to see Faith standing at the top of the stairs.
"What the hell is she doing here?" Cruz said her voice showing her agitation.
"I'm here with Bosco. You might not understand it but its something called partners," Faith explained, her weapon drawn on Cruz as well.
"Oh I get it. You're jealous. Boscorelli's been working with me lately and you can't take it."
"I can take anything you dish out," Faith responded.
"So what's it gonna be?" Cruz asked another question as she glanced between the two of us. "You gonna shoot me Boscorelli or is you 'partner' gonna do it? Then what.you both leave me here to die in the fire while you rescue that scum in there. You won't make it out this time. This place will be nothing but embers by the time the fire department gets here."
"Wrong again," Sully replied as he moved in behind Faith. I couldn't see Ty but I knew he was there as well.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Cruz replied being the usual bitch that she was.
"Take a look out that window," Ty replied from his location. Cruz stepped towards the window just far enough to see two engines standing by just across the street but within a safe distance.
She was pissed and what happened next happened so fast I don't think I really know what all happened. All I know is I saw a flash as the match scraped against the wall igniting it before she dropped the match onto the carpet. The flame followed the trail of whatever she poured from the flasks. As she turned towards the stairs, Faith slammed her into the wall. Sully and Ty moved in behind her, quickly getting her in handcuffs and escorting her from the property. After trying to stomp out the thin line of flames, Faith and I managed to get inside the bedroom. As Sully and Ty escorted Cruz out the front door, the fire department converged on the house, dragging hoses with them.
Inside that bedroom Faith and I watched as the flames once again came to life. We'd managed to douse them once but the contents of that flask had seeped down into the carpet and it wasn't long before the flames were closing in around us. Without much time to think, we uncuffed the guy on the bed. I had three handcuff keys and it was the third one that released the locks. By the time we did that, Jimmy and DK were in the hallway, knocking down the flames. The room was smoking, making it difficult to breathe much less see where we were going. All I knew was that Faith was right beside me, right where she belonged.
Five minutes later, I was tired of the fussing Kim and Alex were making over us. I'd inhaled some smoke but it was no big deal. I was growing accustomed to it. It was while they were administering oxygen that three of the top brass showed up followed by Lieu.
"What the hell's going on here?" one of them questioned, not at all happy.
"I believe it's called arson with a little case of attempted murder thrown in," I explained.
"What?" Lieu asked.
"Cruz was upstairs in a bedroom. When I went upstairs she had a guy handcuffed on the bed, dousing it with something."
"Then she threatened to light a match," Faith added.
"Course she didn't know the fire department was right outside," Ty added.
"Actually she thought it was just her and Bosco inside," Sully added. "For once Bosco, you called for backup."
"What do you know about this?" the question was aimed at the fire department captain.
"Someone called in a report of smoke coming from a building."
"Where'd the call originate?"
"It was called into the station." The captain explained.
"Who called it in? Did he leave a name?"
"No, actually it was a she and no she didn't leave a name."
"So what are all of you doing here?" the chief referred to Faith, Sully and Ty.
"Well, I called Faith," I explained.
"And I called Sully and Ty," Faith explained her part of this.
"And they called me on my cell phone," Kim explained.
"Then Kim and I used our cell phones to call the station at the same time," Alex explained.
"When two lines rang at once, the Captain picked up one and I picked up the other one," Jimmy explained.
"I hung up after saying I had a wrong number," Kim replied.
"While I gave the boys this address," Alex replied, gesturing towards the drug house.
By this time there was a crowd surrounding the department brass. Lieu couldn't help but smile at all of this. The rest of them were shaking their heads trying to follow it all.
"King and Arthur.Camelot," Lieu replied after being silent in all of this.
"What's that?" the Chief asked.
"What happened here today just reminded me of the old days You put the King and Arthur fire department with the King and Arthur police department and what do you get?"
"Camelot," Sully replied.
The Chief couldn't help but smile. He knew all to well what Lieu was talking about. "I'll expect a full report on this.on my desk.before role call Boscorelli."
"Yes sir," I replied with a hardy salute. The chief smiled, returning my salute, before shaking his head and walking away.
"Sir?" I replied, getting his attention.
"What about my two weeks suspension?" I asked.
"What suspension?" he replied, smiling before turning to leave once more.
As the scene started to break up, I suddenly realized something.
"Damn it!"
"Bosco, what is it?" Faith asked.
"Cruz, she's got the keys to the car," I replied slamming my hand on the car hood.
"Sully gave them to the Lieutenant," Lieu explained. "I think he took the car back in."
I glanced over not seeing the car I'd arrived in. Turning my attention to Faith, she read my mind and smiled.
"You wanna drive.partner," she asked.
"Nope, I think I'll ride," I said, opening the passenger door.
"So, you up for a beer after work?" Faith asked.
"A beer would be great but after today, I might need something a little stronger," I replied as Faith started up the car.
In one night, two traditions were re-born. Camelot had returned, drawn out of mothballs after a good fifteen years. But most importantly, 55-David was patrolling the streets of New York City.
"I give you a week," Faith replied, looking over at me.
"A week? For what?" I asked.
"Before you're ducking calls and Sully's bitching about it," she barely got the words out before breaking into what I can only call a Faith laugh.
"A whole week huh?" I laughed. It might take that long but I doubted it.
We got back to the precinct shortly before eleven. There were a lot of people on the streets. Most of them were firemen from across the street. Jimmy jogged over to invite us to have a beer with them.
A half hour later Haggerty's was getting crowded. I was sitting at a table with Faith when Jimmy and DK arrived. Strolling over to our table, I watched as Jimmy pulled something from behind his back.
"We talked to the Capt tonight and decided that you should have this," he said, handing me a medium sized box..
I glanced at the box then at Jimmy and across the table at Faith. Finally I opened the box. Inside I found a Squad 57 helmet. This was too much.
"We figured you might need one of those," D K replied with a laugh.
"Hell, lately you've been to as many fires as we have," Jimmy added. "You keep it up we'll get you a turnout coat to go with it."
"I'm kinda hoping that won't be necessary," I said with a smile. "Thanks guys."
Faith managed to hold her laughter until Jimmy and DK had left the table. She tried to cover it but she never had been very good at that sort of thing.
"That was sweet," she replied. "I think they're actually starting to care about you Bos."
"Yeah sure," I debated the idea. "Give 'em a week and they'll be calling us to direct traffic again."
We stayed at Haggerty's for about an hour. Just long enough for the helmet story to get around and for Kim and Alex to repeatedly question me on how I was feeling. Obviously they'd forgotten that Faith was in the smoke-filled room with me. Or, they had just decided to ignore that little fact.
The next day I arrived at the station by one thirty. I figured that would give me time to complete my report. Faith had agreed to come in a little early too so, between the two of us, the report would be on the Chief's desk.
Role call started right at three o'clock. The report was turned in and Faith and I were sitting in our usual back row seats. Before sending us out on the streets, Lieu passed around a small cardboard box.
"Camelot pins," Sully replied as the box reached him.
"I don't recall when or why exactly we stopped wearing the pins," Lieu explained after telling the story behind the pins. According to Sully, it's been at least fifteen years since we'd last wore the pins. Of course, several old timers had continued wearing them but for the new recruits, it became a past tradition whose time had come and gone.
Faith grabbed our radios as we headed out. We'd been on patrol for only about a half hour when she brought up the subject.
"So, you seen Nicole since that long discussion the two of you had?"
"No, lately sleep hasn't come easy for obvious reasons," I explained. "Long, well into mornings conversations have been out of the question."
"So now that things have settled down, maybe you should call her," she suggested.
"Maybe," was all I had to say. I'd be the first to admit that things hadn't ended well with Nicole and I knew that most of the blame for that was mine. I'd changed a lot since then, especially during the past few months. The long talk we had was nice. Okay so it was more than nice. It'd been a real eye-opener to a lot of things.
"You know, I still owe her a thank you," Faith replied.
"So maybe we should swing by her store and you could tell her," I suggested, knowing full well Faith was going to read more into it.
"Good idea," she said. Ten minutes later we pulled up in front of Nicole's store.
'Hey you two, back together I see," Nicole greeted the two as they entered her store.
"How you feeling?" I asked remembering her stitches and bruised ribs.
"Better than I was the last time I talked to you," Nicole replied before turning her attention to Faith. "How's it feel working with him again?"
Oh great. Two women in a room together and suddenly I'm invisible.
"It's only been a half hour or so," Faith replied after glancing at her watch. "Ask me that again in a week or so?"
"How's your mom?" Nicole asked.
"She's fine I guess. I haven't had much time to sit down and talk to her lately."
"She still dating the cop?" she asked. One look at Faith and I knew I had some explaining to do.
"Yeah, I think so," I replied. With all the stuff going on with me and anti- crime Lieu and I hadn't had much time to talk about ma. Faith glanced at Nicole, then at me. I decided to give the two of them a few minutes. I excused myself to use the bathroom.
"I just wanted to stop by and say 'thank you'" Faith replied after I'd left the room.
"Thank me?" Nicole asked. "I should be thanking you. You have no idea how relieved I was to see a familiar face the other day."
"I was glad to help out," Faith accepted Nicole's comment. "But I owe you a thank you. Bosco hasn't been himself lately. A lot has been going on and I've tried getting through to him without any luck. Apparently you were more successful with him when the two of you talked."
"It really wasn't that much Faith," Nicole tried to explain. "I think he already knew what I told him. It was probably nothing more than what you'd already said. Maybe he just wasn't ready to act on it yet."
"Well, he did and I can't tell you how relieved I am that everything worked out."
"I meant what I said. I think the two of you work well together. You have a good balance."
"Thanks, he's not just my partner, he's a good friend too and I was beginning to think I'd lost my friend as well as my partner."
"Well it looks like everything's fine now."
"Did I interrupt anything?" I asked joining the two of them.
"Nope, just waiting for you," Faith replied.
"Maurice?" Nicole called out as we were just about to leave.
"Yeah?" I replied turning around.
"You still got my number?"
I recited her number from memory, surprising myself as well as Nicole and Faith.
"Call me sometime."
I didn't answer, instead returned her smile as I nodded.
"Would you consider that normal?" I asked Faith when we were back on patrol.
"What's that?" she questioned.
"Me and Nicole?"
"You and Nicole were a lot of things Bosco but normal? Never."
"A lot has changed Faith," I replied in my defense. "Nicole and I didn't used to have five hours talks."
"You and Nicole were lucky to have five minute talks."
I didn't respond to her last statement. The two of us rode in silence for a while. Not a bad silence, just a comfortable silence.
"So when were you going to tell me about your mom and Lieu?" she asked.
I cringed when she asked the question.
"I have to say I was a little surprised, I mean Rose and Lieu. How did they ever meet one another in the first place?"
"That was my doing," I admitted. If I thought Nicole had found my admission to be hysterical, Faith was ten times worse. We eventually had to pull off the road while she pulled herself together.
"You mean to tell me you introduced your ma to Lieu?"
"We went to the bar for a beer. It was Sully's fault."
"Sully? Why is this his fault?"
"If he hadn't made a scene at Haggerty's, Lieu would have joined us for a beer there. Instead Sully creates a scene, we started to leave and just then Lieu comes by. He was going to skip the beer since we were leaving but I suggested we go somewhere else."
"So you took him to ypur ma's bar?"
"It was Sully's fault." I repeated. Faith's laughter was contagious. For some reason, I was laughing right along with her. Maybe it was the discussion about ma dating Lieu. Maybe it was the fact that they never would have met if it wasn't for me. Maybe it was because I was thinking about calling Nicole again. Maybe it was the Squad 57 fire helmet sitting on my TV at home. Maybe I was just happy to be back working with Faith. You know, the whole Camelot returns thing. Or maybe it was because it just felt normal.
