Murder and Mayhem
Rae, Jesse and Eliana had walked back to the car, and now they were just sitting in it watching the world go by. Eliana was in her car seat, her giraffe in her hands, a beaker of juice on the tray and she was quite content. Rae and Jesse however, were not all that content any more.
Rae shut her eyes and tried to imagine how she would be able to cope with two children under the age of two with one paralysed arm and hopefully by then, one arm, which was only slightly restricted. She tried to move both arms, but as always the left one refused to co-operate. Whatever way she looked at it, she knew it was going to be almost impossible for her to cope on her own.
Jesse looked across at his wife and for a moment his own panic and worry was forgotten. She was a fiercely independent woman, and he knew what would be going through her mind right now. As he watched he saw her flex the fingers of both hands, she raised her right arm into the air, and let it fall, then she stopped moving.
As Jesse began to concentrate again on his own worries he felt the impossibility of the situation from both sides. Rae couldn't cope on her own, and now he would have a wife and two children to care for and keep safe, as well as keep his job going, make sure that Bob's was running properly and keep everybody safe. Jesse realised that he had the same thought twice, but to him it was the main focus of his life. Rae, Eliana and the new baby were his responsibility. Until now he had made a pretty dismal job of keeping them protected, and he had to do better.
"Jesse?" Rae had spoken her husband's name twice already, and she could see he had no idea that she was speaking.
"What? Oh sorry, Rae, did you say something?"
"No, just your name. I guess we had better go home, hadn't we?"
"Yeah, I guess we had." Jesse started the car and they began the drive back the way they had come a couple of hours earlier. Then they had just been worried about Rae maybe having picked up a bug, now they were both concerned about other issues.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jo woke up as she heard Mark's voice outside in the hallway. She got up carefully, hoping not to disturb Steve too much. For a moment she froze as he stirred on the bed, but then with a small sigh Steve disappeared back into his dreams.
Jo and Mark had been sitting, quietly chatting in the morning room for just over an hour before a very sleepy looking Steve came down to join them. Jo hadn't told Mark what had happened that morning, except to say that Steve had needed to sort a few things out before the wedding.
"Dad, how was the dentist?" Steve moved over towards his father, and put a hand on his shoulder. He was still very concerned about him, and knew that he hadn't been spending as much time with him lately as he should.
"Oh, fine, no cavities, no extractions, I don't have to go back for six months. Just the type of dentist appointment I like."
Steve was just about to mention the dentist's visit that he and Jo had talked about earlier when he heard the telephone ring in the hallway. The three of them watched as Michael left his kitchen and walked sedately across to answer it.
"Good afternoon, Walters's residence…Yes, certainly, he is here. Who may I say is calling…? Thank you, would you hold?" Michael turned, his hand over the mouthpiece of the receiver. "Lieutenant Sloan, Sir, Detective Banks is on the line for you."
Steve took a deep breath. He knew that Cheryl didn't phone him on his day off unless it was important. He moved over and took the phone from Michael, not really wanting to know what she had to tell him. "Cheryl? What can I do for you…? No, that's ok, I was awake… What? … No, I heard you the first time, oh, great, just great. I guess I'm coming in then. I'll see you there." Steve put the phone down and turned back to his dad and Jo. "I imagine you worked that out for yourself."
"Oh, Honey, are you sure you are awake enough for this?" Jo was concerned, she could see that Steve was still tired, and she knew that letting his feelings out as he had hadn't been easy for him and had sapped him of what little energy he had left after a shift pattern of nights.
"I have to go and head a new murder enquiry, because, of course, I have nothing else to do, not enough paperwork as it is, no home life and there are no other homicide detectives in the whole North Hollywood area." Steve blew his cheeks out and Jo laughed. "What?"
"You look like a puffer fish, now go to work, Lieutenant, or I will be marryin' a patrolman."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
By the time Rae and Jesse arrived home Rae's worry had made her so angry that she wanted to kick something. Jesse hadn't spoken a word for the entire journey, but Eliana had chattered on enough for all three of them, and was, unfortunately, still going. Jesse had hoped to be able to put his daughter down for a nap and talk with Rae, but he knew that was not going to happen. So, once they had hung their coats up, and Rae had made them both a drink, they had moved into the family room, where the playpen was now set up and sat together, Jesse with his arm round Rae, and said nothing.
Finally Rae knew that she had to speak, and so she straightened her back a little and turned painfully round so that she could see Jesse's kind and loving face as she did so.
"You know, it isn't fair." It hadn't been how Rae had planned to begin, but it was how she felt.
"What isn't fair?" Jesse had a feeling he knew, but he wanted to hear Rae say it.
"Last time, when I was pregnant, we were worried the whole time, and now we will be that way again. When I was carrying Eliana I wanted you to know what it was like to be happy and delighted and to look forward to the day your baby arrived. Now you get another chance and we still can't do that. Oh, Jesse, we shouldn't have to be like this." Rae rested her head on Jesse's shoulder, and tried to just enjoy the feeling of having his arms around her, but somehow nothing was quite as it should be right now.
He was wrong, he hadn't known what she was going to say, but he did know that he needed to be able to reassure her. "Honey, look at me. We did have a couple of days when you being pregnant was just wonderful and I know we were worried about her being a little small, but we found this house, and decorated the nursery, they were such special times, and I won't ever forget them. This time we just have to try and plan for the future, but enjoy the present at the same time."
"But, Jesse, how am I ever gonna cope with looking after a baby, and Eliana when all I can do is this?" Rae lifted her right arm up until the pain was unbearable. It had moved about twelve inches. "Jesse, I'm scared, scared that I won't ever be able to do more than I can now. Which means no job, no security, no nothing." Rae had begun to shake and Jesse took a hold of her and kept up a soothing chatter about nothing until it stopped.
"Rae, we will sort it out. You are what, about two months pregnant? We have plenty of time."
"Which is probably just as well, Jesse, you have things that you need to sort out too, y'know." Rae felt comforted by Jesse's presence and his rational tone, but she wasn't surprised as she felt his body tense up.
"What?" Once again Jesse had a feeling he knew the answer, and this time he wouldn't be wrong.
"You have to go and see Steve. But not because I want you to, but because you do."
"No, I can't! Rae, he must hate me by now. I said some terrible things to him, and I have shut him out of my life ever since. If it had been up to me he wouldn't have seen anything of Eliana since we got her back."
"Why, Jesse? He saved her life; she would be dead by now if he hadn't been there."
"No, Rae, don't say that. I know I didn't keep her safe, but please, don't say that."
"Jesse? I didn't say anything about you not keeping her safe, all I meant was that he cares about her, in fact after you and I he is probably the person who cares for her the most, and he would have searched every corner of the globe to find her. If it had been left up to the FBI and the local forces then she might not have been found in time… Jess, you don't blame yourself for what happened do you? Or me, or Steve?"
Jesse didn't reply at all, and to Rae's dismay he removed his arm from round her and stood up. "I can't talk about it, Rae, not now." Jesse saw that Eliana was nodding off in her playpen and so he leant in and carefully picked her up. "Come on, Sweet pea, I think it's time for a little nap."
Rae looked at his retreating back and knew that it would take a lot of work to get him to open up and even more for him to realise that it wouldn't make him any less of a man if he did so.
Rae got slowly to her feet and headed into the main bedroom. She sat on the bed and ran her hand over her stomach. How in the world could she have gotten pregnant? Her mind began to go over all the difficulties that she knew she would face, and she suddenly felt so helpless that she didn't know what to think about next. She heard a sound and saw Jesse standing in the doorway and then he was there on the bed next to her and she let him take her in his arms and hold her tight.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Steve got to the parking lot of the precinct way too soon for his liking. As he drew in to an empty slot just inside the gate he could see the yellow police scene tape strung up around his normal parking space. With a deep sigh he got out of the car and moved over to where he could see Amanda just getting her things sorted out to begin her on site examination.
"Doctor Bentley."
"My, my, Lieutenant Sloan, aren't we formal today. Hi, Steve." Amanda smiled at him and placed one gloved hand on his arm. "Did they tell you what they had found?"
"No, just that there was a car in my space, and a murder enquiry would be started. So I guess that there is a body in the car. This is detective work, not rocket science."
"Yeah, well, rocket science may be easier. Steve, you better take a look. You didn't just eat did you?"
"No, why?" Steve was suddenly aware of his heart beating loudly in his chest. He had a pretty strong stomach, there had been times when he'd had to excuse himself, but it had been a long time since he had lost his lunch.
"You'll see." Amanda moved over to the trunk of the gold coloured convertible parked in his space. As they got closer Steve could see Martin standing watching them approach.
"Detective, if you could open the trunk please."
Martin placed a gloved hand over the release mechanism and the lid flew smoothly up. Steve gasped as he looked inside. The whole trunk was empty apart from the upper half of an arm, nothing below the elbow, no hand, just the upper arm.
"Oh, great!" Steve felt his stomach revolt for a moment, but he was determined not to let it win. He leant over and looked at the severed limb a little more closely. "And, of course, you can tell me the name, age, sex, and library card number for this … this victim."
"Oh, ha ha. Everyone's a comedian. No, but I can give you approximate height, weight and time of death, I imagine there is a death involved here, you can survive without an arm, but, well, you don't usually leave it in the trunk of a car." Amanda looked at Steve, knowing that they were both trying to lighten the sombre mood because dismembered bodies were always difficult to be involved with and Steve was glad such cases didn't come his way too often.
"I guess you'll take it back to Community General, and let me know what you find, when, in the morning?"
"Yeah, that would be about right, but I can tell you now that it is female, Caucasian, and not that old. But then you could probably have told me that."
Steve thought for a moment, and looked once again at the arm. "It is a slender shape," he looked at his own muscular arm for a moment, "Caucasian, yeah, I think I had that one nailed, and it isn't wrinkled or marked, so that would give you the young, right?"
"You wouldn't like to come with me and run the tests would you?" Amanda smiled and then called over one of her technicians. "Can you get this ready to be transported back to the lab please?"
Amanda removed her gloves and then took Steve by the arm and they walked a little way away from the crime scene. "Have you seen Jesse?"
"No, no I haven't. I tried to call him this morning, but there was no reply. I was going to call again, well about now, I guess, but as usual, life got in the way."
"You need to sort this out, I've seen him at the hospital and he isn't happy, or relaxed. He needs you to talk to, Steve."
"Yeah, and I need him too. I miss his company, and I wanted to ask him something, and, well, right now I can't."
"Can I ask him for you, would that help?" Amanda looked up at her friend, and was concerned by the hurt she saw in his eyes.
"No, thank you. But you can make sure that man of yours is in town over Easter, you will have a wedding to attend."
"You've set the date? Oh, Steve, that's wonderful Jo must be so excited."
Steve just smiled. The excitement had been rather swept away by events, but he felt better for talking things through, and he knew that once he had finally talked to Jesse the excitement would return. "Well, I guess I had better go and start this murder enquiry up, I get the feeling that we will probably find more of our Jane Doe before too long."
"Yeah, I think you're right. And I will contact Ron." Amanda smiled and then she turned and headed back towards her car.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
By the time Amanda went home that night the severed limb was safely stored away until it could be reunited with the rest of its body. Steve had called through just to say that he hadn't come up with anything yet, and he would be in to see her in the morning, and then he too had decided to call it a day.
Amanda let herself into the house and headed for the kitchen. Both the boys had after school clubs and wouldn't be home for another half hour. Her sitter would just drop them off at the end of the driveway when she saw the car, and Amanda would have the chance to spend a quiet evening with her sons for a change. Change. As Amanda sat in her favourite chair, the fresh mug of steaming coffee in her hand, she thought about the other changes that were taking place in her life, in all their lives. This year was definitely going to re-shape the land as far as all of them were concerned. Steve was getting married, and she knew that Mark would find it strange living at the beach house on his own. Rae and Jesse had so many things that they had to sort out, that she wondered whether a year would be enough for them to even scratch at the surface of it all, and then there was her own situation.
Amanda snuggled back into the chair and a soft smile crossed her face. She remembered back to Christmas Eve. The boys had hung their stockings by the fireplace and then after much cajoling and bribery had finally disappeared up the stairs just after nine. Ron had stood with his arms around Amanda and watched the flashing lights as they twinkled and reflected off the different ornaments on the tree. She had looked up at him and he had leant over and kissed her on the lips with a passion that had left her breathless.
"Wow, I think I need to sit down after that!" Amanda had taken Ron by the hand and pulled him over to the sofa. They had snuggled up together, and after a few moments Ron had begun to talk.
"I need to ask you something."
"Ok, it sounds serious. Is something wrong?"
"No, no, at least I hope not. I wanted to ask you about a decision I have to make."
"Now that does sound serious, Honey, what is it?" Amanda had shifted her position a little so that she could see his face.
"Do you remember what happened when I told you that I was moving to London?"
"You mean I got mad, or I said I would wait for you? I am still waiting, Agent Wagner."
"Well, both actually. Amanda there's an opening with the bureau available here in Los Angeles. The job is mine if I want it."
"I see. And do you want it?" Amanda had found that she was holding her breath.
"You know I think I do. I love you, Amanda, and CJ and Dion. I want to give this family thing a try, but I understand now about not rushing in and hurting the boys, I would never want to do that…"
Amanda had placed a finger on his lips and Ron had stopped talking. "I don't think that there is any chance of you hurting anyone, not now. I love you too, Ron, and I would be delighted if you could move to Los Angeles, so we can be together, but only if you want to. I know how important your career is to you and you need to be sure that this move is the right thing for you…" This time it was Ron who stopped her from talking and for a few minutes neither of them spoke.
"Honey, it's a good job, better than I have now, and it'll mean that I won't spend half my life in the air. I want to come."
"Then, yes, I want you to come too." Amanda had put her arms around his neck and begun to kiss him, she had just felt his hands begin to move down her back when they both heard the rumble of feet on the stairs.
"Are you gonna live here, Uncle Ron?"
"You can have my bed if you like, it's real comfortable."
"Is it from right now, today?"
"Are you and Mom gonna get married?"
"Woah, now, slow down here." Ron had shushed the boys and they had fallen into an excited silence. "First of all, I won't be living here… ah ah… my turn…" he cut off the groans just by raising his hand. "I will find a place of my own, at least to start with. We need time to get used to being together. And me living here isn't the way to go about it. Second of all, I won't move in here until your mom and I get married, ok? So then I won't need to borrow your bed, CJ, but thank you for the offer."
"And now that you have had two questions answered each you can head back to bed, or Santa will be passing us by tonight." Amanda smiled indulgently and so the sting was taken out of her words.
"Oh, I don't know, I think he called here already." Ron had smiled then and kissed each boy on the top of the head. Then he had shooed them back up the stairs, and once the sound of the bedroom door shutting had been heard he turned back to Amanda.
"Amanda, I'm not gonna ask you to marry me, not yet, some day I will, when we know that it is going to be the right thing to do, but until then, will you accept this?" Ron had taken a square box out of his pants pocket and handed it to Amanda. Slowly she opened it and a smile had lit up her face.
"Oh, Ron, it's beautiful, can I put it on right now?"
"Of course. It is to signify that one day, Doctor Bentley, you will be offered my ring, and I hope with all my heart that you will accept it and the offer of marriage that will go with it." Amanda looked at the bracelet as Ron put it on her wrist. It was a thin gold band, which turned into an open weave heart on the front of her arm. Inside the heart was a diamond, secured in a spider's web of gold strands.
"You carry on this way, and you can count on it, Agent Wagner."
Amanda smiled as she recalled the memory. They had stayed snuggled up on the sofa for a long time, there had been no need for words or actions, it had been enough just to know that the other one was there. They hadn't told anyone about their plans, and the boys had promised to keep it secret too. But Amanda knew that by Easter, her own love would be a Los Angeles resident, and by her side as they watched their friends get married.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rae had fallen asleep in Jesse's arms, and he had laid her on the bed and covered her over with the comforter. He knew that there were a million and one things that he should go and do while Eliana was asleep and not likely to get in the way, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Rae alone.
In the end he had gone and picked up the book that he did the accounts in, and, bringing a calculator and a pen back with him, had sat and tried to work out if they could survive without Rae bringing home a wage check every two weeks. It didn't take him long to discover that not only was it a possibility, but that they really wouldn't be that much worse off than they were now. Their savings wouldn't rise so fast, but they would be able to survive very nicely thank you, on his salary alone.
Jesse shook his head. The paperwork was one thing, suggesting to Rae that she resign from the force was another all together. He thought about Jo, and knowing a little of her history he got up off the bed again and headed for the living room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jo had been doodling wedding dresses when the telephone rang and she heard Michael's voice float towards her. "Good Afternoon, Walters's residence ... Ah, good afternoon, Sir. Yes, Madam is at home, I will connect you, if you would be so kind as to hold the line."
Jo laughed. Sometimes Michael got so tied up in the formalities that he was on the phone longer than she was. "Excuse me, Madam, but there is a call from Doctor Travis for you."
Jo leapt to her feet, her pad and pen still in her hand, delighted for the chance to talk to Jesse and hopefully start the reconciliation process between him and Steve. "Jesse, how are you? An' how is Rae?" Jo pressed the button for loudspeaker, and carried on with her doodling.
"She's fine, Jo, she has some news, but she'll tell you that herself later. Right now she's asleep. I need to talk to you about something, and I know you have experience of it. I want to know how you felt when you left the force."
"What? Is Rae thinkin' of leavin' the force? She didn't give me that impression the last time I spoke with her." Jo was shocked by what Jesse was saying.
"No, no, but I think that she has to face the fact that there is a very good possibility that she will have to retire on health grounds."
"Now, just hold on a minute here, Jesse. Rae is doin' all she can to get herself fit an' capable of holdin' down her job again. If she were to hear you discussin' this with me she, well, she would think we were conspirin' against her." Jo couldn't believe what Jesse was saying, and she had a feeling that the disgust was apparent in her voice.
"Jo, I'm not asking you to write her letter of resignation, I'm just trying to find out how you felt about it when it happened to you." Jesse's tone had become very short, and Jo could understand a little more why Steve had been avoiding talking to him.
"I felt empty. I don't think I was ever a career cop, not like Steve or Rae, but leavin', that was hard, maybe if I had left of my own free will I could have accepted it, but that didn't happen, I had to leave because I couldn't do it any more." Jo paused for a moment; the feelings of failure and much more were still there, and some of them hadn't been brought to the surface in a long time. "Nobody cared about me once I handed in my badge. I was an ex-cop, an' nobody is interested in them. Jesse, let me tell you this clearly, if you make her leave, give her no choice, like I had no choice, it will destroy her, you will destroy her. Your marriage won't be worth squat if she feels you have taken her job away from her. If I were you I would forget that you had the idea, an' I will forget you ever asked me." Jo knew that now was not the time to mention his disagreement with Steve, and so she just waited for him to speak.
"I see. Ok, well, thank you, Jo, I guess I know where I stand with you now don't I?" Jesse put the phone down without another word and then hurled himself onto the sofa. Nobody seemed to realise that all he was trying to do was keep his wife safe from harm. She would never be fit enough to keep up with Steve, or any other cop she might be paired off with, she would be a danger to them and herself, she needed to accept that fact and move on. And if Jo couldn't see that, well, then he would have to deal with it on his own.
As he stood up to go and start preparing dinner he saw Rae standing in the doorway. "Why are you trying to destroy my life?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Rae had woken up and feeling refreshed and suddenly positive had decided to get herself up and out of bed. It had been a painful but not impossible process, and she had been very proud of herself until she had got to the door of her room when she had heard Jesse on the phone, asking someone about leaving the force. For a minute she had wanted to retreat back to her room, but she needed to hear what Jesse had to say. Finally, as he had finished his conversation Rae had moved towards him, and once she was in the doorway had found her voice. "Why are you trying to destroy my life?"
"What? No, I'm not, Rae, Honey, please…" Jesse felt the colour drain from his face. Rae should still be in bed, fast asleep.
"I know you don't like me being a cop, but that's what I am, Jesse. I worked as a secretary for a little while but only until I was old enough to train as a policewoman, and I have never regretted it for a moment."
"So you don't regret all the things that have happened to you, to Eliana, to me? Oh, well, that's reassuring!"
"Of course I do, don't be infantile! But I don't regret the years I have spent pounding the beat, searching for clues, putting the guilty behind bars, and giving the victim at least a little of their dignity back, and if I have to put myself in danger because of that, well, then I guess I just have to accept it. I don't want you or Eliana to suffer, or anybody else, just because they know me, but no, Jess, I wouldn't change it, not any of it, because I have put some seriously nasty people where they can't cause any more harm, and saved more anguish than I have ever caused. Jesse, before Eliana was taken, when I asked you to leave, you didn't want to go, but I couldn't have you stay because I was so worried for you, well now you are doing the same to me. You are trying to pass your worries and fears onto me, and I can't take them, because I don't feel that way anymore. There is nobody after me, you or Eliana, we have our lives back, but until you let go, we can't live them."
"But you aren't the woman you were, you can't compete any more. You have to be realistic."
"No, I can't. Do you think I don't know that? Could you give up being a doctor tomorrow because you were debilitated? One decision taken in a minute of haste? No, of course you couldn't, and neither can I. I am under no illusions about my chances of becoming Steve's partner again, but until I am ready to face the consequences on my own, and accept them without the crushing pain I feel in my heart when I think about them now, then no, I don't have to be realistic. I don't have to be realistic at all!"
Jesse watched as Rae turned from him and moved into the family room, and then he saw her close the door, and he knew that for the time being there was no point in making dinner.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After Steve had called Amanda he had spoken to Cheryl and told her that he was heading for home. He saw Campbell working at his desk and went over for a moment to see if anything new had happened on the drive bys.
"We are now going through the credit card slips, and bank statements again to see if we can find a link between them all, but so far nothing. And I use the term 'we' loosely, George didn't turn up this morning, no call, no nothing. I hope he's ok. I tried calling him but I just got his answering machine."
"He lives in Van Nuys, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, I need some air; I'll drive over and see him before I go home. I'll see you in the morning."
Steve had gone down to his car, forgetting for a moment that it wasn't where it should be, and then he had driven towards George Bannister's address, which he had picked up from Bob on the way past the front desk.
It didn't take him as long as he had thought to get to the street where George lived, and soon he was slowing up outside a small, neat ranch style home. He walked up the path, rang the bell, and waited. He heard voices inside, and then the door opened slowly. A very red eyed and tearful George opened the door, and Steve thought he was going to collapse in front of him when he saw who was standing there.
"L…l…l…ieutenant S…s…s…loan, Sir, ah, Steve… H…hi… What can I d…do for you?" George was stammering and stuttering, and was definitely extremely nervous about something.
"I was a little concerned that you hadn't reported for duty today, especially after you had that turn at Bob's last night. George, can I come in?"
"Yes, of course, where are my manners? I am so sorry." The door was opened to reveal a spotlessly tidy, white room, which seemed to stretch the length of the house. There were three dark blue leather sofas that Steve could see, and the carpet was the same colour as the furniture. As Steve moved further into the room he could see another man standing over by one of the front windows.
"You, you know Joseph don't you?"
"Only by sight, Hi, I'm Steve Sloan." Steve held his hand out and was pleasantly surprised by the firm handshake. Steve turned round and looked at the very nervous man in front of him. George Bannister was about thirty-two years old. He was just a little shorter than Steve, and, according to something he had once heard Rae say, an incredibly handsome man. Now though, he just looked like an incredibly scared man.
"George, perhaps you had better tell me what is wrong, because although you look like you have had your wits scared out of you, you don't look ill."
"No, Sir, I'm not ill, just very very worried and scared."
"I see." Steve didn't see at all, but it was somewhere to start. "Maybe you had better let me know why you left your partner to do all the paperwork on the drive bys when you must have known how busy he would be. Rae didn't do any work for you last night, she just gave you a direction to go in."
"I know that, and I will apologise when I see him, but I needed some time to think things over, and decide what I was going to do." George was still nervous but he seemed to be getting himself a little more under control now. He looked over towards Joseph, and Steve, who was also looking in that direction, saw the older man give a nod.
"You know I'm gay, don't you, Sir?" George didn't really know why he was calling Steve, Sir, but somehow at the moment it seemed appropriate.
"Well, nobody has ever told me, but yeah, I had guessed that you and Joseph were … together."
Bannister smiled a small smile. "Well, not everybody is as understanding as you. We know that we can come to Bob's, and nobody is gonna stare at us, or make us eat up quickly and leave; we can sit in a booth and just enjoy each other's company. We even held hands one night. You seem to accept us, Rae does too, but not everybody is as understanding as you. Oh, I just said that, didn't I?"
"George, I hate to rush you, but I just finished nights last night, I didn't get much sleep, and today I had a severed arm in my parking space."
"Oh, God, really? Steve, I'm sorry, this can wait. I'll talk to you again." George began to get flustered, and Steve watched as Joseph moved over towards him.
"No, George, now, the Lieutenant will wait while you calm yourself, won't you?" Joseph spoke and his New York accent became apparent.
Steve had a feeling that he wasn't going to be in a position to say no, so he nodded his head and looked at Joseph. He reckoned that he was about eight to ten years older than George, but as he didn't have an awful lot of hair it was a little difficult to gauge. Steve was reminded of the British actor who played Star Trek's Captain Picard when he looked at Joseph, apart from the fact that he obviously came from Brooklyn.
"Ok, I'm sorry. Steve, would you like to sit down? Have a coffee or anything? I guess I really did forget my manners."
"No, I'm fine, I'll sit down, but I don't need a coffee thanks." Steve sank down into a leather sofa that seemed to be made of duck down. He had a feeling that getting up again might be an embarrassment. "Now, as a detective, I have worked out that you have something to tell me. Maybe you could let me know what it is?" Steve tried to lighten the mood enough that George would become a little less tense, but it didn't seem to work.
"I need to speak with you about the drive bys."
"Ok, but couldn't you have come into the precinct and done that?"
"No, no, because, like I said, not everybody is as tolerant as you are. My job and my career are on the line here. I can't risk them without being absolutely certain of my facts." George took a deep breath, and Steve saw Joseph take his hand just for a second and then release it.
"Ok, we have established that I am tolerant, and that your job is on the line. Is that because you are gay, and very few people know about it?" Steve saw George nod, and so he continued. "And you have knowledge about the drive bys, which will somehow make your …" Steve wasn't sure how to continue. "Which will bring this out into the open?"
"Yeah. That is exactly what will happen. If I tell you what I know, and you decide that all the facts have to come out, then my career in the force will be over. Dead and buried."
"George, you can't say that and then not tell me the rest. I don't know if I can do what you want me to do without having all the facts. Once I have all the facts, I don't know if I will be able to keep any of them to myself. You have put me in one hell of a position here." Steve realised that he could talk round and round in circles all night, and George was so mixed up and scared that he would probably let him.
"Ok, let me ask you something… You're engaged, if you found out something about her that would devastate her, would leave her whole world destroyed, but would put someone behind bars who had been wronged and was seeking revenge for a disaster that wasn't her doing, would you tell?"
"George, I can't answer that, and you know it. Apart from the fact that you just confused the hell out of me, that is a hypothetical question. I can't put myself in that position and tell you with absolute certainty what I would do, but my initial response is that I would make damn sure the charges would stick."
"I see." George shook his head, and Steve knew he was no nearer to hearing what the detective was too confused to tell him.
"George, there is a pattern to the shootings. Did Rae get it right, is it a special date gone bad?" George just nodded, and so Steve carried on. "Is it ended, or will there be any more killings?"
"No, I don't think there will be, I think that it is finished… At least I hope so." The last words came out so softly, that Steve had to strain to hear them.
"If there are going to be more shootings then you have to tell me, right now, what you know. So that we can stop them."
"Steve, I honestly don't know. I have been going over what I do know, and I don't think that there will be any more."
"What is it that you know, George?"
"I know who is doing the shooting, and I know why."
Steve thought that George was going to continue, but his phone began to vibrate in his pocket, and he knew that the moment was lost.
"Sloan here… Cheryl? … Oh, God, no, I'm in Van Nuys, but I'll get there… How many? … Yeah … and you're sure it is the same MO…? Ok, bye." Steve turned to look back at the young man sitting across from him, and his eyes were like ice.
"I thought you said that there would be no more shootings."
"There shouldn't be, all the stores were there. All the stores were there."
"George, when did you realise that you had information about these shootings?"
"Last night, when Rae said it was a date gone wrong." George was getting very worried now. The Lieutenant was obviously furious and very upset about something, and he knew it had to do with the shootings, and the phone call.
"And you didn't think to say anything? Four cops just got blown away, God help you, George, if you could have prevented that." Steve's voice was loud, and suddenly Bannister was aware of the one place that hadn't been hit.