Case 3: Death Watch, Part 1
Disclaimer: Same as before. A JAG episode by the same name inspired this one.
~ ~ ~ ~
19 May 2000: After an uneventful and long Trans-Atlantic flight, Ivy and Hal had been billeted at a bed and breakfast inn in Hereford owned by an old friend of Hal's from A-Squadron, a former member of the Scots Guards named Gil.
"Hal?" Ivy said, knocking on his door.
Hal opened the door to his room, "Yes."
"We've got an investigation to start up, if you want to get something to eat, now's the best time for it." Ivy replied.
Breakfast was a tense, uncomfortable affair. Hal hadn't said two words since he'd answered the door that morning. There was definitely something on his mind and Ivy as both a partner and a friend wanted to know what it was. She didn't know that under the folds of Hal's shirt was a .380 Walther pistol and that he had on his mind a particular brand of justice for Diane's killer.
~ ~ ~ ~
ACME Field Office, Hereford, UK
"Detectives Darren and Olden." Senior Inspector Holbarth began, "I hope you two can clear up these allegations quickly and apprehend the perpetrator before my office really gets any more negative press coverage."
"Forgive me, sir," Hal said, coldly, "But I was under the impression that your office already suffered from bad press and your career already stalled."
Holbarth was a fellow in early middle age, with curly brown hair and a mustache. "Now, Detective Olden, that was quite uncalled for."
"Really? I do think your mishandling of the Schonke murder investigation last year hurt your career and all this constitutes is a final nail in the coffin for your career." Hal replied.
"Olden, I really do think that your frustration over the fact that the perpetrator of Detective Schonke's murder should not be directed at me." Holbarth replied, with an oily grin. Ivy could see she would trust Holbarth as far as she could through him.
"I do think your ambition was seriously frustrated. There's no way you'll make Chief Inspector now." Hal replied, "I can see you retiring at your present rank and failing to please daddy."
"You leave my family out of this Olden. I don't need the frustrations of a fatherless mama's boy right now." Holbarth replied. His father had been Chief Inspector of ACME, the highest position in the organization decades before.
"And I don't need the corpulent shadow of a man who failed to live up to his father's standards darkening my doorstep." Hal replied, making reference to Holbarth's gut.
Ivy watched the exchange between the two men. Hal was obviously taking out his frustrations on Holbarth. "Hal, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Certainly." Hal replied.
As they made it outside Ivy said, "What the hell has gotten into you Hal?" Ivy asked.
"That sorry excuse for a man bungled the investigation of Diane's murder last year and because of that her killer managed to escape justice." Hal replied.
"That's no excuse to attack the senior detective of a field office we're a guest of, if we expect help." Ivy replied.
"We don't need it." Hal replied, "I've already deduced that whoever was responsible for these threatening phone calls to Payton is the same son of a bitch who killed Diane."
"Hal, we've got a suspect to interrogate in five minutes. I suggest you don't terrorize him with your inner demons." Ivy said.
"Right." Hal replied, with a tone of dark humor, "I should skip the terrorizing and just skin him alive."
"Hal, I realize this case has brought back a lot of memories you don't necessarily want to revisit, but for the sake of our investigation please try and deal with them better." Ivy replied.
"Well, Detective Velasquez is waiting for us in the interrogation room." Hal said, with a wolfish grin, "Let's see what we can turn up."
~ ~ ~ ~
Velasquez was a bespectacled, slightly overweight fellow who worked in the Crimelab at the Hereford Field Office. He was a shaven haired fellow from Puerto Rico with an arrogant demeanor, he behaved as though this interrogation was a mild interruption of his life rather than the serious allegations that could land him both a dismissal from ACME and time in prison.
"Detective Velasquez, is it true that Senior Detective Payton repeatedly turned you down for no fewer than five dates?" Ivy asked.
"Yes. I tried to ask her out four times, but she...." Velasquez began.
"Let's try a different track, shall we. She turned you down, so you start making harassing phone calls towards her." Hal replied.
"What? No! I've no idea what you're...."
"So what happened the fifth time?" Hal asked, "Did you load the gun you keep?"
"A lot of senior detectives own firearms, its...."
"I'm aware of that tradition. And I'm also aware that there were complaints about you continuously badgering female co-workers for dates." Hal replied, pressing the matter, "And I'm also aware that at least one other detective that turned down your advances and badgering received phone calls as well. What sort of gun do you own?"
"A Colt .38 Detective Special, it's a real popular model." Velasquez began.
"I'm aware of that, as well. And strangely enough, the other detective that turned you down a year ago discovered just such a round lodged in her brain." Hal said, with a calm, even tone of voice that contained a conviction that he was right.
"If you're accusing me of a year old murder, the answer is no!" Velasquez began, "I didn't kill her!"
"Then why are you behaving so defensively?" Hal replied, "If you had nothing to do with the crime, you shouldn't react so defensively."
"He's being inflammatory! I didn't kill...." Velasquez began.
"Or admit to killing." Hal added, with the same calm conviction.
"What!?" Velasquez demanded.
"You must be aware of the similarities of these two crimes, Detective." Ivy said, "Unfortunately both Detectives Payton and Schonke received harassing phone calls after they put allegations of sexual harassment through their superiors. In both instances, you seem to be connected somehow."
"What?" Velasquez said, "In my defense, I may be a little too persistent a pursuer, but I didn't start harassing them with anonymous phone calls."
"Explain why this voice scrambler was discovered in your locker." Hal replied.
"We use those to tape witness confessions." Velasquez replied, he was near tears with terror, thinking he was about to be dragged off to prison.
"No further questions." Ivy said, "Hal, I need to talk to you outside."
They walked outside the interrogation room and Ivy said, "Hal, you were WAY out of line in there. Firstly that inflammatory line of questioning. Second, you really tore into him when you were questioning him."
"He's not the first guilty party to cry under interrogation." Hal replied.
"Hal, for God's sake, even if he is guilty, don't let whatever ghosts from Diane's murder on your mind start haunting you." Ivy replied, "I need you 100% focused. Now, we're supposed to meet Detective Payton for dinner. That's when she feels most comfortable to discuss this. Can I count on you not beating Velasquez senseless or ripping Holbarth's character into shreds for the rest of the day?"
"I'll try. But Holbarth doesn't have any sort of character to shred." Hal replied, it wasn't like a lot of his witty remarks or jokes, "If you'll excuse me."
"Hal, please, let me help you." Ivy said.
"Ivy, where I'm going, you can't follow." Hal replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
St. Bartholomew's Catholic Church, Hereford, UK
"Hal?" Ivy said, as she moved among the headstones. That last sentence he said made her worry and she had practically run all the way to their rental car and drove off to someplace some sixth sense told her.
"Yes Ivy?" Hal said, he was standing in front of a marble headstone.
His face looked like it was carved of marble. A bouquet of flowers was at the base of the headstone. "Peony. The state flower of her home state." Hal said, mechanically.
Ivy had never seen Hal look so vulnerable, so haunted. It explained why he was so shocked when they first met in the rose garden back at HQ. The very fact, by whoever's design, that she to a letter resembled Hal's lost love must have been very unsettling for her.
'Does he see me, or does he see her whenever he looks at me?' Ivy thought.
"You really must have loved her." Ivy said.
"With all my heart." Hal replied, blinking. Ivy could see his eyes shined with unshed tears. With only a little hesitation, Ivy closed the distance between them, throwing her arms around Hal who returned the hug.
'I can't believe I'm using her like this. What's more I can't believe she's seeing me this way.' Hal thought.
'It's perfectly natural to grieve Hal. Why are you so afraid of losing it?' Ivy thought. Hal, the normally composed fellow, the one who had helped her crack the last couple of cases was about to crack himself.
Hal could feel Ivy's eyes on him, the hairs on the back of his necks stood on end. He thought, 'Because if I do something, anything that goes beyond what is acceptable between friends, would I be doing it with you, or would some part of me be seeing Diane.'
"Ivy, I'm sorry I was out of line." Hal replied, "Ever since Diane was killed, I've needed closure, in some way. And I know I won't get it until her killer is brought to justice."
"Hal, we'll catch him. I know it." Ivy replied.
'Ivy, the brand of justice I intend to bestow is one you can't possibly have any part in. You've got too brilliant a career with ACME to be caught helping me dispose of a body.' Hal thought. Already he was thinking of the way he'd hide the remains of Diane's killer after he'd slotted the man. He couldn't involve Ivy in what he was planning to do. It would likely end his career, make him into a fugitive and darken the reputations of those who knew him.
"Hal, I'll see you at Russell's Pub tonight." Ivy said, knowing Hal needed time to himself for this one, but not wanting to leave him.
Hal felt like a right bastard that minute. It felt good to have Ivy backing him up on it, even as a friend, but he still felt like he was using her. He needed her not to be there when he killed Diane's killer and avenged his dead love.
'That look on Hal's face, that one that spoke of such determination. It's as if he's planning something he doesn't want me to know about.' Ivy thought, 'But then he's always been protective of you, practically since you first met. What could he possibly be trying to protect you from?'
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC
Disclaimer: Same as before. A JAG episode by the same name inspired this one.
~ ~ ~ ~
19 May 2000: After an uneventful and long Trans-Atlantic flight, Ivy and Hal had been billeted at a bed and breakfast inn in Hereford owned by an old friend of Hal's from A-Squadron, a former member of the Scots Guards named Gil.
"Hal?" Ivy said, knocking on his door.
Hal opened the door to his room, "Yes."
"We've got an investigation to start up, if you want to get something to eat, now's the best time for it." Ivy replied.
Breakfast was a tense, uncomfortable affair. Hal hadn't said two words since he'd answered the door that morning. There was definitely something on his mind and Ivy as both a partner and a friend wanted to know what it was. She didn't know that under the folds of Hal's shirt was a .380 Walther pistol and that he had on his mind a particular brand of justice for Diane's killer.
~ ~ ~ ~
ACME Field Office, Hereford, UK
"Detectives Darren and Olden." Senior Inspector Holbarth began, "I hope you two can clear up these allegations quickly and apprehend the perpetrator before my office really gets any more negative press coverage."
"Forgive me, sir," Hal said, coldly, "But I was under the impression that your office already suffered from bad press and your career already stalled."
Holbarth was a fellow in early middle age, with curly brown hair and a mustache. "Now, Detective Olden, that was quite uncalled for."
"Really? I do think your mishandling of the Schonke murder investigation last year hurt your career and all this constitutes is a final nail in the coffin for your career." Hal replied.
"Olden, I really do think that your frustration over the fact that the perpetrator of Detective Schonke's murder should not be directed at me." Holbarth replied, with an oily grin. Ivy could see she would trust Holbarth as far as she could through him.
"I do think your ambition was seriously frustrated. There's no way you'll make Chief Inspector now." Hal replied, "I can see you retiring at your present rank and failing to please daddy."
"You leave my family out of this Olden. I don't need the frustrations of a fatherless mama's boy right now." Holbarth replied. His father had been Chief Inspector of ACME, the highest position in the organization decades before.
"And I don't need the corpulent shadow of a man who failed to live up to his father's standards darkening my doorstep." Hal replied, making reference to Holbarth's gut.
Ivy watched the exchange between the two men. Hal was obviously taking out his frustrations on Holbarth. "Hal, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Certainly." Hal replied.
As they made it outside Ivy said, "What the hell has gotten into you Hal?" Ivy asked.
"That sorry excuse for a man bungled the investigation of Diane's murder last year and because of that her killer managed to escape justice." Hal replied.
"That's no excuse to attack the senior detective of a field office we're a guest of, if we expect help." Ivy replied.
"We don't need it." Hal replied, "I've already deduced that whoever was responsible for these threatening phone calls to Payton is the same son of a bitch who killed Diane."
"Hal, we've got a suspect to interrogate in five minutes. I suggest you don't terrorize him with your inner demons." Ivy said.
"Right." Hal replied, with a tone of dark humor, "I should skip the terrorizing and just skin him alive."
"Hal, I realize this case has brought back a lot of memories you don't necessarily want to revisit, but for the sake of our investigation please try and deal with them better." Ivy replied.
"Well, Detective Velasquez is waiting for us in the interrogation room." Hal said, with a wolfish grin, "Let's see what we can turn up."
~ ~ ~ ~
Velasquez was a bespectacled, slightly overweight fellow who worked in the Crimelab at the Hereford Field Office. He was a shaven haired fellow from Puerto Rico with an arrogant demeanor, he behaved as though this interrogation was a mild interruption of his life rather than the serious allegations that could land him both a dismissal from ACME and time in prison.
"Detective Velasquez, is it true that Senior Detective Payton repeatedly turned you down for no fewer than five dates?" Ivy asked.
"Yes. I tried to ask her out four times, but she...." Velasquez began.
"Let's try a different track, shall we. She turned you down, so you start making harassing phone calls towards her." Hal replied.
"What? No! I've no idea what you're...."
"So what happened the fifth time?" Hal asked, "Did you load the gun you keep?"
"A lot of senior detectives own firearms, its...."
"I'm aware of that tradition. And I'm also aware that there were complaints about you continuously badgering female co-workers for dates." Hal replied, pressing the matter, "And I'm also aware that at least one other detective that turned down your advances and badgering received phone calls as well. What sort of gun do you own?"
"A Colt .38 Detective Special, it's a real popular model." Velasquez began.
"I'm aware of that, as well. And strangely enough, the other detective that turned you down a year ago discovered just such a round lodged in her brain." Hal said, with a calm, even tone of voice that contained a conviction that he was right.
"If you're accusing me of a year old murder, the answer is no!" Velasquez began, "I didn't kill her!"
"Then why are you behaving so defensively?" Hal replied, "If you had nothing to do with the crime, you shouldn't react so defensively."
"He's being inflammatory! I didn't kill...." Velasquez began.
"Or admit to killing." Hal added, with the same calm conviction.
"What!?" Velasquez demanded.
"You must be aware of the similarities of these two crimes, Detective." Ivy said, "Unfortunately both Detectives Payton and Schonke received harassing phone calls after they put allegations of sexual harassment through their superiors. In both instances, you seem to be connected somehow."
"What?" Velasquez said, "In my defense, I may be a little too persistent a pursuer, but I didn't start harassing them with anonymous phone calls."
"Explain why this voice scrambler was discovered in your locker." Hal replied.
"We use those to tape witness confessions." Velasquez replied, he was near tears with terror, thinking he was about to be dragged off to prison.
"No further questions." Ivy said, "Hal, I need to talk to you outside."
They walked outside the interrogation room and Ivy said, "Hal, you were WAY out of line in there. Firstly that inflammatory line of questioning. Second, you really tore into him when you were questioning him."
"He's not the first guilty party to cry under interrogation." Hal replied.
"Hal, for God's sake, even if he is guilty, don't let whatever ghosts from Diane's murder on your mind start haunting you." Ivy replied, "I need you 100% focused. Now, we're supposed to meet Detective Payton for dinner. That's when she feels most comfortable to discuss this. Can I count on you not beating Velasquez senseless or ripping Holbarth's character into shreds for the rest of the day?"
"I'll try. But Holbarth doesn't have any sort of character to shred." Hal replied, it wasn't like a lot of his witty remarks or jokes, "If you'll excuse me."
"Hal, please, let me help you." Ivy said.
"Ivy, where I'm going, you can't follow." Hal replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
St. Bartholomew's Catholic Church, Hereford, UK
"Hal?" Ivy said, as she moved among the headstones. That last sentence he said made her worry and she had practically run all the way to their rental car and drove off to someplace some sixth sense told her.
"Yes Ivy?" Hal said, he was standing in front of a marble headstone.
His face looked like it was carved of marble. A bouquet of flowers was at the base of the headstone. "Peony. The state flower of her home state." Hal said, mechanically.
Ivy had never seen Hal look so vulnerable, so haunted. It explained why he was so shocked when they first met in the rose garden back at HQ. The very fact, by whoever's design, that she to a letter resembled Hal's lost love must have been very unsettling for her.
'Does he see me, or does he see her whenever he looks at me?' Ivy thought.
"You really must have loved her." Ivy said.
"With all my heart." Hal replied, blinking. Ivy could see his eyes shined with unshed tears. With only a little hesitation, Ivy closed the distance between them, throwing her arms around Hal who returned the hug.
'I can't believe I'm using her like this. What's more I can't believe she's seeing me this way.' Hal thought.
'It's perfectly natural to grieve Hal. Why are you so afraid of losing it?' Ivy thought. Hal, the normally composed fellow, the one who had helped her crack the last couple of cases was about to crack himself.
Hal could feel Ivy's eyes on him, the hairs on the back of his necks stood on end. He thought, 'Because if I do something, anything that goes beyond what is acceptable between friends, would I be doing it with you, or would some part of me be seeing Diane.'
"Ivy, I'm sorry I was out of line." Hal replied, "Ever since Diane was killed, I've needed closure, in some way. And I know I won't get it until her killer is brought to justice."
"Hal, we'll catch him. I know it." Ivy replied.
'Ivy, the brand of justice I intend to bestow is one you can't possibly have any part in. You've got too brilliant a career with ACME to be caught helping me dispose of a body.' Hal thought. Already he was thinking of the way he'd hide the remains of Diane's killer after he'd slotted the man. He couldn't involve Ivy in what he was planning to do. It would likely end his career, make him into a fugitive and darken the reputations of those who knew him.
"Hal, I'll see you at Russell's Pub tonight." Ivy said, knowing Hal needed time to himself for this one, but not wanting to leave him.
Hal felt like a right bastard that minute. It felt good to have Ivy backing him up on it, even as a friend, but he still felt like he was using her. He needed her not to be there when he killed Diane's killer and avenged his dead love.
'That look on Hal's face, that one that spoke of such determination. It's as if he's planning something he doesn't want me to know about.' Ivy thought, 'But then he's always been protective of you, practically since you first met. What could he possibly be trying to protect you from?'
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC