Darryl Morris walked into the police station. It seemed odd coming to work without his partner around. He and Andy had not seen eye to eye on many things. Especially some of the stranger cases they had investigated. But they had been partners for a long time. They were even friends. He was going to miss their arguments.
Several of the other officers spoke to him as he walked to his desk. Some he knew only in passing. But they all had partners. Some had even lost partners in the line of duty. They were all aware what he was going through. And they were all very sympathetic with him.
As Darryl walked toward his desk he saw another man sitting at Andy's desk. The two desks were butted up against each other so that Darryl and Andy could face each other as they discussed their cases. There was a cardboard box sitting on the floor next to Andy's desk and the man was placing items into it. When Darryl realized who was sitting at Andy's desk, he became angry.
"Todd," he fumed. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Morris," Todd said, smiling at Darryl, "I haven't had the chance to offer my condolences on Inspector Trudeau's death. He was a good cop. I'm sorry he's gone."
"Yeah, sure," said Darryl, keeping his temper in check. "Is that why you guys were investigating him? And what are you doing with his stuff? A lot of that stuff is personal. It needs to go to his next of kin. I should be the one cleaning out his desk, not you."
"I asked him to do it," said a voice behind Darryl.
Darryl turned to see his captain standing several feet from him.
"Captain," Darryl began.
"I asked him to clean out Trudeau's desk," the captain repeated. "Some of that stuff is official police property. Like the files for the cases you and he were working on. I thought it might be too painful for you to clean out his desk right now. Don't worry. Todd has orders to return all personal items to you when he's finished."
"And the files?" demanded Darryl. "Most of those are ongoing investigations. Andy may not be here any longer but I still have a job to do here."
"I'm going to return all the files once I've had a chance to look them over," Todd interjected. "Morris, you know this is standard procedure. When an officer dies in the line of duty, especially under suspicious circumstances, Internal Affairs always looks over the case files for any investigations that officer is involved in. That's all I'm doing here."
"If there's anything you want to know about those cases, you can ask me about them," insisted Darryl.
"Morris, you're out of line," the captain said. "Todd is just following standard procedure."
"But Captain," Darryl protested.
"No," the captain said. "Todd is almost finished. When he's done, he'll return everything to you. Then you can get back to your investigations."
"Yes, sir," Darryl said, glaring at Todd.
"Morris, I know how you feel," Todd said after the captain had left. "I honestly do. I lost a partner once. So I know what you're going through. And I'm just following procedure. As far as I can tell, there's nothing out of the ordinary in any of these cases. I'll be finished here in a few minutes and you'll get everything back when I am."
"But you're still going to continue the investigation on Andy," Darryl said matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean continue?" Todd asked.
"Come on," Darryl said. "I know IA was investigating Andy. He told me all about it."
"I don't know what Trudeau told you," Todd said, "but IA never had an investigation on him. Sure, some of his activities were a little odd, but nothing that would warrant an IA investigation."
"Don't give me that," Darryl said. "Rodriguez even asked me some questions about Andy. He was doing a full court press on him."
"Rodriguez?" questioned Todd. "Funny you should mention him. He seems to have disappeared. Just about the same time that Trudeau died. No one has seen him since. But trust me. If he was investigating Trudeau, he was doing it on his own. IA had no official investigation on Inspector Trudeau and as far as I can tell there's no reason for one."
"Are you sure?" Darryl asked.
"Morris, if there was an official investigation into Inspector Trudeau," Todd said, "I would have known. We all thought Trudeau was a bit unorthodox about some of his cases but no one ever suggested an investigation. Any idea why Rodriguez might be investigating Trudeau?"
"Nothing legitimate," Darryl said, some of his anger subsiding. "I told him that. So, you're not planning an investigation on Andy?"
"Not from what I've seen here," Todd said, standing up and picking up his briefcase. "Like I said, from everything I can see here there's nothing out of the ordinary in any of these cases. I can't say I totally agree with some of what Trudeau notes but that's hardly cause for an investigation. I'm leaving everything here. You can make sure the personal items get to his next of kin. And as your captain said you can get back to work on the cases."
"Okay," Darryl said. "I'm glad to see that Andy at least died with a clean slate with you guys."
"We in IA aren't all demons," Todd said smiling. "We investigate bad cops. I'll agree that we may get a bit overzealous from time to time, but we aren't your enemy."
"That doesn't make you friends either," Darryl said.
"Point taken," Todd said. "Well, I need to get back to work. Take it easy, Morris. And I meant what I said about my condolences. I do understand what you're going through."
"Thanks," Darryl said. "I appreciate it."
Todd left the station and went to his car. Inside the car, he opened his briefcase and removed a file. He opened it and started looking through the scraps of paper he found inside.
"Okay," he said to himself, "so I didn't leave everything in Trudeau's desk. But I don't think this one file is something that Morris should be concerned with. Now, Miss Prue Halliwell, let's see exactly why Inspector Trudeau would be keeping a file on you."