Recovery

Chapter 6

From the scrape on the Ford Fusion, anyone could see the automobile was sideswiped. Emmett pulls his mother's car into a spot as clear as possible of other vehicles. It will give him a longer walk to the division entrance but make it easier to catch Stanton on video. Lucy and Bradford are in place with cameras ready. All Emmett has to do is lure Stanton into range.

Nolan takes a quick glance at his phone before turning to Harper. "Bradford and Chen are set, and Emmett is on his way to the desk."

"Recording and heading toward the division now," Harper acknowledges. "But if we get a call, we'll have to take it."

Nolan holds up crossed fingers. "Recording also. Emmett is coming through now."

Stanton's eyes narrow as Emmett approaches the desk. "Can I help you?"

"I hope so. I brought my mother's car. I need to report an accident and document the damage."

"Why didn't your mother report it when it happened?" Stanton demands.

"She had it parked on the street while she was visiting my aunt and didn't know the car was damaged until after she got home," Emmett explains. "I have the car right outside. Can you just take a look? It won't take long."

"All right," Stanton agrees with a tight smile. "So how does she know it happened while it was parked?" he asks as he follows Emmett across the parking area. "Maybe you took it, sideswiped someone, and now you're trying to rip off the insurance company." He tenses as Emmett fingers the phone recording in his pocket. "Keep your hands where I can see them!" he orders.

Emmett raises his arms. "Look, I'm not the bad guy here. I was at work all day when the car was scraped, and my boss and five guys I work with are witnesses."

"Your homeboys, are they?" Stanton taunts.

Emmett whirls toward Stanton. "I'm not a gang member. I've never been a gang member. I work, and I have a good job."

Stanton smirks. "Sure you do."

Emmett points at his mother's car. "There it is. The damage is on the passenger side. That's why my mother didn't see it."

Stanton checks out the recent model auto. "If it's hers. I need to see the registration."

"Sure," Emmett agrees. "It's in the glove compartment. I'll just get the key." As Emmett reaches toward his pocket again, Stanton knocks him to the ground and grasps the taser on his utility belt.

"Don't tase me!" Emmett begs. "I was just reaching for the key. You can check."

"And have you grab my weapon?" Stanton snaps cuffs on Emmett.

"Don't cuff me! I didn't do anything wrong!" Emmett protests. Stanton shoves a small pistol into Emmett's pocket. "No! You can't plant a gun on me!"

Bradford lunges from behind a car. "Let's go, Chen!"

On approach to the division, Harper floors it.

"Hold it right there, Stanton," Bradford orders.

"This piece of sh*t was going to pull a gun on me," Stanton claims. "I'm protecting myself. I'm protecting all of us from his kind."

"'His kind,' as you put it," Lucy interjects, "is a decorated firefighter and paramedic."

Harper brakes to a halt and springs out of her shop, with Nolan right behind her. She holds her weapon on the dirty cop. "And I'd be willing to bet that the only prints the lab will find on that gun are yours, Stanton."

"I'm getting Sergeant Grey," Nolan announces and trots toward the division building.

"I'm on the right side here," Stanton insists to Bradford. "Those protestors overrun our streets every day, defacing our buildings, threatening our way of life. I'm keeping the parasites from taking over."

"You have a strange definition of parasite, Stanton," Grey declares, jogging behind Nolan toward the gathered cops. "Bradford, Chen, bring officer Stanton in for processing on charges of assault, planting evidence, and anything else the D.A. can think up."

"I want my union rep and my counsel," Stanton demands. "I know my rights."

"And you'll get them," Grey assures him. "which is more than you wanted Officer West to get. We'll have a little talk about that, too." After unlocking Emmett's cuffs, he offers him a hand-up. "You all right?"

"Fine," the medic responds. "Just get that asshole out of here."

Lucy looks over her shoulder at her boyfriend. "We'll see you in there."

"I still need paperwork on the damage to my mother's car," Emmett realizes.

"I can take care of that," Nolan promises.


Journal of John Nolan

Stanton is not going down easy. He's taking advantage of every protection a cop has, and the union is behind him all the way. I might have done the same about my reprimand – except that I have a conscience. I screwed up. I'm paying for it. I'm hoping that Stanton will eventually run out of maneuvers and also pay the penalty for his actions. The evidence against Stanton lends more credibility to Jackson's accusations of racism. He's hoping that Grey will give less weight to his blue page or throw it out altogether. Lucy and I have our fingers crossed for him. I don't know how things will turn out, but I believe he has a good shot now. And if I know Jackson, he has plans B &C up his sleeve.

Working to nail Stanton was the major event since the last time I wrote anything, but something else happened. Harper and I checked in on how things are going at the community policing center. Luna Grey was down there with her friend Tamar Delong. Tamar is a church organizer and apparently a very effective one. Luna brought her in to whip things into shape. And did she ever! Volunteers actually know when they're supposed to show up and who to call if they can't. She has all the projects organized into fat notebooks, and she's already found gardeners willing to supply fresh fruits and vegetables to the neighborhood. She's lining us up with a university to find out how much poison is in the ground too. I don't know how she did it, but I'd love to learn.

I might get the chance. Luna introduced me to Tamar, and we hit it off. At least, I think we did. I invited her for coffee, and she said yes. We talked for a couple of hours and probably would have talked longer, but we both had other places we needed to be. She had a meeting at her church. I had to come home to study. I'm devoting every minute I can to forcing things into my brain for my disciplinary exam. Sergeant Grey made it very clear that my career depends on it.

The problem is that this exam is worse than my rookie final was. It can include anything in the handbook. That's a lot, but I learned all of it before. That part of the exam is essentially a review. But this time around, the sergeant can hit me with the ethical issues he believes I fell down on when I went after Armstrong. I'm supposed to be able to figure out how to take the "corruption" out of "noble corruption."

My challenge is that I know I screwed up in terms of violating procedure, but I don't believe I was corrupt. I didn't try to plant a weapon on someone like Stanton tried to do. I didn't steal. I didn't lie, except to the bad guy, and we're allowed to do that. For better or worse – worse for her – I even got my training officer involved. I found a very bad actor, a killer cop, and did my damnedest to expose him. I don't understand how that's corrupt. Maybe "noble corruption" is just a turn of phrase. Or maybe I did what I thought was the right thing at precisely the wrong time. Before I take my exam, I'll have to figure all that out.

A/N I wrote almost all of this before seeing the last episode, "Lockdown." As I write this note, I finished watching seven minutes ago and subsequently made a few minor changes to this chapter. I should be able to go on from here pretty well, keeping a little closer to canon. But at least I can give Nolan a little love in his life again. Perhaps Alexi and company will eventually decide to do the same.