Chapter 6

Wednesday, August 13, 1997 – Los Angeles

By 3:00 pm Wednesday afternoon, Detectives Strate and Thompson were both standing on the other side of Captain Mallory's desk, neither penitent nor apologetic, both refusing to divulge what had provoked one of them to assault the other. Mallory knew, of course. He just wanted to find out if one, or both, would tell him. His office blinds were open. The Captain didn't seem to care that the scene was being played to an audience.

Mallory tapped his pen rhythmically on the top of his desk, frustrated at having to suspend at least one of the detectives in front of him. Further adding to his exasperation and disappointment was which one it would likely have to be. The situation had gone beyond quiet, internally-controlled conflict resolution. There was a witness, and HR had become involved. Strate had reported on himself. Thompson had not reported the incident at all.

"You're still not going to tell me what precipitated this debacle? Either of you?" he asked, knowing the answer.

They both said in unison, "No, Sir."

Five hours earlier…

That morning, the day had started out simply enough. Around 10:00 am, after Enos had completed a witness interview and the room was clear, Inez stepped in and closed the door.

"E, you got a minute?" she asked.

"Sure, what's up?"

After a few seconds of studying her shoes, she said, "I know we decided to keep a professional distance…and we still should, especially away from the job. But I didn't count on how that was going to affect Aaron." She crossed her arms and looked up at him. "He misses you."

"I miss spendin' time with him too," Enos said. "At least I got to see him graduate high school."

"He knew you were there, but it wasn't the same. He asked last night if we could suspend the ban on you coming over to the house for at least one family dinner before he leaves."

"Just tell me when, Inez, I'll be there." He almost reached out for her but thought better of it.

"Thanks," she said, playing with her fingernail. "How about Friday night, about 7:00? I have to take him to the airport on Saturday morning."

"I'll be there with bells on."

When she left the interview room, she didn't notice Thompson.

At 12:46 pm, Enos and Thompson walked into the third store on the list of five video and music retailers that had been hit overnight. Breaking and entering, burglary, and vandalism. Forensics was still on the scene of Starshine Video and Music when they arrived to talk to the manager. It was as if they had walked into the same store three times; the entry method, the particular inventory that was stolen, and the level of vandalism were more than similar at all three locations.

Thompson remarked that he doubted they would be finding anything different at the last two by the time they wrapped up the day. On that, at least, Enos agreed and added, "Kind of stupid though. Why set yourself up with a signature MO.?"

Even Enos wondered why these particular burglaries had not been given to the uniformed officers to follow up. The quantity of criminal stupidity in Los Angeles never ceased to bowl him over. It was likely even Cletus Hogg could track these yahoos down. He supposed it had something to do with the new strain of flu that was making its way through the department over the last week and resolved to get his flu shot.

Enos hadn't said much to Thompson since the morning meeting. There was no missing the signals he was transmitting. He didn't need a psychology degree to understand that Thompson's ego had been bruised and almost felt sorry for him. Almost being the operative word.

While Thompson had been tied up giving testimony in an Assault and Battery trial, yesterday's arrests of suspects in the extortion attempts on the auto repair shops, which Thompson had put on the lowest priority, had been by Enos and Morales. They would have waited to move on the warrants until Thompson was available, but that would have meant leaving Deacon and her crew to one more day of exposure as the information source. He presented the time-sensitive issue to Inez, Captain Mallory requested the warrants, the judge signed off on them, and it was a done deal. However, it had left his so-called partner with egg on his face and a burr under his backside.

While Thompson asked the manager and clerk the same questions he had asked at the previous two locations, Enos took a look around and then went through the VHS tapes and CDs strewn around the back of the store. Looked as if the vandalism was staged to him, same as at the other two stores.

He donned his vinyl gloves, pushed through a pile of VHS tapes with the top of his pen, and made some notes. When a particular tape caught his attention, he immediately recalled, not the dark, depressing thoughts he'd had while Soonie had played the theme, but of how much he missed hearing her play and felt a twinge of that hunger and thirst again.

"The evil that men do..."

The voice had come from the jet-black haired, nose pierced girl with a nametag and black lipstick and fingernails standing beside him who had approached while he was daydreaming.

"Beg pardon, Ma'am?" Enos said, standing up.

She pointed at the tape.

"Oh. I've heard the music, but I never saw the movie."

"You should."

"Pretty heavy stuff. Not sure if I have enough tissues in my apartment."

"I get that." From her five-foot three-inch vantage point, she studied him, not in a way that made him feel uncomfortable, but in a way that made him feel like she knew a secret and wanted to share. "I've seen it twice," she continued. "It's devastating. But the story's as much about the triumph over evil as it is the abject sadness of it all. You know – the only thing necessary for the evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing...Oskar Schindler wasn't a saint by any stretch of the imagination, but neither did he stand by and do nothing." She pointed down at the tape again. "But I'm afraid you'll still need the tissues." 9

"I guess I should get around to watching it one day."

Before Enos could follow that line of thought any further or ask her any questions about the burglary, Thompson walked up and said, "We need to move on to the next store. You ready? There's nothing here we haven't seen before."

"Yeah, I'm not so sure about that," Enos mused, then took off his gloves and extended his hand to the goth-girl with a nametag. "Nice talkin' to you Miss…" he looked at her nametag again, "…Elektra." 3

"Same here, Detective."

When Enos and Thompson reached their car, Thompson said, "You know, we'd get a lot more done if you didn't chat up the citizenry at every stop."

Enos had already been worn down to a nub. His usual control mechanisms had been compromised by lack of sleep, a child victim without a name, worry over how to mend fences with Daisy, guilt over not spending time with Aaron, trying to figure out his feelings for Soonie, and way too much Thompson.

He leaned on the closed car door to prevent Thompson from opening it and shot back, "And you would learn more if you did."

"Look, Strate, let's stop dancing around it. We don't like each other. Neither of us has any idea why the Captain threw us together, and you don't seem to care. As far as I'm concerned, it's a punishment, and I don't think you fit into the unit dynamics."

"And yet, here I am."

"I think that probably has more to do with whatever it is you and De Pina have going on the side than your suitability…"

Thompson hadn't gotten the rest of it out before Enos pinned him against the side of the car with the backside of his right arm and pressed hard on his windpipe. The man was struggling to breathe, but Enos didn't let up on the pressure.

"Now, you listen to me, you wet-nosed son of a polecat," Enos seethed through clenched teeth. "You can say anything you want about me…and some of it might even be true, but don't you ever disrespect Detective De Pina again. She worked too hard to get where she is, and she doesn't deserve that kind of talk from anybody. Especially you. Do we understand each other?"

Thompson was barely able to utter a hoarse, raspy "Yes."

Enos still didn't let up. "If you have a problem with anyone in the unit, especially a superior officer, you take it up with them and say it to their face, not behind their back. And if I catch you doin' it again, there's gonna' be hell to pay even if it gets me busted all the way back to fetchin' Sheriff Coltrane's corn dogs."

With that, he let go of Thompson, who was still gasping for air and trying to regain his breath. Enos turned to head around to the driver's side and found an open-mouthed Elektra staring at them.

"Uh...one of you left your pen on the counter...looks expensive?"

"Thank you, Ma'am. If it's expensive, it must be Detective Thompson's."

She handed Thompson the pen and asked, "You okay?"

Thompson nodded in the affirmative.

"Maybe you should get him some water if you don't mind, Miss Elektra," Enos said.

"Yeah. Sure thing," she said, still trying to process the scene.

Thompson held up his hand to indicate he didn't need anything, opened the door, and dropped into the passenger seat.

"Thank you, Miss Elektra. I might come back to buy that tape when I can make sure I'm not contaminatin' evidence. And you'll likely be hearin' from someone in the department about this. I'd appreciate it if you would just tell them everything you saw."

"Are you sure? Looked as if it weighed in on the justifiable side to me."

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm sure. Department frowns on this kind of thing, justifiable or not."

Elektra looked skeptical but said, "Okay. If you want to fall on your sword, who am I to stop you?"

Now 3:15 pm, both men were still standing in the same spot as they had been fifteen minutes earlier.

"And you're both prepared to account for your actions?" Captain Mallory asked.

Enos answered first, with enthusiasm, "Yes, Sir."

Thompson followed with the same answer, although with less zeal.

Mallory shook his head in disgust at what he was about to do, especially since he had to take some of the blame, maybe all of it, for what he should have anticipated as the natural result of throwing the two of them together. De Pina had warned him, and he made a mental note to take her counsel more seriously in the future.

"Alright, I'll talk to Strate first. Detective Thompson, you can get some work done at your desk. I'll call you when I'm ready for you. And close the blinds before you leave."

Thompson complied, excused himself, and left the Captain's office only to be met with feigned disinterest from his fellow detectives as he made his way towards his desk.

Mallory indicated for Enos to sit and exhaled with a groan. "You know what I have to do now, don't you?"

"I got a pretty good idea, Sir."

"A one-week suspension, without pay?" Mallory sounded apologetic.

"Yes, Sir. I understand. It was worth every penny. Gives me extra time to work on the Griffith Park victim file full time, at least for a week," Enos said with a grin.

Mallory couldn't help but chuckle.

"Do you know why I put the two of you together?"

"I reckon it was because Detective Thompson has more education and a little more experience…"

"Geez, Strate, that isn't even close!" Mallory said.

"Sir?"

"The kid has so much potential, and he's wasting half of it. I thought you might be able to teach him some humility."

"Well, Sir, if that was your intention, he was pretty humble a couple of hours ago."

Mallory laughed ruefully. "Maybe, but at what cost to you? It seems all I did was set you up for failure, then ended up having to punish you for it. For that, I am truly sorry."

"It's okay, Captain. Mighta' happened even if we weren't tethered together. Can't figure what it is yet, but the boy's draggin' around somethin' that's weighin' him down…Besides, it's sort of a compliment that you think I could teach him somethin'."

"Nobody needs that kind of compliment."

Enos just shrugged and smiled. He was almost ashamed of how relieved he was to be shed of Thompson.

"I guess we're finished here," Mallory sighed. "You can go."

"Thank you, Sir," Enos said, as he stood and headed for the door. Before opening it, he turned back to Mallory. "Captain, since this is goin' on my permanent record anyway, you think you could make that a two-week suspension? I could get a lot more done on that Griff –."

"Get out of here before I change my mind and give you zero suspension…and tell Thompson I'm ready to see him now.

"Yes, Sir."

References:

(3) "I'm not so sure..." Daisy said the same about Enos in DOH:Reunion! when Uncle Jesse said '"that boy hasn't changed."

(9) "the only thing necessary for the evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing" Phrase is attributed to Edmond Burke