Gathering Storm

Chapter Two: The Arrest

—

Arriving at Graham Denton's single storey terrace house in Leichhardt, Jack grabbed his gun, got out of the car and made his way to the front door. He wanted to break the door down without any warning, but first decided to slam a closed fist onto it several times, yelling out, "Graham Denton, open up! It's the police!"

When there was no response after about 20 seconds, a frustrated and impatient Jack jiggled the handle to see if, by any chance, it was unlocked. It wasn't, so Jack made the decision to do what he was going to do to begin with - break the door down. Jack didn't have a search warrant but he didn't care. An arrest warrant was enough for him.

Inside the house, it was surprisingly clean Jack noticed, whilst remaining completely focused on what he was there to do. "DENTON!" he yelled as loudly as he could, entering the main bedroom, gun gripped tightly in his right hand. The bed was neatly made and the curtains were open; certainly not the sign of someone who was supposed to be unwell.

Jack was about to leave the bedroom when he heard a noise coming from one side of the built-in wardrobe. He frowned, quietly walking towards it. Raising his gun, he pulled the sliding door open in one quick motion, immediately seeing Graham Denton cowered in the corner in an upright foetal position.

Rage swept over Jack as soon as he saw him again, and he pulled the whimpering man up off the ground by his shirt and roughly threw him onto the bed. "You're under arrest. You're not obliged to say or do anything, unless you wish to do so. But whatever you say may be used against you as evidence in court," Jack said through his teeth, trying his hardest to refrain from beating the crap out of him. Jack pulled Graham's left arm and yanked it behind his back, restraining him while he got his handcuffs out, "Make one move and I'll break your bloody arm."

"Ow, ow… okay, okay, okay…" Graham stopped squirming, hoping that Jack would release, or at least loosen, his grip. Jack didn't however, as he clicked the handcuffs tightly around Graham's wrists. He then yanked him up off the bed roughly, "Move!"

"Jack!" came Mick's voice, followed by several fast moving footsteps.

"In here!" Jack called out, and moments later, was surprised to see both Mick and Helen standing in the doorway. "Get him out of my sight," Jack pushed Denton towards Mick, before sitting on the bed with a heavy, long-winded sigh.

Mick then started to exit the house with Graham, pulling him along by his arm and saying firmly, "Come on."

"He hurt me…"

"Tell someone who cares."

Helen, meanwhile, stayed with Jack, looking down at him through empathetic brown eyes. She didn't quite know what to say to him at first, so she just sat down on the bed next to him in silence, almost as if she was waiting for him to speak.

Jack glanced over at her, an eyebrow raised, wondering why she was still there, "You're not going with Mick?"

"No, I think he'll be okay taking Denton back to the station by himself," Helen replied with a quick shake of her head, "I'm more concerned about you."

"Don't be."

—

Rachel had only just finished talking to Sophie's mother when she heard Mick's voice echo down the corridor, "Alright Denton, through that door there. Senior Constable Sykes will be sitting in with you for now, so don't try anything."

Rachel didn't move. She couldn't. It was like she was stuck in the one spot, frozen, almost scared that if she got up from her desk, she'll see the man who almost stabbed her. The thought of that freaked her out a little. Seconds later, Mick entered the office by himself, glancing over at Rachel, "Jack got him," he informed her with a quiet voice.

"Where's Jack now?"

Mick was about to reply when, as if on cue, a heavy-footed Jack walked into the office followed closely by Helen, who spoke straight away, "We'll be speaking to Denton," she pointed at herself and Mick, and when Jack looked like he was going to protest, Helen added, "I don't want you involved in the interview, Jack. You're too close to this. Plus you're lucky he doesn't want you charged with forceful arrest."

"I'm watching," Jack said adamantly; he wasn't letting go of it anytime soon.

"Okay yes, you can watch. Nothing more," Helen told him, leaving the office with Mick.

Even though he understood, Jack shook his head. He looked over at Rachel, who was staring back at him, "Are you going to be alright if I go and listen in on the interview?" he asked caringly, walking over to her desk. She nodded in reply but didn't say anything, seeing Jack smile at her briefly before he left the office and made his way to the viewing room.

Mick and Helen had already begun the interview process when Jack started to watch on. Through the window and open blinds, his angry eyes were fixed on Graham Denton.

"Mr Denton, you were arrested this morning due to an incident at White Bay Power Station last night. Can you talk us through what happened, please?" Helen was in the middle of saying, completely professional in her approach.

Graham was quite obviously nervous. He refused to look either Helen or Mick in the eye. Instead, he stared down at the table as he spoke, "I don't… I don't know. I just…" he stuttered his words, unable to complete a full sentence.

"You almost stabbed Rachel, you fucking dickhead," Jack snarled to himself, disappointed that he couldn't be heard from the viewing room, "That's what happened."

"Let's start from the beginning, shall we? What you were doing at the power station in the first place?" Helen said, watching him struggle. Although she was unsure if he really was struggling, or if he was pretending to.

For the first time since arriving at the Water Police station, Graham lifted his head a little and looked directly at Helen, "I was at the power station to meet Alex Grenville… I saw him arrive in a car but… I didn't actually meet up with him… he disappeared."

"Why were you meeting Alex there? What's your involvement in the passport scam?" Mick asked firmly.

Graham looked back down at the table again, almost sheepishly.

"Do I have to repeat the question?"

He shook his head, "No you don't have to. I am involved in– I make the fake passports. I work for Immigration so it is easy enough for me to do. Sometimes I help arrange the drop offs… like last night at the power station. And sometimes someone else… someone else arranges the drop offs."

"And do you know who that someone is?" Mick then asked.

With his eyes still focused on the table, he shook his head again, "A woman named Charlie. That's all I know about her."

"Okay," Helen sighed, realising that while they may get a bit more information from Graham about the passport scam then they did from Grenville, they still weren't going to get a lot. "What happened after you were meant to meet Alex? Talk us through that."

"I was about to leave when I saw her… Detective… Goldstein…" Graham finally continued after a long pause, stuttering again, "She saw me too… We… um… recognised each other. I don't know…" he shrugged, almost giving up.

In the viewing room, Jack began pacing back and forth; he was so close to barging into the interview room and tearing Denton a new one. As if he wasn't angry enough already, hearing the 'reason' why Denton was going to stab Rachel really pissed him off.

—

Clearly flustered, Jack went back to the detectives office before the interview was over. Every second he spent watching and hearing Graham Denton speak left him seething. Rachel looked up upon hearing him enter and straight away she noticed the angry look on his face, "Didn't go well I take it?"

Jack groaned somewhat loudly, rubbing his hands over his face, "Bloody unbelievable," he sat down in the chair in front of Rachel's desk, "He's a little dweeb. I don't think you even want to know his reason for attempting to stab you."

Rachel's voice became very monotonous as she said, "Oh, I think I can guess."

A little surprised by her rather blank response, Jack stared across at her, "And that doesn't bother you? I mean, shit, it bothers me!"

She shrugged half-heartedly, sighing, "I don't know. I think I'm still a bit shocked by it more than anything."

The expression on Jack's face softened. He'd been so caught up in his own anger and rage that he almost didn't realise how Rachel must have felt, "I'm sorry," he said quietly, his head held down a little.

"What? No, Jack. You don't have anything to be sorry for," Rachel adamantly shook her head a few times, "None of this is your fault."

"I'm the senior detective here. I'm the one who made the stupid decision to search the power station without backup there," Jack quickly became annoyed at himself once more as the tone of his voice firmed, "We should have waited… I don't know what I would have done if something happened to you."

Smiling, Rachel reached out her hand and placed it on top of his for a few seconds. Even though they still hadn't really talked about their relationship, there was almost a silent decision made between them about what they wanted to do. "Stop blaming yourself," she told him in a half-whisper, taking her hand away when she saw Jeff about to enter the office.

"The passport scam investigation has been handed over to the Feds," he informed them, standing in the doorway.

"That should have been done yesterday," Jack muttered under his breath, but still loud enough for Jeff to hear.

Jeff didn't even bother answering Jack. Instead, he simply said, "And Rachel, I've organised for you to see the police psychologist a bit later today, alright? You too, Jack. You both need to talk to someone about what happened last night. And I don't want to hear any arguments from either of you," Jeff then left before either of them had the chance to reply.

Jack rolled his eyes. If there was one thing he did not want to do, it was talk to a complete stranger about how he was feeling.

—

After lunch, Rachel was the first to be summoned to a spare room on the ground floor of the station. Ordinarily, the police psychologist sessions were held at the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills, but Jeff decided that everyone would be better off if the psychologist came to them. He felt Rachel and Jack would feel more comfortable and relaxed if they were in their own work environment.

"Come in and have a seat, Rachel. My name is Troy," the psychologist said in a calm, friendly manner. He smiled at her warmly, pointing to the chair opposite him.

"Thanks."

Once she was seated, he began, "I had a brief chat with Chief Inspector Hawker earlier today and he explained, not in any detail I might add, why he thought you would need to see me. So, in your own time, I'd like you to tell me what happened yesterday."

"From the beginning or…?"

"Wherever you'd like to start from. It's entirely up to you."

Rachel took a deep breath, taking a moment to compose herself. This wasn't going to be easy, she thought. "We were given a job yesterday… Jack– Detective Christey and I… which at first seemed like it wasn't going to take us too long at all. Until we discovered it was actually a passport scam involving a water taxi driver," she sighed, pausing to think about her next words.

Troy nodded silently, letting her continue.

"Later on in the day, well it was night time by then actually… we followed the water taxi driver to the power station at White Bay, but when we got there he was no where to be seen, his car was empty," she explained, her voice began to tremble slightly, "Jack decided we should search the place, while backup was still on its way."

"Jack being the senior officer out of the two of you?" Troy wanted to confirm.

Rachel nodded, "That's right," she paused, digressing slightly, "I don't blame Jack for the decision. I would have done the same if I was him," she paused again, this time for a bit longer. "As we were leaving… I heard a noise, footsteps, behind me. I turned around and saw Graham Denton… he's an immigration officer we'd talked to here at the station earlier."

"What did you think when you saw him?"

"I was a bit confused, I guess," Rachel sighed, shrugging her shoulders loosely, "I didn't expect to see him there. I'm not sure why but I didn't think too much of it though. The next bit… it kinda happened really fast but also in slow motion at the same time… if that's possible," she paused, wanting to apologise for stopping and starting.

"It's okay, take your time Rachel," Troy said reassuringly, knowing that it would be hard for her.

"He… ahh… picked something up and started coming towards me," she finally continued, shakily, "I didn't see that it was a jagged piece of glass until he was closer to me… somehow I got my gun out and pointed it at him… before he did anything. But he got pretty close to stabbing me. I called out to Jack, who I think was near the bottom of the stairs by then. And he came running back up. He was, and has been, pretty angry about it all. Probably too angry."

Troy nodded, deciding to change the subject because he could see and hear that Rachel was quite distressed, "How would you describe your relationship with your colleagues? I ask this because as soon as I spoke to Jeff this morning, I could tell he was concerned."

"Pretty good," Rachel's voice turned back to a relatively normal tone, "They're a good group of people here."

"And what about Detective Christey? Jack. How would you describe your relationship with him? You said that he has been particularly angered by what happened. Why do you think that is?"

Rachel clearly hesitated. She didn't even know how to begin answering that question. Instead, she asked, "This is all confidential, right? I mean, you're not going to tell anyone what I say in here…"

Troy shook his head, "No, I couldn't even if I wanted to. This is just between you and me."

Rachel hesitated again, but this time she tried to answer as truthfully as she possibly could, "Jack… I think he feels responsible," she paused for what felt like the hundredth time, "We were… are… I don't know… together. I don't know. It's very complicated with him."

"Together as in a sexual relationship?" Troy queried, although he wasn't judging her by any means.

"Yes."

He nodded slowly, almost in realisation, asking, "Do you think that explains why he's reacted the way he has? When two people are in a relationship, there's often some pretty strong feelings involved."

"I guess so."

—

While waiting for his turn with the psychologist, Jack got around to handing in his statement to Jeff. Just writing it all down made him fill up with anger all over again. He headed down stairs half-heartedly, bumping into Tommy along the way.

"Sorry mate," Tommy said to him.

Jack didn't say a word as he continued on his way. He wasn't in the mood for 'cheery' Tommy. Rachel was shutting the door behind her when Jack got there. "How did you go?" he asked her, "Was it okay?"

"Yeah Jack, it was okay," she answered, putting a hand on his arm, "Just be honest."

As Jack nodded, the door to the makeshift room being used for the psychology sessions opened, and Troy stepped out, "You must be Jack," he said with a friendly smile, "I'm Troy, come this way."

Jack shared a brief, half-second glance with Rachel before he followed Troy into the room. Upon entering and sitting down, Jack was the first to speak right off the bat, "I gotta say, I don't really know why I have to do this. I'm not the one who was almost stabbed."

"No, but your partner was and you were with her when it happened," Troy spoke softly and rather calmly, sitting down opposite Jack. "And that actually affects both of you. Albeit in different ways," Jack sighed noticeably as Troy continued, "I'd like you to talk me through how you feel about it. What is going on in your head?"

"At the moment? Something like what the hell am I doing here?," Jack said sarcastically, sighing again when he saw the look Troy was giving him. "Okay, okay," he then said, probably realising that the sooner he started talking, the sooner he would be able to get out of there, "How do I feel about my partner nearly being stabbed for no reason? Bloody pissed off, that's how I feel!"

Troy became sympathetic, asking gently, "Why are you pissed off? Do you somehow feel responsible or –"

Both palms of Jack's hands hit the table in frustration, interrupting Troy's questions, "Of course I feel responsible! I'm senior to Rachel. It's all on me. I made the decision to search the power station without any backup and–" he stopped abruptly, thinking back to the previous night, "There's something else that's been bugging me too…"

"What's that?"

With a shake of his head, Jack sighed again, "You know, ten times out of bloody ten, I would let Rachel go down the stairs first. But last night, for some reason, I didn't… and it was as I was walking down the stairs that she saw Denton… and…" he groaned to himself, his frustration again showing.

Troy began to nod; now he was definitely seeing where Jack's anger was coming from. Even though he knew, from speaking to Rachel, about the intimate relationship between the two detectives, he still went on to say, "Okay, let's talk about Rachel. Your reaction to what happened to her speaks volumes. It's obvious you care."

Jack glared at him, wondering where he was going with this and also wondering if he'd already talked to Rachel about the same thing.

"What's your relationship with her like?"

Still glaring at Troy, this time through slit and judgemental eyes, Jack decided to stay quiet for what seemed like a number of long seconds before finally saying, "You've already spoken to Rachel, so I assume you already know the answer to that too."

Troy didn't respond. Instead he looked across at Jack, waiting for him to continue.

At first Jack's reply was a little uncertain, as if he was trying to find the right words, "Rachel and I… we were… are… romantically involved." The next words he spoke, however, were out of agitation more than anything, "Is that what you're wanting to hear? I'm in a relationship with my work partner, and when something bad almost happens to her, I lose my shit because I have feelings for her."

—

Jack returned to the office feeling worse than he did before, if that was at all possible. He sat down at his desk and breathed out heavily. Talking to Troy, as kind as he seemed to be, forced Jack to muse over everything again and he began to wonder what kind of partner he really was. He knew he'd never intentionally put Rachel's life at risk, but to Jack, the fact remained that the decisions he made could have put her in serious danger.

Although deep in his own thoughts, Jack soon looked up from his desk, realising that he was being stared at by both Rachel and Mick. "What?" he asked them with a frown.

"Nothing," they responded at the same time.

"What's happening with Denton?" Jack swiftly asked Mick, wanting to start a conversation, even if he knew it wasn't going to be a good one.

"Oh, after the interview I took him down to the SPC… he's going to be charged with attempted murder and also fraud by the look of it," Mick started to explain. He paused, almost tactfully, thinking of the best way to say what he wanted to say next. But he really couldn't put it any other way, "He may get bail."

Jack blinked slowly, trying to comprehend Mick's last sentence, "What?"

"Hopefully not. But that's the way it's looking unfortunately."

"Hang on a sec, let me get this straight," Jack's anger resurfaced and he wasn't afraid to let it show either, "This dickhead tries to stab Rachel, and whatever he's done to commit fraud… and he might get bailed. What the hell?"

"Let's just hope he doesn't, Jack. But if he does, we can contest it."

—

To be continued.