Gathering Storm
A/N: Sorry for the delay in uploading this lengthy part. I hope it's alright! :)
Chapter Five: The Truth (pt 2, final)
—
Jack stood up hurriedly, trying to make some sense of the numerous thoughts racing around his head, "If Da Silva has a search warrant, that means he thinks he'll find something. Or he's just fishing," he said, hearing Joe yell out his name. Jack then looked at Rachel and commented, "At least he won't be surprised to see you here, Rach. Unless you're uncomfortable with it and want to sneak out the back?"
Rachel shook her head, "No Jack, I'm staying here."
"Okay," Jack replied, finally making his way to the front door where he was immediately confronted by Joe Da Silva and his squad of goons upon opening the door.
"Out of my way, Christey," he said aggressively, pushing past Jack with equal aggression. "We have a warrant to search your house for evidence in connection with the murder of Graham Denton," Joe strode down the hallway and into the living room, seeing Rachel, nodding at her in the smallest form of acknowledgement, "Detective Goldstein, I'll ask that you stay to one side while we execute the warrant. Thank you."
Rachel didn't say anything. She knew exactly how search warrants worked.
Jack returned to the living room, closely watching as Da Silva and three other officers ransacked his house without a care in the world. "I hope you're going to put everything back where you found it when you've finished," Jack remarked flippantly, knowing they would do the opposite. He'd done the same thing many times himself during a search warrant - not caring.
"Search upstairs," Joe called out, pointing upwards. The three officers followed his instructions and headed up the stairs, their footsteps loud and heavy.
"You wanna tell me what it is you're looking for, Da Silva?" Jack soon asked impatiently, standing next to Rachel, "Or what it is you think you'll find?"
Joe briefly looked up from his own search of Jack's property, telling him frankly, "I told you Christey, evidence connecting you to the murder of Graham Denton."
"And what evidence would that be?"
Joe didn't bother to reply. Instead, he walked with obvious arrogance into another room and began searching, carelessly throwing items to the ground. It was as if he wanted Jack to hear him making a mess of his things.
"He has no fucking idea what he's looking for, it's unbelievable," Jack said to Rachel, barely opening his mouth as he spoke in an attempt to not be heard by Da Silva. He started shaking his head in annoyance at what he was hearing around him, "What a prick."
Rachel grabbed his hand and held it for a few seconds, gently shushing him, "Don't Jack."
Jack looked over at Rachel, finding that she was staring back at him, her eyebrows raised a little. Where the hell would he be without her?
"I'll ask that you accompany me to the station for an interview, Christey," Joe cleared his throat noisily. Both Rachel and Jack saw that, behind his back, he was holding something in a plastic evidence bag, although neither of them could make out what it was. A frown immediately formed on Jack's face, but he didn't move. "If you don't come with me now, I'll arrest you," Joe then cautioned, his voice serious.
Remaining quiet, Jack took some deep breaths in an attempt to compose himself and finally followed Joe towards the front door as the other officers came down the stairs. Rachel was still standing next to the kitchen bench, wondering if she should go with Jack; if she'd be allowed to go with Jack.
"Goldstein, you can come too if you want to," Joe called out, seemingly reading her thoughts, "But make your own way to the station."
—
Upon their arrival at the Water Police station, Joe directed Jack to the interview room. It certainly wasn't 'by the book' to do the interview there, and if Joe had it his way, it would have been conducted at the Sydney Police Centre where Homicide was based. But Jeff insisted. He also insisted that Jack not be charged with anything until forensics had examined the evidence.
"Have a seat, Christey," Joe told him, the spiel almost sounding way too familiar to Jack.
As Jack did what he was told, Rachel and Jeff started watching on from the viewing room. Rachel had no idea what was happening, having been kept in the dark, much like Jack.
Joe turned on the tape recorder and began by merely placing the evidence bag on the table. Jack looked down at the bag in front of him, finally seeing what was inside it: a rather large knife with what appeared to be dry blood on it. "Detective Christey… do you know what this is?" Joe finally sat down, placing his hand on the table near the knife.
Jack gave him a look, "Are you being serious right now? I can see what it is."
"This knife was found in your study, detective," Joe told him, the arrogance in his voice obvious. He was confident he had his man. "Forensics are examining it for fingerprints and analysing some of the blood as we speak. And I'm betting the blood will be a match to Graham Denton's."
"What?" Jack asked, completely dumbfounded. "What do you mean it was found in my study? I've never seen that knife until now…" he paused, clicking his tongue, "You found the knife, didn't you Da Silva? You've had it in for me since Denton was killed. How do I know you didn't plant this thing in my house?"
"I'll ask the questions, if you don't mind Christey," was all he said in reply, still sounding completely arrogant. "I'd like to go back to the night of Denton's murder. In your initial statement, you said you were in bed, by yourself," Jack rolled his eyes and scoffed as Joe spoke, "But you've since updated this and said you were with Detective Rachel Goldstein on the night in question. And it was Detective Goldstein who Denton attempted to stab –"
"Are you going to get to the question?"
He ignored Jack, continuing, "And that alone makes me think you had a good motive to kill Denton. You were angry because of the attempt by him on your partner's life. And as we now know, she's a bit more than your work partner, isn't she?"
Jack let out a fed up sigh and tried to reason with him, "Yes okay, I was angry with him because of what happened. Of course I was bloody angry with him! But if I killed every single person I have ever been angry with, there'd be a lot of dead people."
Joe frowned and his eyes narrowed, making Jack wonder if he was possibly starting to believe him. But instead, he asked, "How did this knife come to be in your possession? In your house? With blood on it?"
"I don't know!" he frustratingly exclaimed.
"Well I think I do know," Joe stated, overly confident with his theory. "I think you were so angry, so full of rage, with Denton that you got up in the middle of the night, drove to his home and killed him. You then went to your house, where you put the knife in your study, perhaps you cleaned yourself up… and then made your way back to Detective Goldstein's house."
Jack stared at him through slit, hardened eyes, "Do you know how ridiculous that all sounds? You actually think I would be dumb enough to just leave a murder weapon lying around my own house, do you?"
"You may not have disposed of it yet for a number of reasons," Joe suggested, and looked down at his watch. It was 9:42pm. "Okay. We're going to stop the interview there for tonight, while we wait until the morning for forensics to come back with their findings," he stood up and flicked off the tape recorder.
"Interview? How the hell can you call that an interview?" Jack too stood up, pushing the chair back with so much force that the legs scraped along the floor loudly and it almost toppled over.
Once again, he didn't bother replying to Jack's question. "Don't even think about shooting through, Christey," Joe simply advised him, his voice sounding cold and harsh, "This isn't finished yet."
—
When an angry Jack stomped out of the interview room, he saw Jeff and Rachel standing in the corridor, in quiet conversation. Using his eyes, Jeff hinted at Rachel that Jack was behind them, and then said, "I'll see you tomorrow Rachel," Jeff turned around and went to make his way down the stairs. He didn't acknowledge or greet Jack at all.
"Jeff!" Jack called out loudly before he got too far down the stairs. "You didn't tell Da Silva about the name I mentioned, did you?" he was pissed off and it showed in both his voice and his body language.
Standing motionless on one step, Jeff sighed noticeably, lowering his head as he did so, "No. I didn't get the chance to tell him, Jack. Besides when he was here this morning and now, Da Silva has hardly been here all day," he explained as quickly as he could and continued on his way.
Jack was left shaking his head. He only stopped when he felt Rachel's warm hand on his upper arm. Jack turned around to face her, trying to manage a smile. Even though it didn't convince Rachel, she kept her hand on his arm and said in a whisper, "Let's go."
—
Joe Da Silva was sitting in front of his desk at Homicide the following morning, wanting the phone to hurry up and ring. He was waiting for the forensics team to get back to him with the results from the bloodied knife he found at Jack's house. Joe was absolutely certain that Jack, in all his rage, had killed Graham Denton. When the phone finally rang, he answered swiftly and in hope, but it wasn't who he thought it was going to be.
"Joe, it's Jeff Hawker."
"Yes Jeff?" Joe tried not to sound annoyed, but it didn't exactly work, "I'm waiting for a phone call from forensics, so I can't be long…"
In his office, Jeff was sorting through some papers on his desk. "I won't keep you," he began, "I just wanted to let you that there may have been a breakthrough in the the passport scam that Detectives Christey and Goldstein were initially investigating. A name of a person of interest. Senior Sergeant Blakemore searched the COPS Database this morning and some discoveries were made that I think you should –"
"I have no doubt that it's interesting Jeff, and I'm sure that however the name was brought to your attention is even more interesting. But I don't think it will surprise you that I have more pressing matters at the moment," Joe interrupted arrogantly, and he hung up the phone.
Jeff frowned, pulling the phone away from his ear, "Dickhead," he commented quietly to himself, almost sounding a lot like Jack.
"I take it that didn't go well," Helen guessed who Jeff had been talking to. She had entered the office just as he slammed the phone down into its handset.
"Da Silva is waiting for the call from forensics," he informed her, "But I got hold of them earlier this morning and asked if they could give us a ring with the results first. I guess we'll see if I managed to convince them soon enough."
"That's very noble of you, Jeff," Helen said with a small smile, asking, "I take it that means you now believe Jack is innocent?"
Jeff frowned at her question, "I never said or thought Jack was guilty. Yes, he's an officer who is under my command, but I've just wanted to remain impartial during the investigation, especially when it comes to Da Silva. That's all."
"Do you think Jack will see it that way?" Helen asked him in a meaningful manner, but before he had chance to reply, she turned around and walked out the door, closing it behind her.
Jeff exhaled sharply, watching Helen disappear into her own office. As much as he didn't want to admit, Helen was right. As usual. But admittedly, Jeff knew he hadn't done enough to defend Jack and it was about time that changed. He looked down at the pile of paperwork in front of him; Charlie Driscoll had a criminal record dating back to the early 80's and intriguingly, there was one police officer's name that stood out a number of times.
Joe Da Silva.
"Hmmm…" Jeff rubbed his hands over his face, feeling a little discouraged. He was in a difficult position with Jack and Joe. Both officers were well respected and had been in the police service for many years, but Joe in particular had a more 'perfect' reputation than Jack. Jeff knew that any alleged wrongdoing or allegations against Joe would be tough for a lot of his colleagues to believe and accept.
When the phone rang several minutes later, Jeff answered it with a little trepidation, but hoped it would be good news for Jack. After the short conversation, he hung up the phone, once again rubbing his face, "Shit."
—
Waiting around at home was never a strong point of Jack's. Although he'd never considered himself to be an impatient man, the last few days had really taken his patience to its absolute limit. He was pacing, back and forth, around his living room when his home phone rang. Jack answered it the way he answered his mobile, knowing that it would most likely be someone from work, "Christey."
On the other end, Jeff sounded worried as soon as he started talking, "Jack. I just got off the phone with forensics. The blood on the knife was a match with Denton. But there were no identifiable prints on it."
"Hang on a sec Jeff, how come you're the one who's calling me with this information and not Da Silva?" Jack frowned, letting himself fall down onto the couch without caring how he landed.
"Forensics called me… out of courtesy," for some reason, Jeff didn't want to tell Jack that he'd convinced them to call him first instead of Joe.
Jack leaned his head back against a pillow. Inside, he was swearing and he could feel himself getting angry again, almost to the point where he was about to lose it. "Oh how thoughtful of them," he commented sarcastically, "So… Da Silva will be here soon to arrest me I take it?"
Jeff sighed heavily into the phone, taking a few moments before he replied. "I haven't spoken to Joe since before the call, but yes I'd say that's a strong possibility. I tried telling him about Charlie Driscoll this morning but he was too preoccupied to hear me out. So I'm going to send Mick and Rachel around to see if they can have a chat with Driscoll. See what she has to say."
"Rachel?" Jack sat up slightly, alerted by her name, "Should she be involved with this?"
"Who else have I got here, Jack? There's no one. You're suspended, Helen's busy at the moment, the Nemesis crew are busy…" Jeff began to rant, "I can't say I want Reilly going to see Driscoll by himself. She's not exactly known for her love of cops if her criminal history is anything to go by."
Jack pulled the phone away from his ear and grunted. He was pissed off with himself for letting everything get this far. When he returned the phone to his ear, Jeff asked him if he was okay. "I'm alright, Jeff… just…" Jack sighed. He wanted to make sure that Jeff told Mick to look out for Rachel but decided against it; he could tell Mick himself.
"We'll sort this all out, okay Jack?"
He then heard Jeff hang up, and as he got off the couch to grab his mobile, Jack exclaimed frustratingly to himself, "Bloody hell!" he wanted to punch something hard – or someone. Punching someone like Joe Da Silva in the face would be very satisfying, even if it was only a short lived feeling, Jack thought. He dialled Mick's number into his phone, hoping to get hold of him as quickly as he could.
"Reilly?" Mick answered after a couple of rings.
"Hey Mick, it's Jack. I spoke to Jeff… he told me that he's going to be sending you and Rachel around to see Charlie Driscoll…" Jack said with a sense of urgency as he began pacing his living room again, anticipating a knock at the door at any moment.
"Yeah, that's right. We're looking up her residential and work addresses on COPS now."
Jack took a few shaky but deep breaths in and out, before getting to the main reason he'd called, "Okay. Can you just… can you look out for Rachel for me? Please?"
"Don't worry Jack," the younger detective assured him, smiling a little to himself at Jack's protectiveness of Rachel, "I will."
Jack let out a small sigh of relief; at least he knew that Rachel should be okay in Mick's relatively safe care. What bothered Jack the most was that everything had gotten so out of hand that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it anymore. It was out of his control. And although Jack did have faith in his colleagues, he knew that without any evidence that proved he didn't kill Denton, he was in deep shit.
—
The apartment listed as Charlie Driscoll's residential address was in a small, dingy looking area of Summer Hill. As soon as Rachel and Mick were parked out the front, Mick asked, "Do you want to stay in the car while I go see if she's home?" he was completely ignoring the fact that Jeff wanted them to see Charlie together.
Distracted, Rachel was daydreaming a little, looking out the driver's side window at nothing in particular, but upon hearing Mick's question, she turned her head and gave him a quick glare. "No, I'm coming. Why would I drive all the way here just to sit in the car? Jeff said –"
"I know what Jeff said. I wanted you to have the option of choosing whether you came in with me or not," Mick told her as he grabbed the handle and got out the car. Before he shut the door, he added with a good amount of confidence, "I'm sure I'll be fine on my own."
Rachel took the keys out of the ignition and shook her head. "Alright. What did Jack say to you?" she asked, she too getting out of the car.
"Nothing," Mick replied, but the confidence disappeared and Rachel stopped abruptly to give him a look. "Okay, okay. He asked me to watch out for you… that's all!" the look of disbelief stayed on her face, "Oh come on, Rachel! You can't blame him, can you? He's worried."
Rachel didn't answer him and instead, she started walking along the footpath towards the apartment building. Mick stood watching her for a moment before he followed, catching up with her quickly before she got to the main door. "Number 34," Mick confirmed to Rachel and she pressed the button which corresponded to the apartment.
"Yes?" a woman's voice said through the speaker a few seconds later.
"Detectives Michael Reilly and Rachel Goldstein… Sydney Water Police," Mick announced, "We'd like to speak with Charlie Driscoll. Is she home?"
There was a slight but noticeable pause, before the woman replied, "Yes," and they heard the main door unlock, "Come on up."
After walking up three flights of stairs, Mick and Rachel arrived at number 34. Rachel knocked firmly on the door and within seconds, a woman was standing in front of them. She was noticeably shorter than both detectives, with cropped, dark hair and hazel coloured eyes.
"Charlie Driscoll?" Mick asked, despite immediately recognising her from her police 'mug shot'. He and Rachel then produced their badges.
"That's me," she said rather smugly, "Sydney Water Police, huh? What can I do for you?"
"We'd just like to ask you a few questions. Is it okay if we come in?"
Charlie opened the door as far as it could go, allowing the detectives to enter her apartment. It was nicely decorated inside the apartment; a stark contrast to the outside of the building. Charlie focused her eyes on Rachel, commenting, "Rachel Goldstein… your husband is Jonathan Goldstein, is that right? He's a lawyer?"
"Ex-husband," Rachel was quick to correct her, "But yes, that's right. Why do you ask?"
"Oh I see him around every now and then, you know…" Charlie answered in a coy manner, not giving much away. "So. What can I help you with?" she soon asked, finally looking over at Mick and adding cockily, "I'm not sure why my name would come up in anything to do with the police. I'm clean these days."
Mick cleared his throat, "Your name has come up in regards to a recent passport scam. You may have heard about the investigation."
Charlie nodded slowly and folded her arms across her chest. "I've heard about it, yes. Hard not to. A man involved in the scam was later killed by a cop," she paused, and in a more sinister tone of voice remarked, "By one of your own I do believe, actually. Jack Christey."
Rachel frowned at her mention of Jack's name and the way she had said it. The smugness coming from Charlie was beginning to annoy her.
"But I still don't understand how my name has been connected with this," she said when the detectives stayed silent for a few seconds, "If you think I'm involved somehow, you're greatly mistaken."
"Your name has come up a couple of times," Mick advised her, thinking back to the interview he and Helen conducted with Graham Denton and his mentioning of a woman named Charlie being involved in the scam. He now had no doubt that Charlie Driscoll was who Graham meant. "Why would it be mentioned if you weren't involved?"
Charlie shrugged loosely, "I don't know. A lot of people don't like me, I guess," she glanced across at Rachel, as if she wondered why she had been so quiet. "Do you want to get to the point of why you two are here? I thought the Feds were investigating the passport scam now, not the Water Police."
Mick decided to ask Charlie something he knew he probably shouldn't be asking, "Okay," he said with a single nod, "Where were you in the early hours of last Friday, Ms Driscoll?"
Rachel frowned again. The expression on her face suggested she wasn't too happy with where Mick was going with his line of questioning. She knew exactly what night he was speaking of; it was when Graham Denton was murdered.
Even though Charlie knew she wasn't obligated to answer him, she felt compelled to, "I was here. All night."
"Can someone vouch for that?" he quizzed.
"No. I suppose you'll just have to take it or leave it, detective."
—
Walking back to the car, Rachel couldn't hide her agitation at Mick and started to rant, "Why did you ask Driscoll where she was on Friday? If she is involved in the passport scam, and did kill Denton or at least arrange for it to happen… she's probably going to know that we're onto her now."
"Well, if Driscoll didn't have anything to do with it then she's got nothing to worry about, has she?" Mick retorted as they got into the car, although he could see why Rachel was annoyed. He buckled up his seatbelt and continued, "She was always going to be suspicious of why we were there in the first place. So why not ask her things we shouldn't?"
Rachel sighed deeply and started the car. She was too tired to argue with him.
"Hm?" Mick tried to get a response from her.
"Yeah, okay. Whatever."
It wasn't quite the response Mick was expecting or perhaps wanting to hear from Rachel. He thought she'd at least defend herself, even if it was just a little. "I know you said you weren't going to fight me anymore, Rach, but that was pretty despondent of you!"
Rachel knew exactly what conversation he was referring to and she wasn't going to bite. Thankfully for her, Helen's voice sounded through the radio at just the right time, "Rachel… Mick…" she was rather informal, "Jack's about to be arrested."
—
Rachel and Mick made it to Jack's house in time to see Joe Da Silva and another Homicide detective leading Jack out the front door. Jack wasn't in handcuffs, but that soon changed very quickly. "Oh come on Da Silva, you and I both know I don't need these on…" Jack was in the middle of telling Joe as Rachel and Mick got out the car.
Joe saw the two Water Police detectives briskly walking towards the house. "You're a violent criminal, Christey," he responded with some hostility, of the handcuffs, making sure that Rachel in particular heard him.
Jack rolled his eyes, managing a "Ha!" under his breath.
"I wouldn't be getting in our way here, detectives," Joe then warned, looking at Mick and Rachel through harsh eyes. "We have a warrant for the arrest, it's all above board," he added dryly, "In case you were wondering."
"I don't doubt that, Joe. You'd never do anything that wasn't above board," Rachel replied with equal dryness, to which Jack smirked.
Joe's non-response was to shove Jack into the back seat of his car, slamming the door once Jack was seated. He walked around to the driver's side, and said to Rachel, "I'll be charging Christey and he'll be taken to the cells at the SPC before any bail is organised. If it's granted. But don't think that because you're his girlfriend you'll be getting any special privileges."
Rachel's eyes narrowed at the snide comment and she watched as he drove Jack away. She turned around and headed back towards the car, noticing Mick staring at her with an eyebrow raised in question. "Why were you looking at me like that?" she asked him when they were both in the car with the doors shut.
"I didn't know Da Silva knew about you and Jack."
Rachel scoffed. "I'm going down to the SPC, but I'll drop you off at work first, okay?" she started the engine and pulled away from the curb, the tyres screeching loudly as she did so. When Rachel got to the Sydney Police Centre by herself about 45 minutes later, she was greeted by an ever so smug looking Joe Da Silva.
"I knew you wouldn't waste much time in getting here, Detective Goldstein," Joe commented, gesturing her to the 'Police Only' area. "But you're lucky I'm in a good mood because I'm going to let you see him," he said of Jack.
Rachel silently followed him to the cells, which were in a quiet corner of the building, away from everyone and everything else. She was unsure of where Jack was at first, but Joe soon pointed to the cell that was going to be Jack's temporary home until he was released on bail.
"I'll give you five minutes."
Jack stood up when he heard Joe's voice, knowing that someone, probably Rachel, was there to see him. He walked to the metal-barred cell door, grabbing hold of the bars with both hands, "Rach…" Jack said as soon as he saw her, "How did you and Mick go with you know who?"
Rachel stepped closer to the bars that were separating them, "She didn't say much. Predictable really. But we'll get her, Jack. We will," she said in a hushed voice, not wanting Joe to hear her. "After seeing her today, I don't think I have any doubt that's she's somehow involved. She was so sure of herself… a bit too sure, you know."
Jack nodded. His eyes then lit up as he came up with an idea he hadn't really thought of before; something that hadn't yet come up during the investigation, "What about a witness? I know Denton died in the early hours of the morning and the chances of it are slim… but someone may have seen or heard something."
"That's definitely possible Jack," Rachel replied with some enthusiasm. She reached out and gently touched one of his hands, "Although you'd think Da Silva would have already spoken to the neighbours."
Jack lowered his voice, "Rach, this is Joe Da Silva we're talking about here. He's probably been cutting corners since he was old enough to use scissors."
"I'll get onto it as soon as I leave here. Okay? It will be alright."
"Only if Jeff lets you," Jack told her, sounding like he was back at work and her superior again. When she frowned at his words, he explained quietly, "It was easy enough for me to go and find Alex Grenville without Jeff knowing about it because I was suspended. But you on the other hand…"
"Time's up, Detective Goldstein," Joe's loud and intimidating voice echoed down the corridor, followed by his equally loud and thudding footsteps. "I said five minutes and it's been about six. Let's go."
—
When Rachel got to the station, she walked hastily up the stairs after greeting Tayler, who was on front counter duties. Mick spun around when he heard her walk into the office, and Rachel noticed that he had a pleased look on his face and a gleam in his brown eyes. "What's going on? You look happy," she said to him, sitting down at her desk.
"You'll never guess what happened while you were gone!" he exclaimed, quite cheerfully. "A witness came forward claiming to have heard loud arguing coming from inside Graham Denton's house on the night he was killed. A man's voice and a woman's voice."
Rachel's eyes widened. It was almost too good to be true. She'd only just finished talking to Jack about the possibility of finding a witness, and now it seemed she didn't even have to start looking. "A woman?" she repeated, watching as Mick nodded with a smile. "Anything else about this woman? A description maybe?"
"Helen and I are going to speak to the witness as soon as she has finished doing something for Jeff," Mick began to explain. He saw Rachel frown slightly, "Jeff thinks it's best for everyone, you and Jack especially, if Helen and I go."
Although Rachel could understand the reason behind Jeff's decision, the small frown stayed on her face because she felt a little annoyed. "So he thinks it's okay for me to go and see Charlie Driscoll with you, but it's not okay for me to speak with this witness? Yeah, that makes sense."
"I don't know, I think Helen was busy this morning…" was all Mick told her in reply.
Rachel sighed. There was no point in letting the situation get to her, she thought, in an attempt to make herself feel less annoyed. The sooner they spoke with the witness, the sooner the chance that things would go back to normal.
—
Later on that day, Jack was pacing back and forth impatiently in his cell, much like he was doing in the moments leading up to his arrest. Only this time the amount of space he had was limited to roughly a 3x3 metre box. He heard two voices in the corridor and stood still, realising that they were arguing. He recognised one voice to be Da Silva's, but he didn't recognise the other.
"You can't just waltz in here and announce you're releasing Jack! Especially when he hasn't even been granted bail yet!" Joe yelled out angrily.
"Actually, I can," the unknown man replied firmly and seemingly with a great deal of confidence as well.
Jack frowned at what he was hearing. What the fuck was going on?
The two men then appeared in front of Jack a few seconds later, and the man Jack didn't know stepped towards the cell and introduced himself with a thin-lipped, but rather genuine smile, "Hi Jack. I'm Inspector Tony Brady, from Internal Affairs."
Jack was confused. Like many police officers of his time, Jack had the misfortune of dealing with Internal Affairs on numerous occasions, but he'd never met Tony Brady and he had no idea why he was there. "Internal Affairs? What's happening?"
Tony motioned for Joe to quickly unlock the door, and he did so extremely reluctantly. "You're being released," he said, then gesturing for Jack to come out of the cell. "There's been a new development in the case against you, and based on this development, we feel it wouldn't be right to keep you locked up in here."
"Hang on. What new development?" Jack asked, his watchful eyes on Joe as he walked away with his head held down, as if he was sulking.
"A witness."
Rachel and Mick found a witness already? Jack thought, following Tony down the lengthy corridors and out of the building. "Are you going to tell me more or is that it?" Jack asked once they were standing on the edge of the footpath, near Tony's car, "You're just going to keep me guessing?"
"That's all you need to know for now," he responded, getting into the car, "It will be further explained to you once we arrive at the station."
The rest of the car ride was silent, except for sporadic chattering of voices over the police radio. Jack stayed deep in thought until they pulled into the Water Police station carpark. "Were you really allowed to have me released like that?" he asked inquisitively as they began walking down the path towards the building.
"Yes and no," Tony said, remaining relatively reserved with his answers.
Jack couldn't help but feel a little pessimistic, "Wow, you really are hinging everything on this witness, aren't you?"
Tony stopped walking, causing Jack to stop as well. "And you're not going to tell me that this witness is lying, are you? That you really did kill Graham Denton?" he exclaimed, "I don't want to find out that this has all been for nothing. I'm putting my own arse on the line here too."
"No, I didn't kill Denton!" Jack said through his teeth. He paused before he continued, "Why are you doing this? You don't know me… I don't know you…"
"I guess you could say I owe the Water Police. I owe Jeff."
"What for?"
Tony sighed loudly, not in the mood for explaining but knew he had to because he could tell Jack was the kind of person who wasn't going to let up. "A couple of years ago now, I had Frank Holloway charged with murder, after the murder weapon was found in his home. Jeff warned me that I could be making a big mistake. And it was later proven that the gun had been planted on Frank."
Jack raised both eyebrows in surprise, "So… now you're open minded to the fact that cops can be set up, and have murder weapons planted in their homes by the actual killer or their accomplice?"
"Something along those lines," Tony replied, letting Jack walk in front of him as they entered the station, "Jeff and I will be speaking with you shortly, just to go over everything again from the very beginning. We've already had a quick chat to Rachel."
—
"Another interview with me?" Jack commented, walking into the dark-walled interview room and sitting down before he was told to, "You guys must be absolutely loving this."
"Don't think of it as an interview," Jeff sat down opposite Jack, while Tony faced Jack but remained standing. "Think of it as a discussion," Jeff glanced down at the folder in front of him before looking back at Jack. "The witness who came forward earlier today… it seems he heard about your arrest on the radio and wanted to do the right thing."
Jack began to nod slowly. There were many thoughts and questions going around in his head, but he kept quiet, wanting Jeff to elaborate.
"The witness is a neighbour who confirmed that he heard an argument, loud yelling, coming from inside Graham Denton's house at about 3:15am, which fits in with the time frame the coroner specified as Denton's approximate time of death. The voices were of a woman and a man, and one can only presume the man was Denton."
"And the woman?" Jack asked curiously.
Tony took a few steps forward, speaking up, "Well, we've got an okay description from the witness who saw her leaving the house. We're hoping that he'll be able to recognise her voice too if we can get a lineup organised –"
"But the argument, the time and the woman are enough to get me out of that bloody cell?"
Both Jeff and Tony nodded at the same time. "As long as you're being truthful about it all, Jack," Tony advised him bluntly; he knew Jack initially lied about his alibi.
"If you're referring to the fact that when all this shit first happened, I didn't say anything about Rachel and where I was…" Jack said, his eyes switching between both men, "I was only wanting to protect her from this… and…" he shrugged, knowing that in hindsight he should have been completely honest from the start.
Jeff quickly looked in Tony's direction and then back at Jack. He had never been keen on relationships between police officers within the same unit, but for some strange reason Jeff was slowly getting used to the idea of the two detectives together. Perhaps because he could sense that there was a genuine care between them.
"I didn't kill Denton," Jack stated emphatically, for what felt like the millionth time.
Tony had interviewed and spoken with many police officers during his nine years at Internal Affairs, and most of the time, was quite confident in his ability to tell whether someone was lying to him or not. This time, he was sure that Jack was telling the truth.
"Does this mean I can come back to work?" Jack asked in hope, when no one else had spoken for about 20 seconds.
Jeff nodded, "Yes Jack, your suspension will be lifted. However I'm sure I don't need to remind you that you're not to be involved in any way with the ongoing investigation, and that also includes not talking about it. I know about your little visit to Alex Grenville the other day, and if something like that happens again, you'll be back on suspension quicker than you can blink."
"And Da Silva, what about him? What about the knife?"
Tony took another small step forward. "I won't go into all the details because you don't need to know them, but Internal Affairs will be conducting a separate investigation into his policing methods."
Jack felt relieved, but he was mostly pleased knowing that Da Silva should get what he deserved soon enough. "Good," he simply responded.
—
When Jack left the interview room, he went straight to the detectives office, entering quietly. "Hi," he said to Rachel, who immediately lifted her head when she heard his voice. "Remember me? I'm the guy who normally sits at the desk to your left."
"Hmm vaguely. What was your name again?" Rachel grinned at him.
Jack smiled, and then silently indicated for her to follow him through the door that led to the balcony. Outside, the sun was beginning to set; the main ambient light coming from inside the station and the city skyline in front of them. It was the kind of setting that Jack wanted to share with Rachel every day. "I need to tell you the truth," he began in a low murmur, standing next to the handrail.
A confused look flashed upon Rachel's face and she asked, almost worriedly, "The truth about what?" she stepped closer to him.
"How I feel."
The look of confusion remained on Rachel's face, "Hold on Jack," she interjected, a little nervous about what he wanted to say. Talking about feelings had never been something Rachel was very good at. "I'm not sure this is –"
Jack interrupted what Rachel was saying by shaking his head and raising his hand slightly. He brushed some wayward hair from her face with his fingers, and then quickly looked around, making sure no one was near by. He didn't want any interruptions, not again. "I love you so much, Rachel," he said with the utmost intent.
Rachel's nervousness became obvious as she fiddled with some of the buttons on Jack's shirt.
"It's okay if you don't know what to say. Or if you don't want to say anything. I understand," Jack continued, smiling at what she was doing. He knew that she'd had some tough times with relationships in the past and the last thing he wanted to do was make things difficult or awkward for Rachel, even though telling her how he felt probably did both those things.
This is madness, Rachel thought, just say it. Just say it back to him. She finally stopped fiddling with the buttons on his shirt and took a deep breath in. "I love you too Jack…" she said, very quickly feeling a sense of relief.
Jack was surprised. He was happy, but completely surprised by her response. He kissed Rachel's forehead, in between some strands of her fringe, "I've been in love with you ever since we met, you know," he whispered, keeping his face close to hers.
Rachel tried to suppress a chuckle and said quietly, "Oh you have not!" but when Jack nodded a couple of times, she asked. "Since we met in the meal room at work? And you asked me if I'd 'done a few rape cases'?"
He nodded again, noticeably confident this time, smirking as he answered. "Uh huh. Since then."
The gathering storm inside Jack had finally settled.
—
The End
I could have continued this further, but decided to leave it this way so you can make up your own mind on who the killer was! ;)