"Have a seat," Kate directed Kevin Costas to a chair in the interrogation room.
Kevin sat down and leaned back in the chair.
Kate let her eyes sweep over him and made a quick assessment, cocky, disrespectful of authority, and sure he was going to have the upper hand in this conversation. How did this guy get out early for good behavior, she thought?
Kevin watched his parole officer sit down on the opposite side of the table and Kate took a seat next to him.
"What's this, two against one? I've done nothin' wrong," Kevin protested. "Do I need to call a lawyer?"
"That depends," Kate said. "Have you done something where you need a lawyer?"
"Man, I ain't done nothin'. Ask, him, he'll tell ya, I've obeyed all the rules I'm supposed to," Kevin protested.
"Where were you today at 10:30 AM?" Kate asked.
"I was home. I work a midnight shift at a gas station. I got off at 7:00 AM, I went home, ate something and went to bed."
"Can anyone verify that?"
"I live alone," Kevin said.
"You sought out Mike Stoker the other day, why?"
"Oh, no, you've got that wrong. He found me."
"You didn't approach him in a grocery store parking lot and ask him if he was having some trouble on the job?"
"Look, Stoker helped put me in jail, I get out and all of sudden he's looking for me. I had three guys tell me they'd been approached by firemen and police officers askin' 'bout me cause Stoker was lookin' for me. It don't take a genius to figure out it's gotta be a work thing."
"So what, you followed him?" Kate asked.
"No, no way. I didn't follow him. I live a couple blocks from that grocery store. I'm puttin' my groceries in the car and suddenly there he is, Fireman Stoker. So, I asked him what he wanted from me."
"And then you saw Ainsley."
"Is that his wife's name?"
"She's not his wife; she's the wife of one of the guys he works with. And that stunt you pulled today, throwing an explosive device through the Gage's picture window almost cost her life and the life of their unborn child," Kate said, her voice angry.
"Woah, I didn't throw nothin' nowhere," Kevin said, putting up his hands in a defensive gesture. "I left work and went straight home."
"See, that's not what I think happened," Kate said, locking eyes with Kevin. "I think you saw Mike yesterday, saw him with Ainsley and it ate at you all night that Mike Stoker had moved on with his life while you were stuck sitting in jail and it burned you up. The more you thought about it, the madder you got and then you started plotting how you could mess up his perfect life. Damaging his truck and planting pipe bombs for his station wasn't enough for you anymore. So you strapped some fireworks to a rock and threw in through what you thought was his picture window. Only it wasn't his home and it wasn't his wife."
"Damaging his truck, setting bombs? You've got it all wrong, Detective. I'm reformed."
"Right," Kate said sarcastically.
"Why, Detective, don't you believe in our justice system? I realized in the joint that burning all those places down where I had bad memories, or burnin' down the houses of people who'd done me wrong, was just lashing out at a past I couldn't change, no matter how many buildings I burnt to the ground. But, all I was doin' was screwin' up my future. I'm serious about getting my life on track."
Kate seriously doubted that, but the simple truth was she couldn't prove it. "Stay away from Mike Stoker and the other men at Station 51. If you are seen following any of them, or approaching any of them, it will be considered a violation of your parole. If you are seen causing any property damage, engaging in any acts of arson, or creating explosive devices, it will be a violation of your parole."
"I completely understand, Detective," Kevin said, a serious expression on his face.
"I will be watching you," Kate warned him.
"I look forward to it," Kevin said, winking at her.
E
"I'll follow you home," Mike told Caroline, as he walked her to her car.
"That's not necessary," Caroline said.
"I'd feel better if I made sure you got home okay," Mike said.
"Do you really think this happened because this Kevin guy thought Ainsley was your wife?" Mike had explained the whole story to her while they sat in the waiting room.
"I do, and it isn't gonna take this guy long to figure out that he was wrong and Ainsley isn't my wife. If he watches me for any length of time, he's gonna see you and realize you're important to me."
"You're worried about me?" Caroline smiled at him.
"Yes, and for obviously good reasons," Mike said, motioning back toward the hospital.
"Aww, Mike, you're so sweet," Caroline slipped her arms around his neck, standing up on her tip toes and kissing Mike softly on the lips.
"This is serious, Caroline," Mike said, pulling back.
"Well, then maybe you should follow me home, and come in with me for awhile," Caroline said, seductively, pulling Mike in for a deeper kiss.
He started to resist, wanting Caroline to understand this was serious, but she was a very good kisser and he quickly let himself get lost in kissing her. Caroline pressed herself close to him, and Mike tightened his hold on her.
"I should definitely follow you home and stay awhile," Mike said huskily, when they pulled apart.
Caroline giggled and got in the car when Mike opened the door for her.
Mike leaned in and kissed her again, before closing the door and heading over to his truck so he could follow her home.
E
"Who's covering for Gage?" Chet asked, walking into the locker room and seeing Roy changing into his uniform.
"No one. Ainsley's still in the hospital and her parents are in town. Ainsley insisted Johnny keep working while they were here so he could schedule his vacation and be there to help when her parents had to leave. He said she figured that would be the least disruptive for the station and for me."
"I can't believe with everything she's been through, she's being that logical," Marco said, buttoning up his shirt.
Roy smiled. "I'm not sure it has as much to do with logic as it does Johnny is totally freaked out about what happened and Ainsley needs a break from him."
Marco laughed, "Yeah, Gage certainly can be intense."
"Intense," Chet said, his voice filled with disbelief. "I'm surprised Johnny hasn't tried to get the California National Guard stationed outside Ainsley's hospital room."
"I did not try to get the National Guard to stand outside Ainsley's hospital room," Johnny said, walking in to the locker room and catching the end of the conversation.
"Just the house, right," Roy said, with a smirk.
"Haha," Johnny said, dryly. "I'm glad you guys think this is funny, my wife and daughter were almost killed."
"Johnny, you know we're just teasing, and we do take what happened seriously," Roy said, realizing his partner was actually irritated.
"Yeah, right," Johnny said, opening his locker and starting to change.
The guys finished changing into their uniforms without any further chit chat. Roy knew that Johnny just needed some time to cool off, he had to be tired; he'd been spending every free minute at the hospital taking care of Ainsley.
The men lined up for roll call, some tension still hanging in the air from the conversation in the locker room. Captain Stanley went through the list of chores and made assignments to the men. He paused at the end of the chore assignments and daily announcements.
"I know we are all aware that we have a new addition to the Station 51 A shift family. Grace Elizabeth Gage joined us two-days ago, in a very dramatic way. But, I just wanted to take a moment to make sure we paused and celebrated this miraculous event. Johnny Gage, has a little girl. I hope I'm around to see how he handles it when she starts dating," Captain Stanley smiled.
"Thanks, Cap, like I don't already have enough to worry about," Johnny said, but he cracked his trademark crooked grin.
"How long you think it'll take her to wrap Johnny around her little finger?" Chet asked.
"She's already done it," Roy said. "I was at the hospital yesterday, she made a cooing sound and Johnny was jumping up to check on her."
"What can I say, I've got a thing for beautiful women," Johnny shrugged.
"Beth can't wait to get her hands on little Grace," Captain Stanley said.
"Why didn't she come up to the hospital? Joanne was there about three seconds after Johnny gave us the word she could have visitors."
"We wanted to give them some space and not crowd her."
"I figured I'd stop by once they were home," Chet said. "I picked Grace up a little gift, but don't want you to have to transport it back from the hospital."
"Chet, you softy," Johnny teased.
"Hey, I've got a thing for beautiful women too."
The guys laughed.
"Let's get started on some of these chores before…," Captain Stanley was interrupted by the sound of the klaxons.
"Station 51, school fire alarm, 11020 Clover Avenue, cross street National Boulevard. Time out, 8:35."
"That's the kids school," Roy said, moving quickly toward the squad, Johnny right behind him. Chet and Marco threw on their turnouts and jumped onto the engine. Mike opened the bay doors on his way to the engine. He slipped on his coat, securing the helmet to his head as Captain Stanley wrote down the address and acknowledged the call. The crew was pulling out of the station less than a minute after the alarm sounded.
"You don't think this guy went after my kids do you?" Roy asked Johnny, while he concentrated on moving the squad through the heavy morning traffic.
"I don't know," Johnny answered honestly. "He already targeted Ainsley, I don't think this guy is playing any games."
Roy pressed his foot down a little harder on the gas pedal. Mike easily kept up with him.
"You know this guy better than anyone, Mike. Do you think he's targeting the DeSoto kids?" Captain Stanley asked, his eyes scanning traffic, just as Mike was, to make sure they did not have an accident on the way to their destination.
"I think it's more likely he's goin' after Meg," Mike said. "He went after Ainsley because he thought she was my wife. I was with Meg the day he attacked Ainsley. If he saw me with Meg, it wouldn't be hard for him to realize she's important to me and to follow her."
Captain Stanley looked over at the tone in Mike's voice. "How important is she to you, Mike?"
Mike didn't dare take his eyes off the road even for a second to look at his Captain. "She's just a friend, Cap. But, he's not gonna know that."
Captain Stanley cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing. They were nearing the school, but they did not see any smoke. The kids were still pouring out of the building, following colored flags to specified meeting locations.
Roy pulled the squad into the parking lot and into the agreed upon area to not be in the way of the engines that may need to spray water, but close enough they could easily access their equipment to treat injuries. The fire department ran several drills every year to make sure they were ready in case there was ever an emergency. After the attack Tim mounted on the school going after Ainsley and the DeSoto kids, they had increased the drills by two per year and while always serious there was now an extra edge in their training. The men were ready to handle whatever challenge they faced.
"There's Jenny," Johnny pointed out Roy's youngest daughter, knowing he'd be worried about the kids.
Roy turned to look as two squad cars pulled into the school parking lot and saw Kate pull in behind them. "Will you grab Jenny and take her over to Kate; see if she can sit with the police? I'm gonna find Chris."
Johnny moved toward Jenny, as Roy walked over in the direction of the 5th kids lining up on the far side of the school.
Captain Stanley jumped down from the engine and began moving toward Principal Haggerty.
Mike jumped down and moved to the side of the engine in case they needed to pull lines. He was scanning the teachers standing at the front of lines of kids holding colored flags. He wished he knew what color Meg's flag was, it would make spotting her easier.
"Whatta we got?" Captain Stanly asked, walking up to Principal Haggerty.
"A 5th grader with a disciplinary problem," he replied. "He confessed to pulling the fire alarm because he doesn't want to come back to school. The rate he's going that won't be a problem." Principal Haggerty said, pointing out a very sullen looking young boy several feet away standing with the Assistant Principal.
"I'm still gonna have my men check the school," Captain Stanley advised him.
"Per protocol," Principal Haggerty nodded in agreement.
"Kelly, Lopez, take the east side of the school," Captain Stanley called out, his gaze sweeping the area looking for his two paramedics. He saw them putting Roy's kids into the back of Kate's car. "Gage, DeSoto."
Johhy and Roy quickly moved toward their Captain.
"This does not appear to be an act of aggression, as much as the act of an unhappy kid. Check the west side of the school to be safe."
Johnny and Roy nodded and moved toward the school.
"Poor kid. Principal Haggerty's going to ensure he spends the next three days on suspension."
Mike turned at the soft voice. "Meg," he smiled at her. "I was looking for you."
"I got assigned the duty of calling Jake's parents," Meg looked unhappy.
"You can't have kids pulling fake alarms. Right now, if there are other emergencies units farther than ours have to respond wasting precious minutes," Mike said, glad the Principal was taking this seriously.
"I know, Mike; and I'm not trying to justify his behavior. But, I wish he would take just a couple of minutes to find out why the boy didn't want to be at school so bad. Does he just want to be home goofing off, or is he being teased? Look at him, on the skinny side, shorter than the rest of the boys, hair messed up, glasses; I worry that the other boys were being mean to him and that is why he did this; but Principal Haggerty won't even let me talk to him."
Mike looked over at the kid and then looked over at Meg. "Maybe we can be of some help with that."
Meg looked at him.
"Hey, Cap," Mike called out. When Captain Stanley joined them Mike leaned in close and explained what Meg had just told him.
Captain Stanley looked at Meg. "Come with me."
Mike moved over to the Principal. "Captain Stanley wants a word with the boy. He figures he'll take this a lot more seriously if we talk to him, than someone he interacts with regularly," Mike told the Principal. Principal Haggerty nodded, knowing arguing with Mike wasn't going to get him anywhere.
When they walked up to the boy, Meg made the introductions. "Jerry Johnson, this is Captain Hank Stanley."
"Jerry, I wanted to talk to you about what happened," Captain Stanley said, kneeling down to get to the boy's eye level.
"I'll never do it again, I swear," Jerry looked like he was on the verge of crying.
"That's good, because we can't be out there helping people who really need it, if we are here checking for a fire that never existed. But, I'm curious as to why you pulled the fire alarm?"
"Just 'cause," Jerry said, scuffing the toe of his tennis shoes against the cement. Hank noted they were not new tennis shoes like most of the kids wore on the first day of school. Jerry's clothes were clean, but certainly not new.
"Did you want to be home watching TV?"
"Nah, nothin' like that," Jerry said.
"Were some of the other boys being mean to you?" Captain Stanley asked.
Jerry looked at him and then over at Meg, but said nothing.
"I used to get picked on at school," Hank said.
"You?" Jerry look stunned. "How come?"
Hank shrugged. "I was a lot taller than the other kids, and kinda skinny. It wasn't a lot of fun."
"Whatdya do?"
"I starting playing basketball where being tall was a good thing. I made some friends on the team and pretty soon the other kids left me alone because I had other friends around me and they didn't want to start anything with a group of kids."
"I'm not any good at basketball," Jerry said, scuffing his shoes again.
"You gotta find your own thing your good at," Hank said.
"I'm not good at nothin'."
"I'll bet that's not true."
"You're really good at kickball," Meg interjected. "I remember watching you at the end of last year; you've got a great kick. You sent that ball all the way down the field."
"Yeah, but we don't play kickball until the Spring," Jerry said.
"Well, maybe not in gym, but we can play it any time at recess. When you come back to school, I'll get a ball you can take out to the playground with you.," Meg promised.
"What if no one wants to play with me?"
"Lots of kids like to play kickball; you'll have friends playing in no time," Captain Stanley said. "Then, later next week we're coming back for a school assembly. You can be the first one to climb up in the engine; IF, you promise me, no more false alarms."
Jerry smiled at Captain Stanley, "I promise! Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye," Jerry said, crossing his heart with his finger.
Hank looked up at Meg.
"A very serious promise," Meg explained.
"Okay, then," Hank stood up and ruffled Jerry's hair. He and Meg walked back toward the engine. "You're a good teacher, Meg."
Meg blushed. "It's all I ever wanted to be. That and a wife and mother," Meg looked wistfully over at Mike.
Hank put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You're a beautiful lady, I'm sure you'll find someone special." Hank left her to head toward Chet and Marco, who were just exiting the school.
Meg looked back over at Mike, but his attention was on Johnny and Roy, who had just exited as well. Meg walked back over toward her students. Mike had made his decision, and he'd chosen Caroline.
Meg felt a wave of anger wash over her. Caroline has swooped in and snatched Mike when she'd been taking care of her dying dad. Why had she given up so easily? What she and Mike had shared had been special and just because Caroline was dating him didn't mean that she couldn't try to get him back.
Meg looked back over at Mike. He was a guy worth fighting for, and she was done just letting this Caroline woman think she could have whatever she wanted. If Caroline wanted Mike, she'd better be prepared to fight for him.