Disclaimer: Mary and Marshall belong to David Maples. If they hadn't been misused by others I wouldn't be writing this.
Provoked Too– Chapter 11 – Hell Hath No Fury
Mary's at her desk in the wee hours of the morning getting Davey's papers ready for his 5 AM transfer. She meets with Davey's new Inspectors and goes with them to Davey's apartment. He isn't thrilled with the early morning wake up either. Thank God Norah is with Mark. If Bug was home she'd never be able to do this. With Davey on his way, Mary feels justified in going home, wondering if her overnight guest has left.
The office is sunny and most of the Inspectors are at their desks. "Where's Mary," Marshall asks Delia.
Delia looks up. "Didn't she call you?"
"No, Didn't she tell you where she was going this morning?"
"Nope, sorry Chief. I haven't heard from her."
He knows she had a rough time yesterday but she could at least call. When lunchtime comes and goes without a word from her he is beyond aggravated. The other Inspectors already think Mary gets preferential treatment. This just proves it. Dammit, she has to follow the rules like everyone else! She should have called. His stomach burns as he wonders how much sleep she got with Lucas in her bed.
Marshall has his phone in hand when Mary cards herself into the office. Her hair is a mess, her white button up court blouse is askew and there is murder in her eyes. Dealing with Mary in this state could mean bruises. He longs for a sports cup, but metaphorically girds his loins to confront his late Inspector. This time he needs witnesses. He walks over to her desk where she stands burrowing through her bag, fuming.
Arms akimbo, jacket rucked to the back he stands in her way when she heads for the break room. "Is there some reason why you can't call when you aren't going to be at work on time?"
Mary cocks her head and squints at him. Just as he thinks she's not going to answer she starts quietly. "I would have been here on time if your fucking fiancée hadn't pulled me over and arrested me!" Even the marshals around the corner, hell on the next floor could hear that.
Marshall drops his arms. His hands flounder like freshly caught fish. "What? Why would she do that?"
Mary shoves her messenger bag onto her desk and glares. "She accused me of being in cahoots with her gun runner. What in the hell did you tell your southern fried Avon lady?"
Marshall splutters. "I didn't tell her anything. I never tell her anything."
"Guess that's why she has to make stuff up! Took me two damn hours to get that defective detective to call the AUSA."
If Abigail arrested Mary he can't defend her but there has to be more to it.
"Mare, my office," he commands "I need details."
For once she doesn't bristle when he uses her first name. "I need coffee!" she tosses her head and grabs a cup.
"Okay, sure." Marshall looks to see who heard Mary's outburst and groans. Seems like every Inspector is busy pretending to work. Great example of leadership Doofus – not knowing your own Inspector had been arrested? Why in hell didn't Abigail call?
Mary takes her time getting coffee, hitting the restroom and even brushing her hair and tucking in her shirt. Marshall uses the time to make a few phone calls. He checks on Davey first. He's safely on his way. Next he calls the AUSAs office and gets referred to Mr. Bailey who had sprung Mary. He wants to call ATF because they will have information on the gun runner but Mary's striding into his office loaded for bear.
She's working to slow her breathing trying to calm down, reminding herself that Marshall isn't Abigail and that he didn't ask his little miss perfect to arrest her. At least she wants to believe that.
"Sit down Mare, uh, Inspector." Wouldn't do to rile her by addressing her informally. "Now, tell me what happened this morning."
Mary gives him a blow by blow description of the indignities inflicted on her by the detective – being arrested on a public street, being forced to walk through the station in handcuffs. Damn Abigail wouldn't even show her the courtesy of covering the cuffs with her jacket. At least they kept her in an interrogation room instead of a holding cell.
She's run out of expletives and sits, shoulders slumped, sipping her coffee. "On the plus side, citizens at the station will think I'm a criminal and not a US Marshal."
What's wrong with her? Why would she even try to put a positive spin on this? Marshall thinks about sending her home but doesn't think she'll go. And he doesn't want to be seen giving Mary special treatment. It's bad enough the other Inspectors heard what happened. Despite yesterday's shoot out Davey's transport papers were completed for his early morning hand off.
"Thank you Inspector." Mary escapes and shuffles out of his office and dropping into her desk chair, cradling her coffee.
Marshall is formulating what to say to his fiancée. How dare she? Just because he can't tell her about his job doesn't mean she has to shut him out when it involves his Inspector. Maybe he shouldn't be talking to Abigail at all. Marshall grabs his badge and Glock and storms out of the office.
Albuquerque Police Department, Office of the Police Chief, Gordon Paradiso
"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice," Marshall reaches over the desk to shake the chief's hand, then perches on the indicated chair, ready for battle.
Chief Paradiso returns to his seat behind a gray metal desk. He's a grizzled veteran, his tanned hide marking him as a candidate for skin cancer. "I thought you'd be here sooner. Didn't your Inspector call you?"
Marshall coughs nervously. "Inspector Shephard thought it was a bureaucratic error that would be corrected. And it was, just not as soon as she thought."
"I see." Chief Paradiso sifts through some reports on his desk and glances at Marshall. "Are you here to file a formal complaint?"
Marshall sits back mollified by the police chief's conciliatory attitude. "I'd like to get all the facts first. Tell me what you know about the events that lead to her arrest."
The chief hands him a PD report. When Marshall finishes reading he looks at Paradiso. "That explains why she was arrested. Hell, according to this I should have been arrested."
"Yup," Paradiso agrees. "Now read this one"
Marshall studies the nondescript cover. "This isn't from your office."
"No. It's from ATF." Abigail hadn't told Marshall ATF was there. He skims the pages one by one. If he didn't know better he'd swear they were two different incidents.
"So the 'civilians' Mary is accused of bringing? "
"An ATF agent, and according to this," the Chief squints at his copy of the report, "a provisional US Marshal?"
Marshall shakes his head. He's never heard of a Provisional Marshal but he isn't going to let Abigail's boss know that. Lucas' client is an ATF agent? No wonder he brought the party favors.
"What do you think accounts for the discrepancies?" Marshall can't imagine why Abigail would go off half cocked like this. It's not her style.
Police Chief Paradiso sits back in his chair and steeples his fingers examining the ceiling. "That involves one of your Inspectors," he turns to look at Marshall. "Just not the one in that report."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Marshall has done his best to manage the odd lot of Inspectors that report to him. He's angry about Mary's treatment but what is the Chief inferring?
"According to my sources, an Inspector Coldwell put my detective on the scent. He told her he couldn't go to you with the information because you were involved. Detective Chafee has been following 'the Boss' for months. Coldwell said that Inspector Shephard and a couple of her friends were working for the Boss. He showed her photos."
"That doesn't make any sense. Doesn't Caldwell know Abigail and I are engaged?"
The Chief shrugs. "Evidently not. He did know that Detective Chaffee had argued with your Inspector Shephard. Maybe that's why he picked her."
What a mess. Did Caldwell do this just to get revenge? When had Mary and Abigail argued? Who had followed Mary and taken pictures? "And you trust this 'source?'"
The police chief nods. "I've seen the photos. They are taken too far away to be clear. The woman has a blonde ponytail, so it could be your Inspector. The men?" The chief shrugs. "They could be anyone." Then why was it enough to convince Abigail?
Marshall stands and shakes the chief's hand. "Thank you for your time. If you hear anything else regarding any of my Inspectors, please call me." Marshall strides out. He has an Inspector to confront.
As he nears the exit, Marshall hears the chief's public address system announcement: "Detective Chaffee. My office."
If the ATF report is accurate he needs to apologize to Mary, big time. But as soon as he steps foot in his office Stan calls. "What in the hell did Mary get herself into this time? Did you know the director himself got a call from ATF? They told him Mary's intervention was just the 'initiative' they needed to break the case wide open." Stan stops to catch his breath. "After the firefight one of Boss' gang decided to testify. Seeing Mary in action convinced him the marshals could protect him. You should be seeing him soon."
"Honestly Stan, I'm confused. The PD report makes it sound as if Mary and I were working with the Boss, the gun runner Abigail's been tracking. Chief Paradiso said Caldwell had given Abigail that information. What do you know about Caldwell?"
"He looks good on paper but the Phoenix Chief suspected Caldwell was involved in something. Just couldn't catch him in the act. With the office closing he wasn't able to focus on one Inspector."
"You've read the ATF report? What do you make of it? Mary looks like a goddamn hero."
"Yeah," sighs Stan. "I know she's good but they laid it on pretty thick. There's something else going on there. Maybe they're praising her to divert attention from someone else. Best case: an undercover agent. Worst case: corruption. Let's hope it's an undercover operation."
Marshall hums. "Uh huh."
"You know about that?" Stan interprets Marshall's response as knowing something more.
"Not as such, but that scenario does fit with certain recent events."
"Keep your ears open and your nose clean. This could still blow up in your face. It could implicate Mary, and not in a good way. The nail that sticks up is the one that gets pounded down."
"Thanks Stan." Even though he was no longer their Chief, Stan was still looking out for them.
As he was getting coffee Marshall heard the other Inspectors chatter. They were discussing the ABQPD report and wondering why Mary had been released. This would never do. He got an unclassified version of the ATF report and sent it to all his Inspectors as an 'instructive example' of interagency cooperation. Despite being heavily redacted, any Inspector worth his salt would connect the dots to Mary. Fortunately, it didn't say anything about Michael or Lucas or their status. Provisional Marshal my ass!
It took several days before the grumbling in the office died down. Mary and Delia are both in the office when they see a courier deliver a large bubble wrapped packet. "That's from DC," Delia confides. "I've seen packages like that before."
Marshall takes delivery and retreats to his office to open the packet. Mary and Delia hear him groan then bellow. "What the hell?" He's loud enough to be heard through his closed office door. Mary stands for a better view.
"What did you do now Mary?" Delia asks.
Mary shrugs and frowns. "Why do you assume it's me?"
Delia just stares at her. Mary sits down and goes back to her files.
Meanwhile, Marshall is questioning the so called intelligence of the US Marshals and the entire DoJ. The padded folio revealed a calligraphy commendation with its embossed gold seal. What in the world is Mary to do with it? What part of security breach didn't they understand? As he's pondering that problem his office phone rings. "Chief Inspector Mann."
"Marshall, it's Lucas."
"How are you feeling?" Marshall feels guilty for blowing the guy off the last time they talked. According to the police report Lucas was shot twice.
"I'm fine. Nothing serious. Just bled like a stuck pig. Uh. . . thanks for asking. I'm calling because I want to talk to you – get the facts straight – and I'd rather not do it in your office. Meet me tonight for drinks at Two Fools." He hesitates and clears his throat. "Sorry Marshall, I'm used to giving orders, Consider this an invitation."
Marshall does consider it. There's a lot he wants to say to Lucas, he's not sure Two Fools is the proper setting. He's picturing a boxing ring. "Tonight is fine, but let's meet at the bar where you met Michael." He wants to see the place for himself and try to understand its allure. Besides, too many law enforcement types hang out at Two Fools.
"Okay, sure. I'll be there after 6," Lucas promises.
A/N: Thanks for the review Meg and guest. Even if only you two are reading this was fun to write.