Chapter 4
Boom, Like That (Part II)
"Hey… soup and sandwiches good for lunch?" Henry called out from the kitchen as he puttered around in the early afternoon. "I made your grandmother's minestrone recipe… I think I got the onions and celery balanced out. Last time I tried it with scallions and everyone needed breath mints for a week. The vegetables are good for you and the broth will warm you up."
"Sounds fine, Pop," came the unenthused answer drifting in from under a blanket on the couch in the living room as Jamie did not appreciate being placed on house arrest once more, but Eddie had refused to go to work and leave him alone in his apartment for so many hours with an energetic toddler to supervise so he was under forced daycare watch at the Reagan family home for now while she was on shift. Kaylin was busy with a new coloring book under her great-grandfather's eye in the kitchen at that very moment. It was better than the hospital, but also meant a certain blond conveniently dropped him off each day and kept the keys to the car from him while his wallet had mysteriously been "misplaced" somewhere in the apartment to further hinder any thoughts of taking a ride uptown to involve himself in any of the legal wrangling now entrusted to the esteemed William Ashe from Ashe and Patton. Not that Jamie would have done himself much good walking into a courthouse or a firm like that in sweats and a t-shirt, the only attire Eddie was allowing for him anyway these days as she had taken her assigned job of keeping him out of trouble to the extreme. She'd even carried his coat and shoes out with her today after she dropped the two of them off at the house this morning, sensing that after three days of this he was about to make a break for it.
His shoes… she took his shoes, damn it.
A close inspection revealed that everything remotely useable was gone from his room upstairs too, and Danny's bedroom was locked. Jamie had to admit that Eddie had put some serious thought into this… still there were ways around these hurdles, but not with the blue eagle eyes of a former Police Commissioner on him constantly.
Right now as much as he hated to admit it, he was screwed.
"C'mon," Henry chided as he came around the corner with a spoon in his hand and an apron on, "is it really so bad to be keeping an old man company during the day?"
"Would you be sitting here, Gramps?" Jamie asked point blank. "If it was one of your kids… if it was Dad they were going to take from you… would you be happy sitting here?"
"No, son," Henry said as he settled down on the chair, still keeping Kaylin in his line of sight. "If I was in your position… no I wouldn't be happy about it, but I'd damn sure be glad I had him in my corner if I was," he paused for a second and looked at his grandson. "Let me ask you a question," Henry said as he sat back. "If you were able to walk out of here right now and your father stepped away from this… how would you fix this situation by yourself?"
"I… I don't know," Jamie admitted in frustration. "I've been over it in my head a thousand times…"
"As I understand it, you can't… right? She's got you in some kind of legal loop and even if nothing comes of this complaint she wins at her end game… she gets you into this other judge's court so she can jerk your chain around a little more. The only way this works before that is if no complaint is filed and this Judge White signs off before she leaves on her sabbatical."
"Yeah."
"Which is why this other lawyer guy your father hired has gotten them to leave an unofficial spot open on the calendar for that since he's buddy-buddy with the clerk, right?"
Jamie nodded with a frown… point one for Billy boy.
"Do you trust your father when he tells you he's gonna handle it?"
"I just don't see how…"
"Jamie, you do know how. Sometimes people in our position… we have ways to get things done behind the curtains. I know when I was PC there were times…" Henry advised with a pause as he considered the right approach for Jamie with his unwavering sense of morality. "Now in my day maybe I wasn't always all the way on the side of right… sometimes I let the ends justify the means, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. We were in a different time back then, but your father… he's smarter than I was and he's got that damn huge ethical chip on his shoulder that you've inherited. He handles things in his own way, but it's a real art with him. If he goes after this Adams woman and gets her on something to back her off this case it'll be deserved, of that you can be sure. You need to trust him... don't you? You know how much he loves that little girl in there… as much as he loves you… he's not gonna let anything happen to either of you, and if it went that far..."
"What if there's nothing there?"
"With this woman and the way she acts? C'mon there's always something… and remember she brought this on herself with all that talk about power and privilege when she's pulling things like this with the life of a little girl on the line."
"Yeah, I mean I know…" Jamie hedged as he looked down and played with the hem of the blanket. "And if it comes down to it... something goes boom, like that, right?" he muttered, not ashamed to admit that particular phrase made him uneasy as a carryover from another era. There had been times he wondered if maybe his mother was right… if he was too sensitive to be a cop… too sensitive to be the PC without a doubt. He'd never have the heart or rather the balls to do some of the things that were required to hold that office and sit in that chair… even now with Kaylin's custody at stake, it still left him with a sour pit in his stomach.
"You got it," Henry affirmed. "So answer me this then… why did Eddie have to walk out of here with your shoes this morning?" he questioned. "You just told me yourself there's nothing else you can do, and you trust your Dad will take care of what needs to be done… seems to me the best thing for everyone including that little girl in there and Eddie would be for you to rest up and get yourself better so that the three of you can take that trip you've been planning and move on with your life. It's about time, Jamison Reagan."
"How can I even think about that now?" Jamie questioned with a heavy sigh. "I haven't even been able to go pick up Eddie's ring… I planned to that night with Danny… you know before…" he couldn't even bring himself to talk about that time spent trapped in the basement at Bridgewater yet. "Besides, I'm grounded, remember?… not to mention shoeless," he griped.
"Heh… she's a spunky one, that Eddie; she's good for you. Reminds me a bit of my Betty that way, but I tell ya what," Henry said shaking his spoon at him. "You promise to play nice and give up this idea of sticking your neck into any of this, and I'll talk her into leaving your shoes and coat here tomorrow. It's Friday and we can get Nicki to stay with Kaylin since she doesn't have classes and you and I will catch a ride with your brother out to Gillespie's jewelry store and we'll get that taken care of, alright? I'm anxious to see what you came up with for the setting between your mother's stone and Betty's pendent… you'll have pieces of two strong Irish women watching over Eddie and your marriage; can't go wrong with that. Have a little faith in everything else, son."
"I'll try, Pop," Jamie answered before he smirked a little and glanced up with the devilish look of the longtime baby of the family. "But unless you're paying for the ring, you'll need to convince her to give my wallet back too."
"Well, I'll work on that, now let's get you some of that good soup and a grilled cheese sandwich," Henry huffed as his grandson rolled his eyes at the mention of Kaylin's favorite food which by all rights should have been coming out of everyone's ears by now. "I know how you love those."
###
"Robert, you can stop the car here. I need to get out and stretch my legs," Frank informed his driver who dutifully pulled the dark SUV to a rest near the entrance to one of the fishing piers surrounding New York Harbor with a view of the Statue of Liberty in the distance. "I'll just be a few minutes," he advised as Detective Nuciforo got out of the front seat to spot him while Garrett rolled his eyes and looked up from his phone before his boss stepped out of the car.
"It's twenty degrees out there," he noted with a sigh as he peered over his glasses. "You really want to slip and fall on that black ice again? Because I have to tell you I wouldn't mind working out of your house for a few more days with Henry making lunch for us. I haven't had soup like that since last time."
"He's too busy watching Jamie and Kaylin. Besides, I'm trying to stay in shape for the holidays if anyone asks," Frank bantered back irritably. "What with all these parties you drag me too at this time of year… the eggnog and whatnot. You know what that means." The New York City Police Commissioner had been in a foul mood all week now and most of his subordinates had refrained from questioning his actions or engaging in any unnecessary small talk as they assumed this was still over his outrage at the corruption found in the legal department at 1PP and the attack on his son, but his DCPI knew better and was determined to keep trying to lighten the mood.
"Sure," Garrett sighed. "No soup for me," he mumbled under his breath. "Bet Kaylin gets one of those good grilled cheese sandwiches too," he added.
"You say something?" Frank barked as he got out of the car and pulled his coat closed.
"I said have a good walk," Garrett replied at a higher volume until the door slammed shut to cut him off. "And remind me never to piss in your cornflakes if I may borrow a phrase," he noted with a frown as he continued his work. He had long ago accepted the fact that there were some things that Commissioner Reagan was required to do that were better left in the dark for everyone else.
The cold, damp weather was keeping all but the most stalwart New Yorkers inside, and certainly there was little reason for anyone to be sightseeing off the pier today, however Frank did not hesitate to stride purposefully out to the end of the span to stand at the rail where a lone angler was braving the elements and casting a line into the current.
"Helluva day to be out here," the man commented without so much as a glance in the Commissioner's direction.
"Sure is," Frank agreed as he stared straight out across the water and pulled his overcoat tighter. "You land anything yet?"
"Nah, just a couple of nibbles… seems like I'm only after a little minnow, but you… you're looking pretty lucky today. I bet if you threw a line out there you'd be happy with the catch."
"You don't say," Frank murmured thoughtfully as he pursed his lips and adjusted his sunglasses. "Think I'd need a flashy spinner for top bait?"
"Nope, I'm using a heavyweight. The minnow I'm after swims with a real bottom-feeder, almost every night. Gotta go deep in the slime to hook that one… picky about lures though, only likes the ones that look like small fry. Probably snagged a few hundred thousand of them to flash around and trade with his buddies. Facing a long time on federal ice if he gets caught."
Frank immediately tensed up at the implication… the worst of the worst. "Really?" he asked. "Small fry, huh?"
"Yeah, and this is the part where you're lucky and get to keep the stink off your hands… the funny thing is this scumsucker's had a net around him for months already and doesn't know it. The sharks eyeballing him were just waiting to see what else they could snag before they pulled it in. DA's already got him hook, line and sinker. A tipoff to the right boat to give them a heads up on how to time it and that minnow would be sure to get caught up in a very public way… definitely would force her to swim away and find another pond at the very least if she doesn't end up filleted right along with the rest of them considering most of the stench is located right in her very own tank. No way you can hang out in a rotten school of crappies like that and not know what's going on."
"Interesting," Frank mused. "These guys with the net, how much notice do they need?"
"Oh," the man replied as he finished reeling in his line and paused to recast; he had played this role of an invisible trusted 'fixer' in the NYPD for many years and his identity was unknown to virtually everyone with the exception of the PC who had handpicked him for the job before that title was even his. "Like I said, they're pretty much ready to go. Captain Thomas says he can bring the boat into the harbor that Monday, the day after Christmas to maximize the catch. That work for you, skipper?"
Frank pursed his lips while nodding his agreement to silently to give the order, and considered the fact that Jamie, Eddie and Kaylin were due to fly out to California on that date. He knew that Ms. Adams would wait until Wednesday of that week to file her complaint to minimize the chance there would be time for the ruling to come from Judge White's bench before the cases were turned over to Castor. By that point if all went well with the little planned fishing expedition, Adams would have more pressing problems on her hands with no time to recoup and refocus on them, and Kaylin's final hearing could slide into that conveniently open time slot on Thursday that Bill Ashe had sweet-talked the clerk into, giving Jamie plenty of time to relax and carry out his plans later in the week on New Year's Eve.
The Reagans would start the year off with one official new precious member, and another under contract, he chuckled inwardly… all because Ms. Adams chose poorly when it came to her live-in boyfriend, leading to a public arrest with her in the picture and scandalous headlines, particularly for the head of a CPS office. So be it after the grief she had caused for them and other honest families, not to mention the children involved in the adoptions as well as the welfare of the small ones the Special Victims Unit would be able to save from the same fate as the others being so coldly traded over the Internet fish market by Mr. Scumsucker. God, he loved it when a plan came together, even more so when there was not one iota of it that would keep him awake at night. His hands were indeed clean, but to keep them so the details would have to remain with him alone… he was going to have to ask the family to believe even when this came down to the last minute, and particularly for Jamie and Eddie... to go to California based on their faith in him. Sometimes it all boiled down to a fortunate stroke of serendipity, and a boom like that was easy to live with, especially when one was prepared in this instance to take it much further if needed.
"You know," he started before turning around for the short walk back to his waiting SUV, "I think this cold weather has made me hungry for soup."
Tsk, tsk, Ms. Adams... one does need to watch the company you keep, but she's already done more harm than anyone could imagine and what's behind that will come out shortly in the sequel to "Water Under the Bridge." So Frank did get lucky in this instance in that the dark art only involved some investigation by sources unnamed, and an implied order to move up the timetable on an operation already in the works to "maximize the catch." I do wonder who started that investigation months ago though... hmm. The question of how far Frank might go if needed to protect one of his own if he had to do it without the resources of his office could be the subject of an interesting collaboration in the werks (ha!) for another story down the road, but I digress. Next up in the last part of this three-shot, big brother finally gets to take someone to the jewelry store to pick up a certain item, and the rest of the family must convince Jamie and Eddie to have the faith to leave things in their hands and take that memorable trip with Kaylin.
