Evening - Tue 1 Nov 40 PY
Dear Diary,
Roger was furious. He told me that he was not going to live under the same roof with a smoker. I asked him if that meant that he would never live under the same roof as Patricia Lovejoy. He took on a commanding tone and told me that I was to inform himself or Norman if I would be out late and under no circumstances was I ever to smoke again. I replied that I just wanted to keep Dan company while he smoked.
Dan? Dan Dastun? He asked in a bewildered tone. He pulled a peculiar expression when I called his former boss "Dan". It was a facial freeze and then a twitch or tic around the eyes. Roger regained his composure and then reiterated that he would not live with foul air and that I was to report it if I were to be out late again.
He can rest assured that I will not smoke again. I only tried it once. I liked the rum with cola better.
I have looked back at what I had written before and parts of it are still in my handwriting, but different. The writing is less measured, more rushed. Are the
memories of Dorothy 0 resurfacing as I write? (I am Dorothy II. Dorothy I is quite dead.) I do not know. But I want to finish what I started this morning.
Dastun said. "But then came a case that changed him.
"It started with a car accident. A real wreck. A Chevy went off road and smashed into a lamp post. The passenger was mangled. We would've needed dental records to identify him if it wasn't for the driver. One rookie lost his lunch at the scene, but not Roger. As calm as you please, he took the pictures and took down the notes.
"I'm going to leave out some of the names, if you don't mind.
"It was a case of driving drunk on New Year's Eve. Young men with too much money had too much to drink and that should have been the end of it for us. Charlie M. was his name and the driver was Hardley P. Hardley had suffered only a few nicks and bruises.
"A month later, we were contacted by the Mr. and Mrs. M. They wanted to report a kidnapping, the kidnapping of their grandson. They had hired a private eye and had found a kid that Charlie had fathered the year before. Evidently, Hardley knew the Charlie's family for years and felt guilty that he had killed their son. Hardley knew that Charlie snuck out of the Domes and slummed Outside. During that previous year, Charlie had spent several months outside of the Domes and suddenly reappeared one day. His parents were so happy to have him back that they didn't ask questions.
"It was an open and shut case, the M.'s lived inside the Domes and the H. family didn't. I went out to do the dirty work.
"Let me tell you, I did not feel good that day or many afterward, but I had sworn to uphold the law. And I wasn't going to make one of my men do it if I wasn't willing. Roger came along. I didn't ask him to. I didn't want to refuse him either. I wasn't sure if he was ready; he thought he was."
He finished his scotch and ordered a double. "Ms. Dorothy, If I'm boring you, please tell me. I mean, this is a long story after all."
"Dorothy is fine. I asked to know. Thank you for telling me this. Please continue if you wish," I responded.
He took a gulp from his fresh drink, and then continued. "It was a dark day. The sky, I mean, though it fit the task. I figured that if I did it, I could make sure that we did our best to arrange visitations for the mother and her family.
"The H.'s lived in a Jewish neighborhood. It was run down like every place else outside of the Domes. I think that Jewish is kind of like German, another nationality. No one on the force had any Memories of what Jewish meant.
"Anyway, the H.'s reluctantly let us into the house. They denied that their daughter was there. We showed them the PI photos. If the PI hadn't done such a good job, I would've taken them at their word and left. But duty is duty. The mother came downstairs in the end. She was a small woman, but she radiated a pride like I'd never seen before. She said that no son of hers would hide from anyone. She refused to give up the child. Roger asked if she would be willing to come with the child and talk to the grandparents. It was the best way to resolve it, he argued. She consented.
"I think that Roger thought that he could do something or say something that would have changed the outcome. I don't know. Knowing Roger back then, I think that something in him believed that the law could not be so harsh.
"So we brought them in. We arranged a meeting with the M.'s. We put Rachel and Joseph H. up in a motel; like we do for jurors. We arranged a meeting between Rachel and the M.'s. Evidently, the M.'s knew a brass in the force and even before the meeting, they took the kid from Rachel.
"I protested, but Rachel was from outside of the domes. Roger was livid. I made him take some days off to cool down. I was kept trying the official channels and Roger wasn't going to help.
"Back then, I guess I trusted the higher ups more, myself.
"I could sympathize with how he felt. After all, he was the one who got her to come to the Dome in the end."
Dastun looked incredibly tired. He picked up his scotch and considered drinking, but put it back down.
"I'm not sure what happened next," Dasun related. "But Rachel left the motel without telling anyone. I recieved a phone call from her telling me not to bother about her son anymore. I think that I saw her once in the Domes, but when the woman looked at me, I saw that it wasn't her.
"Soon after the phone call, Roger shows up at my desk all dressed in black and hands in his gun and uniform.
"That's about it."
"Did Roger lost faith in the force?" I asked.
"Yes, he did."
"Why did you not loose faith?"
"Because if the M.'s had called me, I would have not have taken her boy. The force has some bad apples, but the Military Police is more good that bad. When we do things right, justice is tempered by mercy."
The bartender announced last call. Dastun quaffed the last of his scotch and paid the tab. We bid Instro a good night. We left. Dan drove me home. That was when I asked for the cigarette.
A part of the story is missing. I asked Norman about it and he told me that he did not pry in Master Roger's business. I suppose that I will have to ask Roger.
R. Dorothy Wayneright
Wed 2 Nov 40 PY
Dear Diary,
Roger was in a better mood today. I woke him with a piano rhapsody by Raff. He was on the roof standing idly in his black robe and fuzzy slippers. I even made his coffee the way he liked it. He was into his second cup and in a "tranquil frame of mind" when I posed my question.
"Roger, I want to ask you a question," I told him.
"About what?" he asked calmly.
"About your last case."
"You were there, oh, you mean back then," he said. He paused. "So that's what you were talking to Dastun about."
He paused again and thought about it for a minute and twenty-two seconds.
"I'll tell you another time," he replied. "Not right now."
"Is that a promise, Roger?"
"Yeah, that's a promise."
I did not know if I read his expression correctly, but I believe that he seemed relieved when he learned about the subject that Dastun and I talked about. I shall hold him to his promise.
R. Dorothy Wayneright