Disclaimer: I'm only borrowing the characters other than Karen and Jerry. They are essential to this story, but I'm not making any money off of them.
A/N: I went a bit astray from the characters of Jerry and Karen. I apologize. Rookie mistake. I think I have it down now. Please read on. Good and Bad reviews most helpful.
Professor Bobby Please Step Up
Chapter 6
Jerry was pissed off. Not only did he not know what he'd done to set Karen off, but it didn't appear that she was going to tell him. And therefore he had no idea how to rectify the mistake or keep from repeating it in the future. Why wasn't she acting like a lady and just letting it go? All he'd been trying to do is understand his partner. Isn't that what he was supposed to do?
Bobby was coming back into the Squad Room when the two reentered the room. He saw Jerrys body language and deduced that the two had not been playing nice again. And he had an idea of what went wrong. That boy would never learn on his own. From the profile he'd gotten on Jerry it seemed he hadn't had that great of a role model from anyone. Bobby figured for the sake of the team and to keep Alex from disemboweling him, he'd better make a concerted effort to set him on the right path.
Captain Deakins breezed out of his office, looking intense. "Get you information together and bring it to my office in 15. I need an update. One of the friends of the Mayor was just hit and he is making trouble for the upper levels."
And that rolls down to you which rolls down to us." Alex nodded.
"Give that woman a badge." Deakins smiled at her without rancor. "I need some kind of progress I can report to the Chief of D's."
"We'll give you what we have, sir." Bobby told his friend.
"Good. How's it going, you two?" Deakins asked the two new officers.
Jerry just shrugged. " Proceeding apace, Captain." Karen told him firmly.
"Good. Glad to hear it. 15 minutes, guys." He strode back to his office.
"Why did you do that? You tell him something non committal, you dope. At least it'll give you time to put your thoughts together without him working himself into a lather. By the time we get in there he could be in a hell of a stew and he'll take it out on you. Honestly, Jerry, how did you ever get in here?"
"That's not going to happen." Bobby said. When both of them looked at him he gave them both a direct stare. "Deakins, doesn't stew. He explodes, but he knows how these things work. You are always, I repeat always honest with your captain. If you are, no matter how bad the news, he should stick by you. Deakins has always been a straight shooter. He deserves your respect. See that you give it to him. Don't humor him."
Jerry looked amused that Karen had gotten rebuked. Alex pinned him with a glare of her own. "And you don't hide progress or lack of progress from him either. It's his job to back you up and your job to do your damnedest to give him what he needs."
Karen didn't look at her partner. "We think we have an idea of what is going on and we'd like to tell you what we've come up with."
"Go ahead." Alex said.
"You want to tell them? It was your idea." Karen told her partner.
"You're the one with all the answers." Jerry told her, still annoyed.
All three detectives stared at him and he flushed. He'd been acting childishly and it irritated him that he felt like that, but damn. He couldn't seem to do anything right, lately.
"Jerry thinks the financial institutions might be a part of this. Can we find out if they have a common denominator in their financial dealings?"
"That's a good idea." Alex said. "We can also check to see if any of the robbery victims use those banks. Jerry, why don't you gather all the information we've gotten so far so we can present it to the captain. Karen, go down to the cafeteria and get me some decaffeinated coffee, will you?"
Karen looked like she was about to argue, but she nodded. "How do you take it?"
"With caffeine." Bobby smiled at his partner. He knew the hardest part of her pregnancies for her, outside of not being able to go in the field, was going without her caffeine. He admired her for her restraint even if the initial days were hard on him with her uncertain temper.
"Cream and sugar." Alex made a face at him and leaned back in her chair.
"I'll be right back."
"We won't go in without you." Bobby said.
"Jerry, there's files in that drawer over there. We'll need those." Bobby pointed to the far side of the room.
Jerry reluctantly moved off that way. Alex looked at her partner. "They aren't happy with us or each other."
"I know, but it can't all be glamorous. Better they learn that now rather than later. Are you alright?"
"I will be if you stop asking me every half hour if I am." Alex groused, but she smiled at him to take the sting out of her words. "I swear, Bobby, I will never again drink and entire pitcher of Margaritas, no matter what the occasion."
Bobby smiled at her. He well remembered the reason for that party and the fine time the two of them had had after everyone else had left. He regretted now her discomfort but he never would regret that night. A wadded ball of paper nailed him square in the middle of his forehead. He blinked at his partner. She was grinning at him.
"At least your aim has improved." He said. She had never hit him exactly there before though she had tried.
Alex huffed and reached for another piece. "Are these all?" Jerry asked as he returned.
The moment was lost. "Those are all we need right now." Bobby said without missing a beat.
Karen was back minutes later with cups for everyone. She sipped hers while they organized the paperwork and walked toward the Captains Office. Deakins looked up as they all traipsed into his office. He blinked in surprise when Karen put a cup in front of the captain. She shrugged and moved away to join the others.
"Let me hear it." He commanded.
"It's mostly supposition right now." Bobby started. "We have a theory that we're working on, but we don't have enough yet to make any kind of accuracy. I think we'll have something more by the end of the day."
"Alex?"
"We've gone through all the reports generated so far, but there are too many holes yet for us to be able to say for certain who is doing this. Jerry has a theory, though."
"Let's hear it, Jerry."
Jerry expounded on the theory they had considered on the way back. He made sure he included everyone in his report. That surprised Karen and judging by the looks on Bobby and Alex's face it did them too.
Captain Deakins nodded. "There can't be too many of those bank branches here. Bobby, you and Jerry go check them out. Karen, I want you and Alex to go through the records of all the robbery victims and see if there are any other similarities. I remember seeing the advertisements in the paper. This bank hasn't been here in the area too long. See if you can find the head offices and go talk to the CFO. We still have a couple of hours before I have another call from the upper management. Go take care of business."
"Karen, staya minute."
Karen waited while the others filed out and Deakins closed the door. "I have a question to ask you and this is just between you and me. It's a personal one so I don't suppose you really need to answer it, but I'd like it if you would."
"Alright, sir. If I can."
"There're two subjects, actually. The first one is that there is a record that you have put in for the birth record for an adoption done 27 years ago. Is that true?"
"Yes, sir, it is. It's a matter of public record, so I don't suppose it'll hurt anything for it to be known. Is…there something happening with that?"
"Not exactly. I just happened to catch the rumor. The other thing is how are you getting along with Jerry? There seems to be some tension."
"We just met not that long ago. He takes a bit of getting used to. Rome wasn't built in a day, Captain."
"So true. If you have any questions about getting along with a difficult partner, talk to Alex. She could write a book. There is someone else you could talk to, but she's gone on her honeymoon. They should be back in a few weeks."
"I should hope by then I'll have that doggie roped and tied, Captain. But thanks for the information."
Deakins grinned. "Oh, I'm looking forward to seeing that, Detective. Just make sure you don't put hobbles on him."
"The trick to training a horse, Captain Deakins, is to teach them what you want them to know and make them think it's their idea. I never break a horse, just train 'em and let them do the work." Karen grinned at her captain.
"Go get your training program under way, Detective." The captain made shooing motions toward the door. Karen grinned at him and beat a hasty retreat.
Bobby decided not to wait for Karens reappearance. He told Jerry. "Let's go see those banks. I don't think we should wait. If the thieves get wind we're on to them they might get desparate. We'll be back soon."
"Be careful." Alex called. Bobby just waved to her.
Jerry was still angry with his partner. "Okay, I get that I did something wrong, but I'll be damned if I can tell what." He told Goren as they headed out of the building.
Bobby glanced at him. "Let's talk about it outside." He looked around at the rest of the busy hallway.
Jerry was ready to burst by the time they went out to the garage and no one was around. "Wait. I'm just lost here. How do you deal with a crazy woman partner? You have one."
In a flash, Bobby wheeled around and pinned the younger man against the wall of the parking garage with his forearm across Jerrys chest. He put his face very close to Jerrys so there would be no mistaking the dark expression on his face. "In the first place, my partner is not crazy. She never has been and she never will be. She has put up with a lot from me, with me and because of me. She is one of the most amazing women on this planet and one hell of a cop. Don't you ever mistake her for one of the women that you so carelessly lump together as crazy."
"Okay, okay, Big Guy. Take it easy. I'm sorry. I didn't mean Alex is, just Karen." Jerry wasn't at all sure that he couldn't take the bigger man, but he really did try very hard not to show how close he felt to getting the slug he was sure was coming.
Bobby released Jerry but didn't step back. He stayed right in his face and gave him a hard look. "I don't think Karen is crazy either. I think you have that problem we talked about earlier today. You are a first class moron, you know that? You keep putting down the people you work with, lumping them all into categories such as crazy, those women, and whatever else you haven't said. Putting people into a group based on things like gender is just stupid and every time you do that you end up in deep trouble. If you haven't figured that out by now, you need to do some hard thinking.
People are different in all sorts of ways and you're not going to be able to do your job if you group them. The very first thing you have to do is start thinking of your partner as a valuable person in her own right, not some half assed extension of yourself. Share your knowledge and experience and let her share hers. Don't assume that because you don't know something that she doesn't either. Get over yourself and be a part of the team, you can't be a team all by yourself. Remember that. You won't go wrong by doing that. I guarantee it."
"I…It's never ….No one ever told me I was doing that. I didn't realize I was doing that. That's the way I learned to do it. I thought everyone did it that way."
"No, Jerry. Maybe some of them do, but they never made Major Case, did they? You won't find anyone in Major Case who does that. One more thing that I can guarantee is that if that kind of attitude isn't corrected immediately, you won't stay in Major Case either, because it's wrong and so are you as long as you continue to think that way."
"You're awfully full of yourself, you know that. You can predict if I will make it based on one days work? Who are you, God?" Jerry lashed out. His ego was taking a pounding and he was smarting from the continued assault.
Bobby sighed hoping for patience. "No, I'm not God. Far from it, but I've seen you behave all day like you're the number one male in the office and you can't believe the women have an idea. It's sickening and completely inappropriate thinking. You're not in the back roads any more. Get with the century or plan on moving back home. Now let's go see those banks. I want to go home and see my wife and children."
Bobby strode to the SUV and waited for Jerry to join him.
Jerry was not exactly afraid of the bigger man, but he was wary. And he had every right to be. Not only had he insulted the mans wife and his own partner, but he had come to NYC with the intention of showing them that he was the one and he'd put his foot in it all the way up to his back pocket. Truth is often difficult to see and really painful when it smacks you upside the head with a closed fist.
Bobby didn't speak again to his passenger until they got to the first branch. "Watch, learn and keep your mouth shut unless you are absolutely sure of what you want to ask." He told Jerry curtly.
Jerry did as he was told. Much to his surprise, he began to see why Bobby had the reputation he had. Not only did the man see things Jerry would've missed but he charmed the ladies, not by being dismissive, but by paying attention to what they had to say. The bank manager was a full-fledged stuffed shirt. He managed to alienate Jerry in the first few minutes and he made not of the fact that no one came to him with anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. His secretary was the only one who wasn't uncomfortable around him yet she seemed just too helpful. Like her boss, she was avoided by the staff if in the bank as though they were one entity. Very curious.
As a matter of fact, all four branches of the Dakota Bank and Trust were run in much the same military manner and none of them were pleasant to be in. The people they talked to gave pat and simple answers, leaving as soon as possible to be away from the questioning.
At 5:45, Goren glanced at the clock. "Let's get back to the station."
Jerry heartily concurred. "I'd like to make an observation." He threw out into the silence of the vehicle.
"Go ahead."
"Maybe it's because I'm from a smaller town, but I don't believe that that bank is a happy place to work and I don't understand why someone would want to bank there. Their rates are only a little better than their competitors but their service is lousy. I saw more than one person looking annoyed when they left."
Bobby nodded. "But sometimes, people will do things if they think they will make money at it whether they like it or not. What I'm concerned about is that they have their list of customers marked up. I saw colors, asterisks, and other marks that indicate they were being targeted. Some even had lines drawn through them. Those were all hand marked. Not deleted like you would on a computer. Those lists couldn't have been readable by a computer they had to be for humans to use. I'd bet those lists have something to do with the robbery. I think we'll go see Mr. Carver for a subpoena to look at those records."
"There was something else that I noticed, though I can't say it particularly had to do with the case."
"What was that?" Bobby glanced at the tone that Jerry used.
"The CFO and his secretary. They were avoided like the plague. A business is a business, I understand that, but he had a superior attitude that made him damned near impossible to be around."
"He is a man who puts on airs and doesn't care who he steps on to get where he wants to go. If he's involved with the robberies, chance I'd bet that she's up to her neck in it as well."
"I wanted to punch the guy. Not that I would, you understand, but I sure wanted to make him stop and take notice of someone else in the room. I felt "dismissed". What're the odds that that would happen today?"
"You have a point?
"Yeah, that's how I've been acting about the girls….I mean my partner, haven't I?"
"Pretty close, yes. You aren't doing it maliciously, but it achieves the same result. It alienates and isolates you from everyone. You are carrying a badge, wearing a gun, and have the authority to make an arrest are difficult for most people to take. Going out on your own is nearly impossible. That's where having a good partner comes in, especially one who has a grasp of how people will react, instincts Karen has honed pretty finely. You definitely don't want to go into a dangerous situation with someone you've pissed off at your back. Especially not one with a gun."
"Great. One day on the job and I'm the biggest idiot that ever set foot in the squad room." Jerry scowled.
Bobby laughed at him. "I wouldn't say the biggest. Maybe in the top five, but definitely NOT the biggest." He grinned at the young man.
TBC
I think Jerry has a chance of making it out of this story with his carcass in tact. We'll have to see if he gets a chance to redeem himself.
We're going to get some help for Karen now.