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["DISPATCHER TO UNIT 021."]
["UNIT 021 RESPONDING."]
["UNIT 021 WE HAVE A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE REPORT IN AKRON COUNTY, ADDRESS 1215 COOPER ROAD."]
Lassiter looked out across the dash into the empty night sky in front of him, the road ahead surrounded on both sides by corn stalks well over his head.
He was returning from a conference in a neighboring town with his partner. It had lasted all day, gotten nowhere, and ran much later than expected, not to mention the hour and-a-half drive home.
["AKRON, SIR?"]
["1215 COOPER ROAD."]
["OKAY. ABOUT 20 MINUTES OUT. OVER."]
Lassiter glanced briefly at the radio. He was on Cooper road. Although, with corn being the only inhabitants for miles at a time, it was hard to tell exactly where he was.
A few minutes passed, and he flew through an abandoned intersection, he caught sight of a small gas station & mini mart on the side of the road. He slowed just enough to read the address.
Reaching for his police radio speaker, he pressed the side and said firmly
["THIS IS UNIT 004, ALREADY ON COOPER ROAD. WE CAN TAKE THIS."]
"Carlton, what are you doing?" Juliet sat forward in the passenger seat to look at Lassiter, with a confused expression and a slightly pissed off tone.
"Look, we're the closest unit within twenty miles, we can take this quickly, and go home."
"You've never even handled a domestic violence call before. You don't know what to even do."
"Yes I have! Remember that guy with the tattoo on his face in that apartment downtown? I think I handled that very well."
"No, I handled that." She frowned, but it was completely lost on him in the dark.
"And you did great! So just do that again!"
"That was different.."
"So what's different about this time?" After getting no answer, he added "What happened to your whole "I'm-not-a-feminist-just-a-female-in-power" attitude?"
["DISPATCHER TO UNIT 004. ARE YOU SURE? AND IS THAT DETECTIVE LASSITER?"]
"Don't." She said sharply, which was almost the last thing Lassiter had expected to hear from her.
["THIS IS DETECTIVE LASSITER UNIT 004. 1215 COOPER ROAD, CONFIRM?"]
["CONFIRMED."]
["WE'LL MAKE THIS QUICK. OVER AND OUT."]
He had expected more words of protest from the passenger seat, but she just sat stiff and rigid, staring briefly at him with disbelief, then turning to look out the window.
He could see her reflection in the window, and her eyes were closed.
"O'Hara, do not fall asleep on me. I did not just buy us 100-percent-sugar 7-11 slurpees for nothing." He tapped his fingers lightly on the wheel.
She still wasn't answering, although he knew she was awake. He tried to keep light conversation, "I must admit that although you had to bribe me to try one, it was actually pretty good. I wouldn't peg you as the type to endorse that type of sugary-junk-crap."
She mumbled quietly, eyes still closed, "Only when I really need to stay awake."
She glanced briefly at the road, then closed her eyes again.
"It's coming up on your right." She said tiredly.
Lassiter had assumed she had been looking at their GPS on the dash, but her eyes were still closed.
He began to turn in on a dirt path, seeing the lights on the front porch of a house just a little ways in.
"It's the second driveway." She said.
Lassiter spun the wheel sharply to make the turn into the second dirt driveway, which the headlights soon illuminated, showing a path to the house, while the other driveway led farther back to a barn.
He glanced over, and her eyes were still closed.
"Are you coming?" He asked rhetorically, unstrapping his seatbelt.
"No." She answered.
Lassiter thought for a minute, in the dark car, before he was able to put a few things together. "Have you been here before?"
"Hm. Maybe." Her arms were folded casually, and of course, her eyes still shut.
He shook his head, still confused. "Fine. Stay here. I'll be right back." He pushed his door open, stepped out, and shut it gently.
The warm glow coming from the single-story yellow house was more than inviting, and maybe the small porch lined with a decorative white wooden railing lowered Lassiter's expectations on what he might find inside.
When he got to the door, he pushed past the screen and knocked sharply on the door. "Police! Open up!"
There were a few voices inside, and after a minute or two, the door swung open wide.
"Officer, is there something wrong?" The man who answered the door looked to be in his thirties, yet had kept the pretty-boy eyes, and had the toned-down build of a high school football player.
Lassiter flashed his badge, introduced himself briefly, then said, "We received a report of possible violence or disruption. May I step inside?" Lassiter was already on his way in.
"Of course, of course. Can I help you with anyth-" The man took on a sickly-sweet tone.
"Is there anyone else in the house with you?" Lassiter cut him off.
"Um, just my girlfriend, but she's in the shower right now."
"I can wait." Lassiter said casually, folding his arms and widening his stance.
"I mean, she's kind of sick, I've been taking care of her. She's going to go straight to bed from the shower, it's actually pretty contagious, you don't want t-"
"That's bullshit, Kyle. Where is she?" Juliet appeared in the doorway behind Lassiter.
"J…Juliet?"
"O'Hara, you know this guy?" Lassiter twisted around to her and frowned in confusion.
She quickly brushed past him and straight up to the man, Kyle.
"I know you're not alone in this house and if you don't show me where your girlfriend is right now I will pull my gun-"
"O'Hara!" Lassiter cried in disbelief. She never even let him talk like that.
Kyle looked taken aback. "What happened to you? You're so… different?"
"I grew up." She said firmly. "Answer my question."
Kyle held up his hands in sarcastic defense "Fine, she's in the back room, but I'm warning you, she doesn't like to be interrupted in the middle of her showers. You know, like most people."
Not even listening to him, she marched over to the back room, and he started to follow her.
"No, you get to stay here. I don't trust anything you're going to say, so stay out of it." Juliet spun around, shot him a warning look, and headed back towards the bedroom.
Lassiter noticed, there were a lot of doors in this house that led off of the main family room and kitchen, and somehow Juliet knew exactly which door was the bedroom. She shut the door behind her.
After an awkward minute of silence, Kyle said "Can I offer you a drink, Officer?"
"No." Lassiter said firmly, almost cutting him off. Somehow he already didn't like this guy, just based on how O'Hara was reacting to him. He certainly didn't like being called Officer. And that slurpee wasn't quite sitting right in his stomach.
xxxx
Juliet did not find the girl in the shower. In fact, she didn't find her in the bed, either.
She found a curly-haired brunette, who looked like a complete mess, on the floor next to the bed, fully clothed and completely dry.
The girl was conscious, and bleeding from her lip, with more than one dark circle around one eye.
She had convinced the girl to sit up, and eventually stand up, and had gotten her to lay down on the bed before the girl shot back up, shouting "Wait, who the hell are you!"
"Hey, it's okay, it's okay. I'm a cop; we got a report of domestic violence. Based on the fact that there's only a few other houses within a mile of here, I'm guessing you're the one who made the call." Juliet had leaned one knee on the bed.
"Are you stupid? Why would I do that? It was an accident, I overreacted. If you're talking about Kyle, you're… you're fucking insane. He's not like that." Fear flashed across her eyes. "Get out of my house!"
Juliet stood up straight, just to make sure no one was at the door, and as soon as she stood, she saw an almost pleading look in the other girl's eyes that told her she really didn't want her to leave.
"What's your name?" Juliet asked softly.
"Mel. Wait. Why do you care? I thought I told you to get out." The protest had left her voice.
"Mel, my name is Juliet. Look:" she lowered her voice, "I used to date Kyle, I know what he's capable of, and I sure as hell know that there was no accident here."
Mel's entire expression changed, and after a short silence, all she could say, quietly, was, "…How did you get out?"
xxxx
"That's a fire code violation." Lassiter broke the uncomfortable silence, pointing to an extension cord under the window with other plugs stacked into it, and the cloth curtains draped over it.
"You gonna write me a ticket?" Kyle said coldly.
The bedroom door creaked open on the other side of the small house. Juliet stepped outside and pulled the door mostly closed behind her.
"Carlton, will you call an ambulance, please?"
"What?" Lassiter asked, somewhat shocked.
Kyle's voice boomed throughout the house, "What a fucking drama queen, it is NOT that bad!"
Staying focused on Lassiter, Juliet said "It's just some minor things, but I think they should be looked at, and you know I don't like taking any chances with head injuries." Her eyes held a mixture of sympathy and concern, sort of begging for his understanding.
"Yeah, sure, uh, sure thing. Do you uh, need help in there?" He stuttered, a little uneasy about being in the middle of nowhere with a person whose injuries he did not know the extent of.
"No, we're good." Juliet said.
Then she turned to Kyle, with that powerful look that Lassiter knew so well, which she got when she had a lot to say.
She kept it short. Walking right up to him, almost chest-to-chest, with clearly no fear of him whatsoever now, she said "You told me you were going to change. Is that what you tell all the girls you beat the shit out of?"
As she turned to head back to the bedroom, she said quietly to Lassiter to the side, "I trust you to deal with him appropriately."
She left back into the bedroom, and Lassiter stayed turned away from Kyle for a minute, letting Juliet's words run through his head, and interpreting them the only way they really could be interpreted.
As she headed back into the room, Lassiter peeked into the room a little bit, and saw just the face of the girl who had been mentioned; the horrible black eye, the bloody lip and chin, and overall a mess. As much as he tried not to, he pictured his partner with the same injuries.
Sometimes Lassiter got a little short tempered.
He was ready to bust this man up.
But he was a professional. So he did what he could: he spoke into his police radio, requesting an ambulance, and then immediately started thinking of ways that he could provoke this man, so that anything Lassiter did to him could be claimed as self defense.
xxxx
Juliet sat with Mel, and cleaned up her injuries as best as she could, while they talked and waited for the ambulance. She helped Mel devise a plan on how to safely leave Kyle.
"You know you're… the first person I've talked to who actually understands that this isn't a quick break-up deal."
Juliet just nodded.
"If you don't mind my asking, um, how serious were you and Kyle? I mean, how far deep in this shit did you get stuck, you know?
Juliet nodded again, "I was living with him, for a while. Here. It started just as a temporary thing while my apartment was flooded, but once my apartment was safe again, he…wouldn't let me leave."
"What? He like, kept you here?"
"No, I mean, it started out as just him begging for me not to leave. And that worked, for almost a week, but when I got serious about going home, he took the battery out of my car."
"Oh my god. What did you do?"
Juliet gave a small laugh, "I took the battery out of his, put it in mine. Here's the thing: his battery worked in my car, but my battery didn't work in his car. So he was stuck out here for a while."
Mel laughed "Oh my god, that's great. Wasn't he mad?"
Juliet's smile quickly dropped. "Yes. Very mad."
Mel stopped laughing, "Oh."
Then she said, "How did you end up leaving him? Like, was there a fight, or…?"
"Yes. But I made sure I wasn't alone. You know how Kyle's nose is a little crooked in the middle?" Juliet asked.
"Yeah.."
"Well, let's just say that the bones in Kyle's nose are very familiar with my brother's fist." She smiled at the memory.
Mel smiled, too. "That's kind of awesome." She sniffed, feeling a little better than earlier.
Suddenly, they heard a gunshot outside.
Mel gasped, startled by the sound.
Juliet was used to it, but remembering her last words to Lassiter, she whispered, "Oh shit." and told Mel to wait there, while she peeked out into the hall. When she saw no one, she hurried to the front door.
Stepping outside, one hand instinctively on her gun at her hip, she heard Kyle's scream.
"I'm hit! What the hell did you do! Fucking!"
She spotted him on the ground in the front yard, near the driveway, while Lassiter stood just around the corner from the porch, putting his gun back into his holster.
"You idiot, I fired into the sky!" Lassiter shouted.
"What the hell did you do?" Juliet asked, surprisingly calm, knowing Lassiter likely wouldn't have shot this guy.
"He tried to run, so I fired a warning shot." Lassiter shrugged.
Juliet marched over to Kyle, who was still on the ground, holding his knee.
"He fucking shot me! Juliet! You fucking idiot you let him do that? What the hell is wrong with-" He was rolling around the ground in pain.
Juliet bent over him and shined her keychain flashlight on him.
"Move your hand." She instructed.
He didn't respond.
She pushed his hand aside, which had been covering his knee.
"You skinned your knee, dumbass. I've seen paper cuts worse than this. Get up."
"He shot me somewhere!" Kyle began patting down his entire body while he sat in the grass.
"It's all in your head. You can stay there for all I care." She dismissed, remembering she didn't have to waste her time on him. She walked back over to Lassiter, as she spotted the flashing ambulance lights in the distance, between the masses of corn stalks.
"Well done," She said to Lassiter. "You completely traumatized him. Thanks. And that's not sarcastic."
"I know." He said.
They could see down the stretch of road so far, that they were able to watch the ambulance lights approach them for a few minutes before it actually pulled in, sirens off.
Mel appeared in the doorway, holding onto the doorframe. "Oh my god, is he shot?"
"He thinks he is." Juliet said, then added, "Sit down, the EMT's will come to you."
Mel lowered herself to the porch step. Juliet walked over, and handed Mel a slip of paper; both her work and personal cell phone numbers scribbled on the back of a 7-11 receipt.
"Keep in contact, okay?" Juliet said seriously, looking straight into the brunette's eyes.
Mel nodded, then looked at the ground and mumbled "Thank you." as the ambulance pulled into the driveway.
As an EMT did a brief assessment of Mel, the other walked over to Kyle, who was not actually at all injured.
Juliet walked back over to stand by Lassiter, a sick feeling in her stomach as the scene brought forth memories of her own experience being taken away from Kyle's house in an ambulance.
Lassiter had plenty of questions he wanted to know about Juliet and this guy. Knowing very little of the situation was near torture. But being the introverted, hard-shelled man that he was, he knew he would never be able to muster up the courage to actually ask her anything about it.
As they silently watched Mel being led to the back of the ambulance, the EMT inspecting Kyle determined he was not actually injured anywhere, except a minor scrape on his knee. The EMT had cleaned and bandaged it and left Kyle in the yard.
The ambulance pulled out, and sped silently off down the road.
"Shall we?" Lassiter motioned for Juliet to lead the way to their car.
"One more thing. Wait in the car, I'll be right back." She held up one finger and then took off around back of the house, where the driveway led to a free-standing garage.
Lassiter assumed his position in the driver's seat and started the car, watching Kyle roll around the grass in self-pity. He tried to watch for Juliet, but couldn't even see the garage from where he sat.
Finally, she ran into view of the headlights, casting a tall shadow on the house. She held a paper grocery bag in her hands, and a small smile on her face.
She opened the back door first, and set the bag on the floor, before shutting the door and quickly opening the passenger side door.
Juliet, with the door open and one leg still outside the car, noticed Kyle beginning to stand up.
"Drive." She told Lassiter firmly, with that small smile still on her face.
"Should I arrest him or something?" Lassiter asked.
"No. Just go."
Lassiter shrugged, muttered "Okay…" and put the car into reverse. He backed out, while Kyle just stood in the grass, making no move to chase them whatsoever.
As Lassiter drove away, Kyle shouted something, which neither of them heard with the windows shut.
Juliet laughed, "What a dick."
"Excuse me?" Lassiter said, shocked by her language.
"Oh trust me, if you knew him, even someone like you would be calling him that, too."
"Likely not. I'd probably come up with something more specific and insulting. I wouldn't swear though." He raised his chin slightly, keeping his eyes on the desolate road stretching ahead of them.
"Please, Carlton, this isn't middle school. I've heard you use nearly every word in the book when your Glock gets jammed, or you stub your toe." She smiled at him, knowing he knew that it was true.
"Fine. I'm not gonna tell you what to do, Potty Mouth. Now pass me the effing potato chips."
""effing"? Seriously?" She joked.
"Fuuuu…nyuns." He stuttered. "See, I can't even do it! When I do it, it has to be involuntary."
Juliet just laughed, and then it was silent again.
Lassiter couldn't help but come to the realization that the woman sitting next to him had probably endured far more in her lifetime than he ever thought. He had this bad habit of assuming what he wanted of other people; and he never wanted to see her get hurt. So he assumed that she had never been hurt, even though he knew deep down that that was never true about anyone.
"Thanks for taking that call." She said quietly.
He knew that needed no answer.
"One other thing," He started, "may I ask what's in the bag?"
She smiled, and said simply, "A car battery."
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