Oliver sat in his office. The inevitable conversation he was waiting for had just walked through his door. Sergeant Jason Becker from Drug Squad.
"Sergeant Becker, please sit down. I'm sure you have some important things to discuss."
He sat and said, "Thank You. Forgive me for being blunt sir, but we have certain concerns with how the Blackstone matter may be handled."
"Let me guess. You know that Detective Anderson had some vendetta against Blackstone and your worried that it may affect her ability to solve his murder?"
"Oliver, it's not just that. Look, we all know what happened to Boyd and his group. And now Blackstone could do the same thing. My concern isn't for them, personally. I worry for the reputation of the officers in these squads that do their jobs the way they should. You can appreciate that, right? After Peck? When high ranking members of elite task forces get their dark sides revealed, the whole unit, hell the whole service, gets dragged through the mud by the media. And in the war for public perception, we're all tarnished."
"Jason, I understand that. But what do you want me to do? He was killed in 15 and she's our top homicide detective. How would it look if I put somebody else on a cop murder? I'll tell you. It would look like we're trying to keep things covered up or just didn't care that much about it. Do you prefer either of those?"
"No, of course not. Obviously. I guess all I'm trying to say is that if Blackstone was dirty, which I'm not saying he was, but if he was, maybe let it rest since he's no longer around."
Oliver pondered for a minute. Becker wasn't wrong. The Service has been through a lot with dirty cops in the last few years. Some like Boyd didn't become the big spectacle that Santana and Peck did. But still, it had its effects. "Jason, here's what I can say. And I'll have to talk to Detective Anderson, but I have no intention of dragging a police officer's name through the mud on nothing but suspicion. If we get some concrete evidence, it would depend on its nature and who else gets implicated. I might not be able to keep it quiet. But, I'll try."
"Shaw… Blackstone is a hero right now, we need that right now. Don't throw that away just so some detective with a moral complex can prove a point."
"Sergeant, I've told you what I can do. If you or your Staff Sergeant have a problem with it, you know where to find me. I'll try to help out. But I'm not going to cover up something that demands prosecution just to protect your squad's reputation. If we did that, when would it stop?"
Frankie was driving fast back to 15. Probably too fast for most. She had tried to call Swarek at his desk a couple times but he hadn't answered. Cell phone didn't pick up either. She was burning to find out what was on the drive. But if Blackstone said it was for Swarek specifically she wasn't going to act on it until she talked to him, at least. She veered into the parking lot and hurried inside and to Swarek's desk … to find it empty.
"Help you?" Dov was just climbing the steps behind her.
"Yeah, where's your partner?"
"He took the afternoon off. Taking Andy to an appointment and then they were having lunch with his sister."
"Great, terrific."
"What's up?"
Frankie sat down in Sam's seat and slid the flash drive across the desk to Dov. He immediately noticed the note on it. "Who's this from?"
"Blackstone. Well, actually, his mother. She gave it to us when we gave her the notification." She didn't waste time bringing him up to speed on Blackstone. Every cop in the service knew at this point. That's what happens when a cop died. "She said he gave it to her a few days ago, about the time he disappeared it turns out. Anyway, she says he told her to get this to Swarek if anything happened to him."
"Hmm. I'm intrigued." Dov rotated the flash drive in his fingers.
"Yeah, well imagine how I feel. I wasn't going to open it because I figured Swarek would be here, I guess not."
"No, but we should probably call him and tell him."
"Gee, why didn't I think of that. He didn't answer this phone or his cell phone."
"Let me try something." Dov pulled out his phone and called Andy. She answered on the second ring.
"Hey Dov, what's up?"
"Hey Andy, how are you?" Doc noticed Frankie grew impatient at the small talk and he held up a finger to her. It didn't seem to help.
"Oh, I'm getting there. The doctors seem optimistic about the recovery, apparently the fractures are starting to heal faster than they thought they would. I was going to beat their estimates anyway so I guess this only helps me."
"Of course, you are. Listen I know Sam took the afternoon and you were going to have lunch with Sarah but something has come up here."
"With Blackstone? Catch who killed him already?"
Dov chuckled, "Uh, no. Not yet. But yes it's about him. Or rather from him for Sam."
"Like a present?"
"Yeah, something like that, maybe. I was hoping I could get it to him."
"Well, we're just picking up some lunch for the three of us and bringing it back to the apartment. We could always get enough for one more."
"Thanks, that'll work. Half-Hour?"
"Sure, sounds good."
"Perfect. Oh, and you better get enough for two more."
Sam pulled up in front of the apartment and helped Andy inside where Sarah met them. Once she was situated, he went back for the food and asked Sarah to help him.
"That's a lot, Sam. We having a feast?", Sarah asked when he opened the truck's back door.
"Come on, I thought you said you were hungry," Sam teased.
Sarah simply raised an eyebrow.
"As it turns out, we added two last minute additions to the lunch." He looked at his watch. "And they should be here any minute."
"Let me guess, something came up at work."
"That's what it sounds like. But they wouldn't say exactly what. Only that they needed to see me."
"And who is 'they'?"
"Oh, my partner and a homicide detective."
"Must be important then."
"Square, I'm sorry but they dropped this on us on the way back. A cop was found dead today and this has to do with it. I have to at least check it out. It could be very time sensitive."
"You must be important then. If they couldn't do it without you."
"Well, I am me," Sam grinned. "Come on, let's get this inside and set up. Plus, we've left Andy alone for a couple minutes. She may be trying to walk so she can prove she can get back to work."
Sarah laughed at the thought but Sam was only half joking. About five minutes later Frankie and Dov showed up outside. Sam met them ad took them inside. "Let me introduce you to my sister. Sarah, this is Detective Anderson from Homicide and Detective Epstein, my partner." Frankie simply smiled a little and said 'hi'.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Dov said. Smelling the food he went to the kitchen where he found Andy on crutches and gave her a gentle hug.
"Should we get down to business? Food is in the kitchen, so help yourselves."
"After we find out what's on here." Frankie tossed him the flash drive. Sam was almost caught off-guard but recovered.
"This is it?"
"Yep straight from Blackstone's mother. She says he gave it to her a few days ago."
"About the time he…"
"Yeah."
"Well let's take a look, follow me."
Sam turned to lead Frankie to the office that was currently serving as Sarah's guest room. Frankie called for Epstein to follow and he caught up to them.
Sam sat down at plugged the drive into his laptop and waited for it to come up. In the meantime, the two other detectives crowded around either side of him. Andy even made her way into the room on her crutches. Nobody was surprised that she wanted to know what was going on. Nobody blamed her either, this could be big. At the very least it was very interesting.
The drive finally popped up after what was only a few moments but seemed much longer. "Here we go," Sam said more to himself than to anyone in particular. The drive contained two initial items. A word document titled 'READ ME FIRST' and a folder titled 'OPEN ME AFTER'. "Simple enough instructions," he said. But he still had an urge to open the folder just to see what was there. Instead he clicked on the word doc and waited again fir it to pop. When it did they all got closed to read it.
Detective Swarek,
I'm not going to lie to you and say I never did anything wrong. Fact is if you're reading this that it's probably pretty clear to you that I have. But I'm not a bad person. I just did a couple "bad" things and soon I'm in so deep that I can't get out. Except by death. And I suspect that if you're reading this, I'm most likely dead. Free at last. And if not, I'll end up in prison and be dead soon enough anyway. The folder on this drive contains several items ranging from photos to recordings to spread sheets. All of them provide damning evidence against my bosses. I'm sure you know which ones I'm referring to here. The ones that had or will have me killed. Specifically, there's enough on this drive to take down the big boss. Someone you're familiar with, I know. Anton Hill.
I understand you were close to getting him years back. The something happened and your cover was blown and you had to give up your evidence. It's a shame. If that had worked out we probably wouldn't be in this predicament now. But oh, well. Shit happens. I know how much you wanted him though. And if you're even half the cop I think you are then I know for a fact you still do. That's why I wanted this information to go to you. Any cop could have handled it, probably. But I wanted this to go the guy who deserved it. Call it a final act of good, or whatever you want. Just get the guy this time, will ya? Make some positive outcome out of all my years dealing with him.
In the end, there were still lines I wouldn't cross. Murder being one of them. I also believed we had an understanding about not harming other officers. When he had the roommates killed (that case can be closed with what's in the folder) and the killer that you killed, coincidently, almost killed that rookie from 15, I had to do something. Knowing that the whole thing was falling apart anyway, I burned myself and put together all this information for you. They know I have it and are going to come for me. That's a certainty. It's a funny felling knowing that your death is imminent and you're content just waiting for it. I don't know what that says about me? What I do know however is that you will take care of this. That gives me more than enough solace.
As a final note, I want to make it unequivocally clear, that I am not, so far as I know, a part of any specific network of dirty cops in the Drug Squad or anywhere else in the Service for that matter. I acted alone in all of my dealings with Hill and his people and was never told of any other cops doing the same. All of my colleagues are great people and I apologize for what this might do to them. I have a lot of that to do, I suppose.
Live well Detective Swarek. Love your wife, start a family. Do things the right way. Don't betray your values and don't get stuck the way I did.
-Detective Jacob Blackstone