Moran POV

I got to the office at five-thirty.

Early for me, by any stretch of the imagination, but I was ready to get to this meeting.

And I know.

It's scheduled for eight.

So there was no need for me to be so early other than because I had some soul-searching to do.

Because see, the mayor's already made up his mind.

This meeting is just a formality.

Eames had unknowingly sealed her fate yesterday when she stood up in front of the microphone.

"What's the status of the FBK investigation?"

"At this point, I don't have anything new to disclose. The detectives are still tracking various leads."

"That's what you said on Friday!"

"And that's what they're still doing. This isn't a TV show where murders are solved in a day, Theresa. This is real life. Sometimes it takes weeks, maybe even longer."

"But isn't Major Case supposed to be the best?" the reporter had retorted smartly.

"We are the best. That's why this case will be solved."

"Is that a personal guarantee?"

"That my detectives will catch the FBK? Yes. Absolutely."

"You mean just like they solved the Schuler case?"

Eames had smiled broadly at Theresa, and I knew she had to be enjoying the moment.

"Actually, yes. I'm pleased to be able to say that late last night, a confession was obtained from Martha Black Schuler. She'll be facing charges of two counts of murder, and one count of murder-for-hire, in addition to various lesser charges stemming from her attempts to evade arrest."

"Captain, two counts?"

"The body of Martha Schuler's twin sister was recovered yesterday afternoon."

"Didn't you have the sister in custody?"

"No, we had Martha. Marion Black has apparently been dead for nearly a week."

"Wait, so the detectives arrested the right woman earlier in the week, and then they let her go, thinking it was the twin?"

"Schuler was involved in an elaborate plot designed to escape prosecution. Detectives Yuille and Wyatt did an outstanding job on a highly unusual case."

She'd gone on to give brief updates on other active cases and then she'd ended the session.

As soon as she stepped away from the podium, Mayor Holt had called me.

"Kenny, I want that girl in media. Make it happen."

"I'm guessing by girl you mean Captain Eames."

"Right, right. The public loves her, and she's a natural. I could probably get caught with one hand on a bong and the other on a hooker, and she'd still make me look like a choir boy."

"Oh, I don't know about that, sir."

"What's the problem, Kenny? The NYPD needs that kind of image right now. We need her as our public face."

"But she doesn't want the job."

"I don't care!"

"Sir, she's very good where she is," I insisted. "The department is running smoothly, and their efficiency is…"

"Ross can't run things?" he interrupted. "You put him there first, remember? He was your choice for captain. Are you telling me that you were wrong when you gave him that post five years ago? Is he not the man for the job?"

Leave it to a politician to seamlessly jam me between a rock and a hard place.

"No, sir, but things have…evolved."

"Just fix it, Kenny. Or I'll find a chief who can."

So this morning, I was going to have to transfer Eames to the media department.

Not right away of course, since Ross still had requirements to fulfill, but the word was going out today.

And it gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

She doesn't deserve this.

And Ross doesn't deserve the keys to the store.

Not this fast, anyway.

And Eames had a point last week.

Ross had his ass on his shoulders and to my knowledge he's still never even said thank you.

Was he always like that?

Probably.

Maybe I just never noticed because he's so good at kissing ass.

Now Eames…there's no ass-kissing involved with her. No punches pulled, no smoke being blown…she's a what you see is what you get kind of captain.

My kind of captain.

Not only does she not deserve to lose her position, but if Ross goes back to Major Case, what will that do to Goren?

It's no secret that Ross hates him. And while I haven't always been a huge fan, over the past year, I've come to a better understanding about him.

And I've grown to respect him.

I've also realized that maybe my prior opinion was skewed by Ross' distaste.

So if Ross took over, right away there would be tension and discord.

And to what end?

He wasn't going to do nearly as good a job as Eames.

All of this pressure from the mayor was simply about him wanting to strong-arm her into the media department more so than him wanting Ross back.

The opening of my office door startled me out of my introspection and I glanced at the clock as I looked up to see who was my fellow early bird.

"Denise," I said in surprise. "You're early."

"So are you," she replied. She crossed my office and set down a cup of coffee on my desk.

"What's that?" I asked her, nodding toward the thick manila envelope she held in her hand.

"Oh, it's…for you. Captain Maas gave it to me last night."

But instead of giving it to me, she continued to hold it as she looked at me curiously.

"You're going to do it, aren't you?"

I started to question what she meant, but then I sighed and sat back in my chair.

There was no need for games.

She's been with me too long for that.

"I'm not sure that I have a choice."

"He's putting on the squeeze?"

"Holt is, not Zaring," I clarified. "Zaring just wants to do whatever the mayor wants. He knows it's wrong, but he won't stand up to him."

"What about you?"

"Am I going to stand up to him? I'm not sure I've got that kind of clout," I said resignedly. "He already mentioned replacing me if I don't get it done."

"Well, then maybe this will help," she said, and then she tossed the envelope onto my desk. "And give me just a minute. I've got something else to add to it."

I watched her in confusion as she left my office and then returned a few seconds later with a piece of paper in her hand.

"See what Holt thinks of this," she said. She put the paper down on top of the envelope that was still lying on my desk untouched, and then she looked at me and said pointedly, "If you want me to take down a letter for you, just give me a buzz."

I waited until she left, closing the office door behind her, and then I glanced down at the items on my desk.

On top of the envelope was Denise's letter of resignation.

Once I looked it over, I had a pretty good idea of what was in the envelope.

And I wasn't wrong.

Inside was an entire stack of resignation letters.

The first one was from Maas, and it had a note paper clipped to it.

Holt likes numbers? See what he thinks of these. To be put into effect if Captain Eames is removed from Major Case.

I flipped through the papers and saw that every single detective in Major Case was accounted for.

She's been there a month and they're all willing to quit for her…I couldn't help but smile.

I mean, yeah, it's professional blackmail, but I like it.

And she had Stanley behind her, and Denise, too.

Unbelievable.

This was unprecedented.

I started at the top of the stack again and read through each letter more carefully.

Maas, who worked his ass off for this Deputy Chief job. His personal life was in shambles and at the moment, the job was about all he had, and yet he was ready to give it up.

Logan.

The purported affair.

I had to believe Eames when she said it wasn't true. Not because I find it implausible or because I don't like Logan. Unlike Ross, I can actually see that the man is a damn good detective.

But I asked her pointblank and she'd said no, so…I believe her.

I flipped to the next one.

Goren.

His was the least surprising.

The two of them have been together for what seems like forever.

I wonder if he can even remember who his partner was before her.

I'd been slightly concerned that she wouldn't take the promotion since it would mean not being his partner any more.

That was one reason why I'd worked so hard to come up with a good alternative for his partner.

I didn't want her worrying about him while she was tackling the new position.

And I'd wanted to punch Ross on Thursday for telling her that she'd left Goren behind.

Frankly, I don't see that happening whether they're partners or not.

Which is why I've never asked her pointblank whether or not she's having a relationship with him.

Because I don't think she'd lie to me.

And I still haven't signed off on those new regulations yet.

I've been trying to find the right time to slide it past Zaring, but with the way the reporters keep questioning Eames about detectives' personal relationships, I've been afraid to bring it up because then he'll get suspicious.

And he'll probably want to start a whole inquisition.

And it's not that I need him to approve it.

That's my call.

But he does need to know about it, and sometimes he gets hinky about things like that, and with this Ross situation, we had enough craziness going on without adding to it by having a witch hunt.

Although we might get one anyway, but for a different reason.

"We might have a minor fire to put out," Stanley had said to me when he called yesterday.

"What kind of fire? Major Case?"

"Where else?"

"Dammit, Stanley, I don't need trouble there."

"You're telling me. But it stems from Ross, and I'm not the one who rolled out the red carpet to him, so…"

"Yeah, I got it," I interrupted. Because he was right about that. I'd welcomed Ross into my office without thinking the situation through. "So what did he do now?"

"He dropped by Eames' apartment on Friday night."

"For what?"

"To talk, I guess. But she wasn't there."

"So why is that a problem?"

"Because I was there. And I answered the door. Not fully dressed."

I think I probably sat in silence for nearly a minute before I could think of anything to say.

My deputy chief was at the apartment of the MCS captain, on a Friday night, partially dressed.

All we needed was for Theresa the barracuda to get a hold of that one.

"Should I ask?" I said at last. "Because I'm not sure I want to know why you were there."

"You heard me say that she wasn't home, right?"

"Yeah, okay, so…"

"She was housesitting for her sister, and you know I've been staying at a hotel since Clare kicked me out, and…well, Alex offered to let me stay at her place over the weekend since she wasn't going to be there."

"And while you were there you decided to open the door half-naked?"

"I had a date. And I…"

"Okay, I don't need to know details, Stanley. But you know how this looks, right?"

"Of course I know! I'm sure it'll be the first words out of Ross' mouth at that meeting tomorrow because he'll want to paint Alex as the kind of person who's trying to sleep her way to the top, and you and I both know that's not true."

"Everybody knows that's not true," I'd retorted, although I wasn't entirely sure of that.

Would Zaring believe Ross simply because it was a convenient version of the truth?

"Really? Or will they believe it just so they can sleep at night after they screw her out of her job?" Stanley said, his words echoing my exact thoughts.

This whole thing had turned into one giant circle-jerk.

Why should Ross get his position back just because he's here?

Eames worked her ass off and judging from the stack of letters in my hand, she'd won the respect and admiration of every single person in her department.

Who would quit for Ross?

Quite possibly no one.

So what kind of chief would I be if I sat back and let this happen?

I took a deep breath and scooted up my chair and then reached over and pushed the button on the intercom.

"Denise, can you come in here please? I need you to take a letter."

TBC...