3

Joe knew that he was in trouble, big, big trouble. The paramedics had taken him to the hospital for some stiches to the wound above his eyebrow. On his right temple a colorful bruise had formed. And the doc had diagnosed him with an acute gastritis and a mild state of exhaustion. He had asked if Joe had been under too much stress lately. But all in all there was nothing to keep Joe at the hospital for longer than the stitching up required.

Joanne had already left, but Levon waited for him in the waiting room. He seemed relieved to see his partner so soon. Joe did not meet his eyes but looked down. Levon simply ignored his contriteness.

"Come on, let´s get you home." He took the bag with meds from the nurse´s hand and led Joe to the door. Joe looked around, searching.

"Is the Lieutenant already gone?"

"Yeah, when she learnt that you were ok she did not think it necessary to wait."

Joe sighed. He was relieved that she wasn´t there to give him the telling-off he had expected. He followed Levon to the Jimmy. The ride to his apartment passed in silence. His thoughts circled around the mess he had made of his life, his career, his finances. Thinking of the consequences of his foolish actions made him fidget in the seat, and it suddenly brought home the fact to him that he was not at all feeling well. He had to admit that all he wanted right now was to crawl into bed and draw the blanket up over his head.

When they reached the apartment building Joe fumbled for his keys. Unsuccessfully searching for the lock he felt a hand on his, as Levon took the key from his trembling fingers. He let it happen. They went up the stairs to his flat. When he looked up the flight of stairs to the door he blinked in disbelief. There were two suitcases standing in front of his door. He recognized both of them as his. On one of them lay an envelope.

Levon tried the key but he did not get it into the lock. It looked like the lock had been changed. Joe reached for the envelope and opened it. It was a letter from his landlord. He had cancelled the lease contract due to the unpaid rent. What of Joe´s belongings had fitted into the suitcases, he had stashed there. All else would be returned to Joe when he had paid the outstanding rent.

Joe dropped the letter and slid down to the topmost stair. He lowered his head onto his folded arms and sobbed.

ADADADADADADADADAD

Levon had read the letter and then carried the suitcases down to the Jimmy while Joe still sat on the stairs and cried quietly. When Levon returned he laid his hand on Joe´s arm.

"Come on, Joe. Let´s go home."

"I don´t have a home anymore," Joe sniffed.

"Nonsense, it´s not as if there´s nowhere you could stay. I have lots of space at the ranch. That apartment was way too expensive and you always said you hated it." Levon pulled Joe up by his arm. Joe looked at him with large desperate eyes, but said nothing. At last he got up and followed Levon to the Jimmy.

Levon could understand that Joe was shocked by the recent turn of events. But on the other hand he had also been very lucky as far as the assault was concerned. The talk that Joe would have to have with the Lieutenant was yet another matter.

At his ranch Levon set Joe up in the guest room. Joe shed his clothes and crawled into bed. He felt miserable and his stomach ache had become worse. The throbbing pain in his head didn´t make things any better either.

Levon went about the kitchen to make some tea for him. While the pot was brewing he called Joanne at home. First she seemed annoyed by his call. But when Levon explained about Joe´s apartment she fell silent for a moment. Then she said she would come out to the ranch the next day.

Levon took the tea to the bedroom and gave Joe the medication the doctor had prescribed for the gastritis and the headache. Consoling Joe, however, proved to be a fruitless endeavor. Joe just wanted to be left alone. Half an hour later Levon found his partner asleep. Quietly he turned off the lights and closed the door.

ADADADADADADADADAD

The next day was Saturday and Levon rummaged around the house, while Joe stayed in bed like a wounded animal licking its wounds.

At noon Joanne came by to talk to him. He felt awkward about his superior seeing him in this state. But when she asked if she could sit on the bed he nodded.

For a long moment she just looked at him. All night she had pondered what to do about Joe. Though he sometimes was too impulsive, he was a great guy and a very good cop, smart, sensitive and open-minded. She valued him highly. Since he had joined the team she had kept a close eye on him. She had seen how hard he had fought and how he had tried to adjust and fit in. It would be a pity if this one mistake further dampened his career. And now she had learnt that his private situation had taken a turn for the worse. She knew that Joe could easily have asked his uncle, a Chicagoan mob boss, to help him out financially. But he had not. Not resorting to the use of dirty money was yet another point that counted in his favor.

But Joanne could not let any of this get in the way of her professional judgement. She had to keep all these considerations to herself. She was the boss and she needed to put her point across to keep her authority up undisputedly.

Joe seemed to have sensed her reluctance. He grabbed the chance to make his case. "Lieutenant, I know there is no excuse for what I did."

"Which was?"

"Getting a second job without permission and working nights." He looked down at his hands, contritely.

"Yes, you are right. There is no excuse. And though I know you did it for a reason, it does not change the severity of the misconduct." Her speech had been stern so far. As she continued her voice became softer and it carried just a hint of reproach. "I just wished you had spoken about your problems to one of us before you went through with such a stupid idea."

Joe said nothing to justify his actions. He knew that lame excuses as well as denial were inappropriate.

After a while Joanne resumed speaking, once again her voice full of authority. "I am willing to offer you one last chance, Joe. You promise that when you come back on the job you will fully concentrate on your work. No distractions, no second job, no fooling around, you understand? You know that your work performance has been beneath contempt these past weeks, don´t you?"

He nodded, his face blushing with shame.

When Joanne continued her voice was calm and he could perceive the worry in her words. "It´s really no wonder you came down with a gastritis in the end. This must have put you under far too much pressure." It was almost like she had not intended to say this aloud. Becoming aware of it, she sat up straighter and her face became businesslike again.

"The investigation confirmed that the warehouse was full of illegal weapons. So your and Levon´s involvement actually led to a very successful bust. You can imagine what will happen if the other departments learn that this was all a coincident." She looked at him with a very serious expression.
"I will therefore issue the following official version of the events, with which I explicitly request you to go along. You understand?"

Joe looked bewildered. "Yeah, sure, Lieutenant."

"Your employment as a night watchman was a cover for the investigation we set up because we were suspecting foul play at that warehouse. The bust proved our suspicions. The whole operation was very successful." She smiled at Joe.

Joe could hardly believe what she was telling him. The new interpretation of the events did not only whitewash his actions but actually made him the hero of the day. When he met his Lieutenant´s gaze he wasn´t quite sure if he had seen her wink. But then she held his gaze and he knew that she was very serious about what was to follow.

"Joey, nobody will ever learn what happened. In return I expect your future conduct to be impeccable. Do you understand me? If I ever learn about the slightest wrongdoing from you in the future I will not be able to do anything for you." Her eyes almost pierced him and he could hardly keep from squirming. "And I wouldn´t want to do anything for you either. Is that understood?"

He nodded. He knew that he owed her his career. She was a great boss and there and then he pledged to never give her a reason to reprimand him again. All of a sudden he felt a fierce loyalty to her. He was very lucky to have her as his superior.

"Oh, by the way, did you get payed for your work at the warehouse?"

Her question brought back the original problem behind all this. "Just for the first two weeks. But I guess now that we brought the owner of the warehouse in, I will not get anything else." Even though he knew he had no reason to complain, he couldn´t fight that sinking feeling. Had he really gone to such length only to be denied the pay for his work?"

She thought for a moment. "Ok, I´ll see what I can do about this. Maybe the Chief will be generous. And about your highhandedness: it would normally have earned you no less than two weeks suspension. So I think you´re not objecting to a sick leave of a similar length? That also correlates with the time of convalescence the doc recommended."

Joe´s jaw dropped, and he was unable to say anything.

Joanne got up and walked towards the door. When she stepped out of the room she heard a whispered "Thanks Lieutenant" behind her.

The End

There is a sequel to this story available now with the title Rock Bottom