Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.
Italics - Spanish
Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.
Chapter 23. Internal AffairsTank returned to his office and sat down behind the desk. He sighed and put his face in his hands. He felt unsure of what to do next. There were so many threads still unconnected. He took a pad and started a simple list.
Eddie´s bug
Commissioner Ford
The shooting
Those he connected with a brace and wrote Johnson?
He continued the list with
Morelli
Helen Plum
Valerie
Steph
He looked at the last entries, and thought that those were mostly not his problems. He put the pad away, and sighed again. He was still contemplating what to do when his phone rang.
It was Eddie Gazarra.
"That lunch sounds good. Can I bring someone?"
"Of course."
"We'll be right over."
Tank hung up, and wondered if lunch meant that Gazarra was hungry. He called Ella and asked her for some fresh sandwiches and coffee. He then called Hector and told him to be prepared to check for bugs, and asked Brown to sit in on the meeting.
He picked up the phone again and called Annie.
"Hi. I just wanted to hear your voice."
"Hi. After yesterday I need to hear your voice more often as well, so thanks."
"Everything OK?"
"Yes. I usually work on at least two fragments simultaneously, and now I got a breakthrough with one that has had me stymied for weeks. I'll be riding that high for some days."
"Sounds good. Maybe we can celebrate a bit tomorrow?"
"I´d like that."
They said their goodbyes, and Tank went down to the reception. Gazarra arrived a couple of minutes later, and he had a tall man in his early forties that Tank didn´t recognize with him.
"Tank."
"Gazarra."
"I think we´ll just proceed as usual before we start talking," Eddie said. The men left their cellphones in the reception, and Hector came over to scan them outside the conference room. He found no bugs.
They went into the conference room together with Brown.
"This is Andrew Johnson, Internal Affairs," Gazarra said. "And this is Tank Sherman and Bobby Brown, two of the co-owners of Rangeman."
They shook hands. Johnson had a solid shake, but didn´t use the opportunity as a pissing contest.
"Please help yourselves, there´s coffee and sandwiches over there."
They sat down at the table, and Johnson started.
"Gazarra was partially right. I´m working in internal affairs at the TPD, but my primary employment is with the FBI."
Tank drank some coffee, and didn´t say anything.
"We've suspected something wasn't right at the TPD for a while, so I was transferred here six months ago. At first I could only find minor things. Then I noticed a pattern, officer Morelli was almost always involved in some way. I also heard rumors that he wasn't that good as detective, especially after his former girlfriend, Stephanie Plum, married and moved away. There were speculations on how much she had helped him with various cases before.
"Since I was so new in Trenton I didn´t have many contacts, and the other police in Internal Affairs were, let's just say, unhelpful. Still I managed to get some leads that seemed to point not only at Morelli, but also commissioner Ford.
"And then, about two weeks ago, commissioner Ford called me in and said he needed some help, especially since I wasn't a local. He asked me to keep my eyes, not on Morelli who was on suspension after breaking and entering, but on Gazarra, who had just been promoted to detective."
He drank some coffee and continued his account.
"I investigated detective Gazarra, but couldn't find anything. The only odd thing was his lunches here at Haywood. The cellphones didn´t yield anything more than confirming this company has good security measures, but this Monday I managed to get a bug on him. That didn´t catch anything either."
Bobby couldn't help but laugh.
"We found it because of our security measures, but the managing of it was pure civilian ingenuity."
Gazarra also laughed.
"It was dumped in a pitcher of water."
"Well, this Monday I was also called into commissioner Ford´s office. He asked me to tail a woman from a park. He gave me a rough description of both her and Helen Plum, the woman she was meeting. I managed to get my eyes on the young woman leaving the park, and she jumped into a car with license plates I tracked to this firm. I was also followed by another car, but got away thanks to a traffic accident just behind me.
"But I got enough on her to realize that she was the woman whose apartment Morelli had broken into. I believe that Helen Plum had some kind of audio in the park, but I never got access to it."
"We had audio on Annie. You can have that, but right now I won't let you take it out of here. This shit is driving me up the wall, and if you want us to help, you have to give us something as well. We have a mutual interest in getting this cleared.
"For example, I was shot at yesterday."
"I know. I was the shooter," Johnson said.
"Thought so," said Tank while Gazarra and Brown audibly asked what the fuck in the background.
"I didn´t think that would be a good conversation starter."
"I think it would be better to start from the beginning."
"As I said, commissioner Ford asked me to tail the woman from the park, one Annie Morrison. When I recognized the name as being connected to Morelli I tried to get in touch with him. He had a courtroom hearing scheduled this Monday, but didn´t show. Fact is no one has seen him since Saturday."
Johnson looked at the other people in the conference room, but no one said anything.
"This might be a good point to reciprocate some information."
"So far you haven't given us anything new, or at least something we haven't been able to figure out ourselves.
"But to show some goodwill – we know where Morelli is, and he won't be any trouble until we decide it´s time for him to be trouble again."
"Understood."
"I reported back to commissioner Ford that the woman in the park had left in a car I couldn't quite see the plates on. He said he had a lead to Rangeman, and two days later he asked me to shoot you. I got a photo of you, and also about one o'clock got a position where he said you'd be. I decided to make it look real, and managed to determine which car was yours. I got a clear view, and put quite a lot of effort into making it look good. I admit I was hoping for the exact reaction I got, the one from a seasoned soldier.
"When I reported back to the commissioner he was displeased.
"He has asked me to keep looking for Annie Morrison, and if possible kidnap her. I suppose he´s hoping for some bargaining power. And then Juniak´s press conference earlier today made a bad situation a lot more desperate for commissioner Ford."
"Shit!" Tank immediately called Hector and asked him to pick up Annie and get her to Haywood A.S.A.P.
"Who else at the TPD seems involved with the commissioner? And what are the outside connections?"
"I suspect he´s got an in with the mob, the Grizoli family. And Morelli has been a good little messenger boy."
"All right, let´s get the audio from the meeting in the park between Annie Morrison and Helen Plum. The latter is the mother of Stephanie Plum, Morelli's ex."
Halfway through listening to the audio Tank got a text from Hector that said that he and Annie were at Haywood, they had taken a detour to lose a tail. He let out a deep breath.
Gazarra and Brown looked at him, while Johnson listened intently on the audio.
"Annie´s here," Tank said, and they both gave him a nod.
After he had listened to the audio Johnson sat silent for a while.
"I need Morelli," he said. "I need the photos and his testimony."
"I suspect that will be hard to get. He's not said anything of value so far. He's not mentally sound, and he's still got withdrawal symptoms."
"Right now I don't have enough on commissioner Ford to be sure he'll be put away more than a couple of years. And I don´t have substantial evidence on the mob angle.
"I need to talk to Morelli."
"That can be arranged, but not right now. We have him at a secure location.
"And frankly, I want to talk to someone higher up in the FBI. Preferably someone on the list Gazarra got from Ranger Mañoso."
"I understand. Here's my number. Call me if you´ve got anything new. I´ve already got the number to Rangeman."
They shook hands and Gazarra and Johnson left. As soon as Tank saw the outside door close behind them he went to the electronics room.
Annie was sitting inside talking to Hector, obviously learning a lot of swear words. When she heard the door she was like a homing missile, and Tank just opened his arms and held her tight.
"Missed you," She said.
"Me too. And then someone told me that commissioner Ford was hoping to use you as a bargaining chip."
"Oh shit."
Hector said something a lot worse in Spanish. Annie couldn't help but giggle.
"I didn´t hear all of those words when you were trying to help me with my Spanish," she said.
"I tried to not have you sounding like a prim twelve year-old, not swearing like a sailor."
"Thank you, Hector. Both for the language lessons and for picking me up."
She gave him a quick hug.
Tank caught his eyes and just said thanks before they left the room. He had his arm round Annie´s shoulders feeling that he had to know exactly where she was. Outside the door they stood still, just holding each other, and then they started to kiss frantically.
"Need you," he said.
"Now," she confirmed, and they relocated to his apartment. Afterwards they lay in bed, just holding on to each other.
"Don't misunderstand me. I don't for a second regret us, but this shit is getting to me. I just want it to be over with, so we could try to find an everyday normal." He could taste the salt from tears in her kiss.
"I totally agree. Today we had a breakthrough of sorts. The man who shot at me yesterday did so on commissioner Ford´s orders. And we have enough on the commissioner to put him away for a couple of years. But we want him to stay locked up for a much longer time. And we need to get his accomplices as well."
"Have you got Joe Morelli to talk to you?"
"No."
"Maybe I could try…"
"Not yet. I need to try some other things before. He´s…"
"I get it. We save me trying to talk to him for later. Now I want a shower and something to eat."
They took a shower, and then Ella delivered a delicious vegetarian chili plus dessert. They curled up on the sofa afterwards, and Annie asked.
"Who´s taking care of the cats?"
"Mrs. Gonzales."
Annie started to tickle him.
"Hector took them to that boarding house for pets I told you about."
"Good. Both for the cats and Mrs. Gonzales."
"I've told you, I have absolutely no interest in Mrs. Gonzales. In fact, I feel I don't need anyone else but you. This has been a roller coaster ride on maximum speed, Annie, but I've never felt this way before."
He gave her a soft kiss.
"I love you."
"Oh, Tank. It´s definitely maximum speed, but I feel the same, I love you."
They stayed on the sofa just cuddling, and Tank finally had to carry Anne to bed, she was sleeping soundly.
He checked in with the monitor crew before he got back to bed, but there wasn't anything urgent.