Part 9 (1/2)
Seles said, ”Would you let him finish, please? Christ, what an idiot.”
Collins wheeled on him. ”What'd you say? Come down here and say that.”
”Knock it off,” Mike said.
”You heard what he called me.”
”I said, 'Knock it off.'”
Collins backed off. He didn't say anything else. No one did.
Mike turned to Garwin and said, ”So, Sarge, you want us to talk to every junkie we can find?”
Garwin looked at him, and he seemed uncertain. Paul could see that Mike was giving Garwin a clue to move on, just get the briefing done with, and he was stunned that a patrolman could have so much unofficial influence over the way a unit worked together. There were leaders, he realized, whose power didn't come with chevrons and bra.s.s badges.
Garwin said, ”Yeah, that's right, Mike. Even if you don't like it, I want you to start talking to your junkies anyway. Don't make any arrests if you don't have to. Make it plain we're just talking to them. Try to get some cooperation.”
He looked around. n.o.body spoke.
Garwin dismissed them, and as they were filing out, he stopped Paul and said, ”Hey bud, where's your tape?”
Paul put a hand over his badge.
”I didn't know where to get it,” he said, which wasn't really a lie. There hadn't been a line-of-duty death since he'd joined the Department, and this was all new to him. It was one of those things they don't really teach at the Academy, the etiquette of death.
Garwin nodded.
”Here,” he said, reaching into his s.h.i.+rt pocket and taking out a black felt ribbon with purple at the top and bottom edge. There was phrase st.i.tched into the ribbon with gold thread: NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT. Paul had no idea what it meant, but he fumbled to put it on his badge anyway.
Garwin watched him struggle with it, then said to Mike, ”Help him with that, bud. Will you please?”
”Come here, genius,” Mike said, and took the tape from Paul and worked it onto his badge for him.
”And Paul...”
”Yes sir.”
Garwin made a vague gesture towards his own forehead. ”Does that, uh, hurt?”
”No sir. I'm fine.”
Garwin looked doubtful.
”It looks bad. You're off tomorrow and Monday, right?”
”Yes sir.”
”Okay. If it's still like that on Tuesday, I'm gonna fill out an I9 Form on you, okay? An injured officer report. That means you're gonna have to go to a doctor and get it checked out. Understand?”
”Yes, sir. I'll be fine.”
”I'm sure you will. Just take care of yourself, bud.”
Mike already had his gear stowed in their patrol car. He drove them over to Paul's truck and leaned against the patrol car and smoked a cigarette while Paul got his gear.
”Hey, that stuff in there with Collins. What was that all about?”
Mike exhaled a long thin stream of smoke. ”I think he thinks he's in the wrong career field.”
”How's that?”
Mike shrugged. ”Some people, you know, they don't really see themselves doing this job forever. Collins, he's about one of the smartest guys I've ever met. You should see him with anything electronic. Doesn't matter what it is, he can figure it out. Locks too. You ever need to pick a lock, he can do it.”
”Does that come up a lot?”
Mike shrugged again.
”I hope I don't ever get that way,” Paul said. ”To the point I hate coming to work.”
”He's harmless. Plus, he's not as bad as he used to be.”
”You're kidding? He used to be worse?”
”There was a while, about two years ago I guess, he was f.u.c.king miserable. He was calling in sick all the time, b.i.t.c.hing about every call he made. Getting in trouble over stupid s.h.i.+t. It was a pretty spectacular case of burnout. You'll see guys go through it every once in a while. It comes with the job.”
”Why?”
”You mean, why does it come with the job?”
”No, I mean about Collins. Why was he so miserable?”
”He was bitter.” Mike laughed. ”I mean bitterer than he is now. Bitterer...is that a word? f.u.c.k, who cares? Anyway, he got sued a few years ago. I think that's what did it.”
”What'd he get sued for?”
”He and Wes pulled up on a guy who was trying to break into a car and they chased him into somebody's backyard tool shed. Inside there were all these paint cans all over the place. The car burglar pulled a screwdriver on them. After that, the fight was on. They were b.u.mping into the walls and knocking s.h.i.+t over and the paint got everywhere. They were all covered with it. The car burglar, he got some of it in his eyes and ended up suing them for like fifty thousand each.”
”They had to pay fifty thousand each to the guy?”
”No,” Mike said. ”Suits like that, they almost never go to trial. Most of the time, the guy just wants to get his hands in some deep pockets. Of course, the City doesn't help matters much. They usually settle out of court in suits like that. They paid the car burglar something like two thousand bucks and that shut him up. It's cheaper than paying the lawyers to take it to court. But what really p.i.s.sed Collins off was that the DA's Office dismissed the resisting arrest charges against the car burglar, so it was like the guy got paid for fighting with the police. Ever since then, Collins feels like the job's got it in for him. He started calling in sick all the time, and Garwin ended up having to jump his s.h.i.+t about it.”
”Garwin did?”
Mike took one last pull on his smoke and crushed it out on the pavement with the toe of his boot, nodding.
”I can't picture Garwin jumping anybody's s.h.i.+t,” Paul said. ”He seems kind of, well, meek, you know? I mean, inside, Collins and Seles looked like they were going to fight, and he didn't do anything.”
”Garwin's a good guy,” Mike said. ”You may not have got a sense of it yet, but he's about the best supervisor you'll ever work for. I mean that, and not just because he lets me get away with f.u.c.king off on duty. It's easy to start despising the public, seeing the kind of c.r.a.p we see every day. But Garwin's not that way. He really cares about people. I handled an accident one time where this six year old little boy got killed. The next day, I got called out to the pound to meet the family. They wanted to bury him in his favorite tennis shoes, those ones that light up with every step, you know? Thing was though, the car was all f.u.c.ked up. His shoes were stuck inside all that twisted metal, and I looked at it and I was like, 'There ain't no way in h.e.l.l I'm gonna be able to get those shoes out of there. I mean...I feel for you folks and all, but there's just no way.'”