Deadly Waters Pt. 05

The man was gaunt, and badly in need of a shower and shave. His clothes were faded, dirty, mismatched, and ill fitting, and his red sneakers had seen better days.

"Take it easy, okay?" Sean said, softening his voice slightly. "Nobody's going to hurt you." He turned to Paul. "What's the story?"

"He was walking down the middle of the road. Not only was he causing problems with traffic, but I was afraid he was going to get run over in the dark. When I pulled up behind him, he ran over here."

"Why's he bleeding?"

"He fell. Tripped over the curb or something. I didn't see what caused it. He's almost completely nonresponsive. He wasn't hurting anyone, but I don't think he's all there either."

"Hey, buddy" Sean said in a less confrontational tone. "What's your name? Are you on something?"

"I want my dog!" the man cried, his voice grating and slurred.

"Where's your dog?"

"I'm looking for him."

"Did you see a dog?" Sean asked Paul.

"No. Before he was looking for his sister."

Sean pulled on a pair of black leather gloves then reached for the derelict. "What's your name? You have some ID on you? Anything sharp in your pockets I should know about?"

"Don't touch me!" the man said, jerking away.

"Is there someone I can call to come get you?"

"My sister."

"What's your sister's name?"

"Magnolia."

"Magnolia? That's a pretty name. What's her last name?"

"She don't have no last name."

Sean's lips thinned. This wasn't going to be easy. "Get an ambulance rolling," he said to his fellow officer. "He's either on something or, you're right, he's not all there." He turned his attention back to the derelict as Paul talked into the radio on his shoulder. "Hey, old timer. I want you to come sit on the curb over here a minute, okay? You got any ID? Can you tell me your name?" he asked as he reached for the man's arm again.

"Don't touch!" the old man said as he recoiled. "I have to find my dog."

"We'll find your dog for you. I want you to sit down."

"I have to go," the man said as he turned and started walking away.

"Hey, old timer," Sean said as he took the man by the arm. "I need--"

The man shrieked in fear or rage as Sean took his arm, whirling on him and taking a swing at him. Sean was prepared for that and ducked back out of range. He released the man and backed off, not wanting to escalate the situation if he didn't have to.

"I need for you to show me some ID, if you have it. I also want you to come over here and sit down on the curb. I want you to do it now," Sean said, his tone controlled but brooking no argument.

"I have to go!" the man screamed, backing away again.

"Get ready to tase him," Sean said softly.

Paul pulled his Taser and pointed it at the man. "Are you sure about this? We have an audience," he said softly.

Sean glanced at the mini-mart. There were three people standing outside the door, along with another at a gas pump, watching the drama unfold. "If he doesn't comply this time, zap him. Less chance of hurting him than fighting with him." He returned his attention to the old man. "Pops, this is about to get bad for you. I want you to come sit on the curb, now, or I'm going to have Officer Limbrose tase you for your own protection. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I'm going! I've got to find my sister!" The man turned and started walking back toward the street.

"Light him up," Sean ordered.

Paul fired, the two darts hitting the man in the back as the Taser chattered, pumping high voltage electricity into the man's body. As the electrical pulses disrupted his nervous system, the old man went stiff before crumpling to the ground in the grass between the station's parking lot and the sidewalk, bellowing into the night as he kicked his legs, before relaxing as the electrical discharge that had immobilized him ceased. The officers moved in and quickly restrained the man, pulling his hands behind his back and slapping on the cuffs before he could recover. As the man lay face down in the grass, Sean patted him down but found nothing, not even a wallet.

"Dammit. Why couldn't you listen?" Paul muttered as they rolled the man over and sat him up on the curb surrounding the parking lot.

"Hey, old timer! You okay?" Sean asked. When the man didn't respond, he looked to Paul. "Hand me your light."

Sean could hear the distant wail of the approaching ambulance as Paul unclipped his penlight and handed it over. He opened the man's eyes with his fingers and looked into them. The pupils were dilated and didn't respond much when he shined the light into one eye then the other. He wasn't a doctor, but that was a sure sign something was going on other than the man was just being difficult.

"Do you have some disposable cuffs?" Sean asked.

"In the car."

"Danny's car is closer. See if there are some in it. I have a feeling pops here isn't going to want to go with the paramedics." The old man was starting to come around, the effects of the taser and his fall wearing off. "We're going to get you some help, okay?" Sean said, rising to his feet but keeping his hand on the old man's shoulder in case he decided to try to get up.

Paul rose and trotted to Danny's car, opened the trunk, and after rummaging a moment, returned with four sets of plastic binders. The cuffs looked like extra-wide zip ties that formed two loops when the ends looped back through a central locking mechanism.

Sean took the manacles and dropped them on the ground nearby in case he needed them as Paul went to direct the ambulance to their location. After the big orange and white rig rocked to a stop, its orange, white and red lights flashing, a man and woman stepped out. "What've you got?" the woman asked.

"We found him wandering in the road. He's not responsive to commands, his speech is slightly slurred, and he's not steady on his feet. No ID or narcotics found on his person. His pupils are dilated and sluggish, and he's combative. We tased him when he started to go back into the road so we didn't have to wrestle him down," Sean explained.

Sean stepped back and watched the medical team go to work. The man was just as argumentative with them, thrashing and kicking, as they tried to look him over.

"I'd say he's definitely on something, and has been for a long time," the woman said as she stood. "Did you see his teeth?"

The geezer had nubs for most of his teeth, and what few teeth he did have were black and rotted looking. "Yeah. Meth."

"That's my guess. He needs to see a doctor."

"This isn't going to be easy."

The woman smiled, but there was no humor in it. "It never is."

Sean crouched in front of the man. "Hey, old timer. We're going to send you to the hospital, okay? You going to help us out with that?"

"Don't want to go to no doctor."

"Sorry, buddy. The nice lady said you needed to go. If I take the cuffs off, are you going to cooperate?"

"I have to find my dog."

Sean hardened his resolve as he stood. "Okay. Paul! It's going to be the hard way." He looked at the paramedics. "What are your names?"

"I'm Renee, this is Scott."

"Okay. When Officer Limbrose and I get pops here up on the stretcher, I want you to lock him down."

Renee nodded. "We know the drill."

Paul attached a single loop of two disposable cuffs to each of the man's wrists. With the plastic binders hanging loose, the two officers hoisted the man up and held him still as Renee quickly and expertly removed the Taser barbs from his back.

The old man began to struggle when Sean and Paul tried to muscle him onto the stretcher, Renee and Scott helping by holding the gurney in place to prevent the man from knocking it away. Once the officers had the man on the stretcher, Scott quickly attached one wrist to the bed using the second loop of the shackle. Paul removed the standard cuffs and helped restrain the man as Sean forced the derelict's other wrist over so Renee could attach the second set of manacles to the bed. The man howled and kicked, trying to twist himself off the bed, but two more of the plastic restraints, one around each ankle and locked to the gurney, took care of that. Once he was fully restrained, the old man seemed to relax, and the paramedics wheeled their patient into the back of the ambulance.

Sean blew out a breath. The old man was surprisingly strong and had fought them to the bitter end. "Good job, Officer Limbrose. Go back to the station and fill out the incident report. Be sure to highlight that I ordered the use of the Taser and gave the order to fire." Sean looked at Paul a moment. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just a little shook up is all. First time I've ever drawn my weapon on the street, even if it was just the Taser."

"Here's to hoping it will be your last," Sean said.

"Amen to that, sir."

The next evening, after a full day in the office and his weekly afternoon stroll through the downtown area to wake himself up, Sean was packing up to go home and looking forward to a little down time. He didn't have to cover Danny's shift tonight since it was the first of Danny's two scheduled days off. Tomorrow was Saturday, and then he would rotate to cover Danny's eleven to seven shift on Sunday. Just thinking about working the graveyard, and then having to come in and do his police chief duties, even for a few hours, made him want to groan in despair.

He picked up his computer, and made it as far as the lobby, before Councilwoman Evie Wirick stepped in. "Oh, good. I caught you before you left. Can I have a moment of your time?" she asked.

Sean always went in and out through the lobby instead of the back entrance like the other officers, so he could talk to the dispatcher if he needed to, and she'd see him leave in case someone came in looking for him. He wanted to sigh. "I was on my way out."

"This won't take but a minute."

He forced a smile. "Sure. Buzz us in, Terri?" he asked so he didn't have to dig out his keys. When the door buzzed, he pulled it open and led her back to his office, opening the door and flipping on the lights. "What can I do for you?" he asked as he motioned her to a chair.

Evie closed the door but remained standing. "I just came from a city council meeting. I thought you should know a motion was proposed to ask for your resignation."

"I'm not surprised. Are you here to collect my badge?"

She smiled. "No. It was rejected four to one."

"Really? That lopsided?"

"Yes. We realize what a tough spot you're in."

He wanted to ask who wanted his head, but he already had a pretty good idea who it was. "Most of you, anyway."

She smiled. "I think you've done all the right things. I always thought the former chief was a little, shall we say, heavy handed about some things. He was definitely part of the good ol' boy network. I like the fact that you stood up to Rudy for what you thought was right." She smiled again. "It doesn't hurt that I agreed with you on every point."

"Thank you, Ms. Wirick."

"Call me Evie. I just wanted to warn you to be careful with Steve. I like Steve, but he and Rudy go way back, and Rudy is loyal to a fault."

"I've noticed."

"I can't see him, Steve I mean, murdering anyone, but if you think it's him, don't let him being a councilman influence you in the least." She held up her hand when Sean opened his mouth. "I'm not implying you would. What I'm saying is, make sure you have all your facts straight and I think a majority of the council will back you one hundred percent in your investigation, no matter where it goes. In other words, don't let Rudy bully you from doing what you know is right. Your job is safe."

"Thank you. I appreciate the support."

"It's a culture I'm trying to change. This is my first time serving on the city council, but I don't like how the city is so quick to point blame, while at the same time, refuses to do anything about the real troublemakers."

"You're referring to Maggie?"

"That's one. There was no reason to ask for her resignation, especially after the investigation showed there was no wrongdoing, but there have been others. This incident with Officer Brady is an example. You did exactly the right thing. Chief Horton was very protective of his officers, and I can appreciate that in most cases, but not in something like this. Personally, I don't think he would have suspended him and would have just swept it under the rug."

"That's not something I can overlook."

Evie nodded. "Nor should you, but then to have Officer Brady threaten to sue?" She smiled coldly. "If I'd been in your shoes, I'd have been tempted to fire him on the spot for that. In any case, I think Rudy was wrong in wanting to put him on paid leave and I think it was wrong he was leaning on you to do it. It sends the wrong message, something the city has been doing for years. I'm glad to see someone is willing to step up, do the right thing, and stick to their guns."

He felt like he was blushing. "I'm just trying to do what's right."

"Good for you. You keep doing that and let us worry about the fallout." She paused a moment. "I don't know how to say this delicately, so I'll just throw it out there. You're an outsider and it will--"

"A damn Yankee you mean?" he interrupted with a half-smile.

"I didn't say that," she said with a grin of her own.

"But it's what you mean, isn't it? I've got my big boy pants on. I can take it."

She twittered out a laugh. "Okay, yeah, that may be part of it. People will come around, but being so new here, people don't know how to take you. The last group of people that's acceptable to make fun of are southerners. We know how people, well, some people anyway, think we're nothing but a bunch of stupid, backward, rednecks."

"I think you're overreacting."

"Really? We had a group of men fly in from New York to look at relocating a factory here. They were surprised, and very complimentary, that we had cell phones and internet. It was obvious they didn't expect that. They may not have meant it as an insult, but..." She shrugged with an ironic smile.

He chuckled. "That's New York City. A lot of people there think Connecticut is the wilderness. Don't be too hard on them. They can't help it, and I don't think that way. I never did."

"No, I don't believe you do. And as people get to know you, they'll begin to realize it too, but until then, they're going to be a little suspicious of you, especially since you're so different compared to Bill."

"But that's a good thing, right?" he asked with a lopsided grin.

"A very good thing in my book. Keep doing what you're doing and know there are probably more people supporting you than you realize."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me. Some days..." He shook his head in mock sadness.

She gave him a pat on the arm. "Hang in there, chief. It's going to get better. I promise."

He smiled. "Since I have you here... any word on my new computers? We really need them."

"It was tabled for further review."

"By who?"

"The city IT department."

"Any idea on how long that'll take?"

She shrugged. "Hopefully not long, but to be honest, I wouldn't count on them for this year. We'll try to get them in next year's budget."

"You do realize all our computers are running Windows 7, an operating system that was introduced fifteen years ago, right? An operating system that's no longer supported? My officers can't even browse the internet in most cases because the computers are so out of date. We're having to bring in our own personal computers," he hefted the case containing his laptop, "and that's bad for security."

"I know what you're going through, but Bill didn't ask for upgrades, so they're not in the budget this year. I'll try to help you out if I can, but I don't know if there's anything I can do this budget cycle."

He nodded. "Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated."

She smiled. "I won't keep you since you were leaving. I just wanted to let you know what was going on and that you have the support of the entire city council."

He nodded. "Thank you." She opened the door and they stepped out. "See you, Terri," he said, raising his hand in parting to the tall, willowy, brunette as they walked through the lobby.

"Enjoy your weekend," Terri replied through the speaker.

As the outside door shut behind them, Evie turned to Sean. "I know I shouldn't ask this, but do you really think Steve did it?"

"Councilwoman, I'd rather not comment on an active case."

She sighed in obvious, if not entirely sincere, disappointment. "I figured you'd say something like that."

"Sorry."

She grinned to let him know she wasn't actually upset. "It's okay. I trust you'll get the guy in the end."

"We'll get him," he said with more confidence than he felt.

She gave him a nod then turned toward her white Tahoe. "Enjoy your weekend," she said as she opened the door.

"Thank you," he said, and then stood and watched until she pulled out of the parking lot.

He was exhausted. He hadn't been to the market since he started covering for Danny, and he wasn't sure what was left at home to eat. Nothing he was excited about, that much was certain, but he didn't feel like shopping. As he strolled toward Danny's car, he decided he'd stop at Asher's, a popular local restaurant, grab something to eat, and then go home and crash early. He would do his shopping tomorrow, or Sunday before starting his shift.

"One?" the hostess asked as Sean shuffled forward in the line.

"Yes."

"Follow me, please."

She led him deeper into the restaurant, and as he followed, he saw Maggie sitting at a table alone, her waitress setting a glass in front of her. She looked up, caught his gaze, and then smiled and waved to call him over.

"Excuse me," he said, touching the hostess on the shoulder. "I know her, the woman in the bright blue shirt."

"Would you like to join her?"

"Let me see if that's why she's waving."

"You by yourself?" Maggie asked as they approached.

"Yes. You?"

"Yeah. Want to join me? I have this big table and it's just me."

"Will that be alright?" Sean asked the hostess.

"Sure. Saves us a table." She placed his menu across the table from Maggie. "Enjoy your meal."

"I hate eating by myself," Maggie said as he slid into the chair. "Normally I eat at home, but I wasn't feeling it tonight."

"Thanks for the invite."

She grinned. "My pleasure. Don't take this the wrong way, but you look like hell."

He chuckled. "Gee, thanks. Working double shifts will do that to you."

"Why are you doing that?"

"I suspended an officer, and I'm covering his shift."

"Why?"

"Why am I covering or why did I suspend him?"

"Both."

"I suspended him for conduct, and I'm covering because I didn't want to burden my officers."

"Oh. Who was it?"

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. It's been handled."

"Gotcha. How's your investigation going?"

He frowned. "Slow."

"Still no leads?"

"No new ones."

"So, other than the mess you stepped into, how do you like Brunswick so far?" she asked with a grin, obviously changing the subject away from work.

"Okay. I really like the warm weather."

"Warm? Are you kidding? It's freezing out there."

He chuckled. "You don't know what cold is. This time of year up in Boston, if we make it into the thirties for a high, we're lucky. Fifty? That's like a spring day. The other thing I like here is there's no snow."

"I love snow," she said before taking a sip of her tea.

"That's because you don't have to deal with it four or five months of the year."

"Okay, there's that. When we get snow, we get a few inches, and then it's gone in a couple of days."

He chuckled. "A few inches? That's not snow, that's a flurry."