Crawford shook his head. “Damaged, yes. But burned? No. We just need a different decoy and we can keep moving forward. A guy like this won’t stop. We’ll catch him. We just have to stay the course.”
The Chief looked over at Reott. “Mike, do you agree with this?”
Reott looked uncomfortable. After a moment, he opened his mouth to speak. Before he could say anything, The Chief’s telephone rang.
He glanced down. The ringing line was his private number. Not many people had that, so he figured he should answer it.
“Excuse me,” he said to Reott and Crawford, then lifted the receiver. “Hello?”
“Hello, Chief. This is Pam Lincoln.”
The Chief didn’t miss a beat. “Hello, Pam. What can I do for you?”
“I just wanted to make you aware of something before I took it to my editors,” Pam said.
The Chief narrowed his eyes. That didn’t sound good. “I appreciate that,” he said. “Go ahead.”
“I got a call from a man about twenty minutes ago who claimed to be the Rainy Day Rapist,” Pam told him.
The Chief paused. “Really?” he asked.
“Really.”
He looked at the two men across from him. “Pam, let me put you on speaker phone,” he said. “I’m in a meeting right now with Captain Reott and Lieutenant Crawford.”
“I’m not surprised,” Pam said. “Go ahead and put me on the speaker phone.”
The Chief pushed the speaker button and rested the receiver back on the cradle. “Can you repeat what you just told me, please?”
“Certainly. I received a call about twenty minutes ago from a man who claimed to be the Rainy Day Rapist.”
The Chief watched as the eyebrows of both men flew upward.
Crawford withdrew a notepad from inside his ancient sport coat. “Do you know what number?” he asked.
“Yes, I do.” Pam recited the number slowly while Crawford scrawled it onto the notepad. “But I think it was a pay phone,” she added.
“What did he say?” The Chief asked her.
“He said that the police tried to catch him with a decoy,” Pam said. “He also said that he badly assaulted the decoy before escaping from the area. Is that true?”
No one answered her. The three men stared at each other during the long silence.
“I thought I was going to be kept up on this operation.” Pam Lincoln’s voice from the telephone speaker broke the silence. “I’m already aware of a foot pursuit and a K-9 track for a rapist up at Mona and Post last night. I also know that there was an ambulance dispatched to that same location.”
There was another silence.
Again, it was the reporter’s voice that broke the silence. “Are you still there, Chief?”
The Chief cleared his throat. “I am. Pam, thank you for calling me about this. We were just discussing the matter in this meeting. I’m sure the lieutenant would have updated you.”
“Okay,” Pam said, her voice neutral.
“Are you anticipating running this story?”
“I have to, Chief. If I don’t pass this onto my editor, I’m fired. It’s that simple.”
“I understand,” The Chief said. “If that’s the case, then please give Lieutenant Crawford a call at his office in five minutes. Do you have that number?”
“I do. What can I expect from him?”
“Everything,” The Chief told her.
“Nothing held back?”
“Not unless there are clear security concerns,” said The Chief.
“Or specific medical privacy issues,” Reott added quickly.
“Of course,” The Chief said.
“I understand,” Pam said. “I’ll call in five minutes.”
“Thank you,” said The Chief. He pressed the button to disconnect the call. Then he looked up at both men. “Well, I guess that settles whether the task force is burned or not.”
Crawford’s face bore a sour look. “I’ll let Tower know it’s over.”
The Chief nodded. “Good. And do right by Pam Lincoln. She didn’t have to call us. She could have gone straight to her editor. We might still be able to minimize looking like the Keystone Kops on this one.”
“I will,” Crawford said. He stood and left without another word. As he swung the door open, Lieutenant Alan Hart stood outside, his fist poised to knock. Crawford gave him a distasteful look and brushed past him without a word.
The Chief hid his own feelings toward the Internal Affairs Lieutenant. “Come in,” he told him, gesturing to the chair just vacated by Crawford.
Hart strode in, his back ramrod straight. He stood next to the chair, then paused and looked at The Chief.
“Please,” The Chief said. “Have a seat.”
Hart nodded briskly. He sat down, his posture remaining erect.
Before Hart could speak, Captain Reott stood. “Unless you need me, Chief, I have some things to attend to.”
The Chief nodded.
Reott glanced at Hart, his disgust plain. Then he left the room, pulling the door shut behind him.
The Chief turned his gaze upon Hart. “What can I do for you, Alan?”
“A couple of things, sir. First, I wanted to discuss your findings that you issued on my investigations of both Officers O’Sullivan and Battaglia, as well as Officer Chisolm.”
“Refresh my memory,” The Chief said. “The one with O’Sullivan and Battaglia was…?”
“A demeanor issue, sir. And an inadequate response. It was in regard to a stolen vehicle. Mr. Tad Elway was the complainant.”
“Ah, yes. I remember now. I think I decided on a letter of reprimand on that one?”
“Yes, sir.” Hart bobbed his head. “I just wanted to express that, with all due respect, I thought that was a little bit lenient.”
“Noted, Lieutenant,” The Chief said, his voice dropping into a growl. “Anything else?”
Hart seemed to catch the audible clue. “Uh, no, sir. I’m sure you made the right decision. Anyway, I was more concerned with the Chisolm matter.”
“The driving issue?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The one with the child molester complainant?”
“Well..uh, yes sir.”
“I dismissed it,” The Chief said.
“I know,” Lieutenant Hart said, then hastily added, “Sir.”
“Then what?”
“Well,” Hart said, “in light of last night’s events, I believe another investigation is in order. Clearly, Chisolm made some errors during last night’s operation.”
“Hard to say,” The Chief said, “since we weren’t there.”
Lieutenant Hart pressed his lips together, clearly in disagreement.
The Chief leaned back in his chair. “Tell me something, Alan. What’s your beef with Thomas Chisolm?”
Hart’s cheeks turned red. He swallowed hard and clenched his jaw. Finally, he answered, “He doesn’t think the rules apply to him, sir.”
“Why do you suppose that is?”
“Because,” Hart answered, “Thomas Chisolm thinks that it is his personal responsibility to save the world. If rules get in the way of that, he just disregards them.”
The Chief considered Hart’s words. After a few moments, he had to concede that despite being a pompous, self-serving boob, the man was correct on this count. Chisolm did think it was his job to save the world. Still, as Chief, he’d rather have one Thomas Chisolm than fifty Alan Harts. Then again, he realized that he could probably only afford to have one Thomas Chisolm around.
“My decision stands, Lieutenant,” The Chief finally said. “But I appreciate your input.”
Hart’s face took on a pinched look. His cheeks remained flushed, but he stood erect, nodded, said “Thank you, sir,” and turned to leave.
“Lieutenant?” The Chief said to him before he reached the door.
“Yes, sir?”
The Chief eyed the ambitious lieutenant. Then he gave him a short nod. “After this Rainy Day Rapist thing is put to bed, I’ll reconsider your request to look into the operation. But not until.”
Lieutenant Hart seemed to be suppressing a smile as he said, “Thank you, sir,” and strode from the office.
The Chief leaned back in his leather chair. Like it or not, his job was a political one. He needed someone like Hart to watch the troops. Not that most of his officers weren’t stand up cops, but having Hart lurking in the wings had much the same effect that a locked door did on an honest man. He viewed it as an insurance policy of sorts.