“Fuck it,” he whispered. “I don’t care who gets credit. I just want to catch this son of a bitch.”
He wished that were one hundred percent true, but even four beers deep, he knew it wasn’t entirely so. So he sat a little bit longer, paying penance with a full bladder in the cold, stinging misty rain, clutching an empty beer bottle, and thinking ill thoughts.
Sunday, April 28th
0848 hours
Katie tossed her small suitcase into the overstuffed chair. “I guess they spare no expense,” she groused. “This place is barely one step above a Motel 6.”
“Hey,” Chisolm chided her, “I love Motel 6.”
“That figures.”
Chisolm shrugged. “They leave the light on.”
Katie rolled her eyes and flopped backward onto the queen-sized bed. “This is so stupid. If they are staking out my house, why can’t I just stay there?”
Chisolm reached for the door that separated Katie’s room from his. “I guess they just want to be as safe as possible,” he said diplomatically.
Katie snorted. “We both know that they’re only doing this because I’m a girl.”
Chisolm shrugged, swinging open the door from Katie’s side. “You’re probably right.”
Katie paused. Chisolm’s directness and honesty surprised her, as was always the case. After a moment, she followed up her thought. “Well, if that’s true, then it’s bullshit for them to do it.”
“Bullshit for who to do it?”
“I don’t know. The brass. Whoever decided.”
“You think it was Saylor?”
Katie thought briefly, then shook her head. “No. He said it came straight from the Patrol Captain. And Tower said that this whole bodyguard routine wasn’t part of his suggestion.”
“I wouldn’t think so.”
Katie squinted at him. “What’s that mean?”
“It means,” Chisolm answered, turning to meet her gaze, “that if I was Tower, I’d want you at home for bait. That is, if all I cared about was catching the Rainy Day Rapist.”
She considered his words. “You think that’s all he cares about?”
“I think that’s what he cares about most,” Chisolm said. “Why else would he have kept you on after the accidental discharge in Riverfront Park and then the assault at Corbin Park?”
“Maybe because he knew I could handle it.”
Chisolm shrugged. “Could be, but I doubt it. I’ve seen Tower’s kind before. He’s not totally hung up on himself like Kahn or Stone, but he’s still pretty self-centered. I don’t think he gave a whole lot of thought to how this was affecting you until after the Rainy Day Rapist grabbed onto you that night over on Mona Street.”
Katie looked up at the ceiling, thinking about what Chisolm had said. She didn’t want to believe it. She wanted to believe that Tower had believed in her as a cop. But she found it difficult to simply discount Chisolm’s view of things.
“So you’re saying Tower’s some kind of an asshole?” she asked.
“No,” Chisolm responded. He checked the bathroom, even going so far as to pull the shower curtain aside. “I’m saying that he’s focused on himself and his case. That’s his role. The captain’s role is something different. He has to take more of a global view.”
Katie sat up and stared at him. “Officer Chisolm,” she said, affecting shock and surprise. “Did you just defend the brass?”
Chisolm chuckled. “Hey, I believe in leadership. If it’s competent, that is. Saylor’s a good leader.”
Katie made a face, agreeing. “True. Not like Hart.”
Chisolm snorted. “Why do you think they shipped that idiot over to Internal Affairs? Hell, that move alone should tell you that the Chief has a pretty good idea what the score is. He’s a good leader, too. And so is Captain Reott.”
Katie shrugged. She had no opinion one way or the other. Generally, she was so removed from the leadership as a line officer working graveyard that she just hoped they would leave her alone to do her job. The only time she saw or heard from them was when someone screwed up, anyway.
“What do you mean by ‘global view’?” she asked.
Chisolm walked to the window and pushed aside the heavy curtain. Katie looked past him into the parking lot. He’d insisted on a second floor room, explaining that it kept the window from being as vulnerable. He gave her a similar explanation when it came to parking his car in the basement sally port and having them leave after work from that location, citing a change in pattern. “I mean, he had to balance the need to catch this prick with your personal safety. He decided that your house was enough bait and that he didn’t want to risk using you.”
“Right,” Katie said, “and would he have made that same decision if it was a male officer?”
“I don’t know,” Chisolm answered, snapping the curtains shut. “I guess it might depend on the officer.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that most officers, he’d probably do the same thing. Can you imagine the negative press if something were to happen to you, MacLeod? If they decided to use you as a worm on a hook and you got gobbled up? Even if we caught the fish, the fallout would be enough to bring down this Chief and probably the Captain, too.”
“Are you saying this was self-preservation on their part?”
Chisolm sighed. “Hell, every decision has elements of self-preservation. Have you ever arrested a guy for domestic violence on thin probable cause simply because you’re covered if you arrest him and you’re liable if you don’t?”
Katie looked away. “Sure. I suppose. PC is PC, right?”
Chisolm smiled. “Depends on if it is probable cause or probably cause.”
Katie chuckled. “Okay, I see your point. But honestly, do you think they’d have gone the whole nine yards with a bodyguard and everything if you were the target?”
Chisolm’s smile faded into a grimace. “Probably not.”
“Because you’re a man,” Katie said.
“No,” Chisolm answered. “Because I would have politely told the Captain to go run a leg up his ass.”
Katie laughed out loud. “Oh, I’d pay to see that.”
Chisolm shrugged. “When you’ve been here for fifteen or more years, you might know a thing or two about people that gives you a little leverage, MacLeod.”
“Like what?”
“Can’t tell you,” Chisolm said, “otherwise it wouldn’t be worth anything.”
“So this has nothing to do with me being a woman?”
“I’m sure it does,” Chisolm admitted, “but it is what it is.”
“Oh,” Katie said. “A philosopher and a medicine man. Impressive.”
“Probably why you picked me as your bunk mate,” Chisolm said. He pointed at the door. “I’ll be right through there. When I get into my room, I’ll open it from my side. We leave the doors between our rooms open. If you need some privacy, swing the door nearly shut but don’t latch it.”
“Yes, sir,” Katie said, saluting.
Chisolm ignored her and continued. “If there’s a knock on your door, you don’t answer it. You come across into my room and we’ll decide how to deal with it from there. Same thing with the phone. Don’t answer it. Okay?”
“Okay,” Katie said, firing another salute at him.
Chisolm gave her a gentle smile, then good-naturedly returned her salute. “Hey,” he said. “I’m working for you here.” He pointed to the door between their rooms. “I’ll be right in there,” he added, then turned to go.
“Tom?” Katie asked.
Chisolm turned. “Yeah?”
“Thanks,” she said, her tone warm and full of gratitude. “I mean it.”
“I know,” Chisolm replied. “I know.”
0916 hours
He cruised along Rowan, his eyes darting down every alley and into every car. He knew he had to be aware. Now that he’d tipped his hands, he figured the cops would be all over the bitch’s house. Still, he had to know. He had to see.