Faithfulness in the Center

Part 6

Karen Simms was firmly convinced that she was getting too old to pull all-nighters. As soon as IA had left her office, the phone rang continuously with calls from the Mayor's office and the press. God, didn't anybody sleep in this city? She perfunctorily directed the calls from the press to the department's public affair's liaison, so that he could 'liaise.'" She paused and took a drink of her coffee. Well, that wasn't really true. Actually she had directed all the calls to the PA's office except for the call from Sandra Mason. That one had been. . .accidentally. . .disconnected. Karen smiled to herself with a hint of pride, she always did get the hold button and the release button confused. But, damn, did that mistake feel good.

If she had been the type, this would have been the perfect day to call in sick, climb in bed and stay there until this whole fiasco blew over. There was no doubt in her mind that the day was going to be a disaster. She could only hope that the Porters' statement would clear Kermit of any wrongdoing, the press would write it up as an accident with unfortunate consequences and the Mayor's office would back off. However, since the Captain did not live in a land of fairy tales and make believe, the chances of those things happening were slim to none.

She glanced at her desk clock. It was almost 7:00. The squad room, which had been quiet since everyone had gone home after the shooting, was beginning to bustle with activity once again. She grabbed her purse. If she timed this right, she might be able to run home, grab a quick shower, put on some fresh clothes and be back in time for a meeting with the Mayor set at 9:00.

She took one step towards her door and the phone rang again. Taking a breath of defeat, she picked up the handset. "Simms," she answered gruffly.

"Captain, it's Tom Harris," she immediately recognized the Internal Affairs officer's voice.

"What can I do for you Tom." Karen responded, polite but cold.

"I think we have a little problem," the man's words were slow and methodical.

"A little problem?" Karen scoffed. "After what happened last night, I didn't think I'd be so lucky to be dealing with 'little problems' today."

Harris ignored her comment. "I was doing so background work for my report and I came across something that concerns me."

Karen felt her stomach start to knot. "What would that be?"

"I came in early this morning to look at Detective Griffin's personnel files," Harris continued and Karen's stomach bottomed out. "Well, I can't find any."

Karen's stomach smashed into a thousand pieces. She had forgotten that Griffin's files had been 'mysteriously deleted.'

"I can find just enough information for payroll to be processed, but that's it. . .no background checks, no psychological analysis. Hell, there's not even an application in here." The man's voice was tinged with frustration.

"I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this," Karen said in her best mothering voice. "Personnel has probably just misplaced them." She closed her eyes and mentally crossed her fingers.

"Well, I'm going to have them continue to look for the file, but I want to talk to Griffin this morning and see if he knows anything about this. I'll be over there at 8:00. Have him there."

Karen sighed. There went the shower and change of clothes, but it would serve no purpose to anger IA. "He'll be here."

She pushed the release button on her phone, flipped through her Rolodex for Kermit's home phone listing and dialed the number. Before she had pressed the seventh digit, a knock sounded on her door. She looked up and found that the sunglass-wearing detective was standing outside.

She motioned for him to enter. "You've been here all night," were the first words out of his mouth.

She nodded, "I had to field a few calls."

"Press?" Kermit sat down in the chair across from her.

"And others." Karen looked down at her hands, "Kermit, Harris just called. He's in Personnel and can't find your file. He says it's missing. He wants to talk to you about that."

"Bureaucrats hate it when that happens." Kermit muttered.

"Where is your file, Kermit?" She stared him down.

"I don't work in the file room. . .you'll have to ask them. They probably just mis-filed it," he responded.

"Your computer records, too? Last year I told you that your files were 'missing.' I take it you never did anything to restore them?" Karen said flatly.

"Must've slipped my mind."

"Damn it, Kermit. I know that there's a lot about you that I don't know. . .that I don't want to know. But you have to be straight with me on this. What was in your file that you didn't want me or anyone else to see?"

Kermit shrugged. "When you find them, you can tell me."

She sat back in a huff. There was no use in getting angry at the mysterious man. "IA isn't going to see it that way. They are going to want answers." Kermit said nothing. Simms continued, "Harris is going to be here at 8:00 asking these same questions."

The phone rang again. Karen picked it up on the second ring. Kermit rose out of his chair and headed for the door. Karen's voice stopped him, "Yes Ms. Mason. Like I told you last night, you will need to speak to our public relations people about that. I'm so sorry. . .I didn't realize I had disconnected you. I will try to do better next time."

Kermit couldn’t help the grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth. He shook his head slightly and left the office.

Before he had made it back to his own, he felt a presence behind him. Peter was following. He could have ordered Peter to stay away, but after their earlier talk, Kermit had deduced that it would do little good to shut Peter out. Instead of closing the door in Peter's face, he left it open and allowed Peter to enter.

"What's up?" the younger man asked.

Kermit sat down at his desk and clicked on the computer, "IA wants to talk."

"I thought they were going to wait until they read the Porters' statement before talking to you again." Peter frowned.

"Well, apparently they decided to do a little checking into my personnel files and discovered a problem." Kermit shrugged.

"Like the fact that you didn't have any personnel files." Peter shook his head in mock disbelief.

"Yeah. . .something like that." Kermit muttered. "Can't believe Blaisdell and I never got around to getting those things completed."

Peter chuckled, despite the seriousness of the situation, "Paul never was one to waste time on paperwork." He paused and looked at his friend. "So what are you going to do?"

Griffin shrugged his shoulders, opened his right hand drawer and retrieved a brown paper bag. He reached in it and pulled out a handful of gummi bears. He popped several into his mouth at one time. "Want one?" he asked between chews.

Peter declined the offer. "It's a little too early in the day to be drowning your sorrows in those, don't you think?"

End Part 6