Faithfulness in the Center
Part 7
True to his word, Harris had returned to the 101st at exactly 8:00. Kermit saw the man enter the squad room, but made no move to extend a greeting. He decided to let Harris come to him. It was always better to fight a battle in familiar territory. The IA investigator disappeared from view, presumably entering Simms' office.
Counting down the seconds, Kermit predicted when the Captain and Harris would be knocking on his door. "Three, two, one and knock." The sound of a knock followed on cue. Kermit didn't respond and a few short seconds later, the door opened slowly and the Captain's strawberry blond hair peeked around the corner.
"Detective Griffin?" she pushed the door open wide and saw Kermit sitting at the desk, reading the computer monitor in front of him. "Harris is here."
"Good for him," Kermit said with his typical air of casualness.
Harris pushed past the Captain and took a seat at the chair across from Kermit's desk. "I presume the Captain's told you about your file."
"Or lack there of?" Kermit completed.
Captain Simms aimed a disapproving look at her detective, admonishing him silently for his cocky attitude.
"Personnel can find no file for you. Do you have any explanations for that?" Harris stared at the detective, waiting for a response.
"You know, funny thing is, I have never once asked to see my personnel file. Why would I have any clue as to its location? It seems to me that you should be asking these questions of our H.R. person."
"I intend to. But right now, I'm asking you." The man's voice maintained a calm, even tone.
"So you are. And it's unfortunate that I can't be of more help," Kermit leaned back in the chair.
Harris looked at the Captain, silently requesting her help in handling the detective. She shrugged and shook her head. The IA officer would have to learn how to handle the insolent man on his own.
Harris cleared his throat and looked back at Kermit. "If you don't have a file, then we're going to have to recreate one for you."
Kermit was silent as Harris continued, "I need to ask you some questions about your history prior to joining the department."
"You can ask all you want. Doesn't mean you're going to get any answers." Kermit muttered.
"Look Detective," Harris' voice rose in anger, "I have had just about enough of your attitude. Maybe you have forgotten, but you killed a little girl last night. I'm here to make sure that you didn't do anything that was outside of SOP." Harris stood and walked around to Kermit's side of the desk. He leaned over Kermit, placing the hands on the armrests of the chair, "I wasn't planning on making this a formal deposition this morning, but your attitude has just about changed my mind."
Kermit looked at the arms resting on his chair, pinning him in. He then looked at the investigator, a threat written across his face. His voice was quiet, but firm, "If you want to suspend me for what happened, then do it." Harris stood, releasing the detective's chair, "In fact, maybe that would be for the best." Kermit suddenly stood, reached into his pocket and tossed his badge to the Captain. Without saying a word, he walked out of the door of the office without looking back.
Karen followed her detective into the squad room, "Detective Griffin, you haven't been excused." Kermit ignored her and continued walking to the door. She shook her head in frustration. Peter, who had been finishing up his report on the previous night's events, looked up to see Kermit walk past his desk silently and head towards the building's exit. He stood quickly and followed the older man.
"Going somewhere?" Peter asked. In a replay of the night before, Kermit ignored his friend and continued towards the door. Peter reached out and stopped Griffin's progress. "Oh come on Kermit. Don't do this again. Besides, you can run, but you can't hide from me." He tapped his temple for emphasis.
Kermit looked into the eyes of the young Shaolin and shook his head. "Great, another game bites the dust."
"So what happened?" Peter prodded.
"I quit." Kermit replied and turned to the door.
"You quit? Why?" Peter looked back at the Captain and Harris, confusion on his face.
"You know why." Kermit responded.
"No. What happened?" Peter shook his head.
"Oh come on, is the Shaolin mind reading thing shorting out on you? Maybe you need to ask for a refund."
"Cute." Peter gently slapped his friend's back. "Come on. I'll by you a cup of coffee." He pushed Griffin out the door, knowing that to get more information from the man he needed to get away from the precinct.
As Peter pushed the older detective out the door, he looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with Captain Simms. She smiled slightly and nodded her approval of his interference. Peter nodded in return and shut the door behind him.
Karen turned back to Kermit's office and saw Harris standing in the doorway. "It's nice to see you have such a firm control over your squad. Do you always let your subordinates walk out on you in the middle of a meeting?" Harris' remark was laced with sarcasm.
"Lt. Harris, let me give you some advice. Working with Detective Griffin is a lot like fishing. You have to let him run first before you reel him back in. Trust me on this." She walked past the man and back into her office, shutting the door behind her, leaving the IA officer behind.
Peter had barely made it half a block with Kermit in tow, a nearby coffeehouse as a final destination, when he heard a female voice calling out his name. "Detective Caine, I have a few questions for you."
He closed his eyes and grimaced, already picturing the face which belonged to the voice. He turned, "Hi Sandra. Told you last night that we didn't have anything to talk to you about."
She ran up to the two men, a cameraman following close behind. "I just wanted to get your reaction."
Kermit stepped forward in front of Peter so that he was face-to-face with the pushy reporter. "Didn't you get enough of a reaction from me last night?" He said, menacingly.
Sandra focused on the ex-mercenary's glasses and swallowed deeply. Peter, once again, had to maintain an impartial façade when dealing with the reporter, but on the inside he was laughing at the woman's obvious discomfort. To his knowledge, she had never before dealt with Kermit Griffin. She was in for a real treat now.
"I just wanted to find out if you had any response to the news this morning." Sandra said, gathering her courage.
"What news?" Peter asked from behind Kermit.
"You haven't heard?" Sandra's voice had suddenly dropped the fear, knowing that she had the upper hand. "The Porters have hired an attorney to file suit against the City, the Police Department and you, Detective Griffin."
Peter was dumbfounded. "It's only 8:45 in the morning. How could you know this."
"We were camped outside their house all night. Their attorney came to see them at 6:30 and had a release prepared by 7:30. You've got to love that First Amendment, huh." Sandra motioned to the cameraman, who raised the camera to his eye and flipped on the power switch, and with the power, Sandra Mason's reporter voice switched on, "Detective Griffin, you were involved in the shooting of Stephanie Porter last night. Would you like to make a statement." Kermit ignored the woman and walked away. Peter could feel his irritation growing to anger. The woman tried again, "The Porters claim that your negligent handling of the situation was the direct cause of their daughter's death. Do you have any response?" Sandra shouted after him, "Isn't it true Detective Griffin that you fired upon a suspect without evaluating the risk of the situation and your carelessness caused the death of Stephanie Porter." Peter could feel Kermit's anger building to the point of explosion.
Kermit started to turn towards the woman, his face tinted red, but Peter grabbed him and pushed him away. Peter turned to the reporter and her cameraman. "I told you before, we have no comment. If you want a statement you're going to have to get the official press release."
Kermit started to interrupt, but Peter held up a hand, silencing the ex-mercenary. Kermit, surprisingly, swallowed his words and remained quiet. "Let's go," Peter muttered to his friend. The two men turned and left Sandra Mason behind, along with her probing questions.
End Part 7
To Part 8