STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES

By Terri D. Thomas

"I'm so bored," groaned Cassy St. John, as she leaned her head back against the head rest of the Taurus and closed her eyes, letting the afternoon sunlight warm her face.

Her partner and ex-husband, Tom Ryan, looked at his watch, "It's only 4:30."

"What do you mean, 'Only 4:30?' We've been sitting out here waiting for this slug to make an appearance for over eight hours. He's not here. I'm telling you Thomas, this is a dead end."

"Look, Ramon said that this is where Slater hangs out. I believe him." Tom grinned at his partner, "Hey, he's never let us down yet."

"Oh please…don't get me started." Cassy smirked. Ramon was not the most reliable of their snitches and Tom knew it.

Tom held the binoculars to his eyes, studying the dark windows of the house. "Wait a sec…I think Slater's moving." The front door opened and a tall thin man exited.

His body was long and bony…his complexion, ruddy…his hair, greasy. He wore a white undershirt with baggy brown pants and a light jacket. The man stopped on the front step to light a cigarette. He then proceeded to a beat-up green Buick parked in the driveway.

Cassy turned her nose up in a grimace. "Oh my God…what a catch. I mean, he's the kind of guy you want to take home to mother."

"Yeah, Ramon's description hardly does him justice." Tom grinned. "I could introduce you if you'd like. I mean, it has been awhile since you've had a date, hasn't it." In the small confines of the Taurus, Tom couldn't avoid the firm punch in the arm from his partner.

"You keep that up and I'm gonna give Marnie a key to your apartment. She says she has a new teddy that she's just dying to try out on you." Cassy laughed at Tom's sudden discomfort. "Hey, Thomas…you're blushing."

Tom was suddenly silent, not wanting to pursue the conversation any further. He turned his attention to the object of their stake-out. The Buick was backing out of the driveway. He started the engine of the Taurus, following Slater's car as it headed away from them. It was obvious, however, that Cassy wasn't going to let up her harassment. "Hey, don't worry about your thing with Erin. I know that you're dating her now, but I'm sure Marnie won't mind. I bet she's willing to share you."

Tom tried to keep the disapproving look on his face, but it didn't work. The corners of his mouth started to curl. "Oh man…I'm having a vision right now that I never thought I'd have…and I'm in the middle of it…literally."

Cassy couldn't stop her laughter. Tom tried to hold back his chuckle, but he was unsuccessful. Then he suddenly stopped. "On the flip side, you never know…could be fun…," Cassy looked at him in disbelief then grinned when she saw the humor in his hazel eyes. Tom, grin still on his face pulled out into the street to follow their greasy prey in the beat-up sedan.

They trailed the car to the warehouse district near the waterfront. There weren't many places as run down as this area in Palm Beach. Slater parked the car in front of a large warehouse door. Tom pulled the unmarked police sedan into an alley a half block away. Slater left the vehicle and proceeded to the door of the warehouse.

Cassy and Tom left their car to follow the suspect. They pressed their bodies against the side of the building. Crouching low, Tom crawled behind a pile of wood crates, which had been carelessly stacked next to the building, shielding Slater's view of him. Cassy followed her partner. Peaking over the top of the crates, Tom was satisfied to note that they were only fifty feet away from their target. They didn't want to lose him in the maze of warehouses. He was their only lead to the porno studio. They had been on this case for over a week and were not going to blow it now. A teenage runaway who had starred in one of the studio's sleazy productions had been found dead, dumped in a trash bin in a dirty alley in Palm Beach's "low rent" district.

The Vice division had raided a porno shop and found copies of a video tape that depicted more than run-of-the-mill pornography. It showed the murder of the young girl in gory detail. Vice had put pressure on the porno shop's owner to get details from where the tape had been obtained. He had given them Slater's name, but no location. Slater was, purportedly, a legitimate photographer turned porno producer and ring leader. Tom and Cassy were committed to making sure the young girl was the only victim and had decided that Ramon, with his links to the darker side of Palm Beach's "artistic community," might have a lead on where Slater could be found. At 8:00 this morning, Ramon had finally been able to give them the address of a woman's house that Slater was known to frequent. Tom and Cassy had been waiting all day for Slater to make a move.

Now, the detectives were hoping the disgusting man was going to lead them to the scene of the crime. Slater removed a set of keys from his pants pocket and worked to unlock the padlock securing the door. He put the keys back in his pocket and suddenly stopped his movement. His right hand reached underneath his jacket.

"What's he doing?" Cassy whispered to her partner.

"I can't tell," Tom responded. Cassy moved to Tom's right, hoping to get a better view of what Slater was doing. Tom saw a glint of light reflecting off of metal in Slater's right hand. He suddenly realized what was about to happen. Slater turned around to face the wood crates. He raised his arm and fired the gun that he had hidden from their view. Tom leaped for his partner and pulled her down to the ground, covering her body with his own. Tom heard a door slam and realized that Slater had entered the warehouse. Cassy struggled to get out from under the weight of her partner. "Thomas, get off me…he's getting away."

Tom scrambled to his feet, pulling his gun out in a singular motion. As expected, Slater was not in sight. He had escaped into the safety of the building. Before Tom could plan his approach, Cassy had already crossed the distance from the crates to the warehouse door. "Cassy, wait up," Tom yelled. He knew his ex-wife too well. She had already left the boundaries of being a cautious officer of the law and entered into Jane Wayne mode. Cassy had taken her place on side of the door. She motioned for Tom to stand on the opposite side. Tom, keeping his gun ready in his left hand, reached over with his right to open the door. It swung out towards Cassy. She crouched down in the entry way, gun aimed and ready. Tom took position behind her. The room was still and dark. Tom could detect no movement. It was obvious that Slater knew the building layout and didn't need light to make his way through safely. Tom couldn't say the same for the detectives. They would be sitting ducks if they tried to enter the warehouse with no light and no back-up.

Apparently, Cassy didn't agree. "Let's go." She entered the dark room with no hesitation. The only light source was from dirt covered windows, which were near the ceiling.

Tom reached out to halt her progression, but she moved too fast. Frustrated at his partner's carelessness, Tom forced a whisper, "Cassy, wait. This is stupid. We can't see…we don't know what's in here. We don't know where Slater is…he's armed. He could be hiding anywhere, waiting to get the drop on us. It wouldn't be hard with us stumbling around in the dark."

Cassy proceeded, ignoring her partner's protests. Tom had no choice but to follow. There was a sound at the back of the warehouse. A door opened and sunlight illuminated the back of the large room. Cassy, who was a few feet ahead of Tom, saw the outline of Slater's form in the doorway. She aimed her gun and shouted "Police!" Not surprisingly, Slater ignored her and instead, turned and fired blindly at the detectives. His aim was off and Cassy returned the fire. She was an expert marksman, but she missed her target. Slater had already dove out the doorway to the outside. The door slammed shut and the room was plunged into darkness. Cassy and Tom followed as quickly as they could, hampered by dark. Once again, the detectives cautiously opened the back door and were faced with two more warehouse entrances. "He has to be in one of these buildings," Cassy reasoned. "You go left and I'll go right. We'll trap him between us."

This time Tom was close enough to stop Cassy. He placed a firm grip on her arm. "No, Cassy. We're not going anywhere but back to the car to get back-up."

Cassy, frustrated by her partner, turned and glared at him, "What do you mean 'No!' He's getting away!" She struggled to break his grip. He didn't budge. "Let go of me Tom!" He didn't. "Thomas, please…we can't let him escape. He's our only lead to the killers…Hell, he probably is the killer."

"Cassy…No," Tom said quietly but firmly. He looked into his ex-wife's beautiful blue eyes and saw pain. At first he thought it was from the grip he held on her arm, then he realized it was emotional pain. Then the pain turned to anger. She hated failure. "Damn it, Tom, we can nail him. You know we'll never find him in this maze if we go back to the car and wait for back-up. He'll be long gone and so will our case. That poor girl will have died for nothing."

"Cassy, I'm not going to let you do this. It's stupid and careless. It's not worth the risk." Angry, Cassy jerked her arm out of his grip and headed back towards the building they had just left. She swung open the door, entered and slammed it in Tom's face. Tom paused at the door for a moment. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew he was right. He had wanted to catch the bastards that had killed the girl as much as Cassy, but procedure and common sense dictated that they wait for back-up. No case was worth getting shot over, especially for doing something as reckless as Cassy was prepared to do. He opened the door to the building and stepped into the darkness. Cassy was almost to the other door.

"Cassy, wait." She ignored him. "You know I'm right about this." Cassy stopped her progression to the door. She slowly turned towards her partner.

"You want to know what I know…a young girl was killed. We had her murderer in our grasp and you just let him get away. Now some other poor girl will die because you were too chicken to do your job and you stopped me from doing mine." Cassy turned and headed for the door. She opened the door and slammed it behind her, leaving Tom in the dark.

A half-hour later, Tom was leaning against the door of the sedan. Three other patrol cars were parked around the warehouse. The police forensic team had found evidence that the warehouse had contained the porno studio. They also found blood stains on the floor, probably from the murder victim. A full search was underway for Slater, but there had been no luck. Cassy was right. He had escaped. Tom had tried to talk to Cassy, to make amends for their disagreement, but she was making every effort to avoid him, refusing to talk. She had reverted to the typical Cassy St. John anger response. 'Get angry…shut up.'

Tom knew that eventually Cassy would cool off. She would realize Tom had been right to stop her, that he was only following standard operating procedures. Then they would return to the comfortable banter of their relationship. But in the meantime, it was going to be a very long and quiet ride back to the station.