To Serve and Protect

By: BJ Williams
(© 2013-2014 by the author)
Edited by: Gerry Young

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 6

He pulled his car to the back of an abandoned warehouse and hurried out of it and to the trunk. He pushed aside things as he searched for the gym bag that had the clothes that he was sure he had in there.

“Where in hell are you,” he nervously asked as he shoved things around. “Fuck!,” he cursed and slammed his fist against the car as he remembered back to when he had used them. “Damn, I never put a replacement in.”

He got back into his car and drove off. He knew that he had another change at home, so he drove off towards home. He glanced over at the clock on his dashboard, three-seventeen it read.

“Good, she’ll be drunk and passed out,” he said aloud.

He pulled into his driveway and didn’t bother with opening the garage door, because he did not wish to wake her. He wanted to slip quietly in, discard the bum’s rags and shower without her being the wiser of it. He really wanted a shower, because it felt as if hundreds of lice or fleas were crawling and biting all over his body.

“Fucking bum, I hope you died a slow and painful death, for giving me lice,” he swore as he scratched at his crotch, up his stomach and down his arms.

He unlocked the front door, stepped into the dark house and quietly closed the door behind him. He was sure that his wife was asleep; because she always fell into a dead sleep once she finished off her bottle of whisky. He had just about made it across the living room when a light went on.

“Why are you dressed like that,” his wife asked half asleep from the sofa where she had been sleeping.

“I had an accident and had to borrow some clothes. Sadly, these were the only ones that I could find,” he lied as he scratched away.

“Well put them in the trash before you get whatever is making you itch, on the furniture,” she ordered him.

“Yes dumpling, now just go back to sleep,” he told her and closed the light as he made his way to the bathroom.

*        *        *

Thom had finally taken a seat beside Claire and was sipping a coffee that one of the officers had gotten him from the cafeteria. He talked with Claire, hoping to keep her spirits up as well as his.

“I refuse to bury my son, I just refuse to,” she suddenly said, which caused Thom to look over at her.

“You are not going to be burying anyone Claire.”

‘I swear that I’ll get the bastard that did this to you, Andy, and for all the others, especially you Travis,’ he mentally promised.

He was deep in thought about Travis and that night, when a doctor entered the room. Again, all eyes had turned to the doctor, and like the other doctor, his face was grim. He looked around the room and when he saw Claire, he walked over to her and knelt before her.

“Are you here for the officer,” he asked so quietly that Thom had to lean forward to hear him and Claire nodded.

“Yes, I’m Claire Butler, he’s my son,” she said and noticed that his demeanor seemed darker than the last doctor.

The doctor took a deep breath and before he could say a word, Claire went hysterical with crying and Thom, along with the doctor had to catch her when she passed out and fell forward.

“Nurse,” the doctor cried out and a stout woman came running into the room. “Get me a gurney … stat,” he demanded as he and Thom tried to keep her seated.

An orderly came rushing into the room pushing the gurney, followed by the nurse. The orderly assisted the doctor as they placed Claire on it. Bring her to recovery, I’ll examine her there,” he instructed and without another word, left Thom alone with the other officers.

“He never said if Andy made it or not,” Thom said in a daze as Craig came up to him.

“We’ll just have to wait until he finishes attending to Andy’s mother, I guess,” Craig told him.

“The hell I will,” Thom said and hurried out of the room and caught up with the doctor as he was about to enter the recovery room.

“Doc, wait,” he yelled and the doctor turned to Thom.

“I need to attend to the woman, she may have had a stroke or heart attack,” he said and continued on, followed by Thom.

“Sir, you are not allowed in here,” the same stout nurse said with her hands pressed against Thom’s chest. “Only staff is allowed in here,” she continued.

“Then consider me staff, because I am not leaving until I get a few answers,” he told her, moved her aside and hurried over to where the doctor was seeing to Claire.

“It’s alright, Jane, he’s with me,” the doctor told her and with a grumpy glare at Thom, she walked away. “You talk while I work,” he said as he pulled the plastic covers off of electrodes, whose wires were attached to a heart monitor.

“The officer that they brought in — how’s he doing?” Thom worriedly inquired.

“He came through the operation to repair the damage done by the strangler well; he’s stable at the moment, but in a coma over there,” he motioned with his chin as his hands fastened electrodes to Claire’s chest.

“And the boy,” he inquired.

“He’s the same, although I doubt that he’ll make it through the night. His brain suffered a much longer time without oxygen. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must attend to his mother.”

He turned his full attention to Claire, who began to come around and struggled against him to sit up. Thom walked over to the boy first; he gasped when he saw it had been a hustler that he had been with a few weeks before.

That’s it, that’s the common factor that is linking these killings together. They all have a connection to me.

“Lie quietly, ma’am, while I examine you,” he cautioned her, as she began tearing the electrodes from her skin.

“I merely fainted, dammit; I want to know about my son,” she demanded as she struggled to sit.

“He came through surgery fine, but…” he paused, giving a glance over to where Thom stood beside Andy’s bed. “He’s in a coma and until he wakes up, there's no way to determine to what extent the lack of oxygen had on his brain.”

By the time he had finished telling her about Andy; Claire had moved from the gurney and stood beside Thom. Andy looked frail to her as he lay unconscious on the bed. To her, his face lacked his usual rosiness in the cheeks and with the wires and tubes that ran from machines to him, he looked like death warmed over.

“He’ll come back to us, Thom,” Claire said as she placed her small hand upon Thom’s hand.

“We lost Travis, and by God, I refuse to lose Andy, too,” he adamantly told her.

“We are not going to lose Andy, and I have that on good authority,” she looked up as if she saw something that Thom did not, but Thom gave her his best attempt at a smile.

“Faith is all good and well, but…”

“There are no ‘buts’ with God,” she assured him as she set her hand upon his. “He gave me peace concerning Andrew.”

A groan from another patient caught Thom’s attention, and he looked over towards where the sound had come and saw Judy lying there. Her lower right leg was in a temporary cast and elevated.

“Excuse me, Claire, but she is Andy’s partner and with everything that had been going on, I completely forgot about her,” he excused himself and walked over to Judy.

“How are you doing, Judy,” Thom asked.

“As best as can be, but … how is Andy?” she asked and got her answer from the glum look on Thom’s face. “I told him not to go, Thom, honest I did. I insisted that he wait for backup, but he just ran off when that boy screamed out for help,” she told him and Thom could see that the pain she felt was not because of her leg, but because she feared for Andy’s life.

“Andy’s stubborn, and I am praying that his stubbornness will pull him through this. He came through the surgery fine, but he’s in a coma, and the doctor doesn’t know the extent of damage to his brain was done from being deprived of oxygen to his brain. We need to wait for Andy to wake up and then…” Thom refused to continue, because he refused to believe that Andy might not have full function of his brain.

“He couldn’t have been without oxygen all that long, because I sent the paramedics rushing off to you when I heard you calling over the radio for help.”

“Is there someone coming for you, Judy?” she shook her head.

“All I have here is a brother and his family, and…” she never finished because she didn’t want to get into her personal life with Thom. “I’ll get a cab to take me home once they put a cast on my leg,” she told him.

“I know it’s none of my business, Judy, but you should call your brother, because you cannot go home alone. They have you doped up with meds and you really should have someone with you.”

“You’re right; it is none of your business, Thom. But if you must know, we do not talk because I’m a lesbian,” she quietly told him; she was startled when Thom placed a comforting hand over hers.

“I kind of figured that out a while ago about you, Judy, and truthfully, I don’t give a rat’s ass if you are.” Thom glanced around the room to see who might be listening, and when he was confident that no one was, he continued. “I’m gay also, Judy,” he said with both pride and confidence in his voice. “But then, I think that you already knew that.”

“I did, Andy and I had a heart to heart and he inadvertently let it slip that he had some kind of gay thing going with another cop,” she confided and told him about their conversation.

“Then you were the lady that he was pissed off about when he arrived at work,” Thom guessed and Judy nodded. “Anyway, you cannot go home alone, not in this drugged condition; I’ll see that you are kept over until you are able to manage fully alone.”

“And then what, I’ll still end up going home alone, Thom. So what difference does it make if…” she went quiet as her eyes fixated on something or someone past Thom.

Thom turned to see a good looking black man walking towards them.

“Malcolm, what are you doing here,” Judy asked, shocked to see her brother there.

“I heard a woman’s voice on the scanner calling for help and realized that it was your voice. I kept listening and when I heard someone else call for help for an officer down, I panicked,” he said and looked at Thom as if to say, can my sister and I have some privacy here?’

“I’ll be over with Andy and his mother, Judy; if you need me…” he said and turned to Malcolm. “Feel blessed that you have a sister and it’s just a broken leg, Malcolm, because my nephew is fighting for his life over there and the last words we had between us were angry ones,” he said and walked off.

Malcolm turned towards Judy and saw that tears were rolling down her cheeks. He lost it and buried his face in the blanket that covered her as he cried.

“I’m so sorry, Judy Bean, for turning my back on you when you needed me to be accepting and understanding,” he said into the blanket, his words muffled. “I love you and it would kill me, if something bad happened to you and…”

“Hush now, Malcolm; it's all water under the bridge. What matters to me is that you are here,” she said as she ran her hand over his back. “I think that we can move on from here and be better siblings,” she predicted and he nodded his agreement.

He raised his head and looked at her, as if he were seeing her for the first time.

“I don’t care if you are … what I do care about is that you’re alive and I love you, Judy Bean,” he said and used the name that he had always called her while they grew up. “Once you are able to go home, you’ll come to my house until you are able to get about on your own,” she began to protest but he put a finger to her lips. “I am not going to take no for answer. I already told Marisa that you’ll be coming to our house,” he lied, because at the time he didn’t know if she was … alive or…

*        *        *

Thom sat quietly beside Andy’s bed and watched Dr. Smyth as he tended to Andy. He wasn’t much taller than Andy, broad-shouldered, yet lithe-looking; somehow he exuded energy even when he stood still. Thom noticed that when he walked, he moved with a sure, fluid stride that was alluring, and yet, had a quiet strength about him.

“They’ll be moving Andy upstairs to a room soon,” the doctor said and when he talked, just the sound of voice seemed like a sexual stimulant. “We’ll get him comfortably into his room and then you and his mother can see him,” he said and the feather soft brush of his fingers spoke erotically to his innermost recesses when the doctor’s fingers brushed Thom’s hand.

Thom was tempted to touch him in return; because just the feel of the white coat’s crisp fabric over muscled flesh would be arousing, but this wasn’t the time he thought.

The doctor had been watching Thom and a blush rose to Thom’s cheeks. Thom looked away from his eyes, but his gaze fell to his shirt, where it slightly parted and revealed alabaster skin.

“Are you alright, detective?” the doctor asked. “Detective?” he said again and moved his hand to Thom’s knee as he knelt down beside him, and his inner mind was telling him something about Thom.

This man was all man, and that he wanted him, but like Thom, he, too, hesitated, realizing that this was neither the time nor place for personal feelings.

He squeezed Thom’s knee tightly and being that close to him, assailed his senses. He could smell the lingering scent of Thom’s aftershave; it wafted around him, seemed to permeate his system. He realized that his own heart was pounding, that the blood was washing in a hot wave through his body. He was torn between the desire to gently touch Thom’s face, but did not, because of his sense of professionalism, even though, he had an equally strong desire to fall into Thom’s arms and…

“I’m sorry, Doctor Smyth, did you say something?” Thom asked when he realized that the man had moved and he had not noticed.

“I was saying that we’ll be moving Andrew upstairs to a room soon,” he dropped his hand and stood; he, too, had a blush upon his cheeks. “Also, my name is Aaron,” he told him.

“Thomas, but most call me either Thom or Sully,” he said and felt like a kid on his first date.

Did he really caress my knee?

“It’ll be at least another half hour before we move him, and I, for one, can use a coffee,” he said. “Would you care to join me?” he asked and Thom guiltily turned to Claire.

“Go, Thom; after all, you’ve been at it all night and I have no intentions of leaving Andrew’s side,” Claire told him.

“Coffee sounds great,” he said and followed Aaron out of the room.

“I’ll brew us a fresh pot in my office,” he said as he led Thom down the hall. “It’s one of the perks of being chief of staff,” he added as he unlocked the door and allowed Thom to enter first.

“You call this an office?” he said as he took in the expanse of the room, as well as its furnishing.

The room was large, paneled in a rich walnut on three walls and a natural stone on the last. As he entered, and directly facing him, was an antique mahogany desk in front of a large, drape-covered window with an equally impressive leather wing chair pushed up against it. To his right upon entering the room, Thom noticed a black leather grouping, a sofa and two chairs with an old trunk for a table nestled among them. To his left, where Aaron stood as he prepared the coffee, stood an armoire that housed a small kitchen.

“Have a seat, Thom, I’ll only be a minute,” Aaron told him and Thom took a seat on the sofa.

“This place is like a miniature apartment,” Thom said as his eyes looked around the room.

“You haven’t seen anything yet; come on this way,” Aaron directed him to follow, and took him into a bedroom. “There are many nights that I am too tired to drive home, so I crash here for a few hours instead of going home.”

The room had a large bed, two nightstands and a bureau and it was painted a light blue with lush carpeting on the floor.

“Over there, I have a private bath,” Thom took a look and was impressed at the luxury of the bathroom.

“How do you get all this when hospitals are crying poverty?” he asked.

“I paid for all this myself, which was just a drop in the old bank account. My parents left me very well off when they passed away. They were in a plane crash when they went away to Europe to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary,” he explained, and Thom felt the pangs of sorrow grip his heart.

“I’m sorry, Aaron, and I know how hard it is to lose someone you love.”

“You are not going to lose Andy,” he said, thinking that he was referring to Andy.

“I pray that is so, but I was referring to his father, Travis. We had been friends since we were twenty and had met at the police academy.”

“I do recall reading about his death in the Republican; very tragic.”

Aaron turned and removed his lab coat and hung it on a coat tree that stood beside the armoire. He could sense from the way that Thom had mentioned Travis that their friendship may have been more, but he was not going to mention it unless Thom did.

“Would you excuse me a moment, I need to change this shirt,” Thom nodded as Aaron stepped back into the bedroom. “I’ve been at it for nearly twelve hours,” he added from the bedroom.

Thom felt a stirring within, but not sexual; this was different. He gave himself a mental shake; he’d not felt like this toward a man since…

“Maybe I should leave and let you take a nap,” Thom said as he stared at Aaron, who stood naked from the waist up.

He was a man who definitely worked out, because his chest was rock hard, defined and void of hair, and his abs were rippling with muscles as well.

“A nap? Good God, Thom, I could not sleep now if I were dead tired,” he confided. “I’m fine,” he said as he pulled on his clean shirt.

He had noticed how Thom watched him, how his eyes took in every aspect of his body as he pulled on the shirt. To Aaron, Thom spoke of masculinity to the ultimate power. He was tall, well shouldered and his body showed Aaron that Thom worked to keep his body in physical perfection.

“Doc…?” Thom asked, causing Aaron, who stood as if frozen in time, gazed at him. “…are you alright,” Thom placed his hands on Aaron’s shoulders and gently gave them a squeeze.

“Hmmm … oh, sorry, you were saying,” Aaron stammered as he looked up into Thom’s eyes.

“I know that you will have every right to report me … but I just need to do this,” he pulled Aaron to him, lowered his mouth to his and passionately kissed him.

At first, Aaron stiffened, but as the kiss grew deeper, he leaned against Thom and returned the kiss.

“I’m sorry, Aaron, I had no right to do that,” Thom turned and began to walk away, but Aaron reached out, grabbed him by the arm and turned him back to him and kissed him heatedly.

“You have no idea how much I have wanted to do that,” Aaron confessed as he stepped back from Thom.

Thom looked at the bed and gave himself a mental shake; this was not where and how he wanted their first time to be. Aaron noticed how he looked at the bed and prayed that Thom would wait.

“As much as I would love to explore every inch of you, I want it to be right, and not two men having met because of a tragedy and just hopped into bed together. I want to do this right, to get to know you and then if all goes well, we…”

“I agree, Thom; how about we have that coffee and we get to know each other better?” he suggested and Thom nodded.

*        *        *

Boston, later that morning…

“Hello, Kevin,” Michael said from the doorway to his father’s office, causing his father to startle at the sound of his voice. “Long time no see,” he added sourly as the stepped into the room.

“Michael, I thought we promised…”

“We did, but I need a favor from you and then I’ll be gone from your life, as I did that day three years ago,” he interrupted.

“I see, and just what is this favor that you need?” he asked as he leaned back in his chair with arms folded across his chest as he looked hard and angry at Michael.

“I need you to appoint me to the Springfield police academy,” his father flew from his chair, pressed his hands on the desk as he leaned across it.

“You want to do what?” he asked as if his ears had misheard him.

“I want you to appoint…”

“I heard you, but I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. What makes you think that I would do that, especially when we have not seen or spoken in over three years?”

“We haven’t spoken or seen each other because that is how you wanted it when I told you I was gay that day, Father.”

Michael’s father, Kevin O’Brien, had gone into a tirade when Michael had come to him and announced that he was gay. He was the Senator from Springfield to Boston then. He had been on a subcommittee on family values, and to him, Michael not only represented everything that Kevin fought against, but was his illegitimate son from an affair and could be a scandal.

“And you promised me that day that you would not only stay away, but change your name as well, if I paid for you to stay away. So what makes you think that I would even want to do this, especially now?”

“It’s because you are running for election to Congress and if they found out that your illegitimate son was gay…” he didn’t finish, but let the power of his words sink in.

“You fucking bastard, you intend to blackmail me into this,” Kevin was livid as he came around his desk and stood before Michael. “And if I say no, then what, Michael?”

Michael knew that he would never blackmail his father, but his father did not know it.

“Then you do what you need to do, and I’ll do the same, Kevin, but I will promise you this. If you get me into the academy, you can stop your payments once I graduate and I’ll remain dead to you,” Michael stood tall and his eyes locked on Kevin’s as he spoke.

Kevin turned and looked out the window of his office as he considered the words that his son had said. He abruptly turned back to Michael and moved to a whisper from him.

“Fine, I’ll get you into the academy, but you keep your word to me,” he demanded and Michael nodded. “And so help me, Michael Brady, if anyone ever finds out that you are my bastard son, I will personally…” he turned away and moved back to his chair.

“No one will ever find out … Father.” He said the word as if it were poison on his lips. “The next class begins on Monday,” he informed him.

Kevin picked his phone and pushed a button. “Beth, get me the Mayor, please,” he said as his eyes showed the hatred he felt as he looked at Michael.

“Francis, it’s Kevin,” he said into the phone. “I’m good thanks, but I need a favor done and I knew that you were the man to ask,” he told him and listened. “I have a colleague whose son would like to get into the police academy and I instantly thought of you, how you can appoint someone to the academy,” he lied and listened again. “His name, Michael, Michael Brady and he’s a fine upstanding citizen,” he lied, unaware of what his son did for a living. “Thank you, Francis, and I owe you one,” he said.

“Your name will be on the roster of new recruits,” he assured Michael. “Now if you will excuse me…”

Michael nodded and turned, but as he was about to open the office door, Kevin stopped him.

“I expect you to keep your end of our agreement,” he said and without turning back to him, Michael nodded and exited the office.

*        *        *

He had showered and changed into a fresh uniform, but that wasn’t enough, he needed to know the fate of both the boy and Andy. He was sure that he had killed the boy, but Andy — now, he was a loose end that he needed to fix. He had never left one of his victims alive, and he was not about to start, he thought. They all deserved to die because he was never good enough for them.

“Rose, I’m leaving, honey,” he whispered next to her ear as she slept on the sofa.

“Mmmmm,” she moaned out without fully waking.

He stood and walked to the door, gave her one last look and then left. As he sat in his unmarked car, he debated his best course of action.

“Craig … yes, Craig should know the fate of both Andy and the boy,” he said aloud and started the car. “But the thing is, where would he be?” he asked as he sped off.

He called the precinct from a pay phone and Blue answered.

“Blue, have you heard how Andy and the boy, who was found with him, are?” he asked as he held the button down on his shoulder mounted radio.

“Both are out of surgery, but as to their condition, I haven’t heard…”

“Is the captain at the hospital or still at the precinct?” he interrupted.

“As far as I know, he’s still up there; why?” she asked.

“No reason and thanks,” he lied.

 “Ten-four, sweetie,” she answered back.

“Well, well, it seems that you left two loose ends hanging,” he told himself as he made his way to the hospital. “Now we can’t have that, can we,” he asked and shook his head in answer. “But the thing is, is how do I get in, finish them off, and get out, all without being seen?”

He was clever and he would find a way, he assured himself.

“You may be clever, but that will never make you appealing to gay men,” the voice … that taunting and torturing voice that constantly tormented him … said.

“I am appealing to them, they just refuse to see it,” he replied to the voice.

He stopped at the station and deposited his soiled, wet uniform into the bin for uniforms that needed laundering. He jostled the other uniforms around, until his were completely buried.

“Hey … did you hear how Andy is doing?” an officer who had just come in at the end of his shift, asked.

“Not really, Jose, but I’m sure that he’s doing ok, because we would have heard if he died, right?” he asked him and Jose nodded.

“Well the captain is up there from what Sarge told me, and also Thom Sullivan,” James said.

“Why would Thom be there?” he inquired of James, as if he didn’t know.

To him, Thom was not only his idol, but secretly the object of his affections. He had fallen in love with Thom when he was a rookie, and Thom had taken him under his wings. Thom had helped him along back then, and had spoken of him highly to the captain on many an occasion.

“Who knows, maybe because he is Travis’ son, and Travis had been Thom’s partner and best friend,” Jose reasoned and the man nodded. “I heard that Andy’s partner, Judy, broke a leg or something when they were responding to the call.”

“I didn’t know that,” another loose end he thought as Jose walked away. “Hey, Jose, did she get a look the killer?”

“Not that I know of, but then again, all I got for news are bits and pieces from guys that heard from someone that heard from another. I guess we’ll find out tonight at roll call just what is what,” James said and closed his door. “Have a good one and see you later,” Jose gave a wave to him and left.

“Hmmmm, Craig is no problem, but Thom, he’ll stick to Butler like glue,” he reasoned as he determined what his next move should be.

Then it hit him, something that he hadn’t thought of, until that moment.

“Craig will put a guard on his room to protect him and the boy from me,” he scratched his head for a moment and then smiled when an idea came to him. “I’ll get myself assigned to guard him,” he said so proud of himself for thinking of it.

He got up and walked out of the locker room, determined that he be the one assigned to guard Andy, as well as the boy.

To be continued...

Posted: 01/03/14