Chapter Nineteen
Kate and Megan were quiet on the way back to the house. Megan finally said, “It doesn’t look like he is going to be able to be your partner again.”
Kate said, “No I don’t think so either but once I get back to active duty, they will assign me a new partner. I probably won’t like them and will spend most of my time comparing them to Sean.”
Megan asked what the internal affairs investigation would entail and Kate said it would just be them asking her to relate her story to them and all she’d have to do is tell them exactly what happened. You always have to be truthful with them cause if they ever catch you in a lie you are screwed.
When Kate offered to make Megan something for dinner, Megan told her she wasn’t hungry and she needed to unpack. She went to her room, dragging her luggage behind her. Kate was a little hungry but not starving. She rummaged through the refrigerator and found enough raw vegetables that she cut up and poured on some dressing and called it a salad.
Kate’s mind had to wander to the night she let Sean go a little too far. She would keep that a secret and she hoped that Haley and Sean made things work. Haley was going to need all the strength she could pull together. She was going to talk to the captain and see if they could get some money out of the Officer’s family fund. It was meant to help the families of officers shot in the line of duty.
Kate poured about a third of a glass of Jameson and sat on the couch for a minute. She didn’t turn on the television or play any music. She just sat alone with her thoughts. She played the scene over and over, wondering if there was anything she should have done differently. She was nervous about all of the questions that would be coming from Internal Affairs.
Kate headed for her room. She knew that sleep would be hard to come by but she needed to try. She was so tired she was feeling loopy. She hoped the small glass of Jameson would relax her and help her sleep. When she got to her door she yelled out to Megan, “Good night.”
Megan responded with a good night of her own and Kate was laying on her bed trying to fall asleep. Her mind was too busy and she couldn’t get it to stop. She had seen the shooting many times in her head now. Kate lay awake for a long while, gradually drifting off to sleep.
When Kate finally woke the clock showed five forty eight. She would have to go to the station today, probably talk to internal affairs and see a shrink. She wasn’t as anxious to go to work as she normally would be. She thought that skipping her run would be the rule for a few days and instead went to make breakfast.
She knew Megan had started eating fruit and cereals but once the smells of bacon permeated through the house it would be hard to resist. It wasn’t long into the cooking process when she saw Megan stumbling to the kitchen. Megan wasn’t much of a morning person but the smell of bacon was a good incentive.
Megan asked, “Are you going to work or back to the hospital?”
Kate replied, “I can’t do Sean any good right now and I have a lot to answer for at the station. I can drop you off at the hospital on the way though.”
Megan accepted the ride offer but declined the bacon offer. She said, “I can see your arteries clogging up as you eat that.”
Kate replied, “I will be shot by a jealous wife, long before I die of heart disease.”
Megan responded, “Mom, you are so gross.”
Kate cleared the table off while Megan got dressed and ready. Kate was ready and when she went to check on Megan she was ready too.
Kate asked, “Haley will probably be at the hospital. Are you okay with that?”
Megan answered, “Yeah, I will be fine. I will be cordial but not too chummy.”
Kate replied, “I know you blame Haley for the problems between her and Sean, but I have been around long enough to know there are two sides to every story. Give her a chance and you may find you like her. She is going through a hard time right now.”
Megan didn’t respond to that, she just made her way out to the car and waited for Kate. Megan didn’t talk on the way to the hospital and Kate didn’t push it. Kate had a lot on her mind already. This was her first day back since the shooting and she felt naked without her pistol. She wanted to get everything over with and back to normal work.
She had only been to work for five minutes when the captain showed up.
He asked, “How are things with Sean?”
Kate replied, “I haven’t heard anything since last night. I dropped Megan off there this morning but I didn’t go in. We need to get Sean’s family some resources from the Officer’s Family fund.”
The captain said, “I have already applied for some of our department resources for the family and at least for now I made an application for disability for Sean. The department’s psychiatrist is waiting for you. She will have to clear you to go back to work, or you won’t be allowed.”
Kate replied, “Okay, I will go and try not to put the square peg in the round hole.”
Kate knocked on the door that had, “Dr. Elizabeth Frank”, on the name plate. Kate knew her, they had met before when she got her divorce. The department wanted to make sure that Kate was mentally and emotionally stable after her divorce. Dr. Frank had written that Kate would most likely be even more stable after the stress from the marriage was removed.
The doctor invited Kate to have a seat and asked how she was. Dr. Frank said, “I trust things progressed well after your divorce.”
Kate responded, “Things were great until my daughter became a teen, then all hell broke loose.”
Elizabeth smiled and responded, “She is a teen, that has nothing to do with you and she won’t much like anything you do for a while. Tell me about the shooting incident.”
Kate replied, “Maybe you can make your notes available to internal affairs when they ask me these same questions.”
Elizabeth replied, “I am pretty sure they are going to want their own notes.”
Kate began her story, “There isn’t a lot to tell. My partner, Sean, and I had just finished interviewing a possible witness in a murder investigation we were involved with. We were on our way back to the station when the call came in on a domestic dispute in progress. We were close to the address they gave so Sean suggested we respond to the call even though that is not what we normally do. We both worked our way up through the ranks as patrol officers.
Kate continued, “When we got there a patrol car was there and two officers were receiving gunfire. Sean and I got out of the car and tried to stay low so I could go to the car where the officers were pinned down. A very large barrage of bullets came and I glanced over to check on my partner and he was down and bleeding. I knew he had been hit.”
Elizabeth asked, “Did seeing your partner shot make you angry?”
Kate thought for a moment and answered slowly and deliberately, “It wasn’t as much anger as it was fear. Keep in mind I don’t admit to fear often, but there were a lot of bullets flying and we had officers in danger as well as civilians in the area. I knew we needed the matter resolved sooner rather than later and I wanted to clear the area of danger for the ambulance to get through..”
Elizabeth asked, “So it was your sense of duty that kicked in and led you to fire the shots?”
Kate replied, “Something like that. I wanted all of the bloodshed to stop and the shooter showed no signs of easing up. I moved over just a little to get a good shot at the window but it was dark inside the house. The window was up and curtains were blowing out the windows. I couldn’t see the shooter, but I could see a flash when he fired so I steadied my weapon on the front of the car and waited for the flash. When I saw the flash, I could make out a quick glimpse of the shooter and then I fired.”
Elizabeth replied, “You must be an excellent marksman?”
Kate said, “That was what they told me when I was in Afghanistan.”
Elizabeth stopped momentarily and checked her file folder and then spotted Kate’s war record. She said, “You have quite a war record. To be honest I don’t see anything here that is a problem, it looks like you did what needed to be done and although a bit shaken up I don’t see any lasting effects. If that changes, please feel free to come back.”
With the shrink visit behind her, Kate could concentrate on the next step and then back to normal.