Chapter Twenty-one
Kate had enjoyed her time with Sean and surprisingly she enjoyed her time with Haley too. It gave her hope the two were going to make it. She came home early and brought Megan with her. Megan wasn’t ready to come back but Kate had to meet with Internal Affairs the next day so she decided both of them needed to leave.
Kate told Megan, “The couple needs some alone time, we need to give them some space.”
The next day offered a new beginning and Kate was ready to face the day, except for the scheduled meeting with Internal Affairs. Kate dressed a little better today, hoping it would have some influence on the Internal Affairs investigator. Kate actually wore a dress. She could only remember wearing a dress twice in her life and one of those events was her wedding.
When she got to the station, she had a lonely feeling as she stared at the space that was Sean’s parking spot. Her mind wandered a lot thinking about what they had been through together. At least it took her mind off of Internal Affairs for a short time. She sat, shuffling papers, not accomplishing anything in particular except relocating papers from one spot to another.
Kate saw the captain walking down the hall and he had two people with him that she knew to be Internal Affairs investigators. She thought to herself, “This is it, I might as well get ready for it.”
The captain greeted her and introduced her to the people that walked with him.
The captain said, “We appreciate this has been a trying time for you and we thank you for your cooperation. This is Lieutenant Rebekah Wilcox and Sergeant Joe Tubs.”
Kate turned to the woman first and said, “You must be the Lieutenant.” She offered her hand to shake and then she turned to the man and said, “That would leave you as the sergeant.”
The sergeant offered his hand to shake which Kate accepted. The sergeant said, “That was a fine example of detective work there lieutenant.”
Kate smiled and replied, “It’s not my first rodeo. Well let’s get this thing started.”
The Captain led the three to the squad “war room” where they do strategic planning for intense situations.
Lieutenant Wilcox asked, “Lieutenant, can you tell us the complete story, the way I am sure you have told several times already?”
Kate began her story, “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 for 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 detectives do.
Kate continued, “When we got there a patrol car was there and two officers were taking 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.”
Lieutenant Wilcox asked, “How did seeing your partner shot make you feel?”
Kate thought for a moment and answered slowly and deliberately, “It made me feel anxious. We were being showered with bullets, we had officers pinned down and I had a partner fighting for his life and I knew we couldn’t get an ambulance into that area safely. 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..”
Sergeant Joe 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.”
Lieutenant Wilcox replied, “You must be an excellent marksman.”
Kate said, “I have been target shooting since I was a little girl. I had a tour of duty in Afghanistan and then many years on the force. Carrying a weapon has become second nature for me.”
Lieutenant Wilcox asked, “Did you feel any remorse for the gunman you killed?”
Kate replied, “There is always remorse when a life is taken. I understood that in Afghanistan and I understand it here. How about you, Lieutenant, have you ever had to fire your service weapon?”
Lieutenant Wilcox answered, “No, I have not.”
Kate replied, “It is a hard thing to do, whether you are in war or just defending someone else, a person will lose their life. We have events that happen requiring a quick response, we don’t have the luxury of running scenarios through our heads trying to find the best one. If we did that we'd risk losing our own life. It was clear to me this shooter had no intention of stopping. I made the best decision I could make within the time limits presented.”
Lieutenant Wilcox, turned off her recorder and closed her notebook. She said, “I think we have all we need.”
The two Internal Affairs investigators shook hands with Kate and Lieutenant Wilcox said, “If I was working out on the streets, I would want a partner like you to have my back.”
Kate went back to her desk to shuffle some more papers while she waited for a reinstatement and a return of her Glock.
The captain came in and said, “I think you did well, I look for a reinstatement soon. The investigators will make their recommendations and that will be compared with the physical evidence and then they issue the reinstatement.”
Kate said, “Okay captain, I have been playing by the rules so far. I am going back to the hospital and you can contact me when you know something. By the way, I carry a personal weapon, I have a license and a constitutional right to carry it. If I go for a run and some idiot decides to attack me, I will call for you guys to bring out the body bag, I will draw the chalk line for you.”
Kate decided to go home before she went to the hospital, she needed to let off some steam. She had tension built up so tight, if she was a wind up watch, the spring would be in danger of breaking.
Kate either needed a drink and she was trying to quit, or she needed to go for a run. She went in and put on her jogging clothes. She had her personal pistol, also a Glock but a little bigger. She walked down the stairs and started sprinting across to the track. She ran and ran and ran some more. She needed to work off what she was feeling.
Kate noticed several people looking at her when they drove by but no one stopped and there was no incident that happened while running either. She just ran to clear her head and stop playing “what if” games. What happened was done and over and no one could change it. She had learned the man she shot had just gotten out of the service three weeks before the incident. He had been to the VA for help with PTSD issues but they were always too busy and he couldn’t get in.
Kate had learned about that man. It made her sad but it didn’t change her mind about whether she had any other choices. She learned the man had a family that had moved out because they were afraid of what he might do. She knew he had problems and the system failed him. His body had been released to the family after the investigation was completed. Kate learned the man, Rusty Williams, would be having a funeral the next day. Kate planned on going.
Kate was going to go back to the hospital after she grabbed a shower to wash away the gunk from her run. After showering she dressed and decided to go to the funeral home to visit the man she shot, the shooter that came close to ending her partner’s life.
The parking lot was somewhat empty when she got to the funeral home. There was a woman working at a desk when Kate entered and Kate said, “I am here to view the body of Rusty Williams.” The receptionist said, “You can go in and sign the book but the family had the remains cremated. His face was badly damaged and couldn’t be repaired and the family doesn’t have a lot of money.”
Kate signed the book, Kate Murphy, but made no notation about her rank with the police department. She usually signed the Lieutenant in front of the name for other events, but she didn’t want to call attention to her rank at this moment. There was a large display board covered with photos of the shooter and his family. Kate saw the little boy being held by his father and it made her heart hurt. Rusty Williams was just a man that needed help and the system let him fall through the cracks.
Kate heard crying coming from an adjacent room and she opened the door just enough to peek in. It was the shooter’s wife, she could tell from the photos on the display board. She thought about going over and saying something, but she knew about grieving. She lost friends when she served and she had lost some on the force. It would take time; she needed to give this wife some time to heal.