20. Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
Nick
The call had been a kitchen grease fire on Ridgeview. Luckily, it stayed contained to the kitchen with no injuries, other than the stove. Forty minutes start to finish, including the drive back. A good training situation for Scott to run the lead.
It was important to me that the entire crew knew how to run a call because you never knew what would happen, and someday one of them might find themselves in charge.
Back at the station, I showered, changed into a clean department shirt, and sat at my desk with the incident report open in front of me.
Cap was on his bed. He'd been quieter than usual since we got back. Hadn't come to sit next to me the way he normally did after a call. Just grabbed his station penguin and went to his bed.
I was halfway through the narrative section of the report when Cap raised his head and I heard a series of footsteps in the hallway.
A moment later, my office filled with Scott, followed by Thompson and then Jo. The guys looked like they were being marched to the gallows.
“What's this about?”
I was confident from their expressions that Scott and Thompson had not come to my office of their own free will. There was a meaningful difference between their expressions and Jo's.
“Got a minute?” she asked. It was not really a question.
“Sure.”
She pointed at the two chairs across from my desk. “Sit.” Jo had the energy of a woman who had already decided how this meeting was going to go and was not open to alternative suggestions.
Scott and Thompson sat. Neither made eye contact with me.
Cap stretched and came to join the semicircle. He sat next to Jo, his penguin hanging from his mouth.
Jo remained standing beside the chairs. Her arms were crossed and her feet planted. Clearly, she had a reason for this meeting.
“Tell him.” Her tone suggested they might find themselves on the receiving end of a wallop to the head if they didn't.
Scott looked at Thompson.
Thompson looked at Scott. A brief silent conversation happened between them that I was not part of and that resolved itself with Thompson clearing his throat.
“Tell. Him.” Jo repeated. “Or I will.”
The condemned turned as one and looked at her.
She glared right back. This standoff had meaning. Something was driving her anger.
“What the hell happened?” I asked.
My mind immediately went back over the call, looking for anything that might have brought this on.
“Well,” Thompson said. “See, we thought you were going to fight.”
Scott nodded in agreement.
I set my pen down.
“And, well...” Thompson continued. “We thought it would be fun to watch.”
“Some of it,” Scott confirmed, still staring at his hands.
“Yeah, we just wanted to see how bad it was,” Thompson said again, as if this detail somehow improved things.
It did not improve things.
“What specifically are you talking about?” My voice came out level. Controlled, my professional voice. Whatever was happening in my chest was not getting into my voice.
When neither of them answered, Jo stepped in.
“Tell him what you did.”
Thompson shifted in his chair.
“Well—”
“Wells are for holding water,” Jo snapped. “Say it again and you'll find yourself getting soaked while you sleep.”
Scott's head shot up.
“Yeah, you too, quiet boy.” Jo adjusted her stance and leaned slightly forward. “Tell him.”
“Alright, alright.”
Thompson rubbed the back of his neck. “We went to the command center and watched you and Brandy in the storage room.”
“We saw and heard all of it. The kiss and...” He cleared his throat. “The part about Hank being right.”
Fuck.
I looked at each of them.
“Tell him the rest,” Jo urged.
“There's more?” I asked, turning toward her.
“Oh, yeah.”
“Let's have it.”
“Well, I mean, then we may have...” Thompson paused. “Ah, mentioned it to others.”
My stomach sank. “And who are these others?”
“I, ah, texted Karen,” Thompson said. “But she's my wife, and believe me, I told her what she did was wrong. Very wrong.”
I looked at him.
“I'm missing something here.”
“She's my wife,” he said.
“Good to know. Yes, I'm aware of that, Thompson.” I rubbed my forehead. “What did Karen do?”
The dread spread from my stomach to my shoulders.
“See, she texted asking about my day, and I told her what was going on.”
I blew out a breath and sat back in my chair.
Because I already knew. The moment he said Karen's name, I knew exactly what had happened.
Karen Thompson was a kind woman. A good woman.
And a teacher with a staff group chat that probably had a minimum of thirty people in it.
Something like what he'd told her was too priceless not to share.
I looked at Scott.
“I didn't mean to,” Scott said. “After Brandy left, the police called and needed a copy of our incident report for the accident last week. You know, the one with the van—”
“We know,” Jo snapped.
“Yeah, okay. I took it over to them and I sort of...” He winced and pushed back into his chair. “I told the Harris sisters.”
“Oh, for the love of...”
I closed my eyes and put my head back.
“What else?” I asked, not bothering to look at them.
“We told Brian and Mark when they came in,” Thompson admitted.
“Of course you did.” Sighing, I rubbed my face. “And the fire truck reference. Where did that come from?”
Scott raised his hand approximately two inches. “That might have been me. I was explaining to Brian that it happened in the storage room. The one near the truck. Only that's when the time call came over the speakers, and I think he heard against the truck. At least that's what I think.”
“And it just sort of grew,” Thompson added.
“To where it is now,” Scott finished.
I didn't say a word, just looked at my crew. Mainly because I didn't know what to say.
Brandy Wilson had walked into this office this morning and sat in that chair and told me, clearly, precisely, and with complete accuracy, that she didn't do it.
And I not only didn't believe her, worse yet, I blamed her.
And then suggested she'd done it for attention as the new lady in town to get herself noticed.
I may throw up. Things were so nice this morning before Hank called. I'd messed up. In galactic proportions.
I started it with the ass comment, and now, thanks to my crew, it was worse. Town-wide worse. Hank's voice boomed through my head. Fix this. How does one fix this level of mess? I was horrible to her.
“Was there anything else?” I asked Scott and Thompson.
“No, sir,” Thompson said.
“No, Chief,” Scott added.
“Then go.”
“We're sorry,” Scott said.
“We really are. Honestly, we had no idea it would spread so much,” Thompson added.
“Go.” It was all I could muster.
They launched themselves out of the chairs. I'm sure profoundly grateful for the exit and fully aware they had not escaped whatever consequence I eventually came up with.
I closed my eyes and thought about Brandy's face when I'd implied she'd done it for attention.
The way her eyes moved before she pulled herself together and delivered the rest of what she had to say.
The way her voice had gone very quiet. Which was somehow worse than if she'd shouted.
You had no plan to believe me. She'd been right.
I'd called her down here with my mind already made up.
Because it was easier to blame and convict her than give her a fair trial.
And her last comment, I genuinely cannot believe I thought you were cute.
Fuck. I messed this up.
I opened my eyes and met Jo's. She hadn't moved.
In a quiet voice, I admitted, “I messed up. I told her she did it for attention.”
“I know,” Jo said. “I met her in the hall as she was leaving.”
“She came in here thinking she was getting an apology.”
“I know.”
“And instead I—”
“Yeah.” Jo crossed her arms. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Jo,” I said, “I don't know how to fix it.”
She raised an eyebrow. “There's a shocker.”
“I'm an idiot.”
“You can say that again.” She was quiet for a long moment.
“You're not an idiot,” she said carefully.
“You're a man who hasn't had to navigate something like this in a long time, and you handled it the way you handle everything.” She paused.
“You looked for the problem you could solve and ignored the one you couldn't.” Another pause.
“Unfortunately, the one you couldn't solve was the one that mattered.”
Ouch, but she was right.
“Fix it,” she said simply. “I've heard sincere apologies are a good place to start.”
With that, she turned and left the office.
Cap looked at me, huffed out a breath, and followed Jo.