20. Garrett
CHAPTER 20
Garrett
Despite spending so much time at Mavis Doolittle’s house trying to wrangle a squirrel, I was in a good mood as I parked my patrol car and went inside. Technically, I was off, but Owen was going to a pizza party at a friend’s house, so I figured I’d get some more work done before I headed home.
The station was quiet. Most deputies were out on patrol or working shifts in the jail. I went to the kitchen to fill my water, then took a seat at my desk.
I’d just gotten started on some paperwork I needed to finish when Sheriff Jack came by.
“Can I see you in my office?” he asked.
“Sure.”
Jack Cordero was a popular figure in Tilikum, and he was well-respected by the men who served under him, myself included. He’d spent a lot of his career with the Seattle PD and moved to Tilikum for a change of pace.
But as much as I liked, and respected, him personally, no deputy wanted to be called into his office.
I followed him back, the feeling reminiscent of being taken to the principal’s office in school. Not that I’d had that experience very many times. Zachary had been the troublemaker of the family, not me.
Still, I was concerned.
“Have a seat.” He gestured to the chair on the other side of his desk.
I lowered myself onto the edge of the seat, my spine straight. “Is something going on?”
“Yeah, there is. A few days ago, we had an anonymous misconduct complaint. About you.”
My brow furrowed. “Me?”
“Obviously when someone won’t identify themselves, it’s more or less impossible to investigate or substantiate their complaint. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, except we had another one. This time it wasn’t anonymous.”
“Two complaints against me?”
“Actually, now there have been three. We had another one this morning.”
I stared at him in shock. I’d never had a complaint filed against me. Not a legitimate one, at least. Trent Jones had tried after I’d arrested him the first time, but I’d done everything by the book. He’d just been pissed off that he’d gotten caught and had been throwing spaghetti at the wall, trying to find a way to get out of the charges.
“What are the complaints?”
“The anonymous one had to do with a traffic stop. The caller claimed you ordered him out of his car and frisked him without cause.”
“There’s no way that’s legit.”
“Like I said, I would have blown it off as nothing, considering the guy wouldn’t give us his identity. Just insisted it was you who pulled him over and you mistreated him. But the second one gave us his name and contact info. He wants to file a formal complaint.”
“About what? ”
“He claims you harassed him. It was a family trouble call, neighbor reported loud arguing.”
“Adult son living with his mother?”
Jack nodded.
“She was trying to kick him out and thought I should arrest him. I didn’t harass him, I practically took his side.”
“He said you threatened him.”
Suddenly I really wished we had standard issue body cameras. We were one of a handful of sheriff’s departments in the state that didn’t. We’d applied for funding, but it hadn’t come through yet. One of the perils of being a small agency.
“I had a conversation with the guy. I didn’t threaten him.”
“The latest one is a guy who also said you harassed and threatened him. At Angel Cakes Bakery, to be exact.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“His story is that he was innocently buying baked goods when you arrived and used your position and authority to intimidate him.”
“He was making my girlfriend uncomfortable.” The word girlfriend rolled off my tongue all too easily. “I probably glared at him, but I didn’t harass him.”
“Were you in uniform?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t even have words with him.”
Jack pressed his lips together and glanced away. “You’ve had an impeccable history. Until recently. I can chalk up the mistakes with Trent Jones’s arrest to rookie mistakes. It’s not your fault you’re learning the ropes on your own. But then we start getting complaints, and not just one. That’s either one hell of a coincidence, or it’s the beginning of a pattern.”
“There’s no pattern. You said yourself, the anonymous claim can’t be substantiated. It’s irrelevant. I don’t know why the freeloader would want to file a complaint against me, but I’m telling you, it’s bullshit. And Matt might very well be the one doing the harassing.”
“What’s going on at home lately? How’s Owen? ”
I shifted backward in my chair, the abrupt change of subject rattling me a little. “He’s fine. Why?”
“I know about the shoplifting.”
“Come on, Jack. I’m his father. I handled it.”
“I’m not saying you did anything wrong. I’m just wondering what’s going on. Owen’s never been in any kind of trouble, has he? Even at school?”
I shook my head. “He’s a good kid, he just made a mistake.”
“I know, sometimes they do that,” he conceded. “And sometimes the reason behind it is worth digging into.”
“What are you getting at?”
“That I see some things that give me cause for concern. I don’t know if it’s your new role or things are rocky at home. Maybe it’s your new girlfriend. Or all of the above. But whatever is going on, I need you to address it.”
“Look, I don’t have issues at home. Owen’s fine. And Harper certainly isn’t a problem.”
He paused and the gravity in his expression made me more than a little bit nervous. “What about the Pasco incident? You still struggling?”
“No.” My voice was filled with honest conviction. I’d shot a man in the line of duty and I had zero regrets. It wasn’t that I was flippant about what I’d done. I’d taken a man’s life and that was no small thing. But he would have killed my brother Zachary, and Marigold.
In the aftermath, I’d been put on administrative leave while the agencies involved did their investigations—standard protocol. I’d met with a therapist a few times to process the incident, then been allowed to come back to work.
“The situation in Pasco was intense,” I continued. “But I’d do it again if I had to.”
“We all know you saved lives that day. But sometimes that stuff comes out when you don’t expect it.”
“Are you suggesting I’m suddenly going around threatening and intimidating people because I had to take the life of a human trafficker in order to save my brother? Or because I’m raising a teenager? Or maybe it’s because I’m dating someone. Is that it?”
“Don’t get defensive—”
“Of course I’m going to get defensive.”
“Here’s the bottom line. I don’t want to put you on leave. I need you out there doing your job. But I do have to look into these claims. It’s protocol. And the timing of everything is… troubling. So if there’s something going on in your personal life that’s bleeding into your work, deal with it.”
“I’m telling you, there isn’t anything. It’s just normal life stuff.”
He paused, his dark eyes scrutinizing me. “I’ll take you at your word. For now. And maybe it is a coincidence. I’m not saying I don’t trust you, just that I have to tread carefully. I’m not only responsible for the safety of the citizens in my jurisdiction, I’m responsible for maintaining their trust. We enjoy a good relationship with the people in this town. I don’t want to compromise that.”
“I hear you.” Trust in law enforcement could be a fragile thing. I knew that as well as anyone. “Just don’t put me on leave. I’ve got too much to do.”
“I won’t unless I have to.”
“Fair enough.” I stood. “Anything else?”
Jack shook his head. I could tell he wasn’t happy about any of this, for my sake as well as his. He wanted to believe me, but he had to do his job.
I left his office and went back to my desk. The complaint filed by Matt was particularly troubling. I hadn’t threatened him. Not even close. I’d barely interacted with him at all. Okay, so I’d kind of marked my territory. But one look at him and I’d been able to tell he was trying to hit on Harper. A guy could see that sort of thing. Of course I was going to put an end to that. Definitively. That wasn’t a threat, whether I’d been in uniform or not.
Just a man protecting his woman.
But the whole situation was unsettling. No formal complaints in my entire career, and suddenly there were three? How was that possible? The threat to my job pissed me off. Not only was it my livelihood, it was my life.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up, but no one was around. Was I being paranoid? Or was something off?
I didn’t know. But I had to stay sharp if I was going to find out.