26(S2E13)-Play that song... One more time...

26

(Season 2 Episode 13)

Play That song… One More time…

In movies like Lethal Weapon and Die Hard there is no paperwork.

Sure, they make jokes about how they will eventually have to do it and threats would be made to ‘want to be’ police officers by telling them police work isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, that there’s a lot of paper work.

You never actually see any of it though.

You only ever see them foil international drug dealers or bring down German bank robbers with a stunning array of gun fights and explosions.  You never see any of the paperwork.

This irritated Detective Tim Grates.

Any time an officer discharged his weapon, got into a physical altercation, used a taser, wrote a ticket or any other cop-like duty, they had to fill out a report.

As a child Tim Grates loved those movies.  As an adult police officer, he found them exhausting.

Just one of those movies would require, literally, years of paperwork.

Tim groaned and rubbed his eyes, turning away from his computer for a second in order to remain sane.

He took a drink of his coffee.  It was paperwork day and Tim was only about halfway through.

Batman didn’t have to do paperwork.

Tim smiled.  He then opened a new window and went to his Facebook account.  He clicked on the Status Update area and typed in the words.

Batman didn’t have to do paperwork.

He smiled at his witty comment and pressed enter.

His phone rang, interrupting his procrastination.

He pulled it out of his pocket.  The display showed the number as unavailable and Tim frowned.  It was probably a bill collector.

Tim was about to put it back in his pocket when he got a feeling.  It was a feeling like this was an important call.  He wasn’t sure why, but he decided to answer it.

“Hello?” He asked not using his name because if it was a bill collector he could say they had a wrong number.

“Hello?” the male voice chimed back.

“Who is this?” Tim asked becoming confused.

“Who is this?” The voice asked back, becoming angry.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Tim asked becoming frustrated.

“I’m starting to think so!” The voice on the other end said angrily.

“Look, I’m busy, so if there is something I can do for you?” Tim asked, preparing to end the conversation.

“God Damn, I hate fucking cops!”  The voice screamed.  “This is Rockwell, the Rockwell, as in patient 1314, as in killed more people than disease.”

Tim’s eyes narrowed, it couldn’t be.  Why would he be calling Tim personally?  How had he gotten Tim’s number?

“I just shot a whole bunch of people down here at the Gund.” Rockwell stated, plainly.

“You mean the Quicken Loans Arena?”  Tim asked.

Rockwell became agitated.  “Are you fucking kidding me?!  I just killed a bunch of people and you want to split hairs on the arena’s name?!  Fucking cops!”

Rockwell hung up.

Tim had to take a second.  If it was a joke or a prank and he sent everyone out, he would lose his job.

Tim looked at the computer screen and endless paperwork that was waiting for him.

Worse things could happen.

**** 

Maggie ran through the halls of the arena at full speed.

That had gone wrong fast, this wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan.

Damn, that Creegan.

She just couldn’t get rid of him.  He was always showing up like a stray dog you couldn’t get rid of.  She should have known she couldn’t kill him.

Stubbornness like that was un-killable.

She got to the walkway between the garage and the arena and stopped for a second, seeing the bodies of Elmo’s guards.  One of them had managed to pull his .38 snub-nose and tried to shoot his attackers.

Obviously this action had been in vain.

She picked up the gun and slid it into the front of her pants.  Before stepping over the bodies and continuing to the garage, she reached into her pocket and grabbed her keys.  Fumbling with them, she walked fast breathing hard across the concrete floor, her shoes making an echo throughout the structure.

Coming to the door of her rental she found her keys.

“Hey, Maggie.”  Creegan’s voice was calm but laden with intent from behind her.

She bit her lip and swore in her own head.  She had to think or this was going to be the end of the road.  She quickly pulled the front of her shirt over the gun so he wouldn’t see it, then she turned.

“Jim…I…”  Maggie fumbled with the words.  She was usually good with words but had nothing to say to the man she had used up, shot and left for dead.

Jim Creegan stood three feet away with Clay’s blood splatter dripping off of him.  His eyes were dark and intense.  She couldn’t quite meet them with her own.

There was a finality in them that scared her.

“You what?” Creegan asked.  “You shot me.”

Maggie looked away then back at Creegan.  “Yeah I did.  Sorry.”

Creegan raised an eyebrow.  “Sorry?”

Maggie looked back toward him, softening her features, doing everything she could to look vulnerable.  She needed to get Creegan’s savior complex to kick in.  “I made a mistake.”

“You made a mistake?” Creegan looked confused.  “You shot me.”

Maggie smiled internally.  The second time he said the words she could hear the depression in his voice.  He was like a child needing to know why.  He was still in love with her.  She had him exactly where she wanted him.

She stepped forward.  “I had a plan, Jim.  I knew you wouldn’t approve so I made a decision, and it was the wrong one.”

She could see his eyes soften.  She could see their history rolling through his very male, very easily controlled brain.  She knew how this was going to play out already.  She would continue to play on their history.  She would play on Jim’s chivalry.  She would play on his savior complex.  She would get close.

This time she would shoot him in the fucking head.

“So what do you expect me to do, just let that all go?”  Creegan asked angrily.  “Just forget? How many times have you sold me out or left me to die or vanished when I needed you?”

Maggie nodded, mocking a scolded look.  “I know, Jim.  You have no reason to trust me, but it’s all over now.  Elmo is dead.  We have all the power and all the money…”

She stepped in with one hand wrapping around the back of his head to pull him in for a kiss, her other hand subtly going for her gun.  “We can be together.”

Maggie’s hand wrapped around the butt of the gun.  It was all over now…

****

Jim cocked his right hand and punched Maggie in the face with every bit of strength he had.  The blow hit her in the right eye and sent her to the concrete floor.  She was out cold.

Creegan stared down at her then squatted next to her and pulled the car keys out of her pocket.

“You don’t know me.”  Creegan said then he unlocked the car and got in.  Starting it up, he smiled and backed out, leaving Maggie sprawled out on the concrete, gun sticking out of her pants, and a little blood coming out of his lip.  Her eye had already begun to swell.

He laughed then pulled out of the parking garage and merged with traffic.

In the rearview mirror, he could see the cop cars and swat vans swarming the arena.

He wondered if he could get his job back.

The insanity behind him became smaller and smaller until it was gone.

****

The next morning…

She had woken up in the ambulance.

Handcuffed.

The cops had been all over the Arena and Maggie was picked up on suspicion, taken to the hospital to get checked out, then thrown into a holding cell.

Damn that fucking Creegan.

Now she sat in a holding cell.  Waiting.  Nursing her eye and fat lip from the one ton punch Jim and laid her out with.

Damn that fucking Creegan.

She heard the door at the end of the hall open and she sat up.

It was about time.

The guard walked down the hall and opened the cell door.  “You are free to go.”

Maggie stood up.  “’Bout damned time!”

The guard looked at her with sarcastic amusement.  “Well if your stay in the county lock up was unsatisfactory, feel free to not tell us about it and make sure to go fuck yourself.”

Maggie frowned at him then walked past him.  She was taken through the rigmarole of the release and then let into the main lobby.

She smiled when she saw him.  “What took you so long?”

Standing in front of her was Antonio Rodriguez.  He was smiling.  “I had to identify a body.”

“So, is it done?” She asked, walking over to him slowly smiling.

“Indeed my dear.” Antonio said and smiled back.  “You and I run the business.  Roberto is dead.”

The two kissed long and hard.

(Season Two ends here.)