Dog One

by Jim Riley

“It was her, wasn’t it?”

  “She denied it.”

  “You think it was her, though, don’t you?”

  “You weren’t hit. Lose the skirt and quit bitching.”

  “Bite me.”

  As usual, the military hadn’t been too concerned with our wives, significant others, or anyone else knowing our whereabouts or status. I had been assured by Sarge that JB’s and Travis’ bodies would be taken care of. I found out when we got back to Logan County that he had in fact personally spoken to Toby. Although he never identified himself, he told Toby he was a friend of mine and was letting him know about our losses personally out of professional courtesy. He had two of his men deliver the bodies of the officers down the mountain, where they’d been recovered by the coroner. The White Supremacists hadn’t been afforded such luxuries and were simply carted off with the other evidence. They’d be autopsied at the expense of the government. When Uncle Sam had done everything with the bodies it wanted to do, then they’d be released to the next of kin. Assuming, that is, that good ol’ Uncle decided to admit they had them at all. I still wasn’t sure what the story was going to be. Just as last time, I’d been told that the only one I could talk to about what had happened was God. And they needed to know twenty-four hours in advance of that conversation as well.

  The guys on my team had gotten the same “we appreciate what you did, now never breathe a word of it to a soul or you’ll disappear” speech and seemed to be accepting it pretty well. Almost too well, I thought. I would have been a little happier if there was more bitching. I guessed that as long as they could talk to each other, they would be happy. At least for a few days. If Rodriguez or Uncle Sam thought that a bunch of cops weren’t eventually going to tell someone, like maybe their wives or girlfriends, then they were smoking crack. They’d eventually talk. It’s a cop thing.

  The media had gotten ahold of the story before we got back. Spokesmen for the FBI and DHS were holding a joint press conference with Toby as we were being driven back to Logan County. We didn’t know about it until we got there but were assured it had been recorded so we could watch it later. Toby had been allowed to speak but only briefly, and he refused to take any questions, deferring to the DHS guy who seemed to be in charge. That worked fine for him since he really didn’t know anything. The official line was that a White Supremacist group had planned on blowing up a synagogue in Denver and had used a house in Logan County as a safe house. The group had been taken down by the Logan County SWAT Team, who had done an outstanding job. The supremacists had put up a fight using powerful weapons, but all had been killed in the firefight. The SWAT team had suffered two casualties, and no names were given out pending notification of the next of kin. The bomb the supremacists were going to detonate was an ammonium nitrate bomb like Timothy McVeigh had detonated in Oklahoma City, and was being transported in the back of a U-Haul truck. The investigation was continuing, and more arrests were anticipated.

  Well, at least they told the truth about the group and the loss of life. No mention of my name was included in the press release. I hoped no one picked up on it later, either.

  Tish and I left town the next day. It had not been a hard decision for me when she told me that we were going on a vacation. It was the most spontaneous trip we’d ever taken, except maybe to suddenly go shopping in Denver. We drove west. When I asked her where west of us we were going, she said she didn’t know. If we hit the ocean, we’d turn or something. We just drove. A week later, we were pulling back into the driveway of our condo. We’d put almost two thousand miles on the truck and spent over three thousand dollars. Fifteen hundred in Vegas alone. Tish had never gambled in a casino before. We discovered two things. She liked it and wasn’t very good at it. We had a blast. We drove up the coast, then came back by way of Idaho.

  I’d used up all my paid administrative leave that I had been given over the shooting at the house. In fact, everyone on the team had been on a week’s leave. That had severely cut into Toby’s workforce, and I hoped he wasn’t going to rethink how many people he allowed to be on the team. It was only two guys lost, but it had been two important ones.

  I hadn’t checked in to the office while I was gone out of town or even told them I was leaving. I’d told Coop and Toby to call my cell phone number if something came up, but neither of them used it. I knew they wouldn’t unless it was terribly important. That’s why I’d been okay with telling them that. We’d forgotten to have the newspapers stopped, and they were stacked up in front of the door. I kicked them aside and carried the luggage in. Tish had already gone in and was checking everything to make sure nothing had flooded, broken, stopped, or fell off while we were gone. I guess it’s a wife thing.

  “Twenty-one messages,” I reported.

  “Listen to them later. We still have fifteen hours of vacation left before we go back to work.”

  She wasn’t paying attention to me anyway. She was already unpacking dirty clothes at the washer. Women! I checked the Caller ID, which the phone service in our area had finally gotten around to providing. I saw that the office number was on there daily, at least three times a day. Sometimes more. I looked over at the answering machine. I knew better but couldn’t help myself. I pushed the play button.

  “Moffat, you need to come in and talk with me.” It was Stalone and the message had been on the first day I’d left.

  “Moffat, you need to call me immediately.” Stalone again. The rest of the messages were about the same for the next couple of days. At least, the ones where he’d left a message. Some just hung up. I was pretty sure they were from him by comparing them to the Caller ID.

  By the third day, the message changed. “Dell Moffat, you’re on suspension effective immediately pending a dismissal decision. There will be an appeal review scheduled in two days if you want to appeal the decision to the review board. If I haven’t heard from you, I’ll assume you have decided to not appeal and are accepting dismissal. You are being charged with insubordination.”

  I didn’t even get upset. Somehow, I knew he’d be gunning for me over that thing at the Sheriff’s Office the night it all went down. I’d disparaged him in front of all those men. There’s was no way a man of his ego was going to let that go.

  There were a few different messages from friends and cops telling me “good job” and such. I finally got to Friday’s messages.

  “Moffat, you didn’t show up or call for the appeal hearing. This is your official notice that your employment with the Eaglenest Police Department has been terminated.” There was a pause, but the machine didn’t forward to the next call. After a few more seconds, Stalone added, “You should have never talked to me like that. You may be a hero, but you’ll never be as important as me around here. Have a good life.”

  I still wasn’t upset. In fact, I chuckled. It must really suck to be him.

  “What you laughing at, honey?”

  “Oh, it was my boss. I was suspended and fired while I was gone.”

  “What?!”

  “Don’t worry about it. I was looking for a job when I found that one. I’ll go back to work for Toby or something.” I didn’t say it, because there was no way it wouldn’t sound cold, but I knew Toby had an opening. JB had worked for him.

  I slept in the next morning. Maybe I’d retire. I kind of liked this not-working thing. By 10:00 Tish had been gone for two hours and I was bored out of my mind. I called Toby. I told him Stalone had fired me and asked him if he wanted to go get brunch. I’d never eaten brunch in my life. I’d eaten late breakfasts and early lunches, but brunch was for people above my pay scale. He agreed, and we met at the IHOP.

  Toby agreed to hire me, but I’d have to go back to the road to fill the spot there. He didn’t want to move Kelly out of the detective position. I told him I didn’t want to take her job from her. She seemed like an okay cop and it wouldn’t have been fair. He informed me he couldn’t pay me near as much as Stalone had, but he’d do the best he could. Maybe bring me in at what J
B had been making, which was a four-year deputy’s pay. I assured Toby that would be just fine. I didn’t tell him I’d be taking a twenty-thousand-dollar-a-year cut. It would have only made him feel bad. Besides, it would be worth that much not to have to work for Stalone and to be able to make fun of him in public again. Toby and I also decided it would be best to give it a couple of weeks before I came on board. No matter how we packaged it, it would be apparent I was taking JB’s position. It just seemed wrong, for some reason. I was back on vacation.

  I decided the next day to drive down and see Coop. I called his office, but he wasn’t at his desk. His secretary said he was in but somewhere in the building at the moment. She asked me if I wanted his voicemail and I told her no, just tell him I was headed that way. It’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Eaglenest to Denver. I usually hate the trip, even though it’s all interstate, and as long as there is no weekend traffic, it’s fairly easy driving. Today I was actually enjoying it. The sky was clear and the temperature was a comfortable 70ish. I had trouble finding a parking spot, as usual, at the FBI building. I guess they don’t feel the need to have a lot of visitor parking. The way they look at it, if you’re meant to be there, you’ll already have a parking pass. I did what I always did and took someone’s reserved spot and put my “Official Police Department Business” placard in the window. It would piss them off if they came back to find their coveted spot taken, but they probably wouldn’t tow me. If they found out who I was, they’d just bitch to Coop. He’d say something to me, and I’d tell him to bite me. End of problem.

  He kept me waiting at the front desk for a few minutes, which was not unusual. It was a big building and it took him a few minutes to even get down there. That was if he wasn’t in the middle of anything, which he always was. He came down, got me a visitor pass, and we went back up to his office.

  “What’s up? You down here on business or just expecting a free lunch out of me?”

  “I got fired. You want to hire me?”

  “You’re kidding. What’d you do?”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence. Why didn’t you ask me what someone else had done to me? Why are you simply assuming I did something? My feelings are hurt.”

  “If it walks like a duck.”

  “Fuck you, Watts.”

  “Seriously, you got fired?”

  “Yeah. Remember I told you I backed Stalone down that night at the briefing? He got offended!” I said it as though I couldn’t believe it. “I told you he’d get even with me.”

  “Oh, well, you were too good for them anyway.”

  “Thanks. You think my creditors will think that way?”

  “I’ll talk to them. I’m sure they’ll cut a break for a national hero.”

  “Yeah, that and fifty cents will get me a cup of coffee. Buy me lunch. I’m unemployed.”

  “Hey, I can get you a prime corner to stand on with a sign.”

  “Bite me, Coop.”

  I had a great day. Lunch with Coop had been as fun as it always was. I truly enjoyed spending time with him. He was one of the few people I could talk to and feel like he understood. A lot had happened in my life in the last couple of years. Some of it I couldn’t talk to anyone about, and some of it I couldn’t express in words, even though I could talk about it. Coop and I never got too deep into the psychological stuff but talking with him always gave me an opportunity to vent. I hoped I did the same for him and felt like I did.

  Tish and I had a late supper, and I did something I hadn’t done in a long time. I stayed up until 2:00 in the morning reading. I finished my Nelson DeMille novel, then went to bed. I was awakened the next morning by the phone. Tish had already left for work. It was 8:30, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept this late.

  “Hello.” I answered it without looking at the Caller ID. I really was learning to relax in my old age.

  “Were you asleep?”

  “No. I was out chopping wood. What do you want, Coop?”

  “Get up and get dressed. Wear something nice. You’ve got a job interview at 10:00.”

  “With who? I got a job, with Toby.”

  “You’re interviewing with the Eaglenest Town Council for the Chief’s job.”

  I sat up in bed. I didn’t understand what he was talking about, but he had my attention. “What are you talking about? What happened to Stalone?”

  “He’s being terminated and they’re looking at you for the position. You interested?”

  I wasn’t sure. “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t know? Get your ass down there and take that job or … ”

  “Or what?”

  “Get down there, Dell. All you have to do is show up and not piss anyone off. Just go.”

  “I’m not sure I can promise that.”

  “That you’ll go or that you won’t piss anyone off?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “And wear something nice.”

  “Yes, Mom.”

  “Bite me.” He hung up.

  I had no idea what he’d done or what strings he’d pulled to make this happen. I also had not lied when I told him I didn’t know if I wanted the position. Sure, it was a prestigious position and I would be making more, hell, a lot more, than I was used to, but … ?

  I was ten minutes early. No matter what I tried to tell myself, me being early was the truth about if I wanted it or not. I’d take this job if I could get it. I also had decided that I wouldn’t bow down, though. If they wanted a good cop to run their department I’d take the job, if they wanted another William Stalone, they could kiss off.

  “We want to thank you for coming in today on such short notice, Officer Moffat.”

  “Just Dell or Mr. Moffat. I’m not a cop right now. Chief Stalone fired me a couple of days ago.” I knew that some of these very people had sat and listened to him present his case for firing me and had signed off on it. I still had no idea what was going on but was determined not to screw it up by starting anything I didn’t need to.

  “Yes, we’re aware of that happening. In fact, Chief Stalone, or ex-Chief Stalone as it were, presented the case to us and we allowed him to dismiss you. That’s what brought all of this on. After we had given our approval, we were made aware of some, shall we say, inconsistencies in Mr. Stalone’s version of the events leading up to your dismissal. When the facts were uncovered, Mr. Stalone was asked to resign his position. We are very sorry for the inconvenience and humiliation the whole thing must have caused you, and we offer our apologies. Which brings me to the next piece of business. We’d like to offer the position of Eaglenest Police Chief to you. And by way of clarification, this offer has nothing to do with the prior incident of your wrongful dismissal. It’s a decision we made as the Town Council independent of any influences other than your ample qualifications.”

  I knew that the current President of the Town Council, the man talking to me, was an attorney. My first thought was that they were assuming I was going to sue them. I figured I’d get that off the table right then.

  “I don’t hold anything against you as a Town Council if Stalone lied to you. I won’t be suing you, if you’re worried about that.”

  “As I said, that was not a factor in our decision.”

  I hate tiptoeing around things unsaid. I hoped I didn’t blow it, but I wasn’t going to go into this thing for the wrong reasons. Either on my part or theirs. “Gentlemen, I don’t know any of you very well, and I’m not sure you know me that well either, but we have crossed paths a few times. I’m also sure Stalone has given you an earful about me.”

  “We assure you, Mr. Moffat, we are not putting any stock in what Mr. Stalone had to say about you. He obviously had other motivations besides the good of the department with regard to his opinions.”

  “Well, maybe you should at least consider that some of what he told you, whatever that was, may be true. I can be stubborn sometimes and I have been told I am high-maintenance. I’m not trying to talk you out o
f offering me the job, but let’s be realistic here. I’m a cop and not a politician. And in all honesty, when a decision comes up where it’s a choice between doing the right thing and doing the politically-expedient thing, I will almost always choose the right thing. Sometimes that’s uncomfortable. I can live with that. Can you?”

  I could see a little bit of nervous body movement and posture with most of the men I was talking to. It was obvious that they were not comfortable with who I was and knew as well as we were all sitting there we were not going to be a match made in heaven.

  “You’re exactly the person we want to serve this town as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer. We would appreciate it if you would consider the offer and accept it.” In other words, we were told to hire you.

  “Who will I be answering to?

  “Us, of course. We are the board that hires and fires employees for the town.”

  “I know that, but who am I beholden to for this job and who am I really going to be answering to?”

  The Council President let out a long sigh. “Mr. Moffat. We are offering you this position. I am asking you please to take it.”

  That told me part of what I needed to know. These guys were no more than puppets. They could no more fire me than they could go back and report they hadn’t hired me. I knew it had to be the powers-that-be at the ski area. Our providers.

  “I’ll take the job, gentlemen, but answer this for me. Does the person, or people, that told you to offer this job to me know what they’re getting into? I won’t be like Stalone was. I won’t kowtow to anyone when it comes to doing my job. Are they prepared for that?”

  “I assure you that your employment was given ample consideration. We wish you the best of luck and look forward to working with you.”

  They all rose and headed for the door. They all shook my hand as they left but never stopped moving. I had no doubt they were all headed to the nearest bar to drink scotch and cuss whoever was pulling their strings. I was going to be a pain in their ass when it came to the way they normally did business. I knew it, and they knew it. We’d just have to see if the puppet masters knew it.