Chapter 57: Families and Consequences

It was almost midnight by the time I got back to the apartment. Rather than being able to drink a beer or go to bed, however, the lights were on in both the apartment and in my grandparents’ house and the driveway was filled with my family’s cars. A bad afternoon and evening were about to get worse.

I climbed the stairs up to the apartment, but by the time I got to the top, the door was open, and Kelly was standing there waiting for me. “How you doing, Grim?”

“I’m good, babe.”

She gave me a quick kiss and pulled me inside. Inside were my parents and my father’s parents. My father and grandparents smiled at me, but Mom was crying. Great! “Hey guys,” I said.

“How you doing, Grim?” asked my father.

I shrugged and smiled. Nothing good would come of telling them about what was about to happen. They would never understand. Hell, I didn’t understand! “I’m okay, Dad. I guess you guys heard. Was it on the news or something?”

He gave me a funny look. “Well, yeah, of course. You didn’t know that?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, I’ve been on lockdown ever since then. I had to go back to the station and give a statement and all. What’d they say?” I waved at my grandparents but went over to the small couch and sat down next to Mom. She kept crying even as I hugged her. “It’s okay, Mom, I’m just fine.”

She tried to hit me, but I just kept hugging her. “You have to stop this madness! You have to quit!” She began demanding I leave the force and settle down. I didn’t bother telling her that was what was going to happen anyway.

After a few minutes Grandma and Kelly took Mom over to the main house to calm her down, leaving my father and grandfather with me. “So, how did you learn about all this?” I asked.

“It made the evening news. Now, you want to tell me why the fuck I learned that you were in a shooting from the fucking news?” demanded my father. He must have been really worked up over it all, probably because Mom had been stewing and chewing on him all night long. Grandpa reached over and put his hand on Dad’s arm to calm him down.

I just sat there on the couch and didn’t get angry. “It’s like I said, Dad. I wasn’t allowed to watch television or listen to the radio or speak to other officers. I had to wait around for my PBA lawyer and then give a statement. As soon as I could leave, I came back here.”

Dad didn’t say anything, but Grandpa explained, “Yes, it was on the news. It made the top of the news on Channel Nine at six, though they didn’t have anything more than some footage of a bunch of cops behind the crime scene tape over on Matucket. They did have a statement by your Captain Crowley that two officers had made a routine traffic stop, had been fired on with automatic weapons, and had returned fire, killing the three people in the car. Otherwise, he didn’t say much. He didn’t release your names, for instance, and just said that the investigation was continuing.”

“Okay.”

“Then after the national news, they had another show. They cancelled Wheel of Fortune and did another local newscast,” he continued.

“Really?” I looked over at my father, who was getting over his mad and nodded his agreement.

“Grim, Matucket’s not all that big a place and this was a pretty big deal. This was the biggest thing in this town since the riot a few years ago,” Dad said.

“Huh.” I made a wry face and asked, “So what happened next?”

He shrugged. “That was when we learned it was you! They announced that Senior Patrolman Jerry Wolinski had made it through surgery and was expected to make a full recovery. They still didn’t give your name out, but Kelly called the house and told us that Jerry was your partner and that meant you had to be involved. I even called the police, but they wouldn’t say anything. Still, if it hadn’t been you, they would have told me that, so we knew it was you.”

I just nodded and shrugged. “Figures. That’s pretty much policy, not giving out names and personal details until families have been notified, that sort of thing. We never give out addresses and phone numbers, for instance.”

“So, what happened, Grim?” asked my grandfather.

“Probably what you’ve already heard. It was just a routine traffic stop. This car sped through a school zone. We didn’t think twice about it. I just hit the lights and pulled it over. That’s when it started getting squirrelly. Something got my nerves going and I had Jerry call in for backup, but the next thing I knew, they had machine pistols out and were firing. It was like I was back in Iraq or something. I dove out of the way, but Jerry was still standing there and got hit. Jesus, that was scary. I saw him lying on the ground and thought, you know, I’d lost somebody else.”

“Grim...”, he started.

I waved it off. “We both had our vests on, Grandpa. It’s policy and we know to wear them. He got hit in the arm, bad, but it looked to me like he’d make it if they got him to the hospital on time, and it sounds like they did. I’d’ve gone over to the hospital rather than come back here, but I was ordered not to talk to him.”

“But...”

“Grandpa, I’m okay. Really, that’s not going to be a problem.”

Dad interjected, “Dad, let’s hold that for later. So, what happened next, Grim?”

“It was just like Iraq, Dad. I returned fire. That’s what you do. I terminated the threat.”

“And now?”

“And now I need some sleep. It’s been a long day. I am on administrative suspension until all the investigations are done. I can sleep late.”

He took the hint. “Okay, go say good night to your mother and we’ll get out of your hair.”

“Give me a minute.” I grabbed some clothing and changed out of my uniform. It’s a good thing it was dark blue, since Jerry’s blood was still splotched on me. At least Mom hadn’t noticed. I changed quickly and went back to the main house. Mom chewed me a little more, but she seemed more tired and relieved than anything else. Afterwards she and Dad took off, and Kelly and I returned to the apartment. We went to bed, and I just held Kelly until she felt asleep, and then I went to sleep myself.

Saturday morning Kelly and I cleaned up, made breakfast, and did some routine domestic odds and ends around the apartment. Then we sat down, and I told her about what the attorney, Stillwell had told me. She listened and then asked, “So, that’s it? You’re off the force?”

“Probably. He’s right about one thing. I’m still a probationary patrolman. That’s my first ninety days, and I can get fired at any time and for any reason during that time. If I scratch my butt with the wrong hand, I can get fired.”

“Even though you saved your partner’s life and killed a bunch of drug dealers? That’s crazy!”

“I don’t know what to do about it, babe.”

“I do!” she replied. I looked at her curiously. She stood up from the kitchen table we were sitting at and went over to the end table where her cell phone was charging. She picked it up and a few seconds later I listened to her say, “Daddy, I need you to get me the best lawyer in America! Call me back as soon as you can!” Then she brought the phone back over to the kitchen table and set it down between us.

“Another lawyer?”

She smiled at me. “Grim, ever since you met me, you’ve been protecting me. You protected me when we were children and when we were in school together and when you went overseas in the Army and now here with the police. Now it’s my chance to protect you.”

I smiled at her. “I’d have thought you’d be happy I wasn’t going to be a police officer.”

She shrugged and smiled. “Grim, as long as I’ve known you, I think I’ve always known you weren’t going to grow up and become an accountant. If you want to be a soldier or policeman, so be it. I’d rather have you as a cop or soldier than lose you because I forced you to do something else.”

I smiled and reached out for her. “You could never lose me.” Then I looked at the phone. “Think he’ll call back? Where are your folks, anyway?”

“Oh, he’ll call back, even if it’s for no other reason than to find out what I’ve gotten into now.” I laughed at that. “It might not be until later, though. They’re in Hawaii! What’s that, six, seven hours earlier out there, something like that?” I started trying to figure that out but couldn’t quite figure it out. I had a vision in my head of a globe and trying to count time zones.

“Probably so. If it’s eleven now, then it’s what, four, five in the morning there?” I replied.

“Something like that. If they are awake right now, I don’t think they’re paying attention to the telephone!” She giggled and wiggled her eyebrows.

“I didn’t need to know that!” I protested, laughing.

She stood and grabbed my hand. “Come on, Grim, we need to practice for the honeymoon!” She pulled me back to the bedroom and started undressing.

That seemed as good an idea as any I had ever heard of. Practice took us the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon. Afterwards, as we were laying there and breathing heavily, I commented, “Think we have it figured out yet? I’d hate to get married and go on our honeymoon and not get it right?”

“We can practice some more later.”

“Good plan.”

We just lay around the apartment most of the day. It wasn’t like the phone was ringing in any case. We didn’t have a telephone! While there was a phone line to the place, and Grandpa had the phone company reactivate it when I moved in, we had since cancelled it. Both Kelly and I had cell phones, and we were using Time Warner for television and Internet. Kelly’s cell phone rang at about three in the afternoon. She glanced at the screen and then moved her finger over the screen, activating it. “Hi, Daddy!”

I buried my face in my hands and silently laughed. Seamus O’Connor’s only child called and left a message about needing the world’s greatest lawyer and then answers ‘Hi, Daddy!’

I only half-listened to her on the phone. I didn’t need to hear again what had happened. Instead, I grabbed my own cell phone and turned it on. There were at least a dozen missed calls and voicemails, but as I scrolled down the lists I realized that most of them were from yesterday and last night, and most were from my family. Those I deleted. Several were from some of my friends on the force, including Creighton and Tim, which I would do later. Finally, there was a message from Lieutenant FitzHugh ordering me to call as soon as possible, and that one I returned. He wasn’t in, but I reached Sergeant Castle, who told me that while I was still banned from seeing Jerry Wolinski, Jerry was doing well, and the detectives planned to interview him today; I might be allowed to see him by the evening or tomorrow. Castle also asked me if I had talked to my folks, and when I said I had, he told me that my name was being released to the press as the second officer involved, but I was still prohibited from speaking to them. Everything had to go through the department. If the department wanted me talking to reporters, I would be told.

Tremendous!

By the time I was done checking my voice mail and talking to Sergeant Castle, Kelly was through talking to her parents. She hung up and turned to me, smiling. “Okay, that was my parents. They said they were glad you were okay and wanted to know if they needed to come back, but I said you were fine, and they didn’t need to come home. Daddy said he’d have a lawyer call, but I told him to have him call me, since you were screening all your calls.”

“Yeah, and it’s going to get worse! The department has released my name. Somebody is going to try and track me down.”

“Anyway, he’s going to get a lawyer to call me, and then you can talk to him.”

“Okay, but I don’t know how that’s going to help.”

Kelly took my hand. “Grim, just talk to the lawyer. I don’t know either, but it won’t hurt you to talk to him. You can’t get into any more trouble, right?”

“No, that seems to be sewed up tight.”

“So, talk to him.” She stood up and took off her t-shirt. “Now, before we go over to your parents’ place for dinner, we need some more practice.”

The things I did for the sake of my future marital bliss!

The afternoon practice session was just as enjoyable as the morning practice, though not as lengthy. Afterwards we cleaned up and dressed and went over to my folks’ place. Dinner was burgers and fries. We got there about half-past-five. Mom was a lot calmer now, or at least she wasn’t crying and wailing at me. Kelly went to the kitchen to peel potatoes with her, and I got us a couple of beers and chatted with Dad and Bobbie Joe. I warned them that my name was being released to the press, and Dad commented that they had already been contacted by Channel Nine. He simply dumped it back on the department, refusing to comment. He smiled and said that Mom had made him the official spokesperson for the Reaper family. I just rolled my eyes and smiled.

Dinner was being delayed tonight because the odds were that I would be part of the 6:00 news. Normally we didn’t pay attention to that, at least on the weekends, but with my name now officially out there, everybody figured it would be on. Better to eat later than to try and cook and run back and forth to watch television.

Yes, I was on television. Boy, was I on television!

Brad Tillman, the anchor for the local news (“ Matucket News 9, the News Matucket Wants, the News Matucket Needs!”) did his normal opening, which simply gave teasers for some of the news and weather, and then went to their top news story.

Brad: “Tonight we have more information on the dramatic shootout which rocked the streets of Matucket yesterday afternoon. For more we go to our investigative journalist, Thompson Crowder. Thompson?”

Thompson (broadcasting from the scene of the shooting): “Yesterday afternoon a routine traffic stop on Matucket Avenue exploded into deadly gunfire. Two Matucket police officers pulled over a car for speeding in a school zone. Little did Senior Patrolman Gerald Wolinski and Patrolman Graham Reaper...” (Our photos were shown side by side on the screen) “ ... know what was about to happen next. Within moments of pulling the car over, the driver of the car and his two passengers all began firing automatic weapons at the two police officers. Senior Patrolman Wolinski was hit and wounded, but Patrolman Reaper, a rookie with less than four weeks’ experience, managed to dive out of the path of the bullets and return fire. The footage you are about to see is graphic and may not be suitable for young children.”

With that they showed the dashboard camera video from Paul One-Two, the cruiser we had been driving around that day. It was hard to believe that it was only yesterday afternoon. There wasn’t any sound, but muzzles of guns were stuck out the windows of a car and began firing. Jerry went down immediately, but I rolled away and returned fire. That was it, maybe ten seconds total, finishing on a blood-and-gore splattered car. I glanced at the others, all of whom had turned as white as ghosts. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy dinner when this was over.

Thompson: “Officer Reaper, who returned fire on the three gunmen, killing each of them with a single shot, has been on the job less than a month. When asked for a comment, Captain Michael Crowley replied that prior to Officer Reaper’s joining the force, he had spent four years in combat in Iraq, and was a highly decorated veteran. Captain Crowley said that Officer Reaper’s actions were exceptional and deserved commendation. Officer Wolinski is expected to make a full recovery and will probably be released from Matucket General Hospital early this week.”

The camera footage then switched to some shots of stacks of drug bundles and guns on a table, one I recognized from a conference room at the station.

Thompson: “In a further development, the three gunmen’s car was discovered to be transporting a massive quantity of heroin, cocaine, and automatic weapons. While a final tally has not been released, an inside source described the amount as ‘staggering’ and said that it might well be the largest seizure in Georgia history. Back to you, Brad.”

Brad: “Thank you, Thompson. It looks like the gunmen decided to take on the wrong police officer. Matucket News Nine will continue to follow this breaking story. Next...”

I went up to the kitchen and used the French fry slicer to cut up the potatoes. I didn’t need to see anything else. The rest of the family came up and joined me. Mom got the deep fryer out and loaded it with Crisco, not saying a word, but her face was white, and she was very nervous. Dad, on the other hand, grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the kitchen to his office. Kelly trailed along with me.

“I wish your mother hadn’t seen that,” he told me.

“Hey, I’m with you. I’m not the one who released it. I’m kind of surprised they released it at all,” I replied.

“Was Iraq like that?” asked Kelly.

I shrugged. “Yes and no. That was a lot closer range than most of what we did over there, and a lot shorter, but still, it was combat.”

“Is this going to be a problem, you know, with the post-traumatic stress?” asked my father.

I shook my head. “No, it shouldn’t, or at least it hasn’t so far. My problems aren’t related to the combat, not specifically. Where I go off the rails is the way I feel guilty about the guys who I was responsible for. Even then, I never had problems if they were wounded, just when they got killed. That part is kind of confusing to me, but so far, I’m in good shape.”

“The killing itself doesn’t bother you?” he pressed.

I snorted at that. “Thou shalt not kill, you mean? That was always the last thing I ever worried about. You want to live? Simple! Just don’t point a gun at me. I will fire center mass and put you down. It’s very cut and dry, Dad. In all the combat I saw, I never had a problem dropping the hammer.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Dad, don’t worry. Mentally, I’m good on this. What happens next, I don’t know, but I learned years ago that combat didn’t faze me. I’d really prefer not doing that, but I know that I can handle it. I’m just sorry you guys had to see that.”

Kelly took my hand, and we went out to the living room. Nobody said anything more about it, though I could tell Bobbie Joe wanted to. He was just a kid, and this was very exciting. Still, Dad must have said something because he kept his mouth shut. I pulled out my phone and turned it on and checked my messages. Several were from numbers I didn’t recognize but playing them back showed they were from both Channel Nine and the Times-Dispatch. I deleted them. A couple were from some of the guys on the force wishing me well and wanting to get together with me. An important one was from Detective Barker, stating that they had finished talking to Jerry and that I was now free to go and see him.

I told Kelly, “Jerry’s done with the investigation team. After dinner I need to run over there and see him.”

“We’ll go right after we eat,” she agreed.

I was on the verge of agreeing, but instead I said, “Would it be alright if I go by myself? I’ll run you over to the apartment first, but I want to see Jerry, I mean...”

“Grim, do what you need to do. Just say hello for me.”

I simply nodded. It was about an hour later when we were able to make our excuses. I figured I could get over to the hospital maybe an hour before visitors’ hours were over. I dropped Kelly off in the driveway and then drove back into town. After parking I was able to go inside and ask what room Jerry was in, and then took the elevator to the third floor. Jerry was in 314 West, so I went down the hall and found the door partially open, and the sounds of a woman and children inside. I glanced through the door and saw what I assumed was his family. I backed out. I could wait until they left.

I must not have been as surreptitious as I thought. Through the door I heard, “Grim? Is that you? Get in here!”

I pushed the door and stuck my head in. “I can wait until you’re done, Jerry.”

“Get in here, Grim!” Jerry was waving me forward with his left hand, since it looked like his right arm was all bandaged up and immobile. With him was a woman and two young children, a boy and a girl, both blonde. “Grim, this is my wife, Sarah, and these are our kids, Kenzie and Dougie. Kenzie, Dougie, this is Officer Reaper. He helped me the other day. Say hello to Officer Reaper.”

“Hello, Officer Reaper,” piped up the little girl, Kenzie.

“Hello, Officer Reaper,” added Dougie. The two kids looked like they were about four. Jerry had told me he had twins.