Tough Love

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Eli and I are up at 5am for work on Monday. We're both very tired. The weekend had very long and disturbed nights. As I look at Eli, I feel sorry for him. I'm used to long nights and no sleep, but Eli isn't quite so used to them. As he drinks his big mug of coffee, I whisper, “I'm sorry, Eli.”

“Sorry? What for?”

“That you don't get much sleep, that I keep waking you up, everything.”

He smiles and says, “No need to apologize, sweetheart. I'm only too glad to help. That's what I stay for. If I wanted sleep, then I'd go home. Although, I probably wouldn't sleep anyways. I'd just lie in bed wondering if you were ok.”

“Thank you.”

“We have that raid tonight, so I'll be back late. You going to come straight home?”

“I don't know. The Captain will probably have me monitoring the satellite or something. I didn't exactly complete my job on Friday.”

“Unforeseeable circumstances. It'll be better today. He's not allowed in the building until the Cap has cleared him for duty. Once we get to the bottom of this, then we'll decide what to do.”

And at that moment I was glad I hadn't told Eli before and that he'd found out for himself. Now I didn't have to worry about him believing me; he'd seen it for himself so there was no question what had happened.

As we step onto our floor, something feels eerie about the place. Maybe it's the fact that I know Cain isn't going to be there, that his presence isn't looming over me. Maybe it's the fact that the guys don't know what's going on, but they all know Cain has been suspended. No one asks about it, they seem to know better than to question the decision. Maybe they knew something was going on with him, but they didn't know what it was. I suppose it doesn't really matter. Before I can even sit at my desk, the Cap buzzes my intercom and asks to see me.

As I step into his office, he asks, “How are you?”

“I'm ok, sir. Thank you.”

“Good. I spoke to Eli last night. I'm sorry no one saw what was going on.”

“It's not your fault, sir.”

“Ultimately he's my responsibility, I should have noticed he wasn't fit for duty. You really think he's on drugs?”

“He displays all the typical signs, sir.”

“His urine sample and hair samples are being processed. It'll be a few days before we know the results though. What I want to know is, do you want to make this public? Do you want to press charges?”

“Oh! No sir, no way!”

“Are you sure about that? As a cop, I have to advise you that you should press charges...”

“No sir, I don't want to do that. He needs help, sir.”

“Ok. So we need to come up with something that makes you feel comfortable, but also lets him know he's wrong.”

“He just needs help, sir.”

“Dani, you can't look at it like that. He needs to be punished; you can't just let him get away with treating you that way.”

“I don't want any trouble sir.”

“It's not trouble, Dani. You have the right to feel safe in your work place. Cain took that away from you and he needs to know it's not acceptable. You think about what you want to do and let me know, ok?”