Silver Linings

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

"Come on, Danny!" Jamie encouraged. "Just a quarter mile more and that's it."

Danny gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain in his knee as he struggled to finish the last bit of his mile run. As he crossed the finish line Jamie had made with a water bottle. His brother hit the stopwatch. "Almost, ten seconds shy of the eight minutes..."

Danny was soaked in sweat and breathing hard. "I only have two more weeks," he sighed.

"Or you could look at it as, I still have two more weeks!" Jamie directed. "You couldn't even walk a mile three weeks ago, you're doing great. Those range of motion exercises are working. You'll get your clearance and be riding with Baez and getting suspended in no time."

Danny just laughed that off and limped to the bleacher to suck down a bottle of water. Jamie tossed him a towel to wipe off the perspiration on his face. "If we keep at this you'll do it Danny. I know you will."

"Between you and Baez, I'll be fit if nothing else," Danny replied. "She nearly broke me in two at the gym earlier. At least I can still shoot circles around her."

"You can shoot circles around most people, except Dad," Jamie laughed. "No one can out shoot him."

Danny laughed, "That's the truth, but you did a pretty good job at that union meeting. I read you dropped the guy right between the eyes."

"Nothing to be proud of, I just did my job. The man was troubled, but he was going to kill innocent people."

"And you did what you had to do... that was the right thing Jamie," Danny replied. "You good? Did you talk it out with Eddie?"

"No, Eddie has her own problems right now. She is trying to hide it, but she's still reeling from remembering all of that stuff." Jamie took a long sip of his water.

Danny and Jamie gathered their things and headed for the car. Danny stretched his bad leg out to avoid limping too much. As they walked Jamie's phone rang, "It's Eddie, I bet she wants food." He picked it up, "Hey, babe..." He stopped midway through. "Eddie, what happened? Are you alright?" Danny stopped walking and looked at Jamie questioningly.

Jamie hung up, "Come with me to the apartment? Eddie went out to go on her tour and her tires were slashed and the word SLUT as spray painted on her car. She's really upset. There are two units out there now."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get moving." Danny was itching to be back in the saddle.

Jamie hit the gas and got home in about twenty minutes. Eddie was on the porch with Reynolds and two other cops he recognized from the twelfth. Reynolds was rubbing Eddie's arm, and Jamie was happy to see him supporting his partner. Jamie ran up to Eddie and took her into his own arms, "Are you okay? Did you see anyone?"

"No, I went to get into the car to drive to work and my tires were flat. It's pretty obvious they were cut. And then there was the paint."

Reynolds looked at Danny and Jamie, "We'll start canvassing now that you're here. I didn't want to leave her alone if someone is targeting her. It might be random or a case of mistaken identity, but we don't know for sure."

Jamie nodded, "I've got her now, thanks. Danny, can you..." He didn't even have to ask. Danny picked up his phone and called his partner. In no time flat she was there as well to begin examining Eddie's car for evidence along with a CSU van.

"It's him," Eddie confessed to Jamie once he had her inside and seated on the sofa with a cup of tea. "I know it's him. He somehow thinks I am responsible for his transfer. He's mean, and he's vindictive, you don't know him."

"No, I don't know him like you," Jamie agreed. "But Eddie, he's already been transferred to one of the hardest beats we have. What good would this do?"

"No good, Jamie," Eddie replied. "That sob raped me and left me for dead, do you honestly think he has a moral or rational bone in his body? He's probably a cop for the power trip, not for helping anyone. I know Thomas Casey did this, and we have to prove it."

Jamie knew there was no talking to Eddie when she was in this mood. He nodded his head and agreed to help her. When Danny knocked on the door a few minutes later, Eddie shared her theory with him. "Well the building across the way has security cameras, so Baez is working on getting the footage and see if we got a movie of this creep. If it is Casey we'll get him, if it's someone else, we'll get them too. In the meantime, mention this to Dad, maybe TARU..."

"No," Eddie said quickly. "If this is isolated I don't want to be making a fuss. I called it in, and you are investigating now, so we'll see. Jamie doesn't like to use his hook at one PP and I won't either. It's not fair to keep using that pull. We used it to get Casey out of the 12th, not again."

Jamie sighed, "She's stubborn as the two of us put together. Thanks for helping Danny, I'll see you tomorrow for another run. He almost made it tonight, we are so close to having you be back in the field with us."

"That is great news," Eddie replied smiling. "When you pass the fitness evaluation the beer's on us. I mean it."

She gave Danny a warm hug and a thank you. Meanwhile, Reynolds and the other cops had finished their canvas. It hadn't turned up much of anything. "I don't care if she is Reagan's girl, she's my partner. No one messes with my partner and gets away with it."

"What are you going to do? It was probably just some punky kid."

"You don't know everything, okay?" Reynolds replied. "And I can't say much cause I'll have Reagan up on my butt again, but Eddie went through some rough stuff in her teens and she's doing it again now. My gut says whoever is doing this knows about that and is trying to hurt her on purpose. If they are, Reagan better stand in line when we find them."

The little crowd dispersed and went their separate ways. Inside the apartment, Jamie cleaned and loaded both his off duty piece and Eddie's, leaving both weapons in easy reach. "If anyone tried anything...." He whispered pulling her close. Since she remembered she didn't have a single nightmare, and he prayed that would be the case as he felt her drift to sleep knowing for at least this moment, she was safe.