Employee of the Year

Chapter 28 - Earnings Day

Tuesday June 28, Two weeks after the murder.     

      Suzy was wailing with pain. I was using my shoulder to prop her up. I was still worried she might topple over. I crouched forward and positioned my cuffed arms to brace her against the wall.

            The detectives were unprepared for the complexity of the situation. Obviously nothing in their detective training manual explained how to react if a suspect's wife goes into labor right in the middle of an arrest. Suzy's agony was obviously genuine. At least the police understood that she wasn't putting on a show.

            "Didn't you hear me?" I shouted again. "We have to get to a hospital!"

            "We have a separate situation we're already dealing with, Temo. You're under arrest for murder. We have to take you into custody," Martinez said. "We can't make any diversions. We'll call paramedics to come pick up your wife."

            "You can't just call 911 and leave her here. We have to see her through this. You both know these charges are bullshit. I am completely innocent."

            "The hell you are," Kowalski said. "You think we kept bringing you in for questioning because we enjoyed your company?"

            "I don't see why you can't still keep me under supervision while we take her to the hospital for the delivery."

            "She's not our problem. That's why," he said.

            "Fuck you!" Suzy shouted. "I am gonna sue you after this baby comes out. Then I'll be your problem."

Suzy knew the right buttons to push. She may not have been born in America, but she'd been here long enough to know the worst thing you could do to a cop was threaten to sue him.

 "That's right," I said. "Anything happens to her or the baby and I swear to God we'll sue you two and the department. We'll get both of you on the evening news: Martinez and Kowalski, the baby-killers from the Torrance Police Department. You'll be finished."

            It was the best thing I could think of and it worked. Martinez swallowed hard. I'd cracked her composure again, just like with my previous bluffs. Even Kowalski's tough guy façade crumbled.

            They huddled. "We can take them there," Martinez whispered to her partner. "We have to." She pointed at Suzy, who was writhing as I propped her against the wall. Martinez was definitely concerned. I couldn't tell whether the concern was for my wife or just for protecting her own career prospects. With Kowalski it was pretty clear whose skin he was interested in saving.

            "OK, we're taking you to the hospital," he announced, strutting over to my wife, making a show of being in charge of the situation. "But you stay cuffed the whole time, Temo. As soon as your wife is stable, we're taking you in. This changes nothing."

            The detectives' standard issue sedan sailed half a mile down Carson Street to the medical center on Vermont. The waiting area outside the emergency room was overflowing with people from the neighborhood: an assortment of elderly, young families, winos, junkies, and teenage gangbangers. I'd heard stories how the wait could be eight hours or more, depending on the severity of the situation. I knew people had died while waiting in this reception area, unable to get the attention of a triage nurse until it was too late.

            The detectives took us to the front of the line, bypassing a dreadlocked gangbanger with an open wound on his face and a pale, feverish mother curled against a ball of blankets while her kids played with toy trucks on the floor. Kowalski and Martinez flashed their badges to the attendant at the reception desk and we were immediately taken into triage.