Obsession: Callie Douglas, Book One

Chapter Eleven

I went back to my office and made notes on questions I wanted to ask Brian. I wanted to ask him about past loves, past friends, previous jobs. I wanted to ask him about how he would go about seducing a female and more questions about James Tennant. By the end of my personal notes, I had developed queries into several areas of his life and had created an assessment plan that would take much longer than the time allotted in a single appointment. I called out to Addison. "You know how I asked you to make another appointment for Brian Scott?"

"Yes?"

"I'd like you to make two additional appointments as well. I'll need the time. Gabe suspects that he's a serial killer. That would be important to know before he goes to court."

A few minutes later, my next patient arrived. Lucas Cooper was a Police Officer, currently on a paid leave of absence. He was forced into the leave through discharging his weapon while on duty. He wasn't allowed back to work until I cleared him for service.

"Walk me through what happened", I said.

"It was a dark and stormy night in Rockville..." said Lucas with a smile.

I laughed. "No, seriously, what happened?"

"Honestly? It was stormy and, since it was nighttime, it was dark."

"Was it cold or warm?"

"It was just three weeks ago, so like most June nights it was fairly warm. My partner and I had been called out to the industrial park off the Parkway on a suspected break-in. When we got there, a single cube van was parked outside a home furnishing store. We went to investigate and found the door to the store had been broken. My partner took the front of the store while I took the rear. When I got to the back, two perps came running out of the building. I ran after them. I yelled at them to stop, but they kept running. I threatened to shoot them, but when they reached the cube van they got in and started up the motor. I shot out the tires, but they chose to still drive on the rims. They didn't get far. My partner ran around the back when she heard my shots."

"What happened then?"

"My partner took one door while I took the other, and we got the perpetrators out of the van and arrested them."

"So, the arrest went smoothly, not including the part where you shot out the tires of the van?"

"Yes."

"How do you feel about having to discharge your weapon?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I feel okay about it. I'm just angry that I've been forced into a leave. If it weren't for those perpetrators, I'd still be working with my partner."

"Knowing what you know now, would you do anything differently?"

He smiled sadly and sighed. "I've relived it several times in my head and I'm not sure what I could have done differently. The part I don't get is that I didn't shoot at anyone, yet I'm being penalized by being taken off duty. I live for being a police officer. I'm very proud of it, and it rankles me that I'm not allowed to do my job because I did my job."

"Did you ever feel like your life was in danger or that your partner's life was in danger?"

"No, I didn't. The perps were running away from us."

"Besides being annoyed that you're being forced from duty, how do you feel about needing to take time off?"

"I want to be back at work. I'm down when I'm not working. I like being a police officer and I don't like being a civilian again."

"You aren't a civilian. You're still a police officer. You're just getting an unscheduled, paid leave of absence. Tell me about being sad."

"Being a police officer is all I am, all I have. The force is both my family and my friends. I work as much as I can, working whatever overtime I can pick up – not for the money but to fill my time doing something I enjoy. Now that I can't do that, I don't know what to do with myself."