pages 6 and 7
better shape than most of the guys in the Bureau, I have the highest percent of solved cases of anyone here besides Eve. If anything, I’m overly qualified. Excuse me, but if I’m not FBI material, who is?”
Callahan sighed. “It’s not your record Alex. If I were just looking at your file and your performance, I’d recommend you in a heartbeat. I’m just not sure that your personality matches what is required for an agent.
“How so?”
“Alex, you love being a homicide detective too much. You get too involved with your cases. Frankly, you’re too idealistic for the Bureau. You don’t want to be moved around from case to case all over the country. You want to be able to give all you have to a few case at a time. That’s how you’re most effective. That aside, I don’t think you’re making this decision because you think you’d be a better cop if you became an agent. You aren’t thinking this one through, son. Knowing that, I couldn’t recommend you to the Bureau. It wouldn’t be a responsible decision on my part.”
Alex could almost see the red interfering at the corners of his vision. What place did Callahan have to determine whether or not he was FBI material based on anything other than his work ethic and performance? Small warning bells went off in his head and Alex knew that he had to get out of there before he said something he’d regret later.
“Thank you for your time,” he ground out between clenched teeth. Then, he quickly got up and left the office. He rapidly walked back towards the Vice department, not seeing the concerned expression on Maggie’s face or the angry glare a female cop gave him as he almost ran over her without even slowing down.
When he got to the Vice department he ducked into a men’s bathroom and strode quickly to one of the sinks. Bending down, he splashed his face with cold water repeatedly until he felt the rage slowly dissipate. Looking at himself in the mirror, water running in small rivulets down his forehead and hanging from his nose and chin, he stared helplessly at his reflection. What could he do to prove to Callahan that he was ready for the FBI? And what did Callahan mean, he wasn’t making this decision with his head?
Just then, the bathroom door slowly swung open and Cole stepped inside.
“You okay, man?” he asked, handing him a paper towel to dry his face off with.
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure?”
Suddenly, Alex wanted to hurt someone. “I said yes! What is with you people? Are you going to ask until I say no? Do you want me to spill my guts and tell you all about anything that could be wrong in my life so you can decide what’s best for me, too? Then will everyone be satisfied? Seriously Cole, what’s the right answer?”
“Whoa, man, slow down. There isn’t a right answer. It’s just, a lot of things have been going on lately, and I figured you might want to talk about it.”
Alex sighed and leaned against the bathroom wall. Tipping his head back, he ran a hand over his eyes, which felt grainy all of a sudden. “No, I’m not fine.” Walking towards the door, he said, “My partner was killed, I broke up with a woman I’m in love with, and I got rejected by the FBI because a man I trust and respect apparently doesn’t reciprocate those feelings. Would you be fine? I’m not going to be fine any time soon, but it really isn’t cathartic to talk about it every five minutes. Kind of makes it hard to forget.”
“Well if you don’t want to talk, do you want to go shoot hoops or something? I was just about to go on my lunch break and I don’t think they’ll miss you for an hour over in Vice.”
Alex looked at Cole for a second, and then shame washed over him. Cole was just trying to help and he’d blown up on him. The irony was; it had actually been cathartic, yelling at Cole. “Look, Cole, I didn’t mean to yell, it’s just been a rough week, you know?”
“Sure.” Cole said. “Come on, one on one, play to 15, I’ll kick your butt.”
“You’re on,” Alex replied. “Just let me run by my desk and check my messages first.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Cole and Alex headed over to his desk. Quickly Alex checked his desk for the bright pink post-its that Martha left if anyone called the front desk for him, then checked his messages on his phone, and finally dug out his cell to see if he’d missed any calls while he’d had it turned off in Callahan’s office. He’d missed two calls on his cell; both from the same number, which he didn’t recognize, but neither time did the caller leave a message. Oh well, he thought. They’ll try again later.
Turning to Cole, who’d been flirting with one of the female Vice detectives, Alex motioned that he was ready to go. Alex watched in amusement as Cole, who had been leaning one hip against the detective’s desk, leaned into her and pointed across the room to him, talking all the while. He could almost hear Cole’s low voice, dripping with disappointment, telling little miss detective how he had urgent business and had to be off, but if she’d let him, he’d love to call her sometime. Alex almost laughed out loud as he watched the pretty brunette try to find a pen on her desk without taking her big blue eyes off Cole’s amused green ones. Finally, she had to break eye contact as she quickly scribbled her number on the back of a business card and handed it to Cole. Favoring her with a flash of perfectly straight, white teeth and a devilish wink, Cole pushed off her desk and strolled over to where Alex was waiting.
“You should have to wear a sign. ‘Danger: Extremely high levels of testosterone. Volatile. Handle with care, or better yet, not at all.’” Alex joked.
“Hey, it’s not my fault I’m irresistible.” Cole shot back.
Alex rolled his eyes and the two friends walked over to the locker rooms in amicable silence. After they’d changed, Alex into gray sweatpants and a Northwestern t-shirt, and Cole into black shorts and a white University of Louisiana t-shirt, they headed out to the court. The court actually wasn’t a court at all. It was just a concrete slab with an old rusty basketball hoop attached to a pole at one end. It, like millions on hoops around the world, didn’t even have a net. After they had played for half an hour, they were tied seven-seven. Fifteen minutes later, they were tied nine-nine, but had to call it quits because they needed to shower before returning to work.
As they walked towards the locker room, Alex realized that he’d really enjoyed just hanging out with Cole. He hadn’t realized it, but they hadn’t been seeing each other as much since he and Eve broke up. He’d missed his friend. His mood had definitely improved. While he wasn’t walking on clouds, like he’d been that morning, he wasn’t feeling particularly depressed. He smiled as they both took the steps going down to the locker room two at a time and his leg muscles protested. He loved it when his muscles were tired and soar because it meant he was improving. His mind felt inexplicably clear just then and he decided he was going to re-apply to the FBI. There had to be some way for him to explain his situation with Callahan to the selection committee. It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He hadn’t realized how much he’d been dreading making the decision whether to re-apply or not.
Ten minutes later, as Alex stepped out of the shower, he heard his phone ringing in his gym bag. Wrapping his towel around his hips, he quickly strode over to his stuff and dug around until he came up with his cell phone.
“Hello?”
“Is this Alex Watson?” the voice on the line was obviously enhanced by a voice changer and sounded mechanical. Immediately Alex was on edge as the cop in him wished he could be recording this call. He started to dig through his bag looking for paper and a pen.
“Yes, and who might this be?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line and Alex wondered if his mystery caller had hung up.
“Hello? Are you still there?” Alex queried.
“You don’t actually think I’ll answer that, do you?” A pause. “If you do… you’re not as smart as you’re reputation would lead one to believe.”
Alex scribbled furiously. “Is there a purpose to this call?…Or should I have you call the station so they can process you along with all the other kids pulling pranks? How did you get this number anyway?”
“I’m not a kid. I should hang up on you for that. Don’t condescend to me, asshole.” A pause. The caller seemed to have collected himself when he spoke again, “And we all have our ways of getting things, if we want them badly enough…don’t we Alex?” Another pause. “For example…I have something you want.”
“Really, I hadn’t noticed I was missing anything. Let’s see here. Nope. I’ve got my wallet, my keys, and…wait a second, oh yeah, my watch. Sorry pal, I think you have the wrong number.” As he was saying this, Alex was furiously scribbling down a rough transcript of the conversation as well as the number where the call was being made from. Alex could hear Cole singing in the showers and wanted to call out to him, but was afraid the guy on the phone would hang up.
“Oh Alex, always the one with the jokes. A regular comedian. Is that why she likes you?”
Alex’s breath went thin in his lungs and he stilled. “What are you talking about?” He asked.
“Did you make her laugh, Alex? I think you must have. I’ve been watching her for a while now and she doesn’t laugh anymore. She doesn’t laugh for me anymore. I used to whisper jokes to her, and she would smile and laugh and it was just between us, but she doesn’t laugh anymore. She doesn’t even see me because she’s off in her own little world. Did you send her there, Alex?”
“What are you talking about? I don’t know who you’re talking about. Do you have a name? Something I can call you?” Alex realized his hands were shaking as he saw his writing getting progressively sloppier
“Eve.”
One single word, but it reverberated in Alex’s brain. He felt all his training about how to talk to someone who might have a possible hostage fly out of his brain as the red haze of rage rapidly encroached on the edges of his vision. “Where is she?” he asked breathlessly.
“She’s gone.”
“What’d you do with her? I swear, if you hurt her, I’ll kill you. I’ll hunt you down and kill you.” Alex couldn’t keep the shaking from his voice.
“Oh don’t get so dramatic Alex. I think this conversation is over. Goodbye Al—“
“Wait. Don’t hang up. Where is she?” Alex interrupted, but all he heard in response was a dial tone. Cursing, he jumped up from the bench and got dressed with lightning speed. Shoving his transcript of the call into his bag with all his other gym stuff, he threw the bag over his shoulder and started to make his way through the maze of lockers to the door. Turning a corner, he ran right into Cole, who stumbled backwards and almost lost his towel in his fight to regain his balance.
“Whoa. Alex, slow down! Where are you going?” Cole asked, grabbing Alex’s arm as he tried to keep going towards the door.
“Cole, not now. I have to leave, Eve’s in trouble.”
Surprise flashed across Cole’s face. “What are you talking about?” Then, noticing the phone still clutched tightly in Alex’s hand, “Did she call you?”
Realizing that Cole wasn’t going to let him race off, Alex rounded on him and quickly tried to explain. “Some creep just called my cell and said he has Eve. I have to go to her apartment. Are you coming?”
“Of course. Hold on, let me change.”
“Hurry. Please.” The desperation in Alex’s voice struck Cole and he rushed to dress.
“Have you tried calling her?”
Alex stopped staring at the door and wheeled around. The blank stare on his face shocked Cole. Alex blinked rapidly and then seemed to snap back to reality.
“What?”
“Call her, maybe she’s fine.”
“Oh…I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” Alex began desperately to fumble with his cell phone. Finally, he managed to punch in Eve’s number at her apartment.
Alex held his breathe as the mechanical ringing on the other end of the line persisted. Finally, just when Alex was about to hang up, there were a short series of clicks and then a message began to play.
“You have reached 906-352-5448. If you would like to leave a message, wait for the beep.”
Alex hesitated a moment, then cleared his throat. “Umm.” The thought flashed through his mind that this call would be hard to explain if Eve wasn’t really gone, but it was quickly overpowered by his need to find her. “Eve! This is Alex. Call me as soon as you hear this message. Call my cell, 612-770-6423 or the house, 906-883-3213. This is urgent. I don’t care what time it is. I need you to call me ASAP. Any time. Just call.”
Alex was already striding towards the door as he hung up. Cole follow closely on his heals.“Wait! Alex, did you try her cell?”
Callahan sighed. “It’s not your record Alex. If I were just looking at your file and your performance, I’d recommend you in a heartbeat. I’m just not sure that your personality matches what is required for an agent.
“How so?”
“Alex, you love being a homicide detective too much. You get too involved with your cases. Frankly, you’re too idealistic for the Bureau. You don’t want to be moved around from case to case all over the country. You want to be able to give all you have to a few case at a time. That’s how you’re most effective. That aside, I don’t think you’re making this decision because you think you’d be a better cop if you became an agent. You aren’t thinking this one through, son. Knowing that, I couldn’t recommend you to the Bureau. It wouldn’t be a responsible decision on my part.”
Alex could almost see the red interfering at the corners of his vision. What place did Callahan have to determine whether or not he was FBI material based on anything other than his work ethic and performance? Small warning bells went off in his head and Alex knew that he had to get out of there before he said something he’d regret later.
“Thank you for your time,” he ground out between clenched teeth. Then, he quickly got up and left the office. He rapidly walked back towards the Vice department, not seeing the concerned expression on Maggie’s face or the angry glare a female cop gave him as he almost ran over her without even slowing down.
When he got to the Vice department he ducked into a men’s bathroom and strode quickly to one of the sinks. Bending down, he splashed his face with cold water repeatedly until he felt the rage slowly dissipate. Looking at himself in the mirror, water running in small rivulets down his forehead and hanging from his nose and chin, he stared helplessly at his reflection. What could he do to prove to Callahan that he was ready for the FBI? And what did Callahan mean, he wasn’t making this decision with his head?
Just then, the bathroom door slowly swung open and Cole stepped inside.
“You okay, man?” he asked, handing him a paper towel to dry his face off with.
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure?”
Suddenly, Alex wanted to hurt someone. “I said yes! What is with you people? Are you going to ask until I say no? Do you want me to spill my guts and tell you all about anything that could be wrong in my life so you can decide what’s best for me, too? Then will everyone be satisfied? Seriously Cole, what’s the right answer?”
“Whoa, man, slow down. There isn’t a right answer. It’s just, a lot of things have been going on lately, and I figured you might want to talk about it.”
Alex sighed and leaned against the bathroom wall. Tipping his head back, he ran a hand over his eyes, which felt grainy all of a sudden. “No, I’m not fine.” Walking towards the door, he said, “My partner was killed, I broke up with a woman I’m in love with, and I got rejected by the FBI because a man I trust and respect apparently doesn’t reciprocate those feelings. Would you be fine? I’m not going to be fine any time soon, but it really isn’t cathartic to talk about it every five minutes. Kind of makes it hard to forget.”
“Well if you don’t want to talk, do you want to go shoot hoops or something? I was just about to go on my lunch break and I don’t think they’ll miss you for an hour over in Vice.”
Alex looked at Cole for a second, and then shame washed over him. Cole was just trying to help and he’d blown up on him. The irony was; it had actually been cathartic, yelling at Cole. “Look, Cole, I didn’t mean to yell, it’s just been a rough week, you know?”
“Sure.” Cole said. “Come on, one on one, play to 15, I’ll kick your butt.”
“You’re on,” Alex replied. “Just let me run by my desk and check my messages first.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Cole and Alex headed over to his desk. Quickly Alex checked his desk for the bright pink post-its that Martha left if anyone called the front desk for him, then checked his messages on his phone, and finally dug out his cell to see if he’d missed any calls while he’d had it turned off in Callahan’s office. He’d missed two calls on his cell; both from the same number, which he didn’t recognize, but neither time did the caller leave a message. Oh well, he thought. They’ll try again later.
Turning to Cole, who’d been flirting with one of the female Vice detectives, Alex motioned that he was ready to go. Alex watched in amusement as Cole, who had been leaning one hip against the detective’s desk, leaned into her and pointed across the room to him, talking all the while. He could almost hear Cole’s low voice, dripping with disappointment, telling little miss detective how he had urgent business and had to be off, but if she’d let him, he’d love to call her sometime. Alex almost laughed out loud as he watched the pretty brunette try to find a pen on her desk without taking her big blue eyes off Cole’s amused green ones. Finally, she had to break eye contact as she quickly scribbled her number on the back of a business card and handed it to Cole. Favoring her with a flash of perfectly straight, white teeth and a devilish wink, Cole pushed off her desk and strolled over to where Alex was waiting.
“You should have to wear a sign. ‘Danger: Extremely high levels of testosterone. Volatile. Handle with care, or better yet, not at all.’” Alex joked.
“Hey, it’s not my fault I’m irresistible.” Cole shot back.
Alex rolled his eyes and the two friends walked over to the locker rooms in amicable silence. After they’d changed, Alex into gray sweatpants and a Northwestern t-shirt, and Cole into black shorts and a white University of Louisiana t-shirt, they headed out to the court. The court actually wasn’t a court at all. It was just a concrete slab with an old rusty basketball hoop attached to a pole at one end. It, like millions on hoops around the world, didn’t even have a net. After they had played for half an hour, they were tied seven-seven. Fifteen minutes later, they were tied nine-nine, but had to call it quits because they needed to shower before returning to work.
As they walked towards the locker room, Alex realized that he’d really enjoyed just hanging out with Cole. He hadn’t realized it, but they hadn’t been seeing each other as much since he and Eve broke up. He’d missed his friend. His mood had definitely improved. While he wasn’t walking on clouds, like he’d been that morning, he wasn’t feeling particularly depressed. He smiled as they both took the steps going down to the locker room two at a time and his leg muscles protested. He loved it when his muscles were tired and soar because it meant he was improving. His mind felt inexplicably clear just then and he decided he was going to re-apply to the FBI. There had to be some way for him to explain his situation with Callahan to the selection committee. It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He hadn’t realized how much he’d been dreading making the decision whether to re-apply or not.
Ten minutes later, as Alex stepped out of the shower, he heard his phone ringing in his gym bag. Wrapping his towel around his hips, he quickly strode over to his stuff and dug around until he came up with his cell phone.
“Hello?”
“Is this Alex Watson?” the voice on the line was obviously enhanced by a voice changer and sounded mechanical. Immediately Alex was on edge as the cop in him wished he could be recording this call. He started to dig through his bag looking for paper and a pen.
“Yes, and who might this be?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line and Alex wondered if his mystery caller had hung up.
“Hello? Are you still there?” Alex queried.
“You don’t actually think I’ll answer that, do you?” A pause. “If you do… you’re not as smart as you’re reputation would lead one to believe.”
Alex scribbled furiously. “Is there a purpose to this call?…Or should I have you call the station so they can process you along with all the other kids pulling pranks? How did you get this number anyway?”
“I’m not a kid. I should hang up on you for that. Don’t condescend to me, asshole.” A pause. The caller seemed to have collected himself when he spoke again, “And we all have our ways of getting things, if we want them badly enough…don’t we Alex?” Another pause. “For example…I have something you want.”
“Really, I hadn’t noticed I was missing anything. Let’s see here. Nope. I’ve got my wallet, my keys, and…wait a second, oh yeah, my watch. Sorry pal, I think you have the wrong number.” As he was saying this, Alex was furiously scribbling down a rough transcript of the conversation as well as the number where the call was being made from. Alex could hear Cole singing in the showers and wanted to call out to him, but was afraid the guy on the phone would hang up.
“Oh Alex, always the one with the jokes. A regular comedian. Is that why she likes you?”
Alex’s breath went thin in his lungs and he stilled. “What are you talking about?” He asked.
“Did you make her laugh, Alex? I think you must have. I’ve been watching her for a while now and she doesn’t laugh anymore. She doesn’t laugh for me anymore. I used to whisper jokes to her, and she would smile and laugh and it was just between us, but she doesn’t laugh anymore. She doesn’t even see me because she’s off in her own little world. Did you send her there, Alex?”
“What are you talking about? I don’t know who you’re talking about. Do you have a name? Something I can call you?” Alex realized his hands were shaking as he saw his writing getting progressively sloppier
“Eve.”
One single word, but it reverberated in Alex’s brain. He felt all his training about how to talk to someone who might have a possible hostage fly out of his brain as the red haze of rage rapidly encroached on the edges of his vision. “Where is she?” he asked breathlessly.
“She’s gone.”
“What’d you do with her? I swear, if you hurt her, I’ll kill you. I’ll hunt you down and kill you.” Alex couldn’t keep the shaking from his voice.
“Oh don’t get so dramatic Alex. I think this conversation is over. Goodbye Al—“
“Wait. Don’t hang up. Where is she?” Alex interrupted, but all he heard in response was a dial tone. Cursing, he jumped up from the bench and got dressed with lightning speed. Shoving his transcript of the call into his bag with all his other gym stuff, he threw the bag over his shoulder and started to make his way through the maze of lockers to the door. Turning a corner, he ran right into Cole, who stumbled backwards and almost lost his towel in his fight to regain his balance.
“Whoa. Alex, slow down! Where are you going?” Cole asked, grabbing Alex’s arm as he tried to keep going towards the door.
“Cole, not now. I have to leave, Eve’s in trouble.”
Surprise flashed across Cole’s face. “What are you talking about?” Then, noticing the phone still clutched tightly in Alex’s hand, “Did she call you?”
Realizing that Cole wasn’t going to let him race off, Alex rounded on him and quickly tried to explain. “Some creep just called my cell and said he has Eve. I have to go to her apartment. Are you coming?”
“Of course. Hold on, let me change.”
“Hurry. Please.” The desperation in Alex’s voice struck Cole and he rushed to dress.
“Have you tried calling her?”
Alex stopped staring at the door and wheeled around. The blank stare on his face shocked Cole. Alex blinked rapidly and then seemed to snap back to reality.
“What?”
“Call her, maybe she’s fine.”
“Oh…I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” Alex began desperately to fumble with his cell phone. Finally, he managed to punch in Eve’s number at her apartment.
Alex held his breathe as the mechanical ringing on the other end of the line persisted. Finally, just when Alex was about to hang up, there were a short series of clicks and then a message began to play.
“You have reached 906-352-5448. If you would like to leave a message, wait for the beep.”
Alex hesitated a moment, then cleared his throat. “Umm.” The thought flashed through his mind that this call would be hard to explain if Eve wasn’t really gone, but it was quickly overpowered by his need to find her. “Eve! This is Alex. Call me as soon as you hear this message. Call my cell, 612-770-6423 or the house, 906-883-3213. This is urgent. I don’t care what time it is. I need you to call me ASAP. Any time. Just call.”
Alex was already striding towards the door as he hung up. Cole follow closely on his heals.“Wait! Alex, did you try her cell?”
posted by Kate at 4:34 PM
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