“Hey Cap’n! I’m twenty minutes early!” Jack exclaimed. The large shouldered man frowned at him, as the fluorescent lights glared off of his shiny forehead. Being a police captain for five years had begun to age Captain Howe almost immediately. His waste line had grown quickly, the veins on his nose had turned a deep crimson revealing his alcoholic self medication, but only in the last two years had his hairline began to recede. Jack often wondered if he would ever began to comb his hair forward, like other men did when they began to lose their hair, or if he would just keep it slicked back like he hadn’t even noticed that his forehead had grown four or five inches longer.
“We’ve got a mess on our hands.” Howe said, grabbing a file from his desk.
“What today, Boss?” Jack said as he approached the Captain’s desk. As usual it was covered with files, empty Styrofoam cups, dusty pictures of his multiple families that had divorced him over the years, and the empty ashtray. He had quit smoking over two years ago, but he refused to throw out that ashtray.
“It’s the D.A. On the McNally case.”
“What about it? It was open and shut.”
“Not according to them.” Howe said and shoved the file into Jack’s hand. He opened the manila folder and glanced at the notes. Howe leaned back in his chair, and placed his hands behind his neck. Jack skimmed the notes.
“The D.A. had a problem with my deposition?” Jack asked, the confusion evident on his face.
“I’ll say.” Howe replied. “You know, they’re charging the guy with man two.”
“Manslaughter?” Jack asked. Howe nodded. “But he shot the perp that broke into his house! It was a good shoot.”
“Yeah, but their point is that he followed the guy outside, and then shot him in the back.”
“That’s bullshit, Cap! That son-of-a-bitch held his family at gun point! That freak raped his wife, and then raped his 14 year old daughter. Right in front of him.” Jack said, clearly disgusted.
“Exactly! And when you tried to explain your point to the D.A. they threw you out of the depo.” Howe answered.
“They weren’t listening.”
“To what? You yelling at them that they’re a bunch of dumb fucks? That they don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground?”
“You heard about that?” Jack asked. Howe nodded.
“And something about kissing your ass-“
“I know. I know. I lost it.” Jack said, as he laid the file back on the stack on the desk. He exhaled slowly, as he shook his head. “They can’t do that to the poor guy.”
“They will, and they did. He’s down in booking right now.”
“Cap. You know that’s not right.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. Or more importantly, it doesn’t matter a rat’s ass what you think. The D.A. interprets the law and decides what charges will be filed. That’s the way it works around here, and you had better get a grip on that concept, once and for all, Jack.”
“Unbelievable. We risk our necks day in and day out to stop these lunatics, and finally a citizen takes one down in self defense and now they want to lock him up.”
“If it was self defense, he’d be at home right now.”
“Damn it, Cap. I’d have done the same thing. So would you.” Jack said, as Howe leaned forward in his chair.
“No. Not exactly.” He said. “I would have shot the fucker in the chest. Now get out of here. Go catch some bad guys.” Jack looked at him for a moment, then shook his head, and left the room. He fumed as his mind ran over the injustice done to Mr. McNally and his family. He thought of his dear Tracey and innocent sweet Bella, and couldn’t even imagine how horrible it would have been for that family to have gone through such a thing. The Captain was right, he thought. He would have shot him in the chest too. Several times. He poured himself a cup of stale coffee, and began to stir in loads of powdered cream. He took a sip, winced, and went to his desk.