‘All right, all right,’ Hammer quieted the room. ‘Captain Cloud? I want to hear what you have to say.’
‘Well,’ Cloud picked up where he’d left off, ‘it’s like the city seal, George Washington on his horse. I gotta ask you, what’s George Washington got to do with Richmond? I guess we what? Borrowed that from D.C., from another big city, in other words?’
‘Amen.’
‘I agree totally.”I bet he never even slept here.’
‘It’s an embarrassment.’
‘D.C., and now we’re swiping ideas from New York. How bad does that make us look?’ Cloud said.
‘Okay,’ Hammer raised her voice. ‘I’m afraid there’s not a thing we can do about the city seal at this time. So let’s get back to our motto. Captain Cloud, remember that part of accountability is to suggest a solution when you point out a problem. Do you have a new motto in mind?’
‘Well, I played around with one a little bit last night.’
Cloud had high blood pressure. His white uniform shirt was too tight around the neck, and his face was almost purple. He was center stage and sweating.
‘I was thinking about what would be simple but direct, and, now don’t get your hopes up that this is real creative or poetic or anything, but if you ask the question, what are we all about? I think the answer can be summed up in three words. Tough On Crime,’ Cloud looked around the table. TOC, in other words, which is real easy to remember and doesn’t take up any more room than CPR if we’re gonna paint it on things or add it to our patches.’
‘Doesn’t do anything for me.’
‘Me either.’
‘Naw.’
‘Okay, okay,’ Cloud rushed forward. ‘I had a backup just in case. How about Tough In Court and Tough On Crime? TIC TOC.’
‘I don’t like it.’
‘Ditto.’
‘Wait a minute,’ Cloud went on with conviction.
‘Everybody’s always complaining how slow we are getting to scenes, to their house after their alarm’s gone off, right? And how many times do we hear the public bitch about how long it takes to solve a case? I think TIC TOC sends a positive message about a new attitude, about us trying harder.’
‘It also makes it sound like we’re watching the clock. Like we can’t wait for shift change.’
‘Or something bad’s about to happen.’
‘Besides, it would be TOC TIC because being tough on crime is gonna come before you get to court.’
‘It doesn’t work, Cloud.’
‘Forget it.’
Cloud was crushed. ‘Never mind,’ he said.
Hammer had been silent through all this because she wanted to give her troops a chance to be heard. But she could take no more.
‘It’s something for all of us to think about,’ she said abruptly. ‘I’m always open for something new. Thank you, Captain Cloud.’
‘Actually, I had a thought on the subject,’ Andy Brazil said.
No one spoke. Cops started shuffling through notes and shifting in chairs. They got up for more coffee. Cloud opened a little bag of Fisherman’s Friend throat lozenges, paper tearing loudly. Fling rebooted the computer and it beeped and honked as it tried to come back.
Hammer felt sorry for Brazil. She was indignant that he was discriminated against for reasons beyond his control. It wasn’t his fault that women and gay men of all ages could not take their eyes off him. He couldn’t help that he was only twenty-five and talented and sensitive. Nor was there a thing he had done or intimated that gave credence to the vicious rumor that she had brought him with her to Richmond for sexual pleasure and then he had run off with his landlady.
‘Go ahead, Officer Brazil.’ Hammer tended to be brusque with him. ‘But we need to move along.’
‘I really think we’d be better off without a motto,’ Brazil said.
Silence.
‘CPR makes it sound like we need to be resuscitated,’ he added.
No one would look at him. Papers shuffled. Duty belts creaked.
‘That we’re in extremis,’ he said.
Silence.
Then Cloud spoke up, ‘I’ve always thought that. It’s about time somebody said it before it got painted on all the cars.’