“Are you all right?”
She paced.
“My husband’s at Carolinas Medical. I’m afraid he had an accident with a handgun. He
should be fine.”
Horgess immediately grabbed his upright portable radio. He ten-fived David-One unit
538, a rookie too scared to do anything other than what she was told. This decision
would have been good had Horgess not failed to overlook the reason Hammer had called
him, the duty captain, directly.
“Need you over there now to take an accidental shooting report,” Horgess excitedly said into his radio.
“Ten-four,” Unit 538 came back.
“Any injuries?” ~ “Ten-four. Subject en route to Carolinas Medical;’ Every officer on duty, and some who weren’t, and anyone else with a scanner, heard every word of the
broadcast. Most assumed Chief Hammer had been accidentally shot, meaning Jeannie
Goode this very instant was the acting chief. Nothing could have sent the force into more
of a panic. Hammer had a base radio station in her kitchen and it was on.
“Horgess, you idiot!” she exclaimed in disbelief to no one in particular, inside her
kitchen.
She stopped pacing. It struck her that Andy Brazil was still standing in the doorway. She
was not entirely sure why he was here and suddenly
doubted the wisdom of a handsome young reporter dressed like a cop being in the house with her, in the wake of a domestic shooting. Hammer also knew that her entire evening
shift was heading toward her address, flying to investigate the fate of their leader.
W Goode never kept her radio on at home or in her car, but a source had tipped her off,
and she was already putting on her uniform, preparing to take over the Charlotte Police
Department, as Unit 538 sped through Fourth Ward. Unit 538 was terrified. She worried
she might have to stop to vomit. She turned on Pine Street, and was stunned to find five
other police cars already in front of Hammer’s house, lights strobing. In Unit 538’s
rearview mirror, more cars came, miles of them, speeding through the night to help their
fallen chief.
Unit 538 parked, shakily gathered her metal clipboard, wondering if she could just leave,
and deciding probably not.
Hammer went out on the porch to reassure her people.
“Everything is under control,” she spoke to them.
“Then you’re not injured,” said a sergeant whose name she did not recall.
“My husband is injured. We don’t think it’s serious,” she said.
“So everything’s okay.”
“Man, what a scare.”
“We’re so relieved. Chief Hammer.”
“See you in the morning.” Hammer dismissed them with a wave.
That was all they needed to hear. Each officer secretly keyed his mike, broadcasting
several clicks over the air, signaling comrades everywhere that all was ten-four.
Only Unit 538 had unfinished business, and she followed Hammer into the rich, old house. They sat in the living room.
“Before you even start,” Hammer said, “I’m going to tell you how this is going to be done.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“There will be no implication that the right thing was not done here, that exceptions were
made, because the subject involved happens to be married to me.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“This is routine and will be worked according to the book.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“My husband should be charged with reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm in
the city limits,” Hammer went on.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Unit 538’s handwriting was unsteady as she began filling out the accidental shooting
report. This was amazing. Hammer must not like her husband much. Hammer was
nailing him with the maximum charge, locking him up and throwing away the key. It just
proved Unit 538’s theory that women like Hammer got where they were by being
aggressive hard asses They were men poured into the wrong form at the factory.
Hammer recited all the necessary information. She answered Unit 538’s banal questions,
and got the cop out as fast as possible.
Brazil remained seated at the kitchen table in Chief Hammer’s house, wondering if
anyone might have recognized his distinctive BMW parked out front. If the cops ran his
tag, what would they think? Who was he here to see? He remembered with a sinking
feeling that the condominiums Axel and friends lived in were just around the corner.