You'd Have to Ask - 30. Chapter 30

The Chief’s Office

The Chief arrived at work the next day and was settling into his morning routine of reviewing night reports and drinking coffee.

The phone rang on his desk. It was a Captain from the Police Service in Calgary. The Chief had phoned and spoken with the guy yesterday.

“Hey Bob” the Chief said after the man identified himself.

“Hi Chief, I am calling back with some news for you about that matter we discussed yesterday.”

“Geez that was fast, do you have an open case?”

“Yeah in fact we do, both Edmonton and Calgary. It was sort of sitting there waiting for something to occur.”

“How you mean?” The Chief asks as he realizes that those cities are busier with cases but there must have been something to shelve this one.

“Well we had word that this sort of thing was occurring, but no Officer was brave enough to come forward.”

“But you have an open recruitment program for Gay Officers.”

“I know we do and it looks great on paper, but you know how theories work when put to the test.”

“So even though they can’t be discriminated against they still are closeted?”

“Well its not so much the Officer’s hired under that initiative, in fact they were questioned and none of them has been approached in this way. It seems to mainly exist with out 5-7 year Officers.”

“The ones still in the closet? I guess.”

“Yeah those guys. There still seems to be a dividing line between the Gay Officers and the Straight ones. So the ones that we hired before are still I the closet so they can maintain their friendships, I guess.”

“So there appears to be a targeting process going on?

“Looks that way. So anyway we, myself and my contact in Edmonton have a favour to ask.”

“A favour, am I going to like the sound of this?”

“Well it’s all part of the job and you, of your Officer, seems to have given us the break we need.”

“Is this an undercover assignment?”

“Well I am just giving you a heads up actually as this problem seems to be centred in Edmonton. So I guess you can expect a formal request from them.”

“If it is occurring in Edmonton, how is it that you have Officers involved?”

“Well I guess if you want to stay in the closet you don’t mess around in your backyard. So my guys go to Edmonton to sow their wild oats.”

“If that is so, do the Edmonton Officers go to Calgary?”

“Yeah, I guess so but there doesn’t seem to be an organized effort to co-opt them down here.”

“So how would they know about it in Edmonton?”

“Well I guess some of their guys don’t go through the trouble to travel to get laid.”

“Pretty risky, I guess. I know if I was going to mess around on my wife I sure wouldn’t do it here.”

“Exactly, that’s why all the travelling. You see we have our Gay Officers making their presence known in that Community. So they tour bars and speak with the community.”

“I get it now, so they would recognize a fellow Officer that wasn’t out.”

“So doesn’t Edmonton do this?”

“Well I am not aware of it. They have a liaison Officer but they seem to be behind the times on actually getting involved in that Community. You’ll have to speak to them about it.”

“Well am I going to see a file on this before I make any decisions?”

“Yeah, we have shared all the information and when Edmonton gets in touch with you, I am sure they will give you a copy of the file.”

“So I guess that’s it, I will have to wait for them to make a request.”

“Yeah, Chief I don’t expect it will be too long. They were pretty psyched to get on top of this case.”

“Well Bob, thanks for the information. I can see how any interference in an Officer doing his or her job would be a concern.”
“Yeah, it tough enough out there! Take care Chief.”

“You too, Bob.”

The Chief had known Bob for a number of years. The man was in charge of the Internal Affairs Unit in Calgary. It was a pretty big step for Bob to take and it even surprised the Chief, as Internal Affairs is the least liked section in any department. Lacombe wasn’t big enough to have its own unit so the Sergeant and Chief handled those duties. He hated investigation Cops but it was something that had to be done.

The phone rang again as the Captain was refilling his cup of coffee. He had brought in his own coffee maker a couple of years. Walking back to his desk he picked up the hand set and identified himself.

“Hello Chief Lawrence this is Captain Boudreau with the Edmonton Police Service, how are you?’

“Good Captain how’s your self?”

“Better since I had a chat with my counterpart in Calgary, Bob Hastings.”

“That’s good, so how may I help you today? Captain.”

“Well to get to the point we want to borrow one of your Officers for a case we are working on.”

“Well Captain, that was to the point. Is this to do with the blackmail attempt currently going down in my Station?”

“As a matter of fact yes.”

“Well then I think we should have a face to face to discuss the issue.”

“I couldn’t agree more Chief. I think it would be better if I came down there.”

“No problem Captain, although I am sure your visit will not go unnoticed at my station.”

“Well if you prefer we could meet someplace more neutral.”

“I don’t like the idea of a file being outside a station Captain, especially one that could impact one of my Officers.”

“How about up here then, you could get a driver and meet me in my Office.”

“Better plan Captain and I guess that in order to make life easier my Officer should be the driver?”

“No comment.”
“Well it just so happens my guy is on Days, how about this afternoon?”

“That would be great, do you have a pen handy? I’ll give you my number.”

The Chief takes down the number and ends the phone call. When he hangs up he calls the Sergeant into his office.

When the Sergeant arrives he tells him that he will have to borrow Officer Wheeler for the rest of the day. He asks the Sergeant to have Wheeler report to him in 20 minutes in civilian clothes. When the Sergeant has left the Chief changes his clothes as well. “They are going to know we are Cops at the Edmonton Station but they won’t know where we are from.” He says to himself.

Cole knocks on the Chief’s door. He is dressed in civilian clothes, jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket. The Chief opens the door and Cole sees he is dressed in slacks and a sport coat.

“Officer Wheeler.” The Chief says as he sees Cole. “We are going on a road trip, I have a meeting in Edmonton and you are my driver.”

Cole wonders why the Chief needs a driver but his is not to question why, “Yes Sir, I’ll
Go sign out an unmarked vehicle.”

Cole returns to the office with keys to the explorer in hand. Lacombe doesn’t have much use for unmarked cars so he has to take an Explorer with a cage in the back.

Cole and the Chief head out of the station, Cole notices that Kelly is watching them as they leave. He wonders what is going through her mind.

Cole does a walk around while the Chief gets in the passenger seat. Cole checks the mileage in the logbook to ensure it is correct. He resets the odometer so that the number of kilometres can be tracked.