Cavanaugh Standoff

by Marie Ferrarella

  “Now,” he ordered, getting up.

  Her jaw dropped. “You just shut off my computer,” she complained.

  He appeared completely unfazed by the accusation in her voice. “I gave you a direct order and you ignored it.”

  She drew herself up, ready to go a few rounds with this annoying man. “You’re lead detective, not my supreme leader,” she informed him hotly.

  A hint of a smile played along his lips. “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that.”

  With that, he turned away and began to walk out of the squad room.

  She raised her voice as she called after him. “I know your mother and I’ll tell her what a hard time you’ve been giving me.”

  Ronan turned then and slowly crossed back to her desk. “Did you just threaten me with my mother?” he asked in disbelief. “What are we, twelve?”

  She braced herself. “I’m not. But I’m not sure about you.”

  “You’re tired. I’ll pretend you didn’t say that. Now go home.”

  He might be the lead detective and in charge, but she was not about to be intimidated. “Why are you acting like I’m the invading force?”

  “Because you’re the invading force,” he retorted. He’d had no choice in the matter when Carver had brought her over. He had to work with her and he didn’t appreciate not being given a choice.

  “Hey, you’re a Cavanaugh,” she reminded him. “Nobody invades you,” she pointed out. “You guys practically are the police department. I’m just trying to do my part. I don’t want the credit,” she stressed. “You can have the credit for solving this thing.”

  “This isn’t about credit,” he informed her, annoyed she thought that way.

  “Then what is it about?” she demanded, confused. “Why do I get the feeling that you don’t want to be in the same space with me?”

  Denial was on his tongue but he never voiced it. Possibly because she’d stumbled onto something. “Because you remind me of someone,” he finally said, struggling to keep from yelling the words at her.

  “Who?”

  “Someone,” was all he trusted himself to say and then, before she could attempt to grill him any further, he stalked out.

  “That’s not an answer!” she countered.

  Grabbing her bag, Sierra quickly headed out of the squad room after him.

  But when she got to the hallway, Ronan was nowhere to be seen.

  He’d probably caught the elevator. For a second she thought of taking the stairs and ambushing him on the ground floor, but she had a feeling that would just lead to more of the same. He wasn’t about to tell her anything. Most likely, he regretted having said as much as he had just now.

  The bottom line was that she needed answers and O’Bannon wasn’t about to give them to her.

  But she thought she knew someone who just might be able to.

  Taking the elevator to the ground floor, she hurried to the parking lot and made her way to her car. Once she got into her vehicle, she put her key in the ignition but she didn’t start the engine.

  Instead she took out her cell phone and placed a call.

  Once the call connected, she heard a deep, gravely voice answer. “Carlyle.”

  “Hi, Dad,” she said with more cheer than she was feeling. “It’s me. Sierra.”

  “Sierra?” her father repeated. “Wait, wait, I know that name, just give me a second. Sierra, Sierra—” he repeated as if doing that would unearth some memories, help him recall who she was.

  “Very funny, Dad. Okay, I know I haven’t called or been by lately, but I’ve been a little busy,” she told him.

  “I take it that the police department has been working you hard, chaining you to your desk and all that. Okay, so why is the black sheep of the family suddenly calling me?”

  He’d called her that the day she had told him she was applying to the police academy instead of signing up for the fire department like the rest of her family. In time, he’d come to terms with it, but he still wasn’t exactly thrilled.

  “Dad, I work in the police department, not for some escort service. There’s no reason to call me a black sheep.”

  “Sure there is,” the deep voice rumbled in her ear. “You didn’t go into the family business the way you were supposed to.”

  Sierra sighed. “This is why I don’t call very often,” she told her father.

  “Okay, okay, I’ll make nice,” her father promised. “To what do I owe this unexpected but delightful call?”

  “You’re laying it on way too thick, Dad, but I’ll let that ride for now. I need your help,” she said seriously. “I want you to find something out for me.”

  “You mean like detective work?” he asked, a touch of surprise in his voice. “Isn’t that your field of expertise?”

  “Yes, but this is more up your alley if you’d only stop trying to make me feel like I failed you and just listen?” she asked.

  “I guess I’d better,” her father conceded, “or you’ll hang up, right?”

  She wasn’t going to get sucked into that. Instead she asked, “Do you still talk to Maeve O’Bannon?”

  “She’s a damn fine woman,” her father said with feeling. “Why shouldn’t I still talk to her? She had the good sense to work alongside the fire department, unlike the rest of her family.”

  Sierra ignored that, as well, and went straight to the heart of her request. “I want you to ask her something for me.”

  “All right,” Chief Craig Carlyle said. “What do you want me to ask?”

  She braced herself for her father’s possible reaction. “Could you ask her what her son Ronan’s story is?”

  “Come again?”

  Sierra decided to give her father as much background as she felt he’d need to understand why she was making the request. “I’m working with Ronan and he let it slip that I remind him of someone. I need you to ask Maeve if he ever had a problem with someone who looked like me.”

  “I’ve got a suggestion,” her father said. “Why don’t you ask Ronan?”

  “It’s kind of complicated, Dad.”

  “Isn’t he treating you right?” her father asked.

  She knew all she had to do was say that he wasn’t and her father would be right there, in Ronan’s face. She didn’t need him to champion her. All she needed him to do was what she’d asked.

  “Please, Dad, just ask Maeve,” she repeated.

  She heard her father sigh deeply. “Look, Sierra, I always told you what cops were like. If Maeve’s son isn’t treating you with the respect you deserve, quit,” he told her. “You know I can always use you on my team. Your brothers’ll show you the ropes and we can make this a whole family affair.”

  She closed her eyes, searching for strength and the right words. “Dad.”

  “What?”

  “Just ask her for me, okay? Thanks. I’ll call again soon.”

  With that, she ended the call. She loved her father—and her brothers—more than anything, but there were times when talking to the man could make her feel so drained.

  And then she smiled to herself. She supposed that could be viewed as a two-way street. She was fairly certain her father probably felt the same way about her.

  Chapter Six

  “Well, this is a surprise,” Andrew Cavanaugh said to his younger brother as he opened his front door. “Come on in, Brian.” Closing the door again, he said, “You don’t usually stop by in the middle of the week like this.” Since the kitchen had become the hub of his activity, the former chief of police led the current chief of detectives to the kitchen. “Things a little slow at the police department these days?”

  “Actually,” Brian answered, crossing the threshold into the state-of-the-art kitchen, “they’re a little more hectic than usual.”r />
  As the oldest, Andrew had always been able to read his brother like a book. But this time there was a note he couldn’t quite identify in Brian’s voice.

  “Something wrong?” he asked, stopping by the counter and studying his brother more closely. “Something you couldn’t tell me over the phone?”

  Brian smiled for a long moment. “Not in the way you think.”

  Andrew crossed to the industrial-size refrigerator. “Well now you really have me curious. Want a beer? Something harder?” he asked when Brian didn’t take him up on the beer.

  Brian glanced toward the refrigerator. “You have any of that cake left over that you served at the last gathering?”

  Praise, even implied praise, never got old, Andrew thought. He’d been a dedicated chief of police in his time, but the culinary arts had always been his passion. He’d put himself through school that way and it was a love that lingered to the present day.

  “No, but I whipped up a new cake if you’re interested.”

  “I’m always interested in cake, you know that,” Brian said, taking a seat at the extra-long, custom-made kitchen table. He grinned ruefully. “Lila says if I keep this up, I’m going to have to go on a diet. I thought I’d just remedy the situation by putting another notch on my belt.”

  “That doesn’t mean what it used to, does it?” Andrew’s wife, Rose, asked as she came into the kitchen. She smiled warmly at her brother-in-law.

  Brian laughed softly. “Not since before Jared was born,” he told her, referring to the first of his four adult children, three of whom were police detectives. The fourth, Janelle, was an assistant DA.

  “Okay, other than my cake, what’s brought you out on a school night like this?” Andrew asked, placing a healthy slice of amaretto cake in front of his brother.

  Fork poised over his serving, he looked at Andrew and Rose. “You two aren’t having any?” Brian asked. “I feel strange, being the only one eating.”

  “Like I believe that.” Andrew laughed. “But I’ll have a small slice to keep you company. Rose?” he asked his wife as he cut himself a slice that was half the size of the one he’d just given his brother.

  His wife demurred. “I’m still full from dinner, Andrew. I’ll just get myself some tea and leave you two to talk.”

  “No, don’t go,” Brian protested. “This includes you, too, Rose.”

  “Oh?” Taking the kettle from the back burner, she poured hot water into a teacup and then placed a teabag with chai tea into it. Holding the teacup with both hands, Rose took a seat beside her husband. Her attention was focused on her brother-in-law. “What is it?”

  “Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news,” Brian began. “Which would you like?” he asked them.

  “Might as well get the bad news over with first,” Andrew said. Years on the force had taught him to hope for the best but brace for the worst. “This isn’t about any of your kids, is it?” he asked, concerned. Aside from Brian’s own four, he also had four stepchildren, thanks to his second marriage, and all of them were on the force, as well.

  Brian shook his head. “No, it isn’t.”

  “Our kids?” Rose asked, immediately concerned. All five were detectives and she did her best not to worry, but worry had long become part of her everyday life.

  “In a way—but not the bad news part,” Brian added quickly, wanting to set both of their minds at ease before he went on.

  “I seem to remember you being better at making announcements,” Andrew told his brother. Finished with his small portion, he got up to get a beer. He brought two bottles to the table.

  “Sorry. This kind of thing is never easy to say,” Brian admitted, apologizing. “Chief Walter Hudson just died in his sleep. He had a massive heart attack,” Brian told them. The man had been a personal friend and the news was hard to deliver.

  “The man who took over Andrew’s place on the force when he retired?” Rose asked. Distressed, she looked at her husband. “Walter wasn’t that old.”

  “No, but he really didn’t take care of himself and he let the job get to him,” Brian told her. “His doctor had been after him for years to lose at least seventy pounds, but we all know how that is,” he said, looking just the slightest bit guilty as he finished his slice of cake.

  “He’s going to be missed,” Andrew commented, shaking his head. It took him a moment to make peace with the news. “I appreciate you coming over to tell me.” He had more questions. “When did it happen? Do you know when the funeral is being held?”

  “It happened last night. The funeral’s scheduled for next Monday. But that really isn’t the main reason why I’m here.”

  “Right, you said you had good news. It’s going to have to be really good to balance this out,” Andrew commented, taking a long drag from his bottle of beer.

  “The police commissioner doesn’t want to leave the position vacated any longer than he has to, so he quickly reviewed the list of possible replacements for Walter that he had on file.”

  “He had a list on file already?” Andrew asked. “The man always believed in overachieving,” he reminisced, his tone somewhat marveled. “So, has he picked anybody? You wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t, right?”

  “Right,” Brian admitted. “All that’s necessary is for the candidate he picked to say yes.”

  That seemed almost like a trivial thing. “So what’s the problem then?” Andrew asked.

  “No problem,” Brian answered. “I just wanted to tell you who it was before the candidate was officially notified.”

  “You’re being awfully mysterious about this, Brian,” Rose observed. And then a leery look entered her eyes. “The commissioner isn’t thinking of asking Andrew to step up again, is he? Because Andrew won’t take it,” Rose said defensively. “Right, honey?” She turning toward her husband for backup. “You’ve done your time.”

  Andrew slipped his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Don’t worry. Those days are long behind me, Rose. I wouldn’t be doing anyone any good stepping into those shoes again.”

  “Not that I agree with you,” Brian told his brother, “but no, it’s not you.” He paused an infinitesimal second then said, “The commissioner wants to offer the position to Shaw.”

  “My Shaw?” Andrew cried. Surprise quickly gave way to a pleased expression.

  “Our Shaw?” Rose asked at the same time, clearly stunned.

  “Yes, ‘your’ Shaw,” Brian confirmed. “Think about it,” he said, addressing his words more to Rose than his brother. He could see that Andrew was happy about this turn of events. Rose appeared to be more undecided about it. “He’s been on the force for a number of years. He gets along really well with the men and he’s got you as an example to follow.”

  “Shaw is his own person,” Andrew pointed out.

  “There’s that, too,” Brian agreed. He was as proud of the appointment as if it had happened to one of his own children. They were an incredibly close family.

  “So, when’s the commissioner going to be notifying Shaw?” Andrew asked.

  “As far as I know,” Brian answered, “he’ll be calling Shaw into his office tomorrow morning.”

  “So I can’t call him until tomorrow morning.” Andrew was more or less confirming that fact rather than asking his brother.

  “No, you can’t,” Brian said firmly.

  “What if he calls us for some reason tonight?” Rose asked, a hesitant note in her voice.

  Andrew looked at his wife. “Rose, Shaw doesn’t check in with us. He hasn’t for years. There’s no reason to believe that he’ll call out of the blue tonight. And if for some reason he does, I’ll be the one to talk to him. I’m a lot better at keeping secrets than you are,” Andrew told her with affection.

  Rose sighed. “Yes, you are,” she was forced to admit.
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br />   That settled, Andrew turned toward his brother. “Well, this calls for a celebration. What’s your preference?”

  “Not to run the risk of having the Chief of Ds picked up for a DUI,” Brian said honestly. “I’ve got to be going, anyway. We’ll celebrate once this is public knowledge,” he promised, getting up from the table. “You’ll have a really big excuse to pull out all the stops for the next family gathering.”

  “Just having family together is enough of an excuse,” Andrew told him with all sincerity as he walked Brian to the door. He clapped his brother on the back. “Thanks for coming by and telling me.”

  “My pleasure,” Brian assured him. “And, oh, don’t tell Dad about this until tomorrow. We wouldn’t want him exploding, trying to keep the secret,” he cautioned.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Andrew said, thinking back. “As I recall, that old man kept a lot of secrets in his time. But don’t worry. I’m not planning on talking to him, either. And neither is Rose,” he added, glancing back toward the kitchen.

  Brian nodded. Just before he turned to leave, he grinned at his brother. “I guess the family tradition continues.”

  Andrew couldn’t have been more pleased. “It certainly looks that way,” he agreed. “Drive safe, now,” he called after his brother.

  “I’m the chief of detectives. I have to drive safe,” Brian told him, waving as he walked to the curb where he had parked his car.

  * * *

  “DON’T GET COMFORTABLE, people,” Carver said as he came out of his office the following morning. “Gather in closer because I don’t intend to yell this announcement out.”

  “That’s a first,” Martinez murmured under his breath.

  Choi was next to him. Hearing his partner, Choi stifled a laugh, ducking his head so that the lieutenant wouldn’t see him struggling not to grin.

  “Everyone here?” Carver asked, glancing around the large room. It was more or less a rhetorical question since most of the squad room looked full. “If you see that anyone’s not here, one of you pass this on to them when they do get in.”