by Lou Allin
Another few sentences and she knew the worst. Her hand shook as she picked up a pen. A cold sheen spread on her forehead. She willed herself to concentrate as the words “weak in the knees” took a new meaning.
“Excuse me, but can you please slow down and repeat that, ma’am? You got a call from the … Deputy Commissioner?” Was it about her request for testing that scrap? Why would such an insignificant request trigger an attack from the highest levels? The voice on the other end kept talking over her until she heard Chirakumar Singh. His real name, one he’d left behind at twelve, sounded unfamiliar, like a stranger.
But if this were a complaint, why start so high? Proper protocol started with the detachment commanding officer, namely her. There was a five-page form online that could be mailed in. “Too damn easy,” many officers complained. In a new era of total transparency, it seemed as if the public was encouraged to make complaints.
Then the bombshell dropped, and if she thought that she’d suffered a blow, she’d had no idea. Chipper was being charged with assault. And even worse, sexual assault.
She struggled to maintain a professional tone with the proper submissive behaviour, trying not to choke on her words. “My gosh, I mean, not Constable Singh? No way in the world that he could have assaulted a young girl. Entirely impossible. I’ll stake my career on it.” An out-of-body experience took her to another place. She was listening but not hearing.
In the torrent of forceful words that followed, Holly swallowed back the urge to scream. Details included his touching the girl’s breast, an offence so far from his character that it made her nauseous with outrage. Trying to kiss her as he backed her up against the car. Issuing threats like “I’m an officer. No one’s taking your word against mine. Cooperate and maybe I’ll forget about your tickets.” Calling her “slut” and “whore.”
“We are not talking about mere brusque language, something open to misinterpretation, or mere hurt feelings. This involves a violation of the Criminal Code. Am I being clear?”
“Yes, I do under … He’s been a by-the-book man from day one. I get compliments about him every week. Why …” Now she was babbling.
Hearing a “that’s quite enough,” she shut up before she got into more trouble. Why make it worse for him? Then there was a pause even more ominous than the stun-gun words.
“I’m not sure I like your attitude, Corporal Martin. Remember who you are talking to. It’s a fait accompli. Charges have been filed. We are wasting no time. Justice will not come slowly here, nor let it be said that we place a curtain over our activities. Complete disclosure and responsibility are our watchwords. We’re going to fast-track this.”
Holly swallowed as her heart thumped in protest. If she didn’t defend her own team, who could? Would Chipper have an appointed lawyer? What kind of decent counsel worked for the RCMP anyway? Some public-defender that couldn’t cut it in the outside world? Clearly the force was speeding up the handling of complaints to please an angry public that had accused it of protecting its own. She juggled choices for the right tone in her reply, but her knee was jumping spastically as if she’d escaped a head-on crash. “My apologies, ma’am. We’re very close here. I mean my staff. There are only three of us, so we …” She had no idea whether to say commander, superintendent, or Your Grace.
Holly’s superior lowered her voice, and the words came slowly like hot coins dropped into her hand. “I don’t need to tell you that the force has had a sh … a lot of bad publicity the past few years. This we don’t need. And with a minority group. Very damaging. Do you see what I am driving at? Or are you being deliberately obtuse?” The force was still in the Middle Ages as far as visible minorities. Only 6 percent across a country where multiculturalism was legion.
Chipper’s race has nothing to do with this bullshit. Keeping her temper was getting tougher. “Isn’t he innocent until proven guilty?” Suddenly she heard the toilet flush and covered the receiver. Ann returned with a puzzled expression fast turning to concern. She had probably been following the one-sided conversation. Holly motioned her to a chair, and their eyes met. Holly hit the speakerphone.
“Don’t read the law to me, officer. This case is very high-profile. Dr. Buckstaff is a close friend of the mayor as well as members of the provincial parliament. He’s on a number of influential boards outside the university. We want it expedited. Not one T is to be left uncrossed.”
Holly felt like asking why a minority group would need rules any more stringent that the majority’s, but she held her tongue. She tried to recall what Chipper had said. He’d been upset, but she trusted him as much as she trusted herself, her father and mother. Chipper was family.
“If you please, superintendent. He told us everything about that encounter as soon as he returned. He said that the girl had been very upset, in fact rude, about the ticket. She even shoved him and made threats. He did everything according to the rules. Naturally she couldn’t be allowed to drive home herself in any case. Dr. Buckstaff came and got her and the car. He was very belligerent to our officer.”
“Did you ever take a law course? That’s pure hearsay. Totally useless. Don’t tell me you’re not prejudiced in his favour. I wouldn’t expect you to say anything else. Things are close in small detachments like yours. It breeds a certain slackness.” What did she mean by that? Or was Holly being super-sensitive?
“I …” Blisters of rage crept up the back of her shirt like the Tingler in that fifties horror movie her father loved. Why say more and risk infuriating the chief super? Suppose Holly had been the one with the bogus charge? How would Chipper and Ann handle it? She clamped her jaw and listened for instructions.
“He’s to report to the deputy commissioner in Vancouver tomorrow morning first thing. Pending that interview, he’ll be placed on administrative leave until …”
“Leave?” A worm of a vein pounded in one temple like some vascular alien. Aside from accusations short of murder, serious assault or theft, she’d never heard of this strong a step.
The voice softened a fraction of a degree. Coming from a woman, it was like being lectured by your mother. At least the chief super wasn’t talking down to her. “You didn’t hear this, do you understand? Some very high cards are being played. We are not talking about sloppy paperwork or rough language. There will be a hearing, and we’ll proceed from there. If disci …”
Despite struggling for control, Holly couldn’t help herself. “You mean there’s an outside chance of disciplinary action? Why that’s just … and according to protocol, as his commanding officer, aren’t I supposed to conduct the initial …”
“Corporal Martin. If you please!” A pause and a sigh. “As I have already explained, if you’d been listening, your detachment is far too small and your relationship far too close for you to do the investigation. How do you think that would look to the civilian world? Constable Singh’s case will be handled initially by an expert squad from West Shore headed by two detectives. We can’t afford a single error. It’s been suggested that we convene a special tribunal consisting of law enforcement people outside the RCMP. That would be in Vancouver, of course, using their people for impartiality. Then we won’t be accused of bias in protecting our …”
“So he’ll be on administrative leave here in Fossil Bay?”
“Of course not. Corporal Troy handles your deskwork. He’ll be at West Shore, probably reading cold cases, someplace out of the normal channels for his own protection. It’s more convenient for the investigation to have him closer to the proceedings. Where is he now? Put him on the line. I’ve wasted enough time with you.”
Somehow she had to stop her voice from quivering. They needed a united front. “He’s out … checking on a noise complaint. Not far. I’ll radio for him to come in ASAP.” She heard a few more words she couldn’t decipher, then all was silent. She stared at the receiver as if it were a live and venomous thing. Ann came over and took it out of her hands with one gentle motion, listened, and then hung up.
Holly sat at her desk, astonished beyond words. There was no way that Chipper was guilty of anything more than too much patience under pressure. She’d seen him talk down unruly drunks, break up rowdy groups of teenagers on the beach, and even collect the same cat from the same tree four times, without breaking into a sweat. He knew that he had to work twice as hard as the next person did, just as she and Ann had in their early days. That made the victory against the odds all the sweeter. But now it had come back to bite him. How fragile was the status quo when hard-won gains could evaporate like a frost on the February grass once the sun was up.
“It’s bad, then,” Ann said, folding her hands in her lap, though the whiteness in her fingers revealed tension. “I just caught the second half.”
“They want him over in Vancouver first thing tomorrow morning.”
“My God. This is serious.”
“On disciplinary charges.” She gave a sigh that passed all understanding. “Sexual assault. Jesus.”
Ann started to her feet, but a wince revealed that she regretted the fast move. Her back didn’t take kindly to unplanned movements.
“Take it easy, Ann. I don’t want you out, too.” After those eternal minutes on the phone, her own face and ears were approaching code red.
“No worries. I’m relaxed now. Boil has dropped to simmer.” Ann spread her hands in a placatory gesture. “Now would you please tell me what in the hell they are talking about? Chipper would never do anything to jeopardize his career. Not if they applied hot irons to his bare feet.”
“You heard him yourself. It’s about that girl he stopped. The one with the mouth.” She gritted her teeth until the molars shrieked for mercy. Smoking seemed like a good idea. That and a tumbler of scotch. The few facts from the chief super came out fast as Ann frowned. “So I don’t know what to think. It wouldn’t be the first time a civilian pulled something like this just to make trouble. But why did Chipper have to draw this little viper?”
“Bad luck, that’s all. To take it this far, she must be a very disturbed girl. Even if you’d been on duty, something similar might have happened, the sex charges aside. We’re talking ego here. These people make their own law. Sociopaths in training. They may seem as slick as silk, but cross them at your own peril. Once I knew a man who …” She let her voice trail off and waved aside her comments.
“You got that right. She’s batshit crazy. A good man’s career is in jeopardy.” Chipper had just started out. He’d invested his whole life in his job. And for this?
“Now that I think about the situation, the father and all, it’s common for young people to invent excuses or fabricate when they’re afraid of a parent.” Ann rubbed the bridge of her slightly pointed nose where her reading glasses had left a groove. Her intelligent eyes were calm and assertive at the same time.
“Her father’s behind this. I’d bet the farm. He must have pulled plenty of strings in the old boys’ club to go straight to the top. Naming connections like that. And to get the chief super on board so damn fast.” She took another gulp of breath. “I’m going to ask Dad if he knows Buckstaff. That might give us an advantage if there’s a way to fight.”
“Make haste slowly, as the saying goes. Everything we do has to count for our friend. We can’t have anyone getting the idea that he’s getting preferential treatment. What a hell of a night he’s going to spend worrying. Poor guy.”
It warmed her that Ann called him a friend. They weren’t merely ships that passed in the day or night, but linked to each other. Their lives might one day depend on it. “How will he tell his parents?”
“No worries there. Like us, they know their boy.” She paused to reflect. “But they aren’t familiar with the RCMP and its protocols. Do you know that he will have to testify, like in the military? He doesn’t have the right to remain silent and all those protections under normal law.”
“Where’s a union when you need one? That alone should be a violation of the Charter of Rights. What a mockery of justice. And put on leave, too. How long will this investigation take? A few days is one thing. But there could be delays of weeks, even months.”
“Despite what the chief super said about fast-tracking, don’t get your hopes up about a quick end. They’re going to be extra cautious with this baby. Count on it that they will be going over his service record with the finest comb they can find. If there’s anything in his past, the other side will pounce. It’s probably better that he keeps busy and doesn’t stew at home.”
Holly felt as if she were riding an elevator and the cables had failed. They hadn’t landed yet, but the result was not going to be good. The old saying about a head being bloody but unbowed made sense. “Ann,” she said. “Do you remember when he told us about his first posting in Prince Rupert, before he went to Saskatchewan?”
Ann nodded warily. “I see what you’re getting at.” Chipper had had a run-in with a grizzled old sergeant who bore a serious prejudice against the First Nations and anyone with a darker colour. On two separate occasions First Nations men had been found frozen in the middle of nowhere. Some suspected that he’d picked them up drunk in town and left them to die with no witnesses, but nothing could be proved. He’d given Chipper some of the worst schedules and made him redo reports for the most spurious reasons. Bearing his cross silently, Chipper had never complained. The man had retired not long after but had many cronies still at the detachment. Luckily his kind was disappearing, but old boy connections ran deep. If he were contacted on this matter….
“And our staffing. With only two of us …” Her leg was bouncing from adrenaline and inaction. If she didn’t get out of here and run off some energy … “What a total idiot I am, worrying about schedules when Chipper is in trouble.” Her voice came close to breaking. “Do you think one of us should offer to go with him to the hearings? Moral support and all that?”
“What are you talking about? This isn’t a high-school detention. He’s a man. We have a detachment to run. What about that attack at French Beach? A united front is important. We need to show confidence in him. Don’t act like there’s any possibility that this won’t be over soon and entirely in his favour.”
Holly stood up like a chastened pup and shook herself. “I know. I know. You’re right. I’m not showing much faith. It rattled me speaking to the chief super. She’s like God almighty.”
“Much more powerful. She knows when you’ve been bad and good, as the saying goes.” Ann’s voice soothed like warm butterscotch. “Settle down. Let’s put on a brave face for him.”
“Better men than Chipper have been victimized by conspiracies. Even cleared from scandal, their lives never resumed in the same way. Like a wound that never heals. A scab that …”
Ann raised her voice for the first time to Holly. “Would you stop it? He’ll read you in ten seconds.”
“You’re the boss.” She tried for a half smile but was unsuccessful. Ann was holding the place together as if she had been born to the job. Holly had taken it from her.
With a matter-of-fact voice on the radio, Ann told Chipper to return. She gave Holly a steely look and slapped a hand on the table for emphasis. “Buck up, baby. It’s showtime. Let it be said that this was our finest hour.”
It seemed forever before they heard the rasp of pebbles from the car pulling into the parking lot. His favourite rock station clicked off. Chipper’s light steps tripped up the wooden steps. The door opened and closed.
He saw them both standing there, looking at each other, then at him. Putting his hands on his hips, he looked puzzled, as if they might be playing a joke on him. “I was supposed to be out until five. What’s going on? Did something happen? I didn’t hear any sirens. Hey, is this an early birthday party? It’s not until next month. What did you get me? Socks again?”
Holly opened her dry mouth, but no words came.
“Listen, constable. We don’t have much time,” Ann said. Like a professional poker dealer, she laid out the situation slowly and deliberately. As Chippe
r’s face lost colour and his muscles tensed, Holly swallowed back doubts. Ann’s tone was so strong and dependable that Holly would have followed her to the ends of hell and back. But how could they fight these outrageous charges?
CHAPTER NINE
“You two have to be joking,” Chipper said when Ann finished. “I can take it, but this really isn’t funny.” Holly blinked again and shook her head.
“It’s true,” Ann added. “Damn it all. We’re both so sorry, man.”
At first he felt like a soldier whose badges and stripes had been ripped from his uniform after a court martial. And a hearing. That wasn’t even a trial. Then he began pacing. He could see his fist smashing into the drywall. What good would that do? His speechlessness was probably making him look guilty. Stop it, he screamed in his head. Holly and Ann were on his side.
“This is total garbage,” Holly said, hand on his shoulder as she looked at his wounded eyes. “That will be obvious to anyone who knows you.”
Ann came over in a rare personal gesture. She wasn’t the type for group hugs, but thumped him on the back. “One of my colleagues had to go through this in Wawa once. He was alone in the detachment when a bored teenager came in and chatted him up. He was new and wanted the local kids to like him. Luckily her girlfriend stepped forward with the real story. Nothing happened. He had sent her home after only five minutes.”
Chipper thought that Ann had told that anecdote before, but with a different ending. Was she lying to give him confidence? Holly stood by with her hands folded, but he could see the muscle tension. She wasn’t correcting Ann. A lump formed in his throat as he realized that they were supporting him the only way they could.
Ann made a few notes to herself as she sat straight in her chair. “Remember that we’re dealing with a teenager. Chances are that the girl will fold under questioning. She’ll see the seriousness of what she’s done. Maybe the mother will get into it, too, if she knows her husband’s grandstanding. I’ll try to pick the brain of one of the lawyers at the old HQ on the mainland. It’s better than the old days when you could get canned for nearly anything.” Conservative forces said that unionizing would make the RCMP look like a bunch of dockworkers. Even the rank and file were divided on the idea.
