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I'd been angling to work in Major Crime ever since I received my detective's shield and I was excited as hell the day I was informed that my transfer had been approved. M.C. is the ultimate gig for a detective in Cascade. They get the toughest assignments; some say they only get the impossible cases. Yet the detectives in that department have the highest solve rate in the state. I couldn't wait to be a part of that. There was just one little problem, or should I say one short, long-haired problem. One that went by the name of Blair Sandburg.
I just couldn't figure Sandburg out. I'd heard some of my more dense colleagues in uniform bitch about the kid. They'd complain about his long hair and the sometimes sloppy way he dresses and they'd especially complain about his role as partner to Detective Jim Ellison. Kid wasn't even a cop, they'd moan, but he was treated just like he was one of them. He didn't belong.
I figure there's a reason why some of these guys never made detective, no matter how many times they took the test. There had to be more to Sandburg than what you see on the surface. I'd studied Ellison's career--there was no way he'd allow the kid to tag along with him if Sandburg didn't prove useful. I just wasn't sure what his use was yet, if you get my drift.
Besides, if they were gonna judge a book by its cover, then they should've hated me on sight. Before my transfer to Homicide and my subsequent haircut, I pulled a stint in Narcotics. I wasn't one of the guys who went out and busted the dealers. My talents and my looks made me ideal for undercover work. You know the kind of work where you get up-close and personal in order to ID the guys to bust?
See, going undercover is all about creating an illusion. At least, that's what it's about on short-term assignments. Long term undercover assignments are a whole 'nother story and one that I didn't have any desire to take part in. But for short term assignments I excelled at creating the illusion of being a druggie. I've got a wiry build and with the right clothes I could pull off the underfed look with ease. On a good day my hair was longer than Sandburg's and, when I was creating the illusion, not half as clean looking. While undercover I definitely dressed scruffier and looked seedier than that kid would ever consider looking. So, no, I didn't have a problem with the way he looked. My problem was that he wasn't a cop.
Yeah, I wanted into Major Crime so bad I could taste it. So I made sure I knew how the department ran and who was where on the pecking order. Last man into a department is always low man on the totem pole, no matter how many years he has in. Okay, that's not strictly true, but most guys who have that many years in don't usually shift around. Anyone new coming into a department is bound to have fewer years on the force than most of the other guys who are already there in general, so it just makes sense to ignore total seniority and use ability as the measure, right?
Except for one type of person - the civilian type. Civilians in a department don't count for much in the eyes of most cops, but add in the fact that Sandburg isn't even on the payroll and, well he doesn't get seniority, period. Didn't matter that Sandburg had been working as Ellison's de facto partner for the last year and a half. Far as I was concerned, he was just a civilian who didn't belong and as such he would be below me, far below me, on the pecking order.
At least, that's the way I thought it would be - all the way up until Frank Marquette got the latest transfer to M.C. that I'd applied for. There was only one opening available and the powers that be decided it should be Frank's. I shrugged philosophically and sat back to watch Frank become a part of the Major Crime team and to wait for my shot to come along.
Frank's a good man for a detective coming out of Vice. A lot of those guys get pretty jaded about life. Occupational hazard, I guess. Frank's not like that at all. He's got a decent outlook and his head's screwed on right. Not only that, but he's got a damn good record for bringing cases to closure that actually make it through the courts. Not easy to do in that department. I figured he'd do just fine in M.C. and deservedly so, in my opinion.
Unfortunately Frank thought he had something to prove. He made the mistake of thinking that the way to do that was to establish his spot right away and then settle in to show what a good detective he is. I think you can guess that Frank's idea of the pecking order dovetailed nicely with mine.
Imagine my surprise when I heard that he was transferring back to his old job in Vice after only three weeks in Major Crime. The story I heard was that he decided Major Crime wasn't where he wanted to be and that Vice fit him and he fit Vice. It's not a completely uncommon thing to happen, so everyone pretty much accepted the story. Since I was hoping that I'd get the vacancy in M.C. that Frank left behind, I decided to find out if it was true.
I managed to run into Frank in the break room a couple of days after he was back in Vice. After a bit of chit chat I flat out asked him about his time in Major Crime. He gave me a shrewd look and then sat back in his chair.
"You've put in the for the opening, haven't you?" he asked.
"Yeah." I sipped my coffee. "I know you were only there for three weeks, but I was kinda hopin' you'd feel like talking about what it was like."
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Nah. You want to know if what you've heard is true or if something else went down that made me transfer back to Vice." He smiled to take the sting out of it. "Hell, that's what I'd be wondering if I were in your shoes."
I nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right. So..." I let my voice trail off encouragingly.
He glanced around the break room before he said anything more. I guess he didn't want anyone to overhear our conversation, but we were the only ones there at the moment. "Okay, but if I hear this repeated I'll deny it and I'll come looking for you."
I spread my hands on the table and I put on my most innocent expression. He snorted and shook his head.
"You're a piece of work, you know that Collins? You're a good detective and it's just possible they'll give you that job in Major Crime, so listen up. You don't want to make the same mistake that I made if you want to stay part of that team."
"And what mistake would that be, Frank?"
"Don't mess with Sandburg."
I frowned. "I don't understand."
He sighed. "I know what you're thinking. Kid's just a civilian, not even a paid civilian, for God's sake. Doesn't belong at the P.D., let alone hanging around in Major Crime. We won't even get into the idea of him being partner to the Great Ellison. You're sure the kid must have his uses, probably along the lines of fetching coffee and donuts and stuff, or they wouldn't let him hang around. How'm I doing so far?"
I could feel myself flushing. He'd hit just about every nasty little resentful thought I'd had about Sandburg right on the head. I nodded.
"That's the mistake I made. Every single one of those perceptions and probably a few you've got that I missed is wrong. I was just too stupid not to keep my mouth shut before I figured that out. That kid belongs in Major Crime just as much as any of the detectives that get paid to work there. And make no mistake, he is Ellison's partner. Doesn't matter that he doesn't carry a badge and a gun or collect a paycheck. It's his contributions that count." He tilted his head back and swallowed the rest of his coke, then stood up. He looked down at me, a serious expression on his face. "Before you decide that I'm wrong, you should check out the facts. Look up Major Crime's stats before Sandburg and after. I think you're smart enough to figure out where the difference comes from."
Frank turned on his heel and walked out of the break room, leaving me behind with a lot to think about. He still hadn't told me what really went down, but he'd given me a warning and that was more than he'd had to do. I certainly wasn't going to ignore it if I got the job.
The following Monday I was called into my Captain's office and notified that my transfer request to Major Crime had been approved. Captain Tarnahan wished me well and told me the department would miss me. I could tell that while he seemed genuinely sorry to see me go, that he was also pleased that one of his men had been chosen for Major Crime. His last words to me were along the lines of advising me not to do anything to fuck it up. Believe me, he didn't need to tell me that - I'd already figured that out on my own.
I'd taken Frank's suggestion and checked out Major Crime's statistics for the past four years. Two and a half years without Sandburg and a year and a half with him. All of the stats were impressive. These guys really were the best after all. But there was a noticeable jump in the number of cases closed after Sandburg showed up. Ellison's numbers were at the top of the list - an incredible 85% solve rate after starting to work with Sandburg. His weren't the only improvements. The entire department's numbers were up 35% overall. And, even better, the numbers were consistent quarter after quarter. Whatever Sandburg was doing in Major Crime, it wasn't fetching coffee and donuts.
I pride myself on being a good detective. No matter what the general public thinks, that means keeping an open mind. I'd nearly sabotaged myself before I'd even started in M.C. by making assumptions without really investigating the facts. It was a sobering lesson to learn and I was more than willing to take it to heart. I squared my shoulders and headed for the elevator. It was time to report to my new Captain.
I knocked on Captain Banks' door and heard a deep voice tell me to enter. I walked into the office and realized immediately that I was about to face my first test. Captain Banks sat behind his desk. Leaning on the conference table across the room was Jim Ellison and sitting on the table next to Ellison, legs crossed at the ankle and swinging slowly, was Sandburg. I smiled politely at them and then turned to the Captain.
"Captain Banks? I'm Dave Collins."
Banks rose from his chair. I knew that he was a big man, but that description doesn't nearly do him justice. The guy's huge. He clasped my hand firmly and smiled.
"Detective Collins. Glad to have you with us. I've heard good things about you from Captain Tarnahan." He gestured to the two men behind me. "You might as well meet a couple of your new colleagues."
I turned and heard a deceptively soft voice say, "Jim Ellison."
Ellison held out his hand, but he didn't smile. In fact, his expression was decidedly chilly. I nodded once and shook his hand. When I turned to his partner, I could feel Ellison's eyes on me. Maybe it was my imagination, but I had the distinct impression that I was being judged and that the next few moments might just make or break me in Major Crime.
I didn't hesitate, but reached out my hand. "Mr. Sandburg."
Sandburg glanced at me, surprise written all over his face. He smiled and clasped my hand. "Oh, hey, it's just Blair, Detective Collins."
I returned his smile and said, "Okay, but only if you'll call me Dave."
"You got it, man." He released my hand and grinned at Ellison.
Maybe I was still imagining things, but I'd swear that Ellison's expression had thawed a bit. I turned back to the Captain. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything, Sir, but I thought you'd want me to report in."
Banks nodded. "No problem. We were just going over a case. Should be done shortly. In the meantime, if you'll go out and talk to Rhonda, our department secretary, she'll set you up with a desk and show you where everything is."
I nodded and turned to leave when Ellison spoke up.
"Why don't we have him sit in on this, Sir?"
"Jim?" I think he caught Banks by surprise.
"I know you're transferring from Homicide, but you worked out of Narcotics, didn't you Collins?"
I nodded. "Yeah. I've been in Homicide a little over a year, but I worked Narcotics for two years before that."
Ellison and Sandburg exchanged a look and I'd swear that there was some kind of silent conversation going on between them. It was a bit eery, but I told myself that I was just nervous. I was surprised when Sandburg was the one who spoke.
"He could be a big help, Simon."
Saying that I was shocked to hear Sandburg call the captain by his first name is putting it mildly. The fact that Banks didn't smack him down for it just reinforced that there was more to Sandburg than meets the eye.
Banks sank back into his seat and glanced at me. "Pull up a chair, Detective. Looks like you're on your first assignment."
Turned out that the case involved bringing down Carl Hoffman, the head of one of the major drug syndicates that operates out of Cascade. This was a major deal and I was surprised that only Ellison and Sandburg had been working it up to this point. I was familiar with Hoffman as well as a lot of his players from my time in Narcotics and was able to add my perspective to how they might react to various tactics.
For the next four days I worked with the two of them and I felt like I'd started to make friends with Sandburg. The kid amazed me with his knowledge and ideas - some of them off the wall, but all of them useful if you kept an open mind. Ellison remained reserved with me, as if he was still waiting to see if I was worth getting to know or not.
During it all, I kept observing them. On the one hand, their relationship was about what you'd expect from partners who coincidently also happened to live together. On the other hand, sometimes the two of them were just plain fucking weird. I really didn't know what to make of the odd conversations they had or the way Ellison always seemed to know when Sandburg was about to enter the room. Then there was the way they touched each other. Look, it's none of my business what anyone does outside of work, all right, it's just that they seemed to touch a hell of a lot more than any two men I've ever known. I'm still not sure what to make of it, but frankly, I don't really care.
Finally, though, everything was set up and the time for the bust had arrived. Ellison identified the warehouse where Hoffman had his headquarters set up. I'm still not sure how he did that - that warehouse didn't show up on any of the lists of known properties owned by Hoffman. All I know is that Ellison and Sandburg went on a stakeout by themselves one night and the next morning Ellison was positive that warehouse was the one and that was good enough for Banks.
Most of the detectives in Major Crime were involved in the bust. I expected that Sandburg would be left out, being an unarmed civilian and all, so I was shocked to see him sitting in Ellison's truck at the rendezvous point. I got a sharp elbow in the ribs when Henri Brown noticed me staring at the kid. He frowned at me when I raised my eyebrows.
"Keep your mind on the bust, Collins, and don't stick your nose in where it don't belong. Jim needs Blair here. That's all you need to know."
I blinked a couple of times and then nodded and turned back to listen to the Captain's last minute instructions. I shoved Brown's odd comments to the back of my mind and didn't think about them 'til later, but I did feel a little better to hear that Sandburg would be staying with the Captain, back out of the thick of things. From the looks of it, Ellison liked that idea, too.
The bust was going down, with people yelling and guns going off all around me like I was in the middle of some fucking combat mission, when I heard the Captain yell Sandburg's name. I looked over and there was Sandburg running flat out for Ellison's position. I whipped around and looked for Ellison and saw that he was down. He was clutching his leg and there was blood all over.
I don't know why I did it. I just know that I didn't stop to think - I headed for Ellison, too. I arrived moments after Sandburg. Just in time to hear the tail end of Ellison cussing him out for endangering himself and Sandburg's calm reply that Ellison needed him and could they just get on with it? I skidded to a stop just behind Sandburg and volunteered my help. Ellison pointed over his shoulder at a bomb that was partially hidden by a stack of pallets about 10 yards away and I swallowed hard. I had a clear view of the timer and it read less than 8 minutes.
"Still want to help, Collins?" It amazed me how cool Ellison could sound under the circumstances.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Take Sandburg here and get to cover."
"I'm not leaving, Jim. Not without you." The kid crossed his arms over his chest. I didn't know that it was possible for anyone to look quite that stubborn.
"Chief, I've been shot in the leg. There's no way I'm gonna make it out of here in time. The dials don't go down that far. I should be able to make it to the bomb, though."
I didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but I did know that he was trying to make sure his partner was safe. Gotta admire someone like that. Gotta admire the kid for sticking with him, too.
"You know how to disarm that bomb, Ellison?" I asked.
He gave me a lopsided smile and shook his head. "Not exactly, but I figure my chances aren't bad."
That could only have been for Sandburg's benefit, 'cause I knew better. I could see that the kid wasn't buying it either. I shook my head. "Just so happens that I know a few things about bombs." At their skeptical looks, I added, "I was in a demolition unit in the Navy."
"What do you need?"
"It'd help if I had something sharp." I watched Sandburg shove his hand in his pocket and grinned when he fished out a Swiss army knife. "That'll work."
"What else?" Ellison clutched his leg and gasped. Sweat popped out on his upper lip and his forehead and I thought the guy was gonna pass out.
Sandburg gripped Ellison's shoulder. I could see his lips move, but I'll be damned if I could hear what he said and I was right next to him. Ellison seemed to hear him just fine, though, and it was only a matter of moments before Ellison relaxed and nodded at him. Then he glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. Right. He wanted to know what else I needed. I glanced over at the bomb and then looked back at him.
"Cover me so I can make it there in one piece."
He nodded and Sandburg helped him up to his knees, holding him steady so he could aim his gun. I could see the pain etched on his face, but his arm never wavered.
"Go!"
I took off running while Ellison put down covering fire. To be honest I don't really remember disarming the bomb, but they tell me that I got there and had it neutralized with a minute to spare. It only took the rest of the team a few minutes more to finish rounding up the bad guys, including Hoffman. As soon as the all clear sounded two voices yelled for a medic - mine and Sandburg's.
The next day I went to the hospital to see how Ellison was doing. I wasn't at all surprised to see Sandburg sitting on the bed. They were both turned towards the door as if expecting someone to come in. I was a bit surprised by the genuine smile on Ellison's face when he returned my greeting.
"Thought I'd drop by and see how you're feeling."
"I'm fine. Or I will be when they let me out of here."
"Yeah," Sandburg said, "Jim's not a big fan of hospital food."
"I keep telling you there's something wrong with the Jello. It's not supposed to be blue."
Sandburg shook his head. "Maybe not back in the middle ages when you were a kid--Hey! Watch the hair, man." He grinned at us.
"Speaking of food, think you could get me some juice or something, Chief? Something other than water?"
Sandburg's eyes narrowed, but all he said was, "Sure, Jim. I'll be back in a few minutes. See ya, Dave."
"Blair."
When the door slipped closed behind Sandburg, Ellison cocked his head and smiled at me. "I want to thank you for taking care of the bomb. I don't think I could have gotten to it in time and I doubt that I could have disarmed it even if I had."
I waved a hand. "No problem." I had a feeling there was more to come.
He shook his head and said quietly, "You don't understand. Blair wasn't about to leave. If you hadn't been there..."
I looked at him, really looked at him, and got a flash in that moment of the protectiveness that Ellison must feel for the kid. Like I said before, Sandburg is Ellison's partner in every way except for the badge and the gun. But there's more to it than that, and even if I don't understand what it is, I can recognize that it's deep between them. There was only one thing I could say to the man.
"You're welcome."
The door popped open and Sandburg came in, stopping at the foot of the bed and bouncing slightly on his toes. He had three bottles of juice with him. He leveled a look at Ellison, one of those looks that held a full conversation in it. Funny, it didn't seem quite so weird as it had before. Whatever he saw on Ellison's face seemed to satisfy him and he turned to me.
"Good, you're still here," he said and handed me one of the bottles. "I brought one for you just in case."
"Thanks." I twisted the top off and a thought occurred to me. "By the way, this wasn't a typical week for you guys, was it?"
Ellison chuckled and Sandburg nearly choked on his juice.
"You know, Chief. I think Collins here is gonna do just fine in Major Crime."
Sandburg grinned at me. "I think you're right, Jim. I think you're right."
That was the moment that I knew that I'd been accepted as part of the Major Crime team. Funny thing is, they never did answer my question.