chapter 201

word count: 1170

as local law enforcement loaded both jacob and enos into a squad car headed for the station,, algie, still a bit bewildered from his most recent conversation with winnie, found himself surrounded by the very detectives he had come to regard as friends..

“not so quick there, algie, “ gil admonished him in a no nonsense tone of voice.. “i’m afraid we cannot allow you to make off with the diamond just yet.. it is valuable evidence in too many open cases right now,, pricilla’s murder among them,, and i am afraid we have no choice but to demand you turn it over so we can log it into evidence..”

“well certainly, there is no question…” started algie,, but he could tell by the detectives authoritative stance as they closed in on him,, that the only question they had right this minute was whether or not he was going to relinquish the diamond willingly or they were going to forcibly take it from him…

realizing as he did that he would never be able to flee the country,, even if he was by some amazing twist of fate able to subdue the muscle bound detectives before they were able to take him into custody,, algie decided that following protocol in this most unnerving situation was the only thing to do.

he begrudgingly placed the gem into hanks latex covered, outstretched hand,, and looked on helplessly as hank quickly bagged and tagged  the diamond and locked it in the evidence locker in the trunk of the crown vic..

“thanks for making that easy on us, algie..” a visibly relieved gil bettancourt assured him,  as hank nodded in agreement.. “we will of course keep you abreast of any developments in the ongoing investigations,, as well as company policy will allow,, and see to it that the diamond gets back to its rightful owners upon conclusion of the investigations..”

“do you mean to tell me that you will not be returning the diamond to me,, so that i might personally return it to the queen?” a clearly agitated algie retorted..

“i’m afraid that decision will not be left up to us algie,” gil went on to inform him as hank checked and rechecked the security of the lock on the evidence locker, before closing the trunk with a solid thunk..

“due to the fact that the diamond is believed to be of foreign origin,, i am afraid the feds have already been involved..” 

***

meanwhile,, back at the precinct,, detective miller was pacing like a mad bull.. it had taken every bit of restraint he had to remain in the office when gil and hank dispatched to intercept the diamond.. he knew,, he had way too much on the line given the day’s events thus far,, and truthfully,, he didn’t know if he could trust himself out on the street any more.. fact of the matter was,, he didn’t know if he could trust himself in any aspect of his life right now..

the crescendo of today’s events,, there in the wooded area behind the hospital,, had been the culmination of months of upheaval in both his personal and professional life.. the fact that buzz now found himself in a situation where he no longer had any say in the matter,, and knowing as he did that his very career hung in the balance,, was the only thing that kept buzz from exploding like a stick of dynamite and further sealing his fate..

to further add insult to injury,, trudy rounded the corner to his office,, just as the commish was informing him that until a thorough investigation as to the day’s events were completed,, he could consider himself desk bound..

never one to know when to keep her mouth shut,, trudy barged right in on the one sided conversation that was going on between the police commissioner and buzz.. 

“wadda ya mean your assigning my buzz to desk duty!!” she bellowed at the commish, “you evidently don’t know who your talkin’ to here buddy!!”

“and who might i ask are you?” the commissioner barked authoritatively at trudy as she bustled through the office and took a defensive stance at buzzes side..

before buzz could silence her, trudy ripped off, “i got a better question!! who the fuck are you??”

as the commish reached for his shoulder harnessed radio,, more than likely to call upon a wave of law enforcement ordered to take trudy into custody yet again,, buzz jumped in..

“whoa,, whoa,, whoa!!!”” he interjected excitedly before the commish could call for backup.. “i think i can explain this whole thing without further incident!!”

buzz grabbed trudy,, and slammed a hand over her mouth just as she was informing the commissioner that “he was the one that damn well better have an excuse!!”

“you’ve got thirty seconds!!” the commish informed buzz as he focused on his watch,, the hnt of pink quickly turning to scarlett in his cheeks.. “thirty seconds!!”

“ok, “ started buzz as trudy visibly struggled to free herself from the death grip he had on her.. “this is trudy hunt, commissioner,, a civilian,, a personal friend of mine,, and it is evident that she had no idea that you are my boss!!”

trudy did settle down a bit when she heard the words ‘comissioner' and ‘my boss’,, but buzz knew better than to release his grip on her..

“you see commish, i mean commissioner,, trudy here is a little high strung, and for whatever reasons is very protective of me.. however i do believe that had she known the position of authority you hold here, sir, that she would have been more guarded in her approach..”

the commissioner glared at buzz as he made his plea for leniency on trudy’s part,, giving no indication of his mindset as buzz attempted to continue.. “i am sure she would be willing,,,”

“miller!!” the commish barked,, cutting him off entirely.. “you!! her!! outta here before i have you both arrested!!”

“absolutely sir.. thank you sir..” buzz answered respectfully,, as he kept his grip on trudy and dragged her toward the office door.. “you won’t regret this sir!!”

“i already do!!” he thundered as he pushed past buzz and trudy and stormed across the homicide division offices,, every eye in the place diverted so as not to meet with his..

“can’t you ever just shut the fuck up??” buzz asked in what could easily have been mistaken for a tone of defeat,, as he dragged trudy toward the elevator and loudly slapped the down button with his elbow..

intent not to loosen his vice like grip on trudy until they were safely across the parking lot and he was able to load her into the car,, buzz carefully avoided eye contact with gil and hank,, as they shot him bewildered glances from across the parking lot, where they hovered over the crown vic waiting for a uniformed escort into the precinct,, to place the ill-fated diana diamond into evidence..