chapter 211

word count: 1145

with trudy adamant that she had no intention of pressing charges against buzz, hank included a request for a female officer to arrive on scene ASAP when he called in the APB for buzz, and a bus to transport trudy to new albany general so that her wounds could be assessed, but more importantly properly photographed and officially documented..

hank decided letting the female officer break the news to trudy that even without her formally pressing charges,, buzz would indeed be charged with domestic battery.. having taken a step back, hank was able to see that what gil had said was true,, he was too emotionally involved with both the victim and the predator in this case to see to it that proper procedure was followed to the letter..

‘the predator..’ hank formed the word with his mouth,, but seeing as how he had always respected buzz, if only as a brother in arms,, even now he could not bring himself to say it aloud. there was no way of avoiding the fact that buzz had always been a predator. in fact it was exactly that inborn predatory nature that had made him such a good cop.. no,, a great cop.. buzzes arrest and conviction rates had proved that time and time again.. his ability get inside of the perps head in order to bring closure to a number of high profile cases had sealed the deal,, not only within the department,, but also in the eyes of the people of new albany..

hank had to keep reminding himself to focus on the situation at hand.. it wasn’t easy though because he couldn’t stop thinking about jeannie.. not only how he much he resented buzz for causing her so much pain and anguish over the course of their life together,, but how he hadn’t even allowed her death the dignity it deserved,, by not only maintaining,, but flaunting his relationship with this idiot piece of ass, trudy hunt.. the same woman he was fucking around with while jeannie struggled alone with her terminal diagnosis..

hank remained indignant over buzzes relationship with this trudy broad.  truth be told he would have liked the opportunity to smack a little sense onto her himself,, but that did not, or should not overshadow the fact that a crime had been committed here,, and even though trudy was unwilling to formally press charges,, once buzz was located and taken into custody,, the state would pick up the case..  it was mandatory  in all cases where physical injury was evident in a domestic dispute,, one of them was going to jail.. and in this case,, it was going to be buzz…

as in the distance, the sound of sirens filled the cold night air, hank moved back toward buzzes abandoned car as he knew trudy was gonna put up a fight when the female officer informed her that despite her unwillingness to file the necessary charges,, the case would continue to be prosecuted by the state.

as he approached, he motioned for gil to step away from trudy,, so he could update him on what was about to take place.. even though gill was still a little bit fired up about what he saw as hanks personal vendetta against buzz,, he nodded in agreement when hank informed him that it would be safer for both of them to allow an impartial female officer to write up the case,, as well as follow up with trudy during her trip to the hospital..

as the patrol car and the EMT’s pulled up on the scene,, trudy became visibly incensed..

“what the hell are they doing here?? i told you i am not filing charges!!! i don’t need no lady cop trying to push me into something you both know i have already refused to do!! you guys know me, and you’re supposed to be buzzes friends!! how dare you involve some uncalled for uniform in our personal business!!”

“take it easy there trudy, “ gill spoke in a soft comforting monotone.. “we do know you,, and we are buzzes friends,, but we're homicide,, and since there is no homicide involved in this case, we need to follow departmental procedure and let the case be documented by the first responders,, who in this case just happen to be officer nelson here and the EMT’s..”

“i don’t need no EMT’s.. i am fine!! i am not going to any hospital,, and i sure as hell am not discussing anything with this, this,, beat cop!!” trudy screamed at the across the parking lot as she retreated to buzzes car..

as officer nelson came to realize that the victim she had come to document was none other than ‘the trudy hunt’,, she could be overheard calling for backup.. trudy’s reputation with the department,, long preceded her,, and officer nelson was not so naive to think that she had what it was gonna take to subdue this already combative victim alone..

before the required back up even arrived,, trudy had locked herself in the car,, from which, and true to form, she could be heard blasting everyone within earshot with vile obscenities..

“we’ll wait till you get some reinforcement,, and then we gotta take off.. one of our own, detective buzz miller is the perp in this case,, and he is still at large.. we’d like to be the unit to intercept him as we think he will take more kindly to being transported  by us because we have all worked as a team for so many years.. at least we hope so..” hank informed officer nelson,, and the EMT’s who were all impatiently aware that they were essentially on hold till back up arrived..

“sorry to dump this one on you guys, as we both know firsthand how hard it is gonna be to reel this one in,, but we got bigger fish to try and keep out of the frying pan at the moment..” gil added regretfully.

“don’t worry about it,” officer nelson said reassuringly. “we got this.. just another night on the job..”

when at last back up arrived on scene,, both gil and hank were happy to see the responders to officer nelsons call for back up were a couple of buff young officers who had both been on the job long enough to be pissed off at the world,, and know better than to show any mercy..

as hank and gill said their goodbyes and loaded into the crown vic,, intent on finding buzz before any street patrol did, gil said, “thank god that one is out of our hands..”

“god damn right!” hank agreed emphatically, as he put the petal to the metal and took off in the direction of the seedy underbelly of new albany that they both knew lay just on the other side of the heavily wooded area trudy had informed them that buzz had last been seen disappearing into…