Lost: you were always on my mind

Never a dull moment ‘round the 7^th precinct, things are getting upgraded.

Looks as if everything is getting an upgrade, except maybe Whitehead. Had ourselves a little friendly wager to see how our shooting skills were. Hate to mock the old crank but Whitehead was on the rusty side of his game. He blames our “new” guns. Sometimes it’s just too easy to mock the old man.

Seems my gun was doing just fine.

In Whitehead's case, I suspect the wind affected it?

Or maybe the fluorescent lights were causing a glare.

Maybe the sound of gunfire was distracting?

He swears he's a crack shot. He wouldn't be a

SWAT sniper but I wouldn’t call him a bad shot.

We got issued new phones, too. I could really do without a "smart" phone, mine was working just fine but it’s mandatory. Hope old Whitehead can adapt. He’s got Neanderthal thumbs. I wonder if there is an app for that. Whitehead's take on the new department issued phone: "That’s all i need, something else that doesn't work."

Our case was a bit of a stretch this time 'round. Concerned father looking for his daughter, turned out to be a bit of a puzzle. We had no real leads or hard evidence. Whitehead had his doubts that Lt. Rice would even let us investigate but I figured it was worth a try. Luckily, she was feeling gracious and let us go with our hunch. That should have tipped me off that something else was on her mind.

Hate to admit the new issued phones came in real handy. Was able to get info on a suspect and take a photo to give us cause to keep digging. It lead our first suspect, a real class act. Honestly, he was just a run of the mill asshole. Unfortunately, being one is not against the law. Luck would have it we had enough to hold him mean time.

Soon our case was piecing itself together; the only problem was Whitehead was stuck on his inability to “adjust” to his new gun. It was not sitting well with him. He had to qualify on the range in order to retake the lieutenant’s exam. His reasoning “It's Rice, the way she keeps hounding me. She’s all in my head.” I mention that Sutton was the best shot in the department but Whitehead would rather wait for hell to freeze over before he went to him with hat in hand. Stubborn old crank.

Another thing to crop up was Lt. Rice. Something was frustrating her and she was taking it out on us. She was ready to have us move on but I had enough to keep us on the case. The only problem was she was acting stranger than usual. Her moods swung faster than a screen door. I got Sutton to looking into it.

"We have suspects but no hard evidence. We got a murder, no body. Do we even have a damn case?"

Personal is personal till it starts leaking all over the office. I had to step in. Turns out all she really needed was a little venting. Her and her daughter hadn't talked in over a year and now her daughter was getting married. For once the Lt. was out of the loop. I could see the hurt on her face, made me a bit uncomfortable. Women’s emotions are a bit testy at times. But we cleared the air. We were also able to solve our case.

Is that your way of asking me for help?

Whitehead swallowed his pride and asked to see Sutton’s "style".

Hope Sutton wears his vest to the range;

Whitehead can get pretty testy there.

You shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Sutton may look goofy but he's capable. Turns out Sutton did have some pointers for the old crank.

"Shooting is not in the hand. Its in the mind."

Sutton family secret: Keep an empty head.

Who knew there was so much wisdom in such an empty head?

Not everything can be as clear cut as Sutton's advice. Life can be messy and there's not always a solution. Yet, sometimes things have a way of working themselves out. I helped a girl find hope to start again. Sutton was able to clear Whiteheads mind. And Lt. Rice was able to make amends. Not all things are perfect but we can always work to find those things we’ve lost.

Inside Man

Two is a coincidence, three is a crime spree.

Whitehead’s been grinning like an idiot. He ain’t been himself last few days and now he’s gotten himself a facial. Its put a nice shine on his face. It's also amplified that silly joker smile that's on his face. It has been a bit unnerving.

First you mock, then you beg? Think I’ll keep mocking.

He said he was re-branding himself.

'Cause, he was talking about having a glass is half full attitude.

I’m thinking the glass is half full of bourbon.

Whitehead acting out of sorts didn't help; we then had a consultant added to our workload. This all came on us after Lt. Rice told me about the mayor offering a reward for information leading to the solving of our case. She doubted the chaos it would cause. I was right and boy did they come out the wood work.

It wasn't a total loss, Keith Grant had some helpful info to follow up on but I couldn't help being suspicious. Keith believed it could be the Fox Meadow gang out of retirement. Whitehead dug into his past and he came out clean. Still, I believed he was either in on it or just some total nut-job. He knew too much and was acting mighty casual. A bit eager too, but we had nothing on him.

Turns out Keith was quite useful after all since he had several journals detailing the investigation of the Fox Meadow break-ins 10 years back. But we couldn't get a warrant and he wasn't looking to being generous seeing as he was looking more like a suspect than an informant. Something really irked me about him and whitehead’s weirdness was adding to my discomfort. We brought him in and he was helpful. I, also, noticed he had a shining to the lieutenant. Wish I could have exploited that some how but I got stuck with him while she and whitehead did some PR work to calm down the high society of Memphis.

After sending him home for the day, Keith got jumped at his apartment. Whoever got him, cleaned him of all his journals. He couldn’t give us a lead but I was able to shed some light on why Keith was so obsessed with the Fox Meadows burglaries. I let him stay at my place till things cooled down. He’s a grabby little man, worse than a 5 yr old. He’s very particular about his things but all hands when it comes to other’s things. He does good detective work; he's just a strange little man. He requested I sing to him.

My next issue was finding out what was going on with whitehead. He was just not himself. I had to confront him. I told him I figured something was wrong after I read a report he had written up on something he did solo. He was defensive about it. I knew there was something eating at that crank. I got him to admit he was just concerned with his age and that re-branding wasn't the answer. We had become better policemen with time even if we had lost a step or two.

Gave him a little pep talk between friends and he was the “old” whitehead,

ready to bust doors and catch bad guys single handed.

Well, we closed both the cases and both Keith and whitehead proved to come out better for it, despite the quirks. Unfortunately, Keith wanted more than just a pat on the back. He caught me off guard by asking to be deputize. I agreed to it but he saw right through me as I fumbled through the oath I was making up on the fly. I did notice he walked away a bit smug as he mentioned the 50k reward. To me, seeing Lt. Rice squirm at her desk as Keith serenaded her was reward enough.

At the River

Well, this week was a tough one. First being that a fellow policeman was shot and killed, to make matters worse he was under investigation by the IA.

Second, me and Whitehead were split up much to his chagrin and moreover that he was "stuck in the car" with Lt. Rice, who was egging him on about becoming Lt. himself, for her gain not his. I got "stuck in the car" with, Det. Claire Ryan pretty little lady but tough as nails and not too keen on Memphis' good eats. We were working the IA claim but it seemed not from the same stand point. Furthermore, this case was hitting close to home.

See, Officer Ekler not only left his wife a widow but also left behind a son. I don't have to remind y'all that my daddy served well for Memphis and was killed in the line of duty.It got me wondering how tough it was on momma, she said "you know, when an officer falls I always try to pay my respect".

Her words got me thinking. Was it hard for her when she went to a policeman’s funeral? Did she remember daddy’s funeral? Why she would put herself through that grief all over again, only momma would be sure of it.

She was sweet enough to bring me daddy's service hat as I had missed placed mine somewhere between divorcing and moving out from Alex's place.

This became a case of needle in a haystack as we tried to find what really was going on with Officer Ekler and his involvement with a white supremacist militia resistance. The evidence was causing doubt and suspicion but I had bound myself to find the truth.

I feel my manners were a bit on the wayside seeing as the wake was the night before and the following morning she caught me with my pants down, literally. Which may or may not have been the reason me and Ryan almost got ourselves blown up.

The funeral was tough of us all, especially me. I couldn't help but see myself in Jack Ekler's eyes, unsure of what it all meant. He was quite impressive. He didn't want to be there but stood strong next to his mother. Couldn't help feeling sorry for the poor kid.

Toughing it out at a fellow policeman's funeral is no easy feat but getting popped in the jaw by a suspect is all together unexpected. When trying to get information from a suspicious person in the south, be sure to stay clear from any mention of his mother. Not to worry, he was wrangled up and Whitehead proved himself invaluable to Lt. Rice with some damn fine police work in the interrogation room.

Which lead me to a stakeout with Ryan, we did some chatting while she took pictures; she asked me why I sing. Small talk I guess, since these were tight quarters.

Then things got a little personal between us. Not sure it was meant to happen but it was enjoyable to see her blush.

As the evidence made things clearer, we realize that poor Ekler was just collateral damage. Things slowly came together in the end. The picture was bigger than we had anticipated. We all came out of it none the worse for wear. We got justice and our perp. Sadly, that too hit close to home for the Eklers.