Disclaimer: NBC and Wolf Films owns them.
Well, DUH.
Yeah, I know. Real eloquent, Lennie. But seriously,
that's been my opinion on the subject since yesterday
night. My daughter Julia says that whenever she's
amazed at just how dense her old man can get.
I'm kind of amazed myself, actually. I mean... four
years. I never clued in to what are pretty obvious
clues, now that I think about it. And I'm a detective,
have been for years. You'd think that would mean
something. You'd be wrong.
Duh.
He never talked about his personal life, so I thought
he was just kinda private. I knew he was single, so I
teased him about it and implied he probably had an
active nightlife. I mean, I partnered with Mike Logan.
Do that for a couple years, and you're bound to think
it's a law of nature that a young single guy in New
York probably spends most of his off-hours bedding
every available female around. It didn't occur to me
to think there could be any other reason for that
privacy.
There were other clues too, now that I think about it.
A comment here, a look there. Unusual ease with some
situations, unusual discomfort in others.
I dropped by his place unexpectedly last night, even
though I know he doesn't like that - he's given me the
Ed-annoyed look the two other times I've done it in
the last four years. But it couldn't be helped. I was
literally in his neighbourhood when I realized that
our new vic's oh-so-forgiving ex-wife had been lying
through her teeth that morning. She told us she'd seen
him Thursday at nine, in his office. His e-mail
account showed he'd been logged in from home at that
time. God, I can't believe I even know what any of
that means. I guess my last two partners and Julia
have somehow managed to jam something of technology
into my head.
So I got all excited and dropped by to see if Ed
wanted to go pick up the ex for questioning.
If his answering machine has one of those time-stamp
things, and Ed remembers that I looked a little off
when he came out of the washroom (I'm sure I did),
he's plenty bright enough to figure out that I heard
the message that came in. I wonder if he'll say
anything. Something tells me he won't.
The toilet flushed as the call came in, so I know Ed
didn't hear the message himself. Didn't hear a man's
voice on his machine, saying words that, if you were
really, really naïve, you could interpret another way
- I mean, I've heard black guys use that term of
endearment with each other when I knew it didn't mean
anything. But the tone really couldn't be mistaken for
anything other than what it was.
"Ed, it's me. I'm... I'm sorry, babe. You were right,
I had no right to... look, I'm really sorry. Gimme a
call, please. I- I really wanna work this out."
Rating: PG
Summary: Briscoe (Green)
Author's Note: Response to the 500-word "secrets" challenge on therealjae's livejournal. "Pick a fandom. Pick a character.
Describe a moment where that character discovers a secret."
Copyright April, 2003, Cirocco
On to Part Two, Ed's POV, by Cassatt