Burying Ben (9 page)

We look at each other, each of us waiting for the other to say so
m
ething. I pick up the gauntlet. “Okay then, let’s
m
ove on. Every couple has at lea
s
t ten irreconcilable differences. It’s not abnor
m
al to fight, all
c
ouples do. The trick is to repair the da
m
age after the fight. That’s why I’m
recommend
i
ng that you go away together. The chief has given you a week off. You told
m
e you n
e
ver had a honeymoon, so why not take one now?
Given all the stress in your lives, it appears that yo
u
’ve both lost touch with how things were between you when you first
m
et.”

A visible flush inches
up
B
en’s neck, no doubt stirred by thoughts of rekindling their early
days of hot sex. He takes a deep breath and says, “I need to study.”

April rolls
her eyes,
m
aking sure I notice.

“You need a break
m
ore. April’s right, you can’t keep going like this. And April needs a break too.” I look at her for acknowl
e
dge
m
ent. She is exa
m
ining her fingernails. I look back at Ben. ”Being pregnant is not easy. You need to
pay attention to what’s going on with her as
m
uch as she needs to hear what you
’
re going through. Treat yourselves to a change of scenery. You won’t have another opportunity after you go back to work and certainly not after you have the baby. Use this time to slow down and talk. Really talk.“

Ben looks at April. April looks at her
toes.

“Getting your relationship back on track. Is this so
m
ething you want?” I ask them.

April nods. Ben looks down, his shoulders co
m
pressing under the weight of this new task I’ve given him.

I go to
m
y f
i
le and get my handout on active listening skills. “I want you to learn something we call active listening. It’s a si
m
ple way to i
m
prove your
com
m
unication. All it takes is learning to restate what
your partner says and re
f
lect
b
ack their e
m
otions. Take these, too.”

I give them
my handout on problem
sol
v
ing. I feel like a grade school teacher distributing ho
m
e work sheets, only without the purple ink and the s
m
ell of the
m
i
m
eograph
m
achine. I doubt that Ben or A
p
ril ever heard of a
m
i
m
eogr
a
ph
m
achine.

“You need to fix the proble
m
, not the bla
m
e. Problem
solving is easy when you know how. Look at these together
when you get the chance.”

A
l
m
ost two hours have passed. I’m
tired
a
nd I have to pee.

“I’ve given you a lot of things to think about and an unusual ho
m
e
w
o
r
k assign
m
ent – get out of town and have so
m
e fun.” I’m
the only one s
m
iling. “Feel free
to call
m
e from wherever you are, if you want to. Definitely call
m
e when you get
back. We’ll
m
ake another appoint
m
ent before you start with your new FTO.”

They stand. Ben reaches to s
h
ake
m
y hand. “Thanks, Doc. I appreciate everything you
’
ve done. It’s going to be okay. I’m going to be okay.”

April walks out of
m
y
office without a word.

Chapter Seven

There’s an FTO
m
eeting this
m
orning. Sgt. Lyndley begins with two announce
m
ents. Nu
m
ber one – Ben has called in sick after h
i
s week off. This is not good. Rookies would co
m
e to wo
r
k with two broken legs just
to prove how tough and dedicated they are. Especially
B
en.

Nu
m
ber two is a
m
emo from
the
chief. Per our conversation nearly three weeks ago, Baxter is finally getting around to officially authorizing
m
e to
m
eet weekly with all re
cr
uits.

“Any questions?” Lyndley asks.

Eddie stands and turns away from
the tab
l
e. “Yeah. Is there a target on my back
?
”

“I’m
assessing recr
u
its, Eddie, not
F
TOs,” I say.

“So that’s why I have a
new recruit and Go
m
ez, who should be back at
S
afeway polishing apples as soon as he gets over the s
n
iffles, has been assigned to so
m
eone else
?
” He walks toward
m
e. “So you won’t be running
to Lyndley or the chief every ti
m
e my new rookie whines to you that I’m
abus
i
ng him
and that’s why he’s fucking up
?
”

“No I won’t.
W
hat I
m
i
ght have are so
m
e suggestions to
m
ake about
m
odifying your training technique to
m
at
c
h the recruit’s learning style.”

“Modify
m
y
training technique?
Is that all?” He clutc
h
es his
hands to his chest. “Be still
m
y heart
.
”

“Enough, Eddie,” Lyndley says. “If that’s w
h
at the chief wants, that’s the way it is. End of discussion. We got a lot of recr
u
its to review. Let
’
s start with your new guy, Manny Ochoa.”

Eddie sits down, pulls a pair of rea
d
ing glasses from
his pocket and puts them
on. The tiny glasses look co
m
i
cal perched on the e
n
d of his large, knobby nose. He opens a folder and glances at the top p
a
ge. “It’s early days, but act
ua
lly, t
h
e little
beaner’s
doing pretty good. Excuse
m
e. I
m
ean the little bi
-
lingual Hispanic Lat
i
no beaner. He doesn’t say
m
uch, but I think he’s got good instincts
a
nd a taste for the job.
W
e set up in front of a Mexican bar.” He turns toward
m
e
. “FYI,
illegals don’t use banks. They keep all their cash with them
so they can drink it up and
send what’s left back to Mexico. All the crooks have to do is wait outs
i
de the bar until they see one of these rubes weaving ho
m
e on a bicycle and they jump h
i
m
. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel.
W
e made three 211 arrests and threw a few of the beaners in t
h
e drunk tank. All in all, it was a productive evening.”

H
e takes off his glasses. “You see, Doc?
I don’t eat all
m
y young.”

I
’
ll get a chance to see for
m
yself when I
m
eet with Manny and the other recruits.

It is an enormous task, turning a civilian into a
c
o
m
petent p
o
lice o
ff
icer. Common wisdom
says it takes five years to beco
m
e a
good street cop – a hybrid hu
m
an who is part priest, judge, counselor, rescu
e
r and enforcer.
R
ookies h
a
ve just sixteen weeks to
m
e
morize a mountain of codes, laws and poli
c
ies. Sixteen weeks to perfect using the tools
of
the
trade – cars,
r
a
dios,
m
aps, guns, tasers, pepper spray and handcuffs. Sixteen weeks to
m
a
ster officer
s
afety, command presence, defensive tactics, co
m
m
unication skills, report writing and inv
e
stigation. Not to
m
e
ntion the
intangibles like judg
m
ent and intuition.

The first t
w
o rookies I see seem
to be
m
anaging well, nothing but co
m
pli
m
ents for the quality of the training they are recei
v
ing. Despite all the stress of being novices, they are having the ti
m
e of their lives. T
h
eir world is full of novelty and they are intoxicated by their own power. Neither of them
has ever been assigned to Eddie R
i
m
bauer.

Manny is ten
m
i
nutes early for our appoint
m
ent. I
m
otion for him
to take a seat. He waits for
m
e to sit down before he does. He and Eddie are a thoughtless
m
atch, one so big and boisterous, the other compact, quiet, so
m
ber and quite handso
m
e.

“How are things going for you
?
”

“Good. I’m
learning a lot.”

“I hear you’re doing well. Officer R
i
mbauer gave you a good report at the FTO
m
eeting.”

He looks relieved.

“You have very
different personalities and styles, don’t you
?
”

He
s
m
iles for the first ti
m
e.
“
W
ay different.”

“Is that a help or a hindrance
?
”

“Both, I guess. All the
F
TOs have differ
e
nt styles. I learn from everybody. It just takes a little ti
m
e to get
u
sed to a new
FTO.”

“How does Officer Rimbauer co
m
pare to the other FTOs?”

“He’s way more experienced.” He
hesitates
a
mo
m
e
nt. “And tougher.”

“Too tough?”

“No.”

“Do you know Ben Go
m
ez
?
”

“Sure. Nice guy.
W
e study together
so
m
et
i
m
es, that kind of thing.”

“How’s he doing?
I was supposed to
m
eet
with him today, like I’m
m
eeting with all the recruits, but he’s sick.”

Manny shrugs his shoulders. There are s
m
all seeds of sweat
on his upper lip. This is not the direction he expected o
u
r interview to take. “Okay, I guess.”

“Officer Rimbauer has an unusual sense of
humor. I
’
ve heard him
call Ben ‘Mr. Safeway’. Does he tease you, too, or kid around in public?”

He pauses. “No, M’a
m
. Not a problem, M
’
a
m
.”

His face is
u
nreada
b
le. He’s a fast l
e
arner, has
h
i
s professional de
m
eanor down pat. Shrouding his innermost thoughts and fee
l
ings with an impenetrable
m
ask is an essential tool of police
work.
W
ho wants to
s
ee a cop tre
m
ble with
fear? What child molester would confess to so
m
eone who obviou
s
ly finds him repulsive?
Stupid of
m
e to think that Manny or any other rookie would reveal so
m
eth
i
ng about his training officer, especially so
m
ething bad, and especially to
m
e.

“I’ve been asking all the questions, Manny. Do you have any questions
f
or
m
e
?
”

“Just one,” he says, turning to a fra
m
ed black and white photograph of Sig
m
und Freud that Mark had given
m
e when I finished grad school.

“The
guy in the picture? Is that your husband
?
”