Let Us Give Thanks
Part One
By Gator_xx
The squadroom was eerily quiet. It was always this way on Thankgiving afternoon. The detectives were doing the exact same thing that afternoon as millions of other Americans, stuffed to the gills and flaked out in front of the television. Someone had the bright idea this year to get everyone on the squad that was unlucky enough to pull duty on this holiday to bring in a covered dish and have their own little Thanksgiving dinner in the lunchroom.
It was a safe bet that not much work would be required on this day. Thanksgiving is not the type of holiday where many murders occur. Turkey is filled with L-Tryptophan which produces massive amounts of serotonin in the bloodstream, acting as kind of a massive natural Prozac. Simply too stuffed and mellow to contemplate anything more violent than the various ballgames on the TV.
The members of the Homicide squad unlucky enough to be stuck with duty today , clustered all around the glowing screen of the television, was sadly reduced from the number at the last couple of years Thanksgivings. Frank Pembleton quit the force in disgust after his partner, Tim Bayliss took a bullet that was meant for him. Frank had gone on to open and operate his own home security systems firm, just like Tim had threaten to do many times.
Kay had been transferred out of the department and had bounced around the different squads for some time before returning to the tiny Eastern Shore town she was raised in. Her father had suffered a massive heart attack and needed someone to live in the house and care for him. The choice came down to Kay or her sister Carrie. Carrie was still rocketing around the world, preying on the foilibilities of men and certainly was too flighty to take on the responsibility his day to day care. Kay worked for the State Police office near her home as one of their lead investigators and cared for her father at night.
Mike Kellerman was still Kellerman P.I., working cases in Charm City. He could be spotted all over town working a variety of cases. Kellerman never seemed to change. Laura Ballard found that she missed her hometown of Seattle more than she could bear and had transferred back there after an explosive blow-up with her lover, Paul Falsone. Paul turned out to be the jealous type and was almost stalking her, what a turn-off!
Rene Sheppard was gone. She had started drinking heavily from the stresses of working in Homicide and the trauma of the beatdown. She drank to deal with the shame that she had almost gotten her partner killed. Rene acted all tough but she was very affected by Meldrick's scorn and contempt. It was more than she could stand. Eventually the drinking took over all aspects of her life, leaking into her job performance, turning her investigations into a slip-shod mish-mash. No one wanted to partner with her. One dark night she slipped over the edge to madness and blew her brains out with her service revolver.
Even more tragic was the loss of Tim Bayliss to the squad. After Ryland was found gunned down, Tim had been discovered in a catatonic state in his apartment. Almost everyone thought that Tim was Ryland's murderer but there was only gut instinct, no real evidence to charge him with the crime. After almost 6 months in the Maryland State Hospital, much therapy and therapeutic drugs, Tim was not much better at all. The counselors said that his was one of the most severe cases they had ever seen and no one could give any idea if Tim would ever return to himself.
Gharty left the squad the moved to Taos, New Mexico with Munch's new bride Billie Lou. He had been in the back of the Waterfront Bar on the night of Munch and Billie Lou wedding and had overheard Munch confiding in Lewis about his inability to "perform" on his wedding night. Gharty sunk off in the night like the dog he was and seduced Billie Lou. Munch caught them and threw Billie Lou out. Billie Lou decided it was really Stuart Gharty she loved and they went off to join a commune of performance artists to "find" themselves. Last time anyone saw Gharty he had grown a goatee and a pony-tail and garbed in tie-dye. Sort of a hippie holdout, going thru a second adolescence.
Munch had departed in a state of absolute blue fury from the shortest marriage of his long marital career. Talk about bad luck! That left Meldrick doing all the work at the Waterfront. Short on sleep and money. Meldrick had the place on the market because it was impossible for him to do everything himself. Munch was working in NYC in the Sex Crimes unit, still his same wry self but a little more wary of women in general. That left the unit rather short-handed. Gee had been promised more staff but with the city budget-cutbacks and various other bullshit games the higher-ups played it had not happened yet.
Clustered around the electronic glow of the television were the remaining detectives, Terri Stivers, Meldrick Lewis, Paul Falsone and Little Gee. A pitiful handful compared with the large number that had once populated these halls. Even Big Gee was pressed into investigations because of the manpower crisis.
Everyone sat staring at the screen, even Terri who wasn't really into sports at all. Like an electric shock, the shrill bark of the telephone brought everyone back to life. Mike answered the phone, "Homicide, Detective Giardello speaking." Everyone turned back to the game as Mike took the call and wrote down the info. "Terri, lets roll" Mike said as he strode back into the lunchroom.
"What have we here?" Mike asked as he and Terri made their way into the small, white clapboard house. The officer on duty turned to them and with a sigh told them, "Well, we thought we had a kidnapping ransom situation here. But about 20 minutes ago we found > boy under the crawlspace of the house. " Terri and Mike followed the officer to the back of the house and squeezed threw the gap under the house where the body of a small boy rested. The boy was naked with a noose around his neck, blood pooled beneath his buttocks and a look of utter peace on his face. Terri gasped in shock as she recognized the small boy. Dialing furiously on her cell phone she began to cry. "Paul, this is Terri. We are at your ex-wife's house..........."