For the next few weeks, Casey and Helen were civil to each other. Casey even occasionally flirted subtly but Helen never participated. But the little twitch from the side of Helen’s mouth was enough encouragement.
Sam was sitting at the counter when a police officer from another station walked in.
“Where’s Sergeant Taylor?” she demanded.
“Umm, she’s out at the moment.”
“Right…. What about Constable Mitchell, is she in?”
“Yes…. Why?”
The woman leaned over the counter, “None of your fucking business constable, where can I find her?” she growled louder.
Sam swallowed nervously, “She’s getting dressed, in the change room, over there.”
Casey did up her pants and put on her blue shirt when the door slammed open and closed with a click.
Casey looked over, then up to the ceiling.
“Great, ” she hissed. “Sarah, what are you doing here?”
Casey continued doing up her shirt as Sarah came to stand next to her.
“Why don’t you return my calls? What’s wrong, am I not good enough for you?”
Casey closed door to her locker, “I told you that night, it was only going to be sex.”
“Well thanks, but didn’t you think I might have wanted to catch up again. I would like to show you a good time again?” Sarah touched side of Casey’s face.
Casey backed away, “Sarah, I have to start my shift.”
“You can’t blow me off, you know how I feel about you baby,” whined Sarah.
Casey was starting to feel uncomfortable by Sarah’s unwanted attention.
“Look I have to go, ” Casey headed to the door but Sarah slammed her against the lockers.
“Just fucking listen to me for a minute, ” yelled Sarah.
Sam could hear the commotion and was concerned at the yelling. She knocked on the change room door.
“Is everything alright?” she asked, trying to push the door open, but finding it locked.
Sarah had her baton up to Casey’s throat, pushing against her airway hard.
“I’m sick of you girls screwing me around. You get what you want and discard me like some old used up rag.”
“Sarah… stop, ” breathed Casey, her face going blue.
Sarah slammed her baton into Casey’s stomach, doubling her over.
Sam tried the door again. She could hear the officers growling and the sound of a locker being slammed hard. Just then, Helen came through the door with Charlie.
Sam grabbed Charlie, panic in her voice: “Something bad is happening in the women’s locker room. Another officer is in there yelling at Casey, I can’t get in.”
Helen tried the door, command in her tone: “This is Sergeant Taylor, open this door now.”
Casey had tears in her eyes as she looked at the gun pointed at the side of her head, “Please don’t, ” she whimpered.
Helen heard Casey’s pleas, “Open this door right now!”
Helen turned to Charlie, “Break this bloody thing down.”
Sarah re-holstered her gun and slammed her fist into Casey’s stomach and then across her face just as the door was kicked in. Casey fell to the floor, hands covering her face.
Charlie restrained Sarah as she struggled, “Get the fuck off me. Helen, get this ogre off me!”
Helen looked at Sarah in disbelief then looks down at Casey, her face bleeding, “What the hell have you done, Sarah?”
Sam grabbed a cloth and held it to Casey’s nose. Helen grabbed Sarah’s gun and baton.
“Charlie put her in an interview room. I’ll deal with her after.”
“Helen, don’t be ridiculous. Come on, Casey was being unreasonable, she knows I love her. HELEN!” Sarah screamed as Charlie dragged her off.
Both Sam and Helen brought Casey to her feet and helped her sit on the bench, her entire body trembling.
“Shall I call an ambulance?” asked Sam.
“What……. no way, I fell over, I’m ok, both of you leave me alone.”
Sam left, but Helen remained, pacing the floor.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t bullshit me,” Helen’s tone broke up.
Casey wiped her face, “Sarah and I had a little disagreement.”
Helen looked closely at Casey’s face and the indent on the side of her forehead, her eyes widen in recognition.
“She held a gun to your head.”
“What…. no.. don’t be ridiculous,” Casey pushed passed Helen and started to clean the blood from her face.
“Casey…. I need to know. Did she hold a gun to your head?”
Casey looked at Helen through the mirror, as tears started to fall, “Yeah … she did Helen, I thought she was going to kill me. I didn’t know what to do,” Casey choked out the words, having trouble breathing.
Helen grabbed her shaking shoulders, “Shhh, take some breaths and tell me everything.”
Casey looked into Helen’s eyes, “Why, what would be the point? She’s your friend, and you will protect her. ”
Helen touched Casey swollen face, “You, Constable, are my concern at this point, what do you need Casey?”
Casey removed her shirt and got a clean one out, “a change of underwear.”
Helen closed the door to the interview room where Sarah was sitting quietly
“Helen, I can explain, it was just a bit of rough housing.”
“You assaulted one of my officers. You put your weapon to Casey’s head for christ sake.”
Sarah scoffed, “Is that what she said, she’s so full of it.”
“There’s a mark on her forehead where you shoved your gun. Jeez, Sarah what were you thinking.”
“Oh come off it, the girl has been playing both of us. I just wanted to scare her a little.”
Helen shook her head.
“Helen, please I’ll apologize. I’ve been under a little stress.”
Helen sat down and grabbed Sarah’s hand. “I should have picked it up sooner. You are not well Sarah. I spoke to Jules.”
“Don’t… ok don’t bring her into this.”
“Jules told me that she’s been with someone for nearly 6 months. That you have been making threatening phone calls, stalking them both. You need help.”
“I don’t need help,” spat Sarah. “I’m just going through some stuff but it won’t happen again Helen, I promise. Just cut me some slack.”
“I would if you had only given Casey a little chin music but you held your gun to her head, I can’t ignore that. So this is what I’m going to do for you. Right now, you and me are going to see a doctor.”
“Or what….. what are you going to do?” Sarah rises from her seat becoming menacing towards Helen.
Helen stood up also eyeball to eyeball, “Or I will have no choice but to charge you for reckless endangerment with a weapon. Don’t make me take you in Sarah, not like this.”
Sarah through her hands in the air, “You’re suppose to be my friend.”
“I am, that’s why I’m in here talking to you and not internal affairs,” She said grabbing Sarah’s hand. “Please, let me help you.”
Late that night Helen sat in front of the TV drinking. Her mind was numb, turning over the afternoon’s events. A knock at her door disturbed her for a moment, but she ignored it until a voice spoke out.
Helen opened the door, finding Casey.
“I wanted to know how Sarah was doing…..and I kinda thought you wouldn’t have eaten so I brought Chinese,” she added, holding up the takeaway.
Helen didn’t respond, so Casey walked in and made her way to the kitchen. She got out two bowls and divided up the food. She faced Helen in the doorway.
“So what happened?”
Helen looked away, tears forming, “Umm, I took her to the doctor and they admitted her for psychiatric treatment. I’m her friend I should have seen it coming, but I was so wrapped up in myself,” Helen broke down.
Casey went over and wrapped her arms around Helen and held her tightly while she sobbed, “She’s going to be alright, you’ll see.”
The girls returned to share Helen’s couch and sat out straight on opposition ends, their legs resting against each other while eating and talking. Helen talked about her career as an officer, the accident where she sustained a punctured lung and was no longer able to dive. Then, she dropped a bombshell on Casey.
Casey stopped mid bite, “Huh, you were married?… When? How long?”
Helen laughed, “In my mid to late 20s, for 8 years.”
“What and then you just switched teams, converted?”
“Casey you make it sound like a religious choice. I knew that Gary wasn’t the one, and it took me a little time to realize I had no interest in men at all. Since then, I’ve only been in one serious relationship and 2 short term relationships and now….” Helen slightly grinned, “one fling.”
Casey wasn’t happy with being referred to as a fling but accepted that was all she was going to be to Helen.
“So come on let me in on the Mitchell story, police’s proudest family tradition.”
Casey shrugged, “Like the article in the police gazette says, my grandfather, father, brother and my sister, three generations. No big deal.”
“Uh huh, why did you join the force?” asked Helen.
Casey put her bowl down and looked at her oddly, “Well, I would have thought that was obvious, to keep up the Mitchell tradition.”
“That’s the only reason?”
“What other reason is there Helen, when you are told right from an early age that to make your father proud you had to join the force like him and his father. I’d already disappointed him when I told him I was gay, I didn’t want to make it any worse by ruining a family tradition.”
“Didn’t you want to be anything else? Didn’t you have any other aspirations?”
“No…. there was no point. I was to become a police officer, so that’s what I am.”
“Do you like it, the role?”
Casey drew a breath and shrugged, “More or less.”
“Well now that you are not under the control of your father, have you considered looking at doing something else?”
“What something other than the police force? No way. It would devastate him.”
“It’s your life, Casey not his.”
“To be all honest, I never really thought about it. Look I should go, I just wanted to make sure you were all right. It’s all part of the fling service,” smiled Casey.
Helen dropped her eyes, “I’m fine, thanks. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Casey left and Helen went to bed thinking about Casey. Still unable to make her fit into her life, she soon drifted off to sleep.
Casey and Paul had finished their patrol and were writing up their day reports. Casey fixed herself a coffee when Helen walked in.
“Heard we had a little accident?” growled Helen at them both.
Casey dropped her head, “It’s only a little ding, ” animating the size with her fingers.
“It was his fault, we were in pursuit and our lights and siren were on. He didn’t give way….. it was unavoidable, ” defended Paul.
“He must have missed my L plates, ” joked Casey but Helen didn’t change her attitude.
“I’ll get some quotes” huffed Casey.
Helen nodded.
Later towards the end of day, Casey went to Helen’s office with the report of incident and quote for repairs to the police car.
“Thank you, Constable Mitchell,” Helen said, not looking up. When Casey didn’t leave, she asked, “Is there something else?”
“Yes…. Do you have time to talk?”
Helen took a breath and asked her to close the door.
“What’s on your mind?”
“What we talked about last night. Doing something other than being a police officer and I couldn’t think of anything. I mean I stayed up, looked on university sites, apprenticeships and nothing caught my attention.”
Helen nodded, “Well, after 20 or so years of being told what your career is going to be, you can’t expect to have some idea after 6 to 7 hours Casey. Just think about it some more, there are other careers within the police force as well.”
“But that’s just it Helen, umm Sergeant, I know the most absolute thing. I don’t want to be in the police force.”
Helen frowned but let her continue.
“I think….. I want to resign from my position.”
Helen sat still showing no emotion, “Casey don’t rush into any decisions, take some more time to consider your options. Let me arrange a meeting with the police counsellor.”
Casey smiled, “No Helen, it’s not just about finding what I want to do with my life, it’s also about finding myself. I can’t do that while I’m still working as a police officer.”
Helen got from her seat and paced the floor feeling a little anxious, “Why don’t you take some leave, give you more time.”
Casey got up and walked over to Helen, “You see the more you say take time, think about it, it makes me want to walk out the door today and not come back.”
“Casey…”
“But…. I’m giving you two weeks notice…. Then my career as a police officer will cease. I really want to thank you Helen for making me look hard at myself.”
Casey left and Helen slumped into her seat in shock. She felt a sense of loss and watched Casey walk down stairs to the front desk. Helen felt like there had just been a death, like something important to her was gone and not coming back. Helen was distracted for the remainder of her shift.
TBC