Beyond The Blue

Heading to bed early, Connor needs to be at the gym early because before we can do any work on the gym it needs to go through the inspection process and although everything looks ok from the outside, the early signs aren’t looking good that things are necessarily going to be all smooth sailing going through.

“So what were the early signs from the first check today?” I ask Connor who just sighs “Well there’s a great big crack down in the basement, which is going to need to be fixed and then probably means that there are structural issues, essentially means a rebuild of the space”.

I run my hands over my face and feel like we’ve been sucker punched a bit because even though we’ve got the budget for it, it takes a big chunk of the extra we’d been putting away in case we wanted to make changes or even expand the spot again which we got told could be an option.

“Look, we won’t know anything until he’s done his full inspection today and he said that looking at our plans, he does want to be generous given that there is a lot of work that we are doing that might alleviate the problems,” Connor says which is a good sign at least because we aren’t just moving into the space but we are essentially doing a rebuild ourselves internally, we just don’t want to have to rebuild the exterior as well.

“Do you want me to be there tomorrow? I mean it might be good for both of us, I can help out if you want” I say kind of wanting to be there to know what is going on but Connor stops me. “It’s all good, we only need one of us there and I don’t know if you’d be able to control yourself while he’s here doing everything and I can keep you updated,” he says as I know that he is probably 100% right that I can’t control myself while I’m there, not temper wise but just the not knowing.

Turning off the light, Connor’s up first early as he wants to go for a light run which I don’t join him on with another early shift at work this morning/afternoon so I need to get ready even though my mind is distracted trying to figure out what is going on.

I have a shower and put my usual gear on before changing at the station as I organise breakfast waiting for Connor to come back which is does about half an hour later puffed and exhausted as he was pushing himself too hard because I can tell. “You’ve been pushing yourself too hard again?” I say as he shakes his head at me trying to convince me otherwise.

“Of course not, I know my limits and I’ve been matching everything that I’m supposed to be doing,” he says as I roll my eyes knowing that it wasn’t truthful because he is getting frustrated. “I know you’re pushing yourself and I’m not worried you know because only you can judge what level you’re at in the recovery,” I say as he hugs me tightly.

I make our breakfast as Connor sits at the table with his shirt off and just his short running shorts on as it turns me on so much right now. “Always love you sweating and wearing very little,” I say as he punches me and just rolls his eyes as he starts on his breakfast with his usual Mango.

“It’s not happening this morning, we don’t have time,” he says as it’s my turn to roll my eyes right now as I shake my head. “Not every compliment means that I want to have sex with you here and now… I just want that without a compliment” I say as Connor looks at me and then at the time on his phone.

“Shouldn’t you be heading to work now?” he says to me as I glare at him and he just shrugs “I don’t want you to be late or anything like that because traffic could be an issue?” he says struggling to keep a straight face right now as I punch his arm again and sit down to finish off my breakfast.

Sitting there eating, I have a look at him trying to make sure that he is ok as he still feels quite puffed out “You sure you’re ok there?” I’m trying not to nag but naturally, I’m worried about him. “Yeah I’m good, still bouncing back you know and don’t let it get to your head but you were probably right that I pushed myself too hard but I just needed it and it’s always improvement”

I nod as he says that as I can feel his frustration coming out a little bit about not being able to do what he was before but the fact he is still doing all this is amazing. “Yep exactly, always look for the positives about it rather than dwelling on the negative,” I say as Connor gets up and hugs me tightly again.

“Are they in court again today?” Connor asks as he changes the topic to the trial for a few minutes. “Don’t think so, Dad said it was one mention but he didn’t mention when it was so it might be today or in a few weeks to allow them to argue it, but I’ll check with him today if he knows” I say as I text Dad asking him the question.

“Hey Dad, is the application in court today?”

I text to Dad as he replies almost instantly which is unusual for him given his reluctance to text at times.

“Not sure, assume it is but have to check”

I read the message “Dad says he’s not sure but he assumes that it would be given the application”.

Connor nod as I read that “Ok that’s good to know, I just need to know what’s happening schedule-wise” he says as I wonder if hearing that it went to court yesterday actually bothered him more than he let on or thought that it would.

I look at the time and finally notice that it’s time to leave “Alright I better go, if I hear from Dad this morning then I will text you straight away and tell me what you find out from the building inspector ok?” I say as we hug and kiss before I head out the door.

Getting to work, I look at Henry who has bags under his eyes “You look like you could have just done a 12-hour night shift back to back” I say to him as he laughs. “Feels like that you know, Tash had to go down the coast because her grandfather took a turn for the worse so she had to go down there and I had to deal with two three-year-old boys that were turning it on a treat worse than any guy that we could deal with in a day,” he says as I laugh and know what it was like having to deal with any my lot even though I’m only the uncle.

“You know you could have taken the day off and just looked after the kids you know,” I say as Henry shakes his head strongly. “Nah, not a chance this is probably gonna be quieter than it would be at home and it’s not a good look to take days off when you’ve just started right?” he says as I shrug given that nobody would care.

“I mean I could take a nap if we’re just doing what we did yesterday again right?” he says as I don’t know whether he’s serious or not about that. “I mean I guess…” I start to say as he just stops me and laughs “I’m not serious, I take my job seriously” he says as we are told to be on standby for anything and to follow up on yesterday’s incidents that came in and just taking statements.

We head out to the first place on the list which is following on reports of a suspected burglary where a lady thinks that a delivery person from the day before stole her phone as she hasn’t been able to find it and claims that the person who was delivering her a fridge that she bought second-hand. It sounds so far-fetched but we have to investigate which is an annoyance because there is no proof but we get lumped with these things.

Heading to see the guy who did the delivery, he is naturally offended by the accusations given that this is his job and has never been accused of theft before. The circumstances of the case are pretty much a case of she said something happened, he denies it and in most probability, he didn’t take it given that this is the first time in his long career he’s been accused of stealing.

Sitting back in the car, I look across at Henry wondering what his advice would be on this situation, I think we just let this go and say that there is no case here. “What do you reckon? Just write this up as a non-thing because I genuinely think that she’s probably just lost her phone or something like that”.

Henry nods in agreement “Yep, I’ve radioed through the name for a check and he’s got a clean record and there’s no way that I can say that he definitely took the phone and I don’t think he is the person that would swipe something like this”. We put through that there are no issues and then follow up on the next thing on our list which is the report of a car damaged going down Jupiter Drive.

Getting there, we’re just getting statements because overnight there was a car that went down the road sideswiping about five or six parked cars and not stopping. This is a bit more exciting because nobody saw anything and it was dark so a couple of the video doorbells have some vision but again without a lack of cameras, it’s not really an easy way to work out what is going on.

It was about 4:30 am when a car sped down the road, swiping and smashing into the cars parked on the street at a decent speed and the driver didn’t stop for any of the damage that it did. Henry and I go door to door trying to figure out if anybody saw anything and it was pretty much the same thing that they saw the car speeding down the road but it was dark and the car was dark.

Wandering back to the car, we have a look at our notes and wonder if there is much more that we can do right now before reporting back. “Could we have a look at maybe the servo down the road and just see where the car went if it pulled up?” Henry says as it’s a good idea because their cameras might pick something up that we could’ve missed.

Heading down to the service station, we wander in “Morning, I’m Constable Hannan and this is Probationary Constable Beaumont, we were just wondering if we could have a look at your CCTV because there was an incident last night up the road and we wanted to see if you could help us out and maybe tell us if your CCTV points out to the street”.

The assistant at the servo looks at us weirdly as he gets his manager from the back and we explain the situation and he takes in the back to have a look at the camera. There is one camera that is right by the road and it shows the car with so much damage pulling up outside the service station though there isn’t a clear glimpse of the number plates or the driver.

“That’s definitely the car though we can’t really see anything else but does he get back in the car and gets it away eventually but I don’t think that it could be that far away,” Henry says as the driving seems really slow but I don’t know where else it could’ve gone because the cameras stop for a while.

“How far do you reckon he got? Surely no more than a couple of kilometres if that but in which direction?” I ask trying to think of where we can look at as I’m trying to figure out whether there are any traffic cameras or anything as we head back towards the station. “I wanna have a look at the state roads cameras because they could have something for us telling us where the car ended up,” I say as we head back to the station and have a look.

We are only at the station for a few minutes when a call comes over the radio “JN 1 to any nearby units, urgent attendance required at 1 Jensen Close for an assault” the call is routine but hearing the address I quickly know where it is and grab Henry.

“I know that we aren’t that close to it but we need to get there,” I say as I get up and walk past Eve “Sarge, it’s alright if I get over there because I know the place really well and for a few of them a familiar face might help” asking Eve who looks at me.

“Go Trent, I was about to call you to get out there,” I say as even though there are units closer, I want to be at the place because it’s where the shelter is and any sort of incident is something that I take personally in trying to protect the amazing kids there. “What is this place?” Henry says as we rush out to the car and I drive there quicker than what I probably should but I’m a cop after all and the occasional use of the lights and siren is always a good thing.

As we get there, there are two other units there as well as an ambulance as I rush in to see Tom “What on earth happened?” I ask as he is bleeding as well clearly not in a great state after what happened.

“I got back from doing our breakfast at the park you know like it was our turn for the month and got back with all hell broken loose, the main door was kicked in and had struck Zoe who was doing some admin work for me looking after everything to make sure everybody got to school,” he says as I see the ambulance people attending to someone as I see Levi sitting on the stairs crying bruised up.

I wander over as Levi is being watched by one of the other officers and I look at him upset “Levi, what happened?” I ask as he gets up but gets pushed back to sit down by the officer “SIT DOWN” he is told as I step in. “Let me talk to him mate, I’ve got history with him and know the full situation,” I say as the other officer rolls his eyes and lets me talk to Levi as we go into the office.

“I think I killed him Trent… he just came at me so angry yelling about how he was going to kill me and that he was going to take me away to fix me,” he says as I nod and realise that the guy was his Dad. “Tell me what happened, fully,” I say as Levi lets out a big sigh as he was hoping that everything was behind him”.

Levi lets out a big sigh as I get Henry to watch the door so that we keep our privacy “I was getting ready to head to school and I realised that I had forgotten my USB which had my English assignment on it that I was going to present today so I came back inside and up to get it from my room, well next thing that I knew, there was a massive commotion downstairs and when I went to have a look I saw him downstairs yelling about where’s my son, and how I’m being groomed and brainwashed and then he saw me coming down then ran up the stairs and as he grabbed me I just pulled away and shoved him and he slipped” Levi says as I can tell that this is all self-defence as I feel guilty because I told Levi that I would protect him.

“This is my fault, I should’ve done better to protect you,” I say as Levi hugs me, shaking uncontrollably now panicking about something that isn’t his fault and I’m figuring out what can be done. “It’s not your fault Trent, I would be dead if it wasn’t for you or this place,” he says as I rub his arm as the detectives come in now that it’s been declared a major incident.

I look across and thankfully Mitch is one of the detectives as I walk over to him “I know that you’ve got a job to do but Levi’s been through a lot, he’s the kid that I helped at the station that day and the victim is his father who Levi has a protective order against” I say filling him in as Mitch nods.

Heading back to Levi, I can see that he has a fair bit of bruising on his arm right now as I feel really awkward because I’m probably considered too close to him with everything that happened and me checking in on him regularly. “Constable Hannan, could you please give us space to chat with Mr Jamison please,” the other detective DS Richards asks as I take the risk of asking to stay.

“If it’s ok, could I please sit in with Levi, I know firsthand about what is happening here and when Levi came under our notice before, I was the one with him to stop him from jumping off that bridge that afternoon and got him the spot staying here,” I say feeling like that I need to be with Levi even if it’s just sitting there so that he can be open and won’t feel railroaded into thinking that he’s done the wrong thing even though, that’s the impression being given.

“No, Mr Jamison is not the victim in this situation and we need to know what happened with an unbiased and uninfluenced discussion,” he says as I’m waved away and my stomach drops because I can’t feel that I’m probably to blame as I check my phone and see Connor ringing me. I can’t get to him right now as I head back down to see Tom who is sitting there trying to figure out what happened and how Levi’s dad managed to get into the place.

“Is Levi ok?” Tom asks as I shake my head and shrug “Don’t know and don’t think so and this is the last thing he needs, they’re up there talking to him now which doesn’t make me feel too good because the ever charming DS Richards pretty much said Levi isn’t the victim” I say as Tom shakes his head.

“Does he not know what Levi or any of these kids have been through in their life? I mean you brought Levi here, Amy was kicked out of home and beaten never believed because of who her family is, these kids have been through so much” he says as I sit there nodding not happy about the situation. “I can’t help but feel that this is my fault because brought the trouble here and it was the boxing and self-defence skills that I taught that Levi used” my guilt is strong right now as I sigh loudly as Henry comes in.

“Sergeant Branning wants us back at the station to give her an update on what’s going on here and on the other cases that we had to deal with today’ he says as I tell Tom that there are good people working on this and to call me later and we can start fixing things when it’s time.

Driving back, Henry looks at me “You alright Trent? You look furious about everything” he says as I sit there in traffic and nod. “Just blaming myself because I saved Levi from jumping and tried to protect him and instead just caused more trouble for him and Tom and all of the other amazing kids that are there needing love and safety,” I say as Henry looks at me.

“I don’t know the back story but every statement that we got says that Levi wasn’t the instigator and that his Dad came in aggressive and threatening everybody wanting to take Levi around,” Henry says which I mean is some relief that Levi didn’t start it but I mean he still has to deal with the fallout of what happened.

I nod and just sit in silence as we drive back and I park the car trying to keep my mind clear at the moment wondering how they have been treating him at the moment especially given the fact that DS Richards charmingly said that Levi is no victim.

“What’s the news?” Eve says as we sit down in her office and I look at Henry who starts to speak about what happened and the statements that he took. “So it was just after 8 am when there was a commotion outside that was a lot of banging and verbal abuse being sprung and after several lots of banging on the door, Mr Jamison senior kicked the door in which is when he saw his son claiming that he was being kidnapped and brainwashed and he was going to fix him and deprogram him,” Henry says as Eve runs her hands over her face because she was a big part of Levi getting the protective order against his father.

Eve just sighs “Charming isn’t he, so what happened with the incident?” she asks as I take over what happened. “Levi thinks that his father was sitting outside waiting for him potentially and saw him when he went out but then came back inside to get something and that’s when the banging and everything started; His father got in and tried to grab Levi as he was trying to get back upstairs away but he grabbed Levi tried to drag him and then Levi protecting himself pushed away and his father fell down the stairs”.

None of us looks comfortable with the situation right now “So what’s happening right now there?” she asks as I want to burst into a rant but continue to stay calm. “They’re talking to Levi today and DS Richards was quite adamant that Levi was no victim and I think there’s a decision being made before the situation has been resolved,” I say as Eve rolls her eyes.

“Well we just have to play the waiting game, I’ll make sure that DS Richards knows everything especially given that it’s both mine and Inspector Reynolds name on the protective order as the officers involved,” she says which is a relief.

“What about your other calls this morning? Progress on them?” her question makes Henry a lot more comfortable about our work today given this is something he knows. “The phone theft at Timbers Drive we believe is a non-issue, she claimed the delivery driver pinched it but he doesn’t have a record and has never been involved in an issue in his role for the company in 32 years,” he says as she nods and puts a line through it on her sheet.

“The hit and runs are a different story, we were able to work out that there were 7 cars hit with varying degrees of damage and followed the car to the Shell on Junction Road where it pulled up, we got the tapes from there and it pulled up out the front but couldn’t get any plates or ID we tried to follow it but lost it at the big intersection,” he says as Eve tells us to get back on trying to find the car.

We put in a request for any traffic cameras around the area as Henry looks at me “Do you think this needs to go up to the detectives because they’ve got more resources than we do” he asks as I shake my head just infuriated by the attitude of DS Richards before. “Nope, they’ll just put in a half-arsed effort on it whereas we can get it done without needing to pass the buck,” I say as Henry nods and fist bumps me.

“It’ll all be ok Trent, the whole situation will figure itself out,” he says to me as we head back out to have a look at the next thing on our list to do which is a series of teens having fun putting firecrackers into letter boxes which are damaging the gardens and property of the residents.

Going around the streets, it’s nothing more than just some kids having what they think is some fun and in fact that we catch them red-handed doing it. “Afternoon boys, sending some hot mail are we?” I ask as they try to run away but Henry’s presence stops them.

“You know what you’re doing is criminal damage right?” I ask as they try some story about just having fun and nobody gets hurt. “Well, you know that just because nobody has gotten hurt yet doesn’t mean that nobody will in the future and if someone did get hurt, you know who’s in a lot bigger trouble right?” I say as they nod and look upset by what they’ve done.

I stand there looking at them “How old are you two and why aren’t you at school?” Henry asks as they tell us their 12 & 13 each respectively. “Look boys, we’re gonna have to take you for a ride down to the police station ok? You’re not being arrested but we need to let your parents know what you are doing” I say as we take them down to the station.

Bringing them back, they’re more excited about the car ride than being upset that they are in trouble for what they’re doing. Sitting them down, they have to wait until their parents arrive because we can’t do anything without an appropriate adult which is a delicate situation right now.

It takes a while for their parents to get there because one was working across town and got stuck, whilst the other really didn’t care and had better things to do. Both of them are given a Youth Warning because they knew what they did was wrong and are sent home with their parents.

By now it’s close enough to 3 pm and I realise that the reason why I’ve got my headache is that I’m yet to have any lunch and head to the Police Café and get something to eat and sit down for a few minutes. I text Connor wanting to know how things are this morning.

“Hey, sorry I didn’t get a chance to ring all shit broke loose and Levi could be in trouble and then just haven’t stopped” I text to Connor as I sit there trying to get some peace and quiet as Henry rings his mum to see how the boys are.

3:04 pm Connor: “Is everything ok? What happened to Levi?”

3:06 pm Me: “Not really, Levi’s dad found him at Tom’s then kicked off merry hell and something happened and Levi’s dad fell down the stairs, suspected fractured skull… Richards says it’s totally Levi’s fault”

Connor then rings me wanting to know everything that happened in detail

“Hey, so what happened and how did it get to that situation”

Me: “I’ve got no idea, Eve sent me and Henry out to assist in the situation and Levi told me that he was heading to school, and had to head back up to his room because he forgot his USB with his major English assignment on it, then upstairs heard all hell breaking loose and came downstairs saw his dad and when he was trying to get away, his dad grabbed him and Levi pushed away and then his Dad slipped and fell down the stairs hitting his head”.

Connor: “Ugh but it would just be self-defence wouldn’t it given that the protective order and everything”

Me: “Well you’d think so but DS Richards very quickly wanted to emphasise that he didn’t see Levi as a victim” 

I’m sitting there talking to Connor on the phone as Mitch comes in and sits down at the table across from me for a minute as he looks at me.

“Hang on, Mitch wants to talk about something”

I put the phone down for a minute as Mitch has a defeated but serious look on his face right now “DS Richards has decided to bring Levi in and book him in for at least assault right now” he says as I want to explode in anger. “But why? I mean every witness account puts Levi in the clear because his Dad shouldn’t have been anywhere near him with the protective order and the fact his dad was abusive beforehand” I say as Mitch nods.

“Yep, I’ve put that all down but you know Richards, moral high horse and everything about how a child should respect their father; It’s going to be ultimately up to someone higher to make the decision but I’ve said that I think it was self-defence especially given the behaviour of Mr Jamison senior,” Mitch says as I nod getting annoyed. “Trent? Don’t say a thing because Richards wasn’t happy with your presence with how close you are” he says as I nod still annoyed.

“You still there Connor?” I ask as he tells me he was listening to the whole conversation

“Yep and Mitch is right, you need to stay calm and let them deal with this because if the top bosses don’t think there is a sustainable charge then they won’t do anything you know that and I think that it’ll work out and as long as Levi and everybody knows you have their back it’ll work out”.

Connor yet again is the voice of reason and my conscience cleaner as I feel guilty about it all today and just blaming myself for everything. I try to finish my lunch as I’m talking to Connor as I finally get to ask him about the inspection today.

“What happened in the inspection?” I ask hoping that it was good news but having the expectation that it won’t be the good news I wanted today.

“It’s not bad news… but it’s not exactly good news either,” Connor says as I let out another sigh loudly as Henry waves at me to come and have a look at the traffic vision.

“Quickly, tell me what it is because I’ve got to get going again,” I say as I’m worried about what Connor is going to say about what he learnt today about whether we can start work instantly.

“So the bad news is there are plenty of problems, but the good news is that the inspector found that they are all issues that will be fixed by what we want to do and when we want to rebuild the interior so it might cost a bit more, but it’s what we wanted to do,” he says which is good news considering that the issues are mitigated by the work that is going to happen.

Hanging up with Connor, I quickly stuff the rest of my lunch down my throat and head back to the room with Henry “We’ve got the car tracked on the cameras and we’ve got an ID” he says as we fist bump and start to make a move on bringing in the driver.