2020-05-20 - Career Advice - Josh and Chris

Josh Green walks past Perketory, listening to the murmur of voices within.  He is dressed in civilian clothes.  A henley, jeans and runners.  This was a day off for him, but the visit was official.  He just opted not to dress officially because he wanted Chris Peterson to be as relaxed as possible. Arriving at his building he climbed the stairs to the third floor and nicked on their front door.

Chris was home and tidying up. His chief was coming over for a chat and he was both honoured by the home check in and apprehensive. He was in a plain grey tshirt and blue jeans with white sports socks on his feet. He still had his cast on but now he could take it off for periods of time and didn't wear it to bed every night. He heard the knock and answered “Chief Green, come on in. I made some coffee if you’d like a cup.” He stepped back.

Josh nodded as he came in and slipped out of his shoes.  “I’d like some coffee, thanks.”  he told him.  “Maddie tried to make it for me this morning.  She forgot the filter.  Got more upset about it than I did.”  he chuckles and heads into the kitchen.  He wanted this casual.

Chris gestures to the kitchen table “Well it’s sweet that she tried. How old is she now?” He walked to the cupboard and pulled out two cups and then poured coffee into them from the coffeemaker. He set them down on the table and went to the fridge for a non dairy creamer and came back with that and a sugar bowl and two spoons. “Help yourself to whatever you take.” He sat down and pulled his own cup to him.

Josh moves into the kitchen.  “She turned nine a couple of months ago.”  he explains.  “She wants to help, so I let her help.  She’s a good kid.”  It's been clear how much he cares for his granddaughter.  He takes a spoon and adds creamer and sugar, then stirs it up.  “I came by, to tell you that you’ve been cleared.  Your suspension is officially over and you can return to work tomorrow.”  he sips, but it also looks like he might not be quite done.  Why sit over coffee to deliver those few words?

Chris fixes his own coffee while Josh talks and smiles about his softness when talking about Maddy. It was a side of the Chief he didn’t know as well but it was nice to see the humanity. As he spoke about the suspension being over Chris felt like there was something still hanging in the air between them. “Why do I feel like there’s a BUT coming Sir?”

Josh sipped his coffee again, then set the cup down.  “Not so much a but, Chris.”  he hedged.  “More … an observation.”  he blows out a breath.  “I don’t want to have this ruin your career, son.”  Chris had been unconscious when he’d said something along those lined when Jack Rose had tried to rape Noelle. But perhaps someone had shared his words.  Told him what happened between the time he was knocked out and the time he came to in the clinic.

Chris looked thoughtful and humble “I know Sir. I don’t either. I’ll do whatever it takes to get things back on track. I love my job Chief. To be honest I love Noelle and my family more, but it doesn't mean I want to throw it all away.”

Josh nods.  “That’s what I want to hear.  Never put your career first, Chris.  I’m glad things are that solid with Noelle.  Sometimes it can be hard on a cop's family.  I know.”  he scoffs.  “And this is Alexandra .. so half the town knows, too.”  he pauses.  “It isn’t part of your returning to work, but I’d like you to visit a counselor.  There’s two on the island no, so there’s plenty to choose from.”  He drinks a bit more of his coffee.

Chris smiles and then nods, knowing his choice of career could impact Noelle, and Blaze someday. He knew vague rumours about Josh but sensed there was a bigger story. He sighs about the counselor thing and nods “Yeah...I can do that. Might help me not be such a hothead in general too.” He sips his coffee after and looks out the windows across the room at a bird flying past in the distance.

Josh nods.  “It might.  But being a hothead … I don’t know if you can ever stop.  Just ... get control over it.  Before it’s too late…”  he pauses.  “Believe me, it’s not always great to have that black mark on your record.”  he looks at Chris.  “It’ll hold you back … like it’s held me back.”

Chris looked very curiously at Josh wondering what the man he respected so much could have done to ever be held back in his career path “Yes...Sir. Would it be out of order to ask you about what held you back?”

Josh sighs softly.  “You may have heard that, when my daughter got pregnant, she ran away from home.”  That part is relatively well known, especially within the police department.  “I .. was pretty desperate to find her.  So, I headed into White Rock, and Vancouver searching for the computer bad boys.  That was the kind of guy she was interested in.  One or two of them said they knew her, but refused to give me any information.  Even after I got rough with them.”  he pauses.  “The local cops helped me out, but ultimately … it’s on my record.  Excessive force.”

Chris listens and sips his coffee. He looks surprised but not judgmental. Then he came to a  new understanding about his Chief “That’s why you knocked me out isn’t it? You fuckin knew…” He blows out a breath and grips his mug. “You have Maddy….does that mean you found your daughter one day?”

Josh takes a long drink of his coffee.  “Yes.  That’s exactly why I knocked you out.  I knew you’d kill Jack Rose if you got even half a chance.”  he looks a little melancholy.  “Maddy was abandoned into my care by her mother the spring before the Earthquake, as you know.  But her mother didn’t bring her.  Rachael just gave her directions and an envelope with a letter and all of Madeline’s papers in it.”  he sighs again.  “And you’re a smart man.  My daughter left Alexandra pregnant a lot longer than nine years ago.  Her first kid would be around 18 by now.  Maddie says she doesn’t have any siblings, and the note she came with said Rachel was giving her to me so she didn’t lose Madeline.”  He makes air quotes.  “Too.”  He picks up his mug and drinks a bit more.

Chris looks a little disturbed by all this “She sent a little kid on the ferry by herself hoping she’d find her grandfather she’d never met? How old was Maddie? That’s fucked up...Sorry Sir but…” he breaks off feeling protective of the little girl he knows in passing. No child should be unsafe.

Josh nods.  “Yea.  She did.  It was Maddie's 6th and my fifty-sixth birthday.”  He gives the young officer a slight grin.  “Don’t be sorry.  But it is sort of what I was saying about learning to control your temper … because I had this six year old girl in my house … and I couldn’t go out and track down her mother.  And I thought seriously about finding her and charging her with child abandonment.  But then .. the earthquake and .. the investigation sort of … faded.  Maddy’s happy and healthy now and I’m not sure either of us CARES what happened to her mother.”

Chris nods “Well now is the important past and it sounds like you’ve been the best thing in Maddie’s life. I’m glad she found her way to you even if the method was irresponsible. Maybe that was safer than what would have happened to her life if she had never come here.” He muses.

Josh nods.  “Wright couldn’t really find anything on the hackers, but he found out that they don’t live in the best neighborhoods.  Maddy was borderline malnourished when she came here.”  he clears his throat.  “She knows all the best swear words, will eat anything on her plate and sometimes still seems afraid of punishment.  She’s almost unnaturally well behaved.”  he scoffs.  “When she showed up, she’d never had ice cream…”  he sounds amazed.  “I had Dr McKinney do a DNA test the next day, but I’m not sure the results would have mattered by then.”  he grins a bit.  “And I’m told I’ve become a much nicer human being since Maddy came to live with me.”

Chris frowns a bit  and then looks hopeful “Sounds like you two were meant to be in each other's lives. The best swear words eh?” He chuckles “ And ice cream is a good thing...dairy or non dairy…” He states. “It’s still ice cream.”

Josh nods.  “I don’t know if I believe in fate, but … maybe we were.”  he sighs, almost melodramatically.  “Ah yes, non-dairy ice cream.  I’m supposed to be changing my diet.  Oh, the doctor would never betray a patient's confidentiality, but my granddaughter is not above spying at doors.”  he scoffs.  “So she has been looking into it.  I like cashew milk and she’s made sure its all over ..including in the last ice cream we got.”

Chris looks like he approves of this “Plant based will cure a lot of things. I’ve been vegetarian since junior high. And now Noelle and Blaze are vegan so I’m pretty much a vegan. Nor sure Pat loves it but he’s been cool about it...I know he can hit the local restaurants and eat what he wants…”

Josh shakes his head.  “Well, maybe you and yours can help Maddy with her old grandpa.”  he shuckles.  “Vegan confuses me half the time.  I tried to research it when Rain March opened her place.  Bunch of different branches.  Honey is OK by some and slavery to others?”  he sighs.  “Maybe I’m older than I thought.”

Chris nods and then delves into the politics and ethics of honey “Some vegans do eat honey and I might keep that up from local sources only. Some of the larger scale apiaries are trying to force production to happen so quickly that they kill a lot of bees. So for plant based people whose goal is no kill….that’s shitty.”

Josh nods, slowly.  “But not all vegans are like that.  I read one young lady’s blog … her father has Crohn’s disease as well as her brother.  Her aunt has Lupus … this kid is vegan because of her health.  Better to change the dies before the disease than after.  It’s a Catch 22 seems to me, but the kid isn’t politicising at me, so I can stomach her better than most of these folks.  As for bees ….  Our bees were stuck on this island with all of us … and we mostly all survived.”

Chris nods “Yep lots of good reasons. And I know we’re good to the bees here. Which is why I might not give up honey. So is your granddaughter vegan for ethical reasons or just very health conscious?”

Josh snorts.  “My granddaughter is a vegan because she apparently plans to keep me alive until I am older than Fred Sewid.”  he chuckles dryly.  “She’ll piss of a lot of people.”

Chris snorts “How old is Fred Sewid...I could swear he told me but I had a lot on my mind that day. He’s just got one of those faces….you know?”

Josh laughs.  “He’s 84 I think.  He was old when I was a kid and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if your boy will be saying the same in 20 years.”  he nods.  “Hell of a lawyer … he got me out of a trial.  Still got a hell of a suspension.  Still have the black mark, but no criminal record.”

“Wow..” He exhales and then smiles a little when Josh calls Blaze his boy. “That’s good to know about Mr. Sewid and your history. Chief what happens to my potential charges now that Jack is dead?”


Josh chuckles.  Spoken like a man in his 20’s.”  he teases and then he grows a bit more serious.  “Well, Jack did not die of the injuries inflicted by you.  Dr McKinney’s report points that out.  And now he’s dead.  Fred took the case to the judge and the charges were dropped.  The suspension remains, but it’s paid.  Think of it as vacation with anxiety.  If it’s any consolation, mine was 30 days unpaid.”

Chris’s entire being relaxes “Holy shit...and yeah to the anxiety. Thank you Sir….for not just firing me. For getting it. And thanks to Fred….Oh my god.” He leans his elbows on the table and rubs at his face, coming down from the idea that Jack Rose might have cost him and his family Avery’s mental health and his job. But he hadn’t. And now the fucker was dead.