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Frank’s quiet Saturday morning was interrupted by an unexpected phone call from the captain. There had been a major development in the seemingly unsolvable Murphy case, and he needed to find his partner and come down to the precinct for a briefing. It was Gina’s case too, and her apartment complex was on his way to work. Frank wasn’t sure how he felt just showing up at her door on a Saturday, but it was almost noon. It wasn’t like he’d be waking her. He knocked on her door confidently, excited to share his news.
“Frank?” Gina asked quietly, unprepared to see someone from her work life show up at her home.
“Uh, sorry to wake you. Is this a bad time?” he responded awkwardly, noticing she had answered the door wearing a nightgown. It was short and low-cut, revealing enough to make him rather uncomfortable. Frank rubbed his face nervously with his fingers. He struggled to keep his eyes appropriately on hers, but they continued to wander.
“Sorry,” Gina said, aware of his growing uneasiness. She crossed her arms in front of her in a feeble attempt to cover up. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I probably should have called first.”
“No, no. It’s fine. Come in.”
Frank sneaked one more look as he followed Gina into her apartment.
“So, what brings you by?” she asked.
Before Frank could form an intelligent answer, he heard footsteps and a man’s voice coming from the other room. “Gina? Who’s at the door?”
“Carlos, this is my partner, Frank. Frank, this is my boyfriend, Carlos.”
Each man nodded in greeting, but neither was eager to shake hands. Frank noticed Carlos had dark hair and dark eyes, just like him. He also spoke with a slight accent. While Carlos may have been a bit taller, more muscular, and younger like Gina, he still wasn’t anything special as far as Frank could tell.
“So this is the Frank I’ve been hearing about?” Carlos said finally. When Carlos saw how much older Frank was, his previous feelings of jealousy began to subside.
“Good things, I hope,” Frank chimed in.
“Feeling better?” Carlos asked, faking some concern for Gina’s partner.
Frank knew his words lacked sincerity and barely responded. “Much.”
“So, Frank, what did you want to talk to me about?” Gina interrupted.
Frank was momentarily distracted when Carlos started rubbing Gina’s shoulders, which made the spaghetti straps of her nightgown fall down. Frank folded his arms in front of himself and covered his mouth in an attempt to casually hide any reaction, but he was afraid his eyes would give him away.
“Carlos!” Gina scolded as she put herself back together. “I’m trying to have a conversation here!”
“Uh, the reason I stopped by is there’s been a break in the Murphy case, and the captain wants us all working on it. He even had me call Wallace to help out.”
“I’m guessing you need me to come with you right away.”
“Well, as soon as you’re able.”
“Gina, I was hoping you could wrap up your business and come back to bed,” Carlos interrupted. He put his arms around her waist, placed a few kisses along her neck, and whispered something in her ear that made Gina smile and blush a little.
“Sorry, Carlos. I can’t,” she said, pulling away from him. Gina turned to Frank. “Can you wait for me while I take a quick shower and get dressed?”
“Uh, sure,” Frank said slowly and tried to erase from his mind the disturbing scene he’d just witnessed. “You want me to wait here?”
“Yeah. Help yourself to some coffee and a breakfast burrito if Carlos hasn’t already eaten everything. I promise I’ll hurry!”
“OK, thanks.” Frank felt strange being left alone with Gina’s boyfriend, especially after seeing him with his hands all over her. What could he and Carlos possibly have to talk about? To top it off, the guy was a total jerk. What did she see in him anyway? How many times had Gina complained about him? And yet, the two of them were still together. He wondered how this guy was manipulating her into staying. Being the investigator he was, Frank thought he’d take the opportunity to find out. He helped himself to some breakfast, even though it was now after noon, and took a seat at the table across from Carlos. An awkward silence followed while they sized each other up. Frank spoke first. “So, Carlos, what do you do?”
“I’m a security guard at a casino and a bouncer at a nightclub. Between Gina’s work and mine, we don’t see a lot of each other. With the amount of time she spends at work, you probably know her better than I do,” he said, feeling possessive and a little threatened by this new man in her life.
“How long have you two been together?”
“Oh, two or three years now, but we knew each other before that. We dated for a while in high school and got back together a few years ago.”
“Sounds like you two have quite the history. Gina’s a fine young woman. I’m surprised you haven’t put a ring on her finger yet,” Frank said, straying into dangerous territory. He kept his eyes locked on Carlos’s and waited for his reaction.
But instead of taking the bait, Carlos changed the subject. “You have a wife or girlfriend, Frank?”
“I have an ex-wife and women who are my friends, but no girlfriend.”
“Would you consider Gina one of your friends?”
“Well, of course. We’re partners and friends.”
“Yeah, Gina mentions your name a lot. But being her friend and a detective doesn’t give you the right to interrogate me about my intentions toward her.”
“You know, she talks about you too. She mentioned how you forgot her birthday. Oh, and did it make you feel like more of a man when you cheated on her?” Frank knew those were fighting words, but he didn’t care. He was going to speak his mind and stand up for Gina no matter the cost.
“Just who do you think you are? That’s between Gina and me!” Carlos snapped back at him, quickly reaching his boiling point.
“But when Gina tells me how you screwed up or didn’t support her enough, it becomes my business. I get to see how unhappy she is.”
“Did she look unhappy to you this morning?”
“Well, no, but isn’t it just a matter of time before you hurt her again? You know, partners are very protective of each other. I just don’t want to see her get hurt.” Frank paused a moment before adding, “Do you even love her?”
“I love spending time with her. That doesn’t mean I have any intention of marrying her, no matter what she may tell you.”
“So, she’s good enough for your bed but not good enough to commit to?” Those were Frank’s last words before Carlos’s fist struck his jaw with a force that nearly knocked him off his chair. Frank defended himself with a powerful punch of his own.
“What on earth is going on here?” Gina screamed at them. “I leave you two alone for a few minutes and you get into a brawl? Over what? I’m guessing it’s not politics that has you two so worked up.” Neither man was eager to talk about it, so they both just stared back at her blankly. “So, nobody’s talking? Frank, you’re bleeding. Let me get you something for that.”
Gina came back with a cold, wet washcloth and gently applied it to Frank’s face. Then she took a look at Carlos. “Are you alright?” she asked him.
“I’m fine.”
“OK, well, whatever just happened here will have to wait. Frank, we need to get going. The captain is waiting for us.” She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the door.
Frank realized he had put himself in an awkward position. Perhaps he should have kept his mouth shut, but it was too late now. He drove Gina to the precinct in silence. Gina’s angry glances spoke volumes, telling Frank exactly how upset she was with him.
After their briefing with the captain was over, Gina finally exploded. “I can’t believe you punched my boyfriend!”
“Can you lower your voice a little? Need I remind you, he punched me first!”
“Frankie!” exclaimed Wallace, who was obviously amused by their quarrel. “What were you thinking punching this sweet girl’s boyfriend?”
Frank glared at him. “This doesn’t concern you, Wallace!”
“Frank Turino, are you finally ready to tell me what happened?” Gina asked, placing her hands on her hips.
“So now you’re using my first and last name? My mother used to do that when she was really mad at me. I’m assuming that’s the case here.”
“You got that right!” she fired back at him, her face turning bright red with anger.
“Can we at least talk about this privately?”
“Fine!” Gina replied. “Maybe the interrogation room would be appropriate!”
“Fine! Go ahead. Question me.”
“Sit down,” Gina commanded as she cuffed his right hand to the table.
“Is that really necessary?” Frank asked, staring at her in disbelief.
“Yes. You’re not going anywhere until you answer my questions. Alright, Frank, tell me what happened right after I left the room.”
“I sat down at the table with Carlos and ate some breakfast. There was some small talk. I asked him what he did for a living, how you two met, and stuff like that.”
“Sounds harmless enough. So, when did things start to get heated?”
Frank shifted uncomfortably in his chair and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He wasn’t sure how much he should reveal. He wanted to be truthful, but that didn’t seem like a good idea since the argument was over her. Now he knew how it felt to be on the other side of the table!
“Well, I’m waiting,” Gina said, growing impatient and pacing back and forth aggressively.
“I may have made a comment or two about some of the awful things he’s done to you.”
“Frank! You didn’t! I told you those things in confidence.”
“He already knows about them, so what difference does it make? I wanted to see his reaction and make him think about what he did. I thought if I pointed out what a jerk he’d been that maybe he would realize it and start treating you better. I know I shouldn’t have interfered, but as your partner and your friend, I care about you.”
Gina let out a sigh once she had her confession. She was no longer consumed with anger. She couldn’t be. Her kind heart wouldn’t let her. Frank was just sticking up for her the way friends do. He may have gone about it the wrong way, but his heart was in the right place. She took a seat in the chair across from him. Her expression gradually softened while she studied him. Upon feeling satisfied she had gotten the truth, Gina removed the handcuffs. “No further questions. You’re free to go.”
“I’m sorry, Gina. Do you forgive me?” Frank asked sheepishly. “I’ll even apologize to Carlos the next time I see him.”
“Yes, I forgive you, and the apology would be a nice touch. He owes you one too.” Gina would deal with Carlos later. Then she abruptly changed the subject. “OK, partner, I need you on this Murphy case,” Gina said as they left the room together.
Wallace was standing just outside waiting for them. “Beautiful! Group hug, everybody!”
“Tim! Were you listening the whole time?” Gina asked, scowling at him.
“Yep. Caught every word. Quite the drama going on in there. Makes me wish I’d brought popcorn and some tissues.”
“Wallace, I just might kill you one of these days!” Frank threatened.
“No, you wouldn’t. You’d be the number one suspect if I ever turned up dead.”
“What makes you so sure? Don’t you tick off plenty of other people around here?”
“Of course. That’s my specialty, but I save my best for you. Deep down, I know you love me, so death threats don’t scare me one bit.”
“Good, because you must get lots of them,” Gina joked. “They’ll have to add my name to the suspect list, right after Frank.”
The three of them walked out to their cars together, exchanging playful insults. When faced with the realities of a murder case, sometimes a good sense of humor was required to survive. Joking about death was common in their department since it helped them deal with the gruesome aspect of their line of work.
