Peter, Paul and U
Note: Just silly drabble.
Only had one student for the day and for the third weekend out of the last four
its snowing.
Warnings: I betaed this
myself
Disclaimer: Not mine, ever
The area that was claimed by
Team Seven was unusually silent. The series of snowstorms that had slammed
Denver in recent weeks had not only slowed down the traffic in the city, but
crime in general. The bored team had done everything they could do to keep
busy. They had caught up on all their paperwork, looked into old cases, and
harassed everyone they could until it was no long fun. So six men sat out in
the bullpen quiet. Some read, some played games on the computer and some did
personal things. Anything to keep from going stir-crazy.
Out of the blue, JD suddenly
asked, "Why did "U" have to steal from Peter?"
Five heads came to attention
with a confused look on the faces.
"I beg your pardon?"
Buck gasped, glaring at JD as if he had grown an extra head, while garnering
stares from the rest of the guys.
"Who know the saying
..."You have to Rob Peter do pay Paul?" I am just asking why did U
have to steal from Peter?" JD explained himself.
Ezra stood up from his desk.
"Excellent question, Mr. Dunne,” he said, figuring anything was better
that staring at the same line in his book like he had been doing for the last
fifteen minutes. . “And, furthermore, why didn't Peter report the stolen
money?"
Vin caught on to the
conversation. "Yeah, I see where this is going? What kind of person is
U?" Why is he stealing?"
"And who is Paul?"
Nathan asked, joining in.
"Perhaps a loan
shark?" Josiah theorized.
“A gunrunner,” Nathan
answered back.
“A drug dealer,” Vin added.
"How much was
"U" into him for?" Nathan asked suspiciously.
“I still want to know why
Peter wouldn't report the stolen money." Ezra asked, growing serious.
"Just why wouldn't a person report such a thing?"
"Maybe he is into something
illegal and having to report the stolen money would bring an investigation, he
wouldn’t want," Vin answered.
"Or maybe, U has
something on Peter. Perhaps blackmail would keep Peter from reporting it,"
Buck questioned.
"And why is U owing
money to Peter," Nathan asked again.
"What happened to cause
a man to steal from one friend to pay another," JD asked.
"Who said they were
friends," Ezra questioned suspiciously.
"Ezra's right. We don’t
know how the men know each other. They didn’t necessarily have to be
friends," Josiah analyzed.
"So Paul could be a loan
shark, but maybe he's a gunrunner?" Vin said.
“Or a drug runner,” reminded
Nathan
"Maybe, he was just a
person who lent U some money and needed to be paid back? JD said defensively.
He didn’t believe everyone was a crook or doing something illegal.
"Maybe," Vin said
slowly, sounding very unsure of that theory.
"That doesn’t explain
why U would steal from Peter?" Nathan stated.
"Yeah, why didn’t U just
ask Peter for the money? Why steal it?" Buck asked.
"And why does U need so
much money? Obviously he has already borrowed from Paul, or he wouldn’t need
the money from Peter to begin with," Josiah pondered.
"Maybe he has a gambling
problem," Ezra said with a serious frown on his face.
"Or a bad habit,"
Buck added, "Could explain the need to steal."
"Perhaps, he pawned off
something of value and he doesn’t want Peter to know he was in such debt, so
the only way to get back his pawned stuff was to steal the money," JD
speculated.
"So now Pau is the owner
of a pawn shop," Buck asked in confusion. He was unsure how Paul went from
being a gunrunner to a pawnshop owner. Buck brightened up. "Unless Paul is
a pawn shop owner who sells illegal weapons out the back door.
"Why would he need to
sell illegal weapons, he runs a clean store," JD said defensively.
"Let’s get back to
Peter," Josiah said. "Why is U choosing to steal from him? Does U
know him or is he a stranger. And like Ezra asked, Why hasn't he reported the
incident?"
"I still say that Peter
has to be doing something fishy that he doesn’t want the IRS know about,"
Ezra restated firmly.
"Well..." Vin said
unsurely. “You're right that there is a reason not to involve the police. I
just not sure is has to be illegal."
Ezra started back to his desk
with conviction. He knew there had to be a logical reason for the man not to
report his money being stolen. He certainly would have. No matter who stole it.
"I say he is a
victim," Vin stated firmly, walking back his own desk.
“I would like to find this
MR. U and see what kind of mess he has created in borrowing and stealing to
keep himself afloat," Josiah said.
"I’ll help you,"
Nathan volunteered, following Josiah back to their desks.
"You know, JD, I bet
Peter has to have a business license or a criminal record if he is into loaning
people money on the side," Buck said with a smile.
"I'll check past
criminal references," JD volunteered.
Soon the six men were at
their desks busy.
Chris paused in his work and
looked out his office window into where his men were busily hunched over
working. Chris paused and reluctantly got out of his desk. That much silence
and work had him puzzled and a bit nervous.
"What's going on?"
Chris asked, cautiously, standing in his doorway looking out at his men.
"Getting a wiretap, for
Paul‘s home and business," answered Vin.
"I am checking into
Paul's past IRS statements to see what pops," Ezra added, without looking
up.
"Josiah and I are trying
to locate U, so we can issue an arrest warrant for the man," Nathan said
busily.
"JD and I are running a
background check on Paul, Buck added.
Chris closed his eyes and
wondered if he should ask the inevitable. Slowly opening he eyes, he mentally
braced himself and asked simply, "Peter, Paul and U?"
"Who know, Chris, to see
why U robbed Peter to pay Paul," explained Buck, like Chris should have
known that answer.
Chris gripped his lips
together and closed his eyes. He knew he shouldn’t have asked.
"Carry on," he
simply ordered. At least if his men were occupied they weren’t bothering
anybody else in the building. He had already fielded more complaints about his
people in the last couple of days to last a lifetime.
Walking back to his desk,
Chris hoped the skies would clear up soon.
Sitting back down at his
desk, Chris went b back to his own speculation. Why hadn’t Jill simply called
the EMS instead of tumbling after Jack.