Mr. Kaplan's Day Off
Mr. Kaplan's Day Off
Chapter 1
“Do you realize what today is?” Elizabeth asked a pensive looking Reddington as he entered the Post Office.
Reddington tilted his head and gave her an odd look, but said nothing.
“It's the anniversary.” Liz pointed out.
Reddington's brow furrowed before his head whipped around to Dembe.
Dembe was still by the elevator. He had a phone to his ear. He was too far away to have heard their exchange. Seeing Reddington looking his way, Dembe shook his head. Closing his phone, Dembe sidled up to Red.
“She still isn't picking up.”
Reddington looked concerned. They both did.
“Who isn't picking up?” Liz looked between them. “What's going on?”
Ressler's arrival broke up the moment. “Happy Anniversary, Reddington. As of today you have officially been on the run for twenty-[seven] years. A card and balloons didn't seem like enough so Aram got you -”
Turning around Reddington knocked the cake out of Aram's hands and into the trash.
Reddington snapped at Ressler. “-Yes, let's celebrate twenty-[seven] years of the incompetence of you and your idiot F.B.I. brethren.”
Aram looked like a puppy that had been scolded and didn't know why. “I thought you liked cake.”
Done with the teasing, Elizabeth asked. “Reddington? What's going on?”
Cooper approached. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine. I have a new case for you.”
Ressler baulked. “Now?”
“Oh please. It's not like any of you have anywhere better to be for the evening. Harold is still doing the will they won't they with Charlene and -”
Cooper didn't look pleased with Reddington for mentioning his wife, but Reddington quickly went on. “ - the only one of the rest of you seeing anyone is Lizzie.”
“Depressing, but true.” Samar admitted.
Turning to Elizabeth, he asked her. “What were you going to be doing? Hanging out with Tom? Trust me, this will be a much better use of your time.”
Ressler asked. “Do you have us followed?”
“Only some of the time,” Reddington admitted. “Bigger picture, Donald. By midnight tonight, someone is going to be dead unless we do something to stop it.”
Reddington took off his hat. “Your next Blacklister is the Medical Examiner. For a price he can help you get away with murder. He'll remove evidence and he'll plant evidence. He'll let you pick your patsy or he'll provide one for you.
“While he may never have pulled a trigger, make no mistake, by falsifying evidence and bearing false witness he has killed. The Medical Examiner has sent more than half a dozen innocent men to their deaths and left countless more to rot unjustly in jail.
“Unless we do something to stop it, another innocent will be dead by midnight. His latest victim, Eustace Bigglesworth, is scheduled to be executed tonight.”
“That's not a lot of time. Where are we headed this time?” Ressler asked.
“Not far.” Reddington assured him. “I have an address for you. You will find the Medical Examiner at 401 E. St, SW, Washington, D.C.”
Everyone in the room recognized the address. “That's the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
“Oh! Did I neglect to mention that he is D.C.'s Chief Medical Examiner? I know usually I, or someone else along the line, give them an intriguing little nickname, but -” Raymond shook his head sadly. “- he's just the Medical Examiner. Disappointing, I know.”
“If what you are saying is true ...” Ressler started but he couldn't even finish.
“To prove it, we are going to need a second opinion on some of the autopsies the Chief Medical Examiner has performed.” Cooper declared.
Samar scoffed. “We're not going to get one. No one is going to go against the Chief M.E. It would be career suicide.”
Elizabeth wagged her eyebrows and suggested. “I might know someone.”
Realizing who she meant, Ressler pointed out a problem. “That would never hold up in court.”
“True.” Keen conceded with disappointment.
Cooper thought about it for a minute. “It doesn't have to. We get the evidence and confront the medical examiner with it. Maybe he rolls. If he doesn't we take our second opinion - neglecting to mention where it came from - and we shop it around to other coroners. No one is going to be willing to be the first to speak up, but once we get the ball rolling people will be happy enough to pile on.”
Seeming to have convinced himself, Cooper gave the order. “Reddington, make the call.”
“Oh I can't. It’s Mr. Kaplan's day off.”
They all looked at him
tbc