21 Jump Street (Tom Hanson)

The Evergreen State Killer

Every case we have is serious, but some get under our skin more than others.

Fuller gave us our assignments, pairing Tom and I up at a university a couple hours away. It's a little further than we are used to, so we were staying at a hotel for the duration of our assignment. Separate rooms, of course.

"Mickey, I took a look at your high school transcript and signed you up with classes that coincide with those, along with what kinds of classes that the victims were taking," Fuller told us at the table.

"And what classes are those?" I asked. I was sitting beside Tom, while Doug, Judy, and Ioki were already given their assignments and left for the day.

"Mickey Baker is striving to be a law student."

"Right on," I said and started flipping through my file.

At this particular university, women have been disappearing and being found dead at nearby hillsides. We are supposed to help catch the serial killer who the media has named The Evergreen State Killer.

"Tom Sparrow is a—" Fuller started to say but Tom interrupted him.

"Sparrow?"

"That's what I said," Fuller said. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "got a problem?"

"No one will believe that is a real last name," Tom stated.

"What movie did you get that from?" I asked. Jenko used to give us last names from a variety of his favorite movies, and Fuller mentioned that he found a list of names that Jenko left behind. Maybe Jenko had a whole section with bird names.

Fuller stated at me blankly before he answered, "I made that one up on my own, thank you very much." He turned back to Tom. "How about Teague? Huh? Tommy Teague?"

"That's better," Tom said and changed the name on the file with a pencil.

"That's better, he says," Fuller muttered under his breath. "You guys know how serious this assignment is. This involves everybody's wives. Everybody's girlfriends, and everybody's daughters. They have lost their innocence as a community."

Then, he told us to pack and go to school.

I drove home and packed a small suitcase for my time at Evergreen State College. I did not think it would take too long, and there are laundromats around anyway. I made sure my door was locked before running out in the rain to Tom's car. He jumped out and grabbed my suitcase from me so I hopped into the passengers seat.

Things between us have been slightly tense since his girlfriend's death and how I intruded at his home. We have had plenty of heartfelt conversations since then. Tom invited me over and we took a walk together to talk things through. We went to that bagel place on the corner by his apartment and we walked around the lake as we talked about it all and we apologized to each other. However, it was still in the back of my mind.

Tom felt really, really terrible about how he handled things when I wouldn't give him the tape. He didn't make any excuses, and told me that he was completely in the wrong and he should never have grabbed me. He was almost in tears, so pained with guilt. He also understood why I had tried to take it, and admitted that he would have done the same thing. I forgave him, but I told him that if he ever did that again I would kick his ass. He said that was fair.

The light pattering of the rain on the roof was comforting when Tom came into the car, he rubbed his hands together for warmth, then he started the car.

We stayed at a hotel close to the university, in separate rooms. Every night after class, we would go out to dinner and discuss what we found out about the case. I started becoming close with the friends of the victims, while Tom was focusing more broadly on the law students.