“This isn’t going to be pretty,” she grumbled.
Probably not.
“Introduce me to your friend, Jenn.”
What? Nohello, Jenn. How are you?No pretense of having good manners?
“Stephanie, this is Dylan Conrad. Dylan, Stephanie Jenkins.”
“Jenkins as in Mayor Jenkins?” I said.
“My daddy.”
Oh joy. “Pleased to meet you, Stephanie. Sorry to run, but I’ve got a meeting.” Which was true, but it wasn’t until later in the morning.
She put her hand on my arm, stopping me. “We’re having a barbeque Saturday afternoon. I’ll have Daddy give you directions to our house.”
Did I miss something? Like an actual invitation that I could decline? Apparently Miss Jenkins was used to taking a lot of things for granted. I had a bad feeling that she was going to be trouble.
It was definitely time to run for the hills. “Ladies, have a nice day.” Hopefully Jenny wouldn’t be too mad at me for abandoning her to the man-eater. It occurred to me that I didn’t have Jenny’s phone number. I should have gotten that when we were together yesterday so I could text her a silly smiley face or something.
“Those doughnuts from Mary’s?” Tommy asked, eyeing the box in my hands when I walked into the building.
“That they are.” I handed him the box. “Put them in the break room.” I’d gotten plenty to go around, but even so, I rolled my eyes when he took four out. “Hungry this morning?”
“Always hungry,” he said around a mouthful of chocolate-covered doughnut.
“You’re on the desk today, right?” He nodded. “When Captain Moody comes in, tell him I want to see him.”
“Will do, Chief.”
I walked down the hall, stopping at the doorway to the bull pen. “Morning, everyone.”
“Morning, Chief,” four voices rang out.
“Anything going on I should know about?” I was on week two, and we’d settled into a routine. The day shift was already out on patrol, but the night shift had started hanging around, waiting for me to come in. We’d shoot the breeze for a few minutes, catch up on any problems that might have come up overnight, and then they’d be on their way.
“It was quiet last night,” Officer Griffin said.
“Good to hear, Sarah.” I’d already started using hers and Kim Payton’s first names, along with Tommy’s and Gene Lanier’s, my only detective. Those four were the cream of my police force, all of them sharp as tacks. Each were well on their way to earning the sixty points I’d set as a requirement to keep their jobs. Hopefully the others would get there before the deadline.
“Was that a box of doughnuts from Mary’s that Tommy just walked by with?” Gene said.
“You have good eyes, Gene.” Four cops flew past me, following Tommy like bloodhounds on the scent. “All right then. Guess we’re done here,” I said to the empty room.
My meeting agenda with the mayor and town manager was a review of my first week and a discussion of my plans for the department. I picked up the briefcase I’d stored under my desk and put three folders into it, things I’d worked on the last few days to prepare for my meeting. After a quick review of the list I’d made, I stuck it on top of the folders. It was going to be an interesting meeting, and I was going to find out just how much authority I actually had.
“Damn it, Tommy, you eat all the chocolate ones?”
I glanced up at hearing Moody’s voice. The shit was about to hit the fan.
“You wanted to see me?”
Moody stood in my doorway, a cup of coffee in one hand and a cream-filled doughnut in the other. There was nothing wrong with that, but I couldn’t help thinking if my new boss wanted to see me, I would have lost the coffee and doughnut. Also, I would’ve made sure there wasn’t a blob of white cream on my chin.
“Come in and close the door.” When he was seated, I said, “Captain Moody, it appears that you’ve forgotten that we don’t use curse words when in uniform, even among ourselves.” I could have let that go, considering what I had coming his way, but the man irritated me to no end.
“Whad I say?”
