“Sorry, but you’re not my type, Moody.” I walked in, tempted to laugh when cards went flying from startled hands. Three of the men jumped to their feet, but one took his time setting his empty glass down, then picking up his cigar and clamping his teeth around it before rising. Belligerence glittered in his eyes.
I decided on the spot that Moody’s employment was going to be short-term. “Gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed the fun because it’s the last time. Capisce?”
Two of them nodded, and Tommy, snapping to attention, said, “Yes, sir.”
Another half point to the kid. He was savable. I hadn’t made up my mind about the remaining two. “Who’s supposed to be out on patrol right now?”
“Me, sir, but I was called in. They needed a fourth…” Tommy trailed off as Moody shot him a death glare.
“What time’s your shift over?”
“Eleven, sir.”
I glanced at my watch. “You still have fifty minutes.” I looked at him and raised a brow. If he was as smart as I thought, he’d recognize the reprieve I’d given him.
“Thank you, sir.” He shot out of the office like a dog with his ass on fire.
Moody had stubbornly stayed on my side of the desk. The man was an idiot, and I didn’t have much patience with idiots. For the moment I ignored him, turning to the other two. “Woods, Jansen, what are the two of you supposed to be doing right now?”
Woods, thirty-one and married, gave me a sheepish look. “I’m off duty. I promised my wife I’d be home by eleven.”
“Looks like you’re gonna be able to keep that promise. Good-bye.”
Although he didn’t move as fast as Tommy, he didn’t waste any time leaving. I gave him half a point. “Jansen?” I said, turning to the oldest man on my force.
“I’m on the front desk until eleven, Chief.”
“Could’ve fooled me. How long you been playing cards?” Billy Jansen was about fifty pounds overweight and had the waist of his uniform pants pushed down under his abundant stomach. I’d have to think about a training regimen for my cops.
“About an hour.”
“Then you’re on the desk until midnight.”
He sucked in air as if breathing were a chore for him, which I imagined with his weight it was. “But I get off at eleven.”
“That would have been true if you didn’t owe the department an hour.” I held up the folders. “Do you always leave confidential files out where anyone can get their hands on them?”
He shared a look with Moody, which was his mistake because it got him no points. “Get outta here before I decide to keep you on the desk all night.” He left with the speed of a turtle. I deducted a point, putting him in the negative.
When it was just me and the biggest problem I’d inherited with his job, I eyed Moody. “We can do this easy or we can do this hard. Which is it gonna be?”
He didn’t pretend to not understand. “When all’s said and done, I’ll still be here and you won’t.”
I shifted my gaze to the cards scattered over the desk and floor. “Since you’re a betting man, how much you want to wager on that?” The man didn’t give a shit that his new chief had caught him breaking every rule in the book.
“You’re not worth the time of day, much less my money,” he said as he calmly reached under my desk, coming up with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.
I waited for him to reach the doorway. “The sign when you enter states this is a no-smoking building, Captain Moody. Lose the cigar.”
I thought I heard him mutter “fuck you” under his breath. One of my first priorities would be finding out why Moody still had the honor of wearing a badge and gun.
“That went well,” I said to the empty room. As I looked around, I realized I’d made my first mistake by not ordering them to clean up my office.
A few minutes before eleven, I’d cleared out the mess and was getting ready to leave. I still had boxes to unpack at the apartment I’d rented, and since I never slept much, I could get a few done tonight. As I was walking down the hallway, I heard the dispatcher on duty say the name Jenny Nance. I didn’t know Red’s last name, and there was likely more than one Jenny in Blue Ridge Valley, but I still went into the room.
“I’m the new chief. What’s going on?”
The dispatcher glanced up at me, apparently took me at my word, and said, “Domestic dispute. Boyfriend’s refusing to leave.”
