“Never?”
The young woman shook her head. “Haven’t really had the opportunity.”
“This is a long, involved trip for your first time. I can send someone else.”
“No, it’s fine. I want to do it.”
“You’re sure?”
She gave a brave nod. “Someone has to go. It may as well be me.”
“I appreciate you, Detective. You’re always willing to do whatever needs to be done, and that’ll go a long way toward ensuring a successful career.”
“That’s my only goal.”
“Do you think you’d want to sit on the aisle or next to a window?”
“What do you suggest?”
“Well, if you have to pee every five seconds like I do, you’d want the aisle. If you want to be able to see outside, you’ll want the window. It’s pretty cool to look at the clouds and see the mountains and stuff.”
“I think I’d like the window.”
“Got it. You’ll leave here at four forty-eight this afternoon, connect through Minneapolis/Saint Paul and arrive in Spokane around nine local time. We’ll get you a hotel by the airport, and you can see Mrs. Carver in the morning. We’ll set the return for two twenty tomorrow afternoon and connect through MSP again. You’ll land here around midnight local time. All of this can be shifted around if need be. Sound good?”
“Yep,” she said.
Sam rolled her chair toward the file cabinet, opened a drawer and produced two hard-plastic boxes. “One for your weapon and the other for the ammunition. You have to put them in your checked luggage and disclose to the gate agent that they’re in your bag. You can only carry onboard with advance planning that we don’t have time to do now.”
“Got it. One more question—how do you want me to get from the hotel to Mrs. Carver’s house? I could do a cab or Uber. Whatever is best.”
“A rental car would be easier. This is a lot for your first time, Neveah. Are you sure you don’t want me to ask someone else?”
“I’ll figure it out like everyone else does.”
“All right, come sit over here and type in your birthday and the other info they need for the plane ticket. Make sure you spell everything correctly, or they’ll stop you at security. You have a Real ID, right?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Excellent.”
Sam got up to cede her chair to Neveah and sat in one of her visitor chairs to check her phone. When she looked up, Neveah was smiling. “What?”
“Just checking out the view from the catbird seat.”
Sam laughed. “Don’t get too comfortable over there.”
“Oh, I never would. This seat is all yours.”
“I can see it being yours someday.”
The young woman’s eyes went wide. “You can? Really?”
“Hell yes. You remind me a lot of myself as a young officer.”
“That’s a huge compliment.”
“Don’t suck up.”
