We had the occasional domestic disturbance, and sometimes crime traveled up and down the highway like the carjacking trend I’d heard about a couple of summers ago. But the department stayed close to the residents and was able to nip most things in the bud. That was all Chief Keith McGrath.
He had been a few years ahead of me in school, but even back then, he’d had a presence. Something about him made people take notice and listen to everything he had to say, and I hadn’t been surprised when he’d been appointed one of the youngest chiefs in town history.
I’d entered the police force here but transferred to the department of the town I’d moved to when Maggie and I were married. When I’d ended up back in Kelly Lakes and asked to rejoin the department, Keith hadn’t hesitated to hire me back. He even allowed me to keep the rank I’d been promoted to right before I’d caught Maggie in our bed with her best friend’s husband.
Everyone had welcomed me back home except for the only parent I had left.
I filed everything else away, aside from the marijuana complaint, as I had the feeling one of us would need to refer to it soon, and tried to ignore the snickers and whispers of a few of the guys behind me.
I kept social distance between the guys and myself to maintain some semblance of authority, and I had no interest in who was hooking up with whom around town, but I was getting a full report whether I wanted one or not.
“She’s cute. A little clingy but cute. I’ll see her again.”
Ron, one of the officers who’d just made it past rookie, chuckled as a few of the younger cops looked at him with rapt attention. He wasn’t bad at his job, but he was full of himself when it came to women, from what I’d seen and—as much as I didn’t want to at the moment—heard. The smirk on his face when I glanced back annoyed me as much as the guys who were hanging on his every word.
I had been one of those cops once upon a time. Maybe I hadn’t been so loose-lipped about it, but I’d dated around enough before I’d married Maggie. I’d tried not to be a jerk about it since running into everyone was inevitable, but I’d had good times and good memories in Kelly Lakes before my life became a black hole of resentment and dread.
My last-minute trip to the market with Claudia had been a short reprieve from all that. The rumor mill had been activated, and while that had been my intention, I didn’t have the energy for the interrogation I’d get from anyone about the new woman I was dating. Claudia didn’t seem to mind keeping up with the ruse while she was here, if that’s what I ended up doing, because she didn’t plan to stay. Once she went home to Brooklyn, no one would know or care who she’d fake-dated upstate, and she’d be free to go out with whomever she wanted.
Why did that irritate me so much?
“I heard Sarge had a good weekend.”
I didn’t feel like turning around to what I was sure would be widened eyes and Ron’s smirk.
“What did you do?” Mitch, one of the rookies, asked me, his eyes shining when they met mine.
“Unlike Ron, what I do when I’m not in uniform I like to keep my business.” I stood and tossed my empty cup of coffee into the trash.
“That is a shame. If I were dating Claudia, I wouldn’t be able to keep it to myself.”
My head whipped to Ron, and I narrowed my eyes.
“That’s the difference between you and me. I don’t need the audience. And you can brag about what you did or didn’t do when you’re off the clock.”
I didn’t confirm or deny, but when Ron chuckled at my reaction and reply, I guessed I didn’t have to. People believed what they wanted to as long as it made for a good story.
“Who’s Claudia?” Mitch asked.
“She’s the chief’s niece’s best friend. She lives in Brooklyn and visits from time to time, but she’s been staying in town for a few weeks. Maybe staying forsomeone.” Ron smirked when my narrowed eyes met his.
Jake had told me that Ron had tried to date Peyton when she’d first come to town but would never get the hint every time she’d shot him down. Jake had set him very straight one day, and I enjoyed watching Ron almost piss himself whenever he ran into them both.
“I hate to interrupt teatime or whatever this is. But don’t any of you have work to do? If not, find me and I’ll give you some.”
I smiled at Keith’s voice behind me.
“You got it, Chief.” Ron gave him a mock salute before they all dispersed into the office.
“We were all that young once,” Keith mused as his gaze followed their departure. “But I really hope I wasn’t that kind of asshole.”
“I was just thinking the same thing about when I was their age. But you weren’t, Chief.”
“Neither were you. But I’m going to have to watch the boys as they get older. Thank God the twins are only freshmen in high school and I have time.”
I laughed at his exaggerated grimace.
“I ran into your father the other day. I was on your street, and the aide had him walking around. He looks good.”
