I came in, drank disgusting coffee while I recounted my day, then just as I went to leave, a giggling ray of sunshine fell through the door. We never exchanged more than a handful of words, but every night when I collapsed into bed, I couldn’t help but replay them over and over and over again.
Today had been particularly shitty. It was my day off, yet when the call came through that they were short and needed me to cover, I was dragging my tired ass out of bed, ignoring the long list of errands I had to do and heading in.
There’s a saying, or if there isn’t there should be, when your day starts out shit, then it’s a safe bet it’s not going to get much better from there. And today was certainly that. After being called in, I hauled ass and made it to the precinct in record time only to find chaos. Apparently since I’d clocked out yesterday, my colleagues had gone on a blitz raiding two apartments, finding them full of drugs and paraphernalia, cash, and weapons. Now the place was swarming with petty thugs pretending to be hardened criminals who were truthfully so scared of spending a night behind bars they were begging for their one call to their mamas. Then there were the lawyers in their cheap suits, puffing out their chests and making demands like they were important. Damn ambulance chasers. City was full of them and for all their claims of making sure we lived in a fair world, all they in fact did was make life harder.
“Morning,” I’d grumbled as I pushed through the madness and slumped into my old office chair that's seen better days.
I barely got a thanks for coming in before I was handed a stack of files, which I promptly dropped on my desk and tried to forget about before being chased out the door. Thankfully my partner, Dickson, was more on the ball than I was and appeared beside our patrol car, coffee in hand.
“What a shit show,” I commented, dropping behind the wheel and accepting the cup before taking a long swig.
“Thank fuck we’re on the road this morning,” he commented.
Dickson and I had been partners for nine months and we’d fallen into an easy rhythm. While he was still learning the ropes, his enthusiasm pushed me to keep going and keep my cynicism at bay. At least I tried to. On days like today, it was going to take a hell of a lot more than that.
Where I was short, at only six-two, Dickson cast an intimidating presence. He pushed six-five and was almost as wide. Single and determined to stay that way, Dickson spent all his free time down at the gym pumping iron, and the fact his biceps were almost as wide as his head was just proof it was working. But he was a contradiction. He was a big badass in heavy boots and full uniform, but he was the first to help a little old lady to cross the road or carry a woman’s groceries for her. He was a good guy and all I could hope for him was that after being exposed to the nastiness the city could show, it didn’t ruin that.
“Where are we headed?” I asked as I pulled out into the midafternoon traffic.
“Wrigley Field.”
“You’re shitting me?”
“Nope.”
“What for?”
“Some singer has concerts there and a bunch of shit’s gone missing.” He shrugged like it was nothing. Guess it was. Shit like this went down every day around here. I suppose I should be grateful. Missing instruments generally didn’t end up with bullets flying at my head.
Two exhausting and wasted hours later and we were still no closer to figuring out who or how it’d been taken. Security was tight around here and whoever the singer was, they were under lock and key and there was no way we were getting anywhere near her anytime soon. Instead we’d had to listen to her self-important manager drone on and on about protecting the innocent and upholding the law to the highest standard. Standards he obviously didn’t have after we ran background checks on some of his most trusted, only to find most had a very colorful record.
We were just leaving when we’d been called in as backup to a domestic dispute which turned out to be nothing more than an overzealous and interfering neighbor with nothing better to do than cause trouble eavesdropping over a burnt sandwich.
Spending a couple of hours behind my desk, I attempted to catch up on the mountain of paperwork. After grabbing a burrito for dinner, Dickson and I were called back out. This time to a car accident in the middle of an intersection causing all sorts of trouble, but when we got there, we weren’t prepared for what we found.
The call had come through as a simple traffic incident. Someone had run a red light and slammed into oncoming traffic. Not ideal but it wasn’t the end of the world, at least it shouldn’t have been. But by the time we arrived it was a mess. A pile of mangled cars filled the intersection. People stood around yelling at each other, pointing fingers and hurling accusations. Ambulance sirens wailed in the distance and I hoped like fuck that backup was on the way.
“Holy shit,” Dickson exclaimed as I found a safe spot against the curb and pulled the car to a halt.
“Yeah, we’re not getting out of here anytime soon,” I sighed, scrubbing my hand down my face.
The only good thing about having to deal with that mess was the fact it was after two before I was falling through the diner doors. I should’ve gone straight home to bed. Everything hurt and my head was pounding. Exhaustion was taking over but for some reason I felt like I couldn’t go home until I’d stopped in. And it wasn’t the coffee I was stopping for.
“What’ll you have, darlin’?” the waitress asked as I sank into the chair at my table.
“Coffee please,” I replied automatically, my eyes fixed on the door.
Silently, she poured me a cup before heading back to her spot behind the counter.
Yawning, I stretched my arms up high over my head, trying to work the kinks out of my neck. When I’d tried to separate a woman who was highly emotional and trying to get her hands on the guy who was three times her size, she’d accidentally, at least I chose to believe it was an accident, drove her elbow into my shoulder and now it was throbbing like a bitch.
The bells above the door jingled and I looked up, suddenly everything didn’t hurt anymore. Those big brown eyes were the perfect remedy for everything that hurt.
2
CASSIDY
Wow!
