“I wish I could hug you and congratulate you properly.” The emotion was thick in her voice. Elaine Matthews was a crier. Movies, commercials, documentaries, books, a touching moment, you name it, the woman leaked from her eyes.
And apparently now that she was pregnant, Krista, too, had become an emotional geyser. She blotted her eyes with her sleeve. “Me too, Mum. But I’ll see you guys soon, okay?”
“Okay.”
They said their goodbyes, followed by more I love yous and more tears. When Krista finally hung up the phone, she felt lighter than she had in months. A heavy weight slid off her shoulders and dissolved into nothing but mushy feelings of love.
Her mother hadn’t called her a screwup or a disappointment. She’d simply asked Krista questions and offered congratulations, support and love. All the things a mother is supposed to do.
Had it all been in Krista’s head all this time, for all these years? Did she even know her parents?
Despite her light heart and weightless shoulders, her head began to swim with new thoughts. All these years, she thought her parents looked at her as nothing more than a screwup, a black sheep, a wild child, and maybe they didn’t look at her like that at all. She’d simply compared herself with her perfect brother and all his achievements and just assumed her parents were doing the same.
Well, we all know what assuming does …
For the first time in nearly four months, she finally felt proud of her pregnancy. There was no more embarrassment or shame that she’d gotten knocked up on a one-night stand or as a rookie. Sure, the timing wasn’t great, but she wanted this baby and would take the rest as it came.
Marlise’s car pulled in beside Wendy, and with a quick wipe of her sleeve to her eyes, Krista hopped out to greet them. She’d have to thank Brock. Though she wasn’t looking forward to telling him he’d been right.
“Hey, you!” Wendy grinned, having pulled a black toque over her silky blonde hair, the cool winter wind off the water whipping her day-glow green scarf behind her like a jet stream.
Krista shivered and rubbed her hands together. “Hey!”
“How’s baby?”
Krista smiled, wrapping her arms around her midriff. “Letting me keep my breakfast down finally.”
Wendy smiled. “That’s always a plus. They say it’s the most important meal of the day.”
Marlise joined them, having pulled a big, puffy coat out of the back of her car and tossed it on. Even though it was only a few hundred yards to the door of the café, that winter wind off the water was enough to cause a wicked wind burn.
They each ordered a warm drink and a pastry before finding a table far off in the corner next to a window, where the view of more sea birds gliding in the sky like zero-gravity surfers was unencumbered.
They talked about this, that and the other thing. How their Christmases went. Both Wendy and Marlise had to work, and their shifts had not been without a shit-ton of holiday drama. They were still both up to their necks in paperwork. Eventually all three of them grew quiet, their minds drifting along with their gazes out to the blustery day and what Krista could only imagine were equally blustery thoughts.
But she needed to get it out. Besides catching up with two good friends, this meet-up had a purpose, and that purpose was to bring down Senior Constable Myles “Dirtbag” Slade.
“Can I, uh … can I ask you guys something about when you slept with Myles?” Krista finally asked, causing both women to snap back to reality and turn to face her.
Both their faces grew tight, and Marlise fidgeted with her mug. “What do you want to know?” she asked.
“Do you remember all of it?”
Wendy was the first to shake her head. “I don’t … no. I remember him asking me out for a drink. I don’t know if I had more than one. Next thing I know I’m waking up in his bedroom naked. He then proceeds to show me pictures, disgusting horrible pictures of me, of the two of us, and threatens to take these to the media, to the superintendent and anyone else high up in the force. He said he’d make my life a living hell if I told anyone.”
Marlise’s eyes had filled with tears as she quietly nodded next to her friend. “He did the same thing to me,” she finally croaked.
Motherfucker.
Krista nodded, biting her lip. “But the whole force knows that he’s slept with you guys … so it got out. I don’t understand.”
Marlise blew her black fringe bangs out of her eyes and started fiddling with her mug again, avoiding eye contact. “He was the one who bragged about sleeping with us. And in order to save face, we just played along. Corroborating his story with as few details as possible.” She lifted one shoulder. “It’s not unheard of, cops sleeping with each other. Scratching itches and all, but it’s a power thing with Myles. It’s always been a power thing.”
Wendy’s head bobbed up and down as she continued to look out the window.
“Did either of you take this to Staff Sergeant Wicks?” Krista asked, not understanding why two tough-as-nails female cops were allowing a little shit like Myles Slade to bully them.
Wendy nodded again. “I did. He said it was all he-said, she-said and that without any evidence, there was no proof. That Myles is a respected senior officer with a squeaky-clean record, and from what he heard, I’d willingly accepted his offer to go grab a drink after shift.”
