“Don’t thank me yet. I know what’s going to be put on your desk as soon as you arrive at the station. While you’re getting that promotion you’re overdue for, you’ll be earning it.”
“Wait, overdue for?”
Chief Samuel Quinn snorted. “That’s part of why Bailey is going to pick a fight with him. His prejudice has cost the NYPD a detective for atleastthree years now. Part of my job as a chief is to monitor the staff in all stations and precincts we’re responsible for. Since the restructure, I’ve been going over the Long Island precincts. Your record is as good as it gets, you’re active on the streets, there have been virtually no complaints from your partners, and it’s no accident you’re the only woman in that station. Captain Frankson has just enough seniority to cherry pick the new recruits, and the only reason he ended up taking you was because one of the other chiefs told him if he didn’t improve his diversity numbers, stat, the commissioner would be coming in to take a look at the situation.”
Ah. As I checked off several diversity quota boxes, I could understand why my ex-captain would tolerate me. He’d be able to claim he had a woman, a second-generation immigrant, and someone of mixed heritage. At the next family dinner, I’d have to thank my parents for coming to the United States as children and getting their citizenship young, not that they’d been given a choice in the matter.
My parents would have a field day when they found out about my transfer.
The chief waited until we were in the garage to say, “Captain Frankson is going to be particularly displeased when I come around next week, as I will be clearing out half his station and requiring him to do a full diversity hire. I’ll be spreading people around, giving him a pool of cops he must pick from, and none of those cops will be white and male. It’s time he joined modern times—and ran his precinct more in line with our values. Don’t get me wrong; he has a lot of good cops, but he also has one of the highest incident rates for non-violent racial disputes in his precinct. I’m hoping having a more diversified pool, better matching the residents of the public he serves, will resolve some of those problems. He was smart in how he used you, but he could do better, and honestly, this should have been addressed years ago.”
“Well, someone started to address it. I was hired,” I replied.
“While true, this should have been taken care of already. The chiefs allowed themselves to think his precinct was predominantly Caucasian. It’s not. It’s surprisingly diverse, but there’s little of the racial violence we have in other precincts with this sort of mingling. I was hoping you could shine some light on that, actually.”
I considered my ex-precinct, which included parts of Crown Heights, Weeksville, and Prospect Heights. In some ways, I felt bordering the Brooklyn Botanical Garden helped.
The people who lived in the precinct viewed themselves as belonging to the middle and upper classes, laid back enough compared to other neighborhoods, and more concerned with accumulating wealth and raising families than causing trouble. While the precinct had its fair share of crime, it also had a diligent patrol, one I’d participated in from the day I’d been issued my badge. “I’d say it’s less about the staff diversity and more about Captain Frankson making it clear he’d be rather angry if he had any reports of brutality or anything that smeared his reputation. He’s very concerned about his reputation.” He cared more about his reputation than he cared about the public we served, but neither Chief Quinn would hear that from me. “Our demographic helps. People are concerned for their own safety, they’re typically diligent, and there are several active security companies patrolling the communities here. That keeps the crime figures low. It doesn’t hurt there are folks with stronger magic who have made it clear they like their neighborhood quiet and peaceful.”
“That definitely helps. A self-policing populace makes our job easier—if the self-policing populace also follows the rules. Still, there are enough racial problems in this precinct it has drawn the commissioner’s attention.” The chief set my box on the hood of his cruiser, unlocked it, and put it in the back seat along with my bag. He then went to the trunk and began the process of unloading a saddle, bridle, and various pieces of protective gear, some of which I recognized. “All right. Bailey is fast, she’s got a ridiculous amount of endurance, and she has zero respect for lights. It’s impossible to run a siren on a cindercorn; it annoys her and she eats the damned thing. Flashing lights? Those also annoy her into eating them. I have not convinced her that sirens and running lights aren’t edible, so I stopped trying to get her to wear them. Instead, she gets this nice blanket that protects her body and chest. It is bulletproof, and while she complains it’s heavy, it doesn’t slow her down. Unbeknownst to her, it’s heavier than it needs to be because she needs more exercise, so it’s weighted so she builds healthy muscle. Once she’s back to a good weight, I’ll exchange it for a lighter one.”
I admired the man’s sneakiness. “That’s really clever.”
“I’m a dead man when she finds out,” he admitted in a cheerful tone. “Have you ever jumped a horse before?”
“No, I can’t say I have,” I admitted.
“Do your best. Bailey does slow down when she’s about to jump usually, but be on your guard, keep your heels down, and do your best to stay astride. Hold on tight with your legs and don’t worry about pulling on her mane. Her rider’s cursing amuses her, so go to town if you want. If you handle teleportation well, you’ll end up in rotation on our team. We hadn’t anticipated it being so difficult to find people who could ride her without throwing up afterwards.”
The clop of hooves warned me the cindercorn had returned, and she trotted over, trails of smoke streaming from her nostrils. “Why can’t I bite him?”
“You can’t bite the captains who annoy you, sorry. He put up a fight about the receipts?”
Bailey bobbed her head. “I stood over his shoulder until he sent it, faxed it,andtexted it to Perky. Perky texted back a con-fir-may-shun of receipt to the captain’s phone, but I will confirm with Perky when we return.” Bobbing her head, she turned her nose away from us and snorted flame. “Why no bite?”
“He’d give you indigestion if you ate him. That’s why.”
“True. Probably taste bad, too.”
“How about I order you a burger and some of those greasy fries you love as compensation for not being able to bite the captain?”
The cindercorn’s ears pricked forward. “Extra mayo? Coffee?”
“May everyone in the station forgive me, but yes, you can have some more coffee to go with your lunch, and I’ll make sure they slather your burger with mayo.”
The cindercorn pranced in place, and the idea that food motivated the woman that much would amuse me for at least several hours. “Okay. No bite idiot captain.”
“Detective McMarin has not ridden a jumper before, so you need to be extra careful so you don’t lose her. If she does handle your teleportation well, we’ll enroll her in riding lessons so you’ll have a proper rider while on duty. I’ll have whomever she picks as her partner trained as well. Unlike you, I don’t view sunshine as a mode of transportation, so I’m compatible with anyone who can ride a horse.”
“Not my fault I fast, beautiful, and magically inclined to ride sunshine. Blame my daddy, I dare you.”
“No. I value my life and don’t want to find out what your daddy would do if I complained that your decision to use sunshine as transportation causes me trouble. Don’t you love me anymore? Why do you want your daddy to deal with me?”
“Extra fries or I’m telling my daddy you’re complaining about my perfection. And if you protest, we hunt sea bugs this weekend.”
Chief Samuel Quinn laughed, went about putting the bulletproof blanket on his wife’s back, and replied, “I’ll make sure you get extra fries, and we can go look for some sea bugs this weekend if you want.”
“Extra fries mean I feed you fries, and you eat less than bird.” The cindercorn stilled while waiting for her husband to finish strapping her saddle and bridle into place. “Okay. Show her gear check. Not like other horses. I far superior.”
