When he got to work, it was his turn with the cruiser again.Making his rounds, he even stopped to get gas in it so that it would be full for the next shift.There was a lot to be said for a small-town police force, and he loved it here.Nothing really ever went on, and when it did, it was usually something that could be solved in a couple of days.
When Alaric came into the office to talk to him, the two of them went to lunch together.He loved the hot chicken sandwiches, so he got two of them, and Alaric did the same.They were on their second one each when he brought up that he was going to take the sergeant’s exam soon, and he thought that he’d do pretty well on it.
“I’ve been studying for it for the past three months, and I think I’ll do well on it.I don’t think that I’ll ace it or anything like that, but I know I’ll do well enough to pass.”He wished him luck.“How about you?You ever going to try and move up in the department?I’m thinking that you’d make a good chief.You seem to run the place as it is now.Except for Aaron.He’s got things down pat and seems to be in a place where he wants to be.”
“He’s smart too, and that helps.And knowing the law like he does, it’s small wonder that he’d not been asked to be the chief when Jamison leaves.You think that he’ll be retiring soon?He seems to have the attitude that he’s ready for it.”He agreed with him, and they walked back to the station house.“I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately, and I wonder if anything will come of it.There are a lot of things going on around town right now that I want to be involved in.I was thinking that if I didn’t pass the sergeant’s exam, I might run for mayor.”
“You’d be good at that.I think that you’d do a better job than the one who is in office now.How long has he been running unopposed?Ten years at least.”He said he thought it was about that.“We would have your back, too.And at least you’d have all of our votes as well.”They both laughed, and he wanted to hug his brother but thought that he’d embarrass him.Thinking that he was going to do it anyway, Alaric hugged him.“That was well needed.Thank you.”
“I needed it as well.I love you, Zeno.I don’t say that often enough to any of you guys.”He felt his eye fill and hugged his brother again.As soon as they parted ways, he knew that he was going to be happy for the rest of the day.If not forever.He was going to keep his opinions to himself about having a mate so that he didn’t mess things up again.Going home, he decided to get his mom some roses and some chocolates.He knew that she would love them both because there was no occasion for them.
~*~
Peter wasn’t going to be putting up with this shit for too much longer.His wife wasn’t speaking to him, but that wasn’t all that bad.But he couldn’t get anyone to tell him why he’d been retired.He just wanted his job back so that he could knock some heads around.He didn’t deserve to be treated this way.
“Your phone is ringing.”He told his wife that he knew that when, in reality, he’d not heard it at all.When she huffed at him, he could have smacked the shit out of her, but didn’t.She could be meaner than he could be when she was riled up.And he didn’t want to have to deal with her too.
“I don’t want to talk to anyone but my boss, and he’s not returning my calls.I’m going to have to get drastic with him if he doesn’t listen to reason.”
He’d been made to retire when he’d demanded that a woman who had worked for him get her foot healed and get back to work.He knew that something was going on with the women who were being kidnapped, and his stepbrother, Larry Palmer, had his wife taken from him right under his nose.He wanted to get things investigated, but his hands were tied right now since he’d been forced out of his job.By God, he was going to have things go his way, or he was going to know the reason why.
“I’m not making supper tonight.I’m tired, and I don’t want to have to mess with it when all you’re going to do is complain about it.”He asked her what he was supposed to do about his meal.“I don’t care.I’m going to have myself a nice salad, and I know how you hate that, so you’re going to be on your own.”
“That’s not the way things work for me.And you know it.”She shrugged, and he again wanted to hit her.But he’d not.Not yet, anyway.“What am I supposed to do about eating?It’s your job to make sure that I get my food on the table when I’m ready for it.What else do you have to do all day but to cater to my needs?I demand that you fix me a meal, and that’s the end of the discussion.”
She didn’t so much as move, and he was pissed off.She had to know that he was having a bad day and should have been nicer to him.Standing up, he went to her and drew back his hand.But the look that she gave him gave him pause.
“You touch me like that, and they’ll never find your body.”She didn’t raise her voice at all, and that terrified him more than her words.“I won’t be an abused wife, or so help me, I’ll kill you where you stand.”
The scary part was that he believed her.She’d kill him right there, and he’d not even know how she’d done it.Backing away from her, he lowered his hand, but he was no less pissed at her.He made his way to the kitchen to find himself something to eat.He’d be afraid for her to fix him something now; she might well poison it.Or spit in it.
He thought about the Troff woman while he was rummaging through the cabinets.He hadn’t wanted to send her on the issue, but all the men were out on calls, and he’d been stuck with her.All she’d had to do was arrest one of the Dresden men, Alaric or something like that, and be back in the office in no time.But she’d not done anything she’d been told to do and had supposedly got herself hurt.He no more believed that than he did that she was going to do a good job.
Five women had disappeared in a decade, and he wanted answers.He just knew that the little bastard Dresden was selling them off to other countries and he was making a profit off of it.How else was he one of the richest men in the state?He knew what he was talking about, too.He just needed someone to give him back his job so that he could get him arrested.
“Damned women.They all need to learn their place.”He’d been made to hire three women when the laws changed.He didn’t understand why it was a part of his department that had to suffer, so he hired them.They only did research on things when he deemed them capable, and to make coffee.The other men in his department were of the same mind as him.
He ended up heating up a can of soup.Thankful for the instructions on the side of the can, he didn’t know what he’d have done about a meal.He did think about going out to get something for himself, but he no longer had a car that would pick him up and take him where he wanted to go.Another thing that had been denied him when he’d been forced to retire.
The president had actually made him retire because he’d said that women needed to be knocked around in order to keep them in line.And that children should be beaten in order to keep them out of trouble when they got older.Everyone in his department knew that to be true, and he didn’t understand why he thought that was a bad thing.
He’d not hit his wife as yet, but she was pushing him into thinking that she needed to be disciplined.The incident earlier had him believing that he was going to have to take matters into his own hands and show her what was what.Women were stupid as he’d always known, and his wife, he thought, was about as stupid as they came.But she wasn’t one to mess with too much.Or he’d have to find himself someplace else to live.He was that frightened of her.But he’d never let on that he was.That’s all he needed was for her to think that she’d got the upper hand on him.
He didn’t bother cleaning up the mess that he’d made.It wasn’t his domain, and he wasn’t going to do women’s work.It was her fault that he’d made the big mess when he’d spilled the soup on the counter.If she’d just done what he’d told her to do, then she’d have her cleaned kitchen.Not even bothering with putting his bowl in the sink, he made his way to his office.
He tried to bring up his email so that he could see what other changes were going on in his department.But he must have done something wrong, or they’d blocked him out of it because he couldn’t get into it no matter what he did.It would be just like the president to have him turned out that way as well, when all he wanted to do was to tell a few people that they’d better be doing their job.He ran a tight ship and didn’t want them slacking just because he wasn’t there to ride their asses.What did he expect to happen?That they’d just go on like he was there is what he wanted.Now he couldn’t even check on things like he should be able to do.
When he couldn’t get into anything on his computer at work, he decided to play a couple of games on it.No one would ever know that he wasn’t working his tail off.His wife never came into his office unless it was to clean up after him.And she usually did that when he was away at the office.Since he kept a tidy place where he worked, he didn’t know what she was going to do with him there all the time.She certainly wouldn’t be messing with his schedule.
Just before the news came on, he took himself to the living room.It looked to him like his wife hadn’t moved, and he figured that’s what she did every other day of the week when he wasn’t there to keep an eye on her.As soon as he turned on the television, she put away her puzzles and watched the news with him.They didn’t have to talk when the news was on, and he preferred it that way.Even without a job, he wanted things to go on as they had before.
At eight thirty, he was getting ready for bed.He didn’t know if he could sleep all that well; he’d had nothing to do all day that would have worn him out.But he was on a schedule, and he wasn’t going to break that simply because his boss had gotten a burr up his ass about something.Besides, he wanted to be ready to go when he was called back to work.There was no way they were going to be able to run his department without him.
Getting up when his alarm went off, he was in the kitchen again waiting for his breakfast.When it didn’t seem like she was going to make him anything, he went on a search to find his wife.She was sitting in the living room with her puzzle book in front of her, as if she didn’t have anything to do.
“Where’s my breakfast?”She told him to make it himself; he didn’t have anything to do all day.“I’m going to work today.To see about getting my job back.How can I do that on an empty stomach?Get in the kitchen before I have to slap you around and make it for me.”
“I’m not worried about you anymore.You got us into this mess, and I’m not going to be catering to your every whim.I want to have a life too.”He told her that her life was making sure that his meals were cooked and the house was cleaned up.“I’m finished with that, too.You told me when we married that I’d be in the lap of luxury.All I’ve seen from you is you living it up while I stay at home all day waiting for you to come home.”
