She shrugged and turned to face the front of the room as their sergeant, Kate Turner, came into the room.
Kate wasn’t alone. The man who walked in with her came from the CCPD Administration offices.
Crois didn’t know his name, but he knew the uniform and the look someone from that level of the administration could cast without a thought.
He sat up straighter and lowered his hands to the tabletop, waiting to hear what was coming.
Kate spoke first. “Good morning, everyone. Before we go over the assignments for everyone on this shift, we have a guest from the CCPD Headquarters. This is Dane Baldwin. He’s the head of Public Relations for the Center City Police Department. He has a few words to say bout an upcoming event.”
Kate stepped back from the podium and Baldwin stepped up. He smiled at the room, but Crois couldn’t say that the expression looked genuine.
His smile was a little too tight to be real.
“Good morning, everyone. I’m Dane Baldwin from the Center City Police Department’s Public Relations office.”
In Crois’ head he could say what he felt which was, ‘She already told us who you are, jerk off.’
“I’m making the rounds for the next few weeks to get officers to sign up for the charity boxing tournament with the Center City Fire Department.”
Crois sat up a little straighter.
He’d heard about a tournament like this, but since he’d moved to Center City, he hadn’t seen any sigh of the tournament.
Baldwin continued. “The boxing matches will be between one officer and one firefighter.”
Someone at the back of the room called out a question. “Why just PD and the FD?”
Crois saw Pilar turn halfway around in her chair.
“Really, Connelly?” She shook her head. “Who would you like to see in the competition?”
Connelly puffed up a little, his shoulders pulling back. “I’ve heard that this is a competition for the first responders in Center City. If that’s the case, where are the volunteers from the Emergency Room? What about the dispatch office?”
Crois frowned. “You do realize that doctors and nurses need to protect their hands, right?”
Connelly lifted his hands up between them. “So do I.”
Crois rolled his eyes inwardly. He bet he could figure out what Connelly needed his hands for. It wasn’t police work. He’d seen Connelly’s range scores. The man didn’t need his hands for firing a weapon.
Crois doubted that he could manage to jerk himself off with any amount of skill.
“So, I’ll be taking name of volunteers today at the end of roll call. I know that all of you can comprehend what this would mean to the CCPD when we win this competition.”
There were a few noises that sounded from around the room.
None of those noises sounded like someone volunteering for the competition.
“Does anyone here have any experience with boxing?”
“Well, Chauncey has the highest rate of fights in his folder.”
Crois kept his mouth shut. What they meant by fights was the fact that Chauncey was a man who liked to tear into people physically. He was a hot head and has more excessive use of force complaints than anyone else in Precinct Four.
Baldwin shifted at the podium and turned. “What about our resident internet star?”
Crois felt the other man’s gaze fall on him and he made the mistake of looking up at Baldwin.
“Officer St. Cyr. How nice to meet the CCPD Hawt Cop.”
