“Excellent work, Sergeant,” Chief Ziegler congratulated her. “I know you’ve already taken the exams for lieutenant. Having this case in your record will do nothing but help you.”
“Thank you, Chief. I appreciate it,” Gwen replied.
“It took a lot of guts to do what you did. I’m the first to admit, not all of us wearing the uniform are cut out to be cops. Along the line I’ve seen men and women succumb to temptation, start out bending the rules a little bit, take a couple bribes, get greedy. That’s why, when I see someone with the stamina and dedication you and your team exhibited, you deserve promotion.”
“Just doing my job,” Gwen said modestly.
“Well, we’ve got a ways to go, but I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the work you’ve done. Stanley Wright is still in the hospital with the shoulder wound and isn’t talking, except to his lawyer. CC’s clear, her discharge of her weapon has already been judged as tactical, a good shooting. You’ll be testifying at the trial and it’s bound to be a three-ring circus, knowing Stanley as I do. Tony Maglia is suing for wrongful termination, even though we have plenty of infractions in his file. Seems he’s prone to taking bribes from both the supposedly ‘good guys’ and the bad ones. We raided a storage locker rented in the name of one of his aliases, and found just about everything we were missing from the evidence room,” Ziegler said, shaking his head in disgust. “We even have surveillance footage of him coming out of the unit. Still he thinks he can sue, the greedy bastard! No matter how long I’m on the job, I never cease to be amazed.”
“That’s what keeps us going, Chief,” Gwen laughed. “Keeps us young, eh?”
“You maybe,” he laughed with her. “Me, I just lose another patch of hair on the top of my head. Too late for gray hairs. I’ve barely got any left to comb now.”
When Gwen left Chief Ziegler’s office, she was exuberant, and couldn’t wait to tell CC the good news. Gwen checked the lab first. Finally, after taking the stairs down to the ground floor, she saw CC coming into the revolving doors.
“Hey!” Gwen called.
“Hey yourself! What are you beaming about?” CC asked.
“Ziegler’s recommending me for lieutenant. I want to celebrate!”
“Congratulations! That’s great! And you deserve it with as hard as you work. Where do you want to go?”
“I know a nice, cozy restaurant where we can ravish a huge porterhouse steak and the best baked potatoes in town. They’ve got a superb salad bar too,” Gwen beamed. “And afterward…”
“I can ravish you,” CC finished her sentence.
“That’s exactly what I had in mind!”
“I have to take these samples up to the lab and I’ll be ready to go,” CC said, hurrying off.
An hour later they were sitting at a back table in Seventh Heaven Restaurant, watching the sun set on Lake Walleye.
“This is a nice place,” CC said, looking around at the rustic atmosphere. There was a mounted moose head over the main entryway, a bear bust over the restrooms, and numerous stuffed fish decorating the walls.
“This is my favorite place. I like my meat and potatoes, and they serve the best steaks in town,” Gwen replied.
They both ordered the porterhouse steaks with baked potatoes and helped themselves to the salad bar. While they were eating, CC asked softly, “Have you ever been in love?”
“Yeah,” Gwen admitted thoughtfully. “I’d always admired Kathy from afar…almost envied her for her wild ways and hearty spirit. Then we had that wonderful weekend, and I thought, this is it. I fell hard and way too quickly. When I returned home Kathy avoided me for a few days, then returned one of my many messages and said she was engaged to one of the jocks from school. Of course, I was crushed. I don’t think I ever did stop loving her. I had a hard time resolving why we couldn’t stay together, and I couldn’t put the hurt behind me for a long time afterward. I finally realized Kathy was all about appearances. I mistook our lovemaking for her caring about me, when all it came down to was another ‘adventure’ Kathy could chalk up to her ‘experiences.’ ”
They ate in silence for a few minutes before Gwen continued, “Then I started dating someone on the force. She was just a year behind me in the academy. We were hot and heavy for seven or eight months. We’d just started planning a future when a drunk driver hit her. A guy pulled out in front of her, plowing through a stop sign despite the flashing lights on her squad. The accident killed both of them instantly.”
“I’m so sorry, Gwen. That must have been hard.”
“Yeah, I was messed up over it for a while. What about you? Tell me about your loves.”
“I lived with a woman for two years. We had what I thought was a beautiful relationship, liked to do the same things and spent every moment we could together. That is, when her work didn’t interfere. She was a schoolteacher. She taught second graders. She could have been fired if the school officials found out she was gay, and heaven knows what would have happened if some of her students went to their parents with that information. I finally got sick of sitting home alone when she went to the school functions …picnics, day trips and overnighters, awards ceremonies…there was always something she was running off to. Hell, she wouldn’t even go to a movie theatre with me for fear of being recognized, but she had a heavy social calendar when it came to her school buddies.
“I remember one time when I took her grocery shopping. The cart was piled full and it was her turn to buy. She saw one of her kids with his mother coming up to the checkout line where we stood, and she just bolted…walked away and out the door. I was panicked since I didn’t have my wallet with me, but as they came up, I offered them a place in line ahead of me. They were only carrying a few items and I figured it would give me time to figure out what I was going to do. By the time my load was rung up and bagged, Judy was back. But I never totally forgave her. She was so damn paranoid and could never admit who she really was. She was too scared to come out in the open and I couldn’t continue to live like that.”
“We’ve both had some healing to do,” Gwen said softly.
They walked slowly back to Gwen’s car. It was now completely dark and the parking area had emptied except for a few cars along the opposite side of the lot. Gwen leaned over and kissed CC tenderly. CC returned the kiss and slid closer. Gwen slid her hand into CC’s jacket and massaged her firm breasts, then moved her hand lower and unzipped her jeans. She slipped her hand down until she could massage the moist mound between her thighs. CC cried out almost immediately, grinding her torso against Gwen’s hand.
When they parted, Gwen laughed and said, “I’ll never be able to drive home unless we clean off these steamed up windows.”
“You wouldn’t be blaming me for that, would you?” CC giggled.
“Hmm…is this one of those ‘damned if you do, and damned if you don’t’ questions?” she asked, turning on the ignition and switching the defrosters on full blast.
They held hands and talked while they waited for the windows to clear.
“Are you afraid of facing Wright in court?” CC asked.
“Hell, no. We’ve got enough evidence to nail his ass good, even without the confession I taped. Brad got a sample of his hair when he was booked, and is sure he can match it to the samples we collected. The rest of the fibers I’m sure can be matched when they finish examining Wright’s house and car.”
“I’ve never been comfortable in court, facing the accused with a jury,” CC confessed. “I envy you being so comfortable with it.”
“You’ll get used to it. The first few times were scary, I’ll admit. But I don’t get rattled easily anymore. Besides, I think we have a super good team now. If there’s any evidence to be found, we’ll have it to bolster our case. I think it’s only when you get sloppy and don’t have all your ducks in order that you get in trouble…and when you allow the opposing attorney to badger you without throwing his bullshit right back at him.”
“I suppose you’re right. I’ve had to testify only three times, and each time after a sleepless night. I’d practically forgotten my own name by the time I was called to the stand.” CC laughed.
“I’m sure you do just fine,” Gwen said, putting the car in gear and driving out of the parking lot. “By the way, we should have all the loose ends tied up in a couple days. What do you think about going to the Wisconsin Dells for an overnighter? We could rent a cabin and take in all the sights. It should be beautiful this time of year, and we certainly could use a couple days of vacation.”
“I’d like that. It would be great to get out of town for a while.”
“I’ll check with Brad and Scott tomorrow to make sure the schedule is clear, and then I’ll make our reservations,” Gwen said happily.