Shea stopped for a moment, then turned to continue out the door.
Wow, that smile was totally unexpected. It made her feel warm and bubbly. When he smiled he didn't look like a mean cop out to save the world. He looked–sexy.
Whoa, where did that come from?
Shea wasn't one to deny facts. She liked him.
She felt some pull of attraction when she was around him. And if she thought he was sexy when he smiled at her like that she wasn't going to deny it.
But wow again. If he smiled more often, he’d have to beat women off with a stick.
So maybe it was a good thing he didn’t.
Except for her.
She wondered what she could do to make him smile more often.
The sooner she picked up their lunch, the sooner she'd be back to share it with Jake.
When she returned and they had opened the wrappers on their lunches, Shea asked him why he'd become a cop. She was interested in learning more about him.
Jake thought about it a moment.
"It seemed like the thing to do at the time. I went to junior college and took some courses in criminology. Sounded like something I could get involved with. I like the forensic aspects and the psychology of the criminal mind. I also like the feeling of belonging to an organization that does good."
"How did you get hurt? Did you get shot?"
He shook his head. "No, I was chasing a guy and had to jump a fence. When I landed wrong in a pile of trash my ankle just snapped."
"And the other guy?"
"Phil came around the other way and caught him."
"Phil?"
"My partner. He's been in a couple of times. He brought the Santa hat."
She laughed. "Okay, I remember him."
"Yeah. There'll be payback."
She laughed again.
Then looking at him, she asked, "Don't your parents worry about you getting shot?"
She knew from their previous discussion they didn't live nearby or he wouldn't be spending Christmas alone.
"No parents. They died when I was really little."
"Oh, sorry about that."
She became silent, focused on eating lunch.
"It was a long time ago. I don't even remember them," he said softly.
She looked at him. "That's sad."
He shrugged. "It is what it is."
"So did grandparents raise you?" she asked.
"No. I grew up in a group home. Worked my way through the two years I went to college and then got on with the police department."
"And now you’re a detective, right?"
He nodded.
"There's not a whole lot of crime in Mondano is there?"
She always felt it was a safe place to be.
"You'd be surprised. Not as much as LA or Chicago, but enough to keep the police force at its current staffing level. Without enough staff to continue on the cold cases unless it's someone like me, on the DL."
She ate in silence for a moment.
"You probably have parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles and who knows how many best friends" he said.
She nodded with a grin. "Yep. Only one grandfather has passed, the rest live in Indiana, where I’m from. Except for my parents who are in Florida and my brother in Chicago. Everyone thought they were crazy to move to Florida, but Dad said he was tired of the snow every winter, so off they went when my brother got out of school. Their place is nice, right on a lake. But mosquitoes are horrible in summer and the humidity is more than I'd like to live with long term."
"Lucky you."
"I guess that's why the lieutenant assigned you as Christmas Cop," she said a moment later.
"Why?"
"You'd know the importance of making Christmas special for kids who might not get it otherwise. I think it's a great program and I want to help this year. I'm practically a part of the department."
She met his gaze with her sparkling eyes.
"Hardly. But if you want to help, I'm all for it," he said.
"Help only. Don't think you can push it off to me. I think it's important that kids see men in action doing good things. You know most kids are raised by women until they're in high school. Think about it–mothers, school teachers, Sunday school teachers, social workers if needed, almost always women. Both boys and girls need strong male role models."
"I don't see myself as a role model," Jake said, struck by the idea.
"Doesn't mean you aren't."
She gathered the trash and tossed it.
"Let me have the flash drive."
When he gave it to her, she went to her computer and began to work on the task.
A short time later, she looked up.
"I think I can recover most of the data. There'll be gaps, but it’ll give us a good start."
When she printed out the database a little later, it was five pages long.
Jake looked up from the file he was studying and took the pages she handed him.
"As far as I can tell, this is the updated kids list from last year," she said. "Some have addresses, most have the ages as of last year, so I guess we add a year. Some have phone numbers."
"There must be a hundred kids here," Jake said.
The size of the task just quadrupled in his mind.
"I'll work on the volunteer list next, so we can get some help from people who know how it worked last year."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
The afternoon began as others had, with Shea working on her computer, jumping up periodically to walk around the room, then resuming her place at the monitor.
Only now Jake knew she was working on the lists of vendors, volunteers and kids, and not some program that didn't work.
Mid afternoon Janey came in accompanied by a young boy. Shea looked up taking in the too small jacket that didn't even zip shut and the worn shoes.
"Jake, this is Jason Billingsley. He wants to talk to the Christmas cop," she said with a smile at the boy. "This is Jake Morgan, the man in charge this year."
The boy looked half scared as he took in Jake's frowning demeanor.
Shea glared at Jake. She wanted to tell him to lighten up, the boy wasn't a crook, and was probably scared to be here in the first place.
Jason stepped bravely into the room. Janey gave him a pat on the shoulder and left.
"What can I do for you?" Jake asked, leaning back in his chair.
"You give the toys for Christmas?" the boy asked.
"Yes."
"I want you to make sure you give Susie Taylor a special doll. She's five and has never had a doll. She's in kindergarten and she can play with toys there, but she can't take them home."
Jake nodded. "What special doll?"
The boy reached in his pocket and pulled out a tattered sheet of paper.
"This one," he said, looking at the catalog page.
Shea watched the exchange. The kid was probably too scared of Jake to step closer, but she knew he couldn't see the doll from his desk.
"Which doll," she asked, rising to walk over to the boy.
He looked at her in surprise his eyes wide.
The pink hair, she knew.
He held out the paper. It showed a doll that opened and closed her eyes and even came with a layette set.
"She is special," Shea said, taking the paper. "Where does Susie live?"
"In my apartment building. She's three doors down," he replied, seeming more comfortable as the minutes ticked by.
"And that is where?"
"I can't tell you," he said. "My mom said don't tell strangers where I live or my name or anything."
"Your mom’s absolutely right. But you can tell a police officer, can't you?" Shea asked.
He nodded.
Shea glanced over at Jake.
"He's a cop, but you better ask for identification before you tell him."
She grinned.
Jake gave her a look and reached in his pocket and pulled out his badge, flashing it at the kid.
"I live at 3762 Belvia Street, apartment 17," Jason recited.
"Got it," Jake said, jotting it down. "We'll see what we can do," he said looking at Jason. "Thanks for coming in."
Jason nodded and turned to leave.
"How did you get here?" Jake asked.
The boy looked back, a scared expression on his face.
"I took the bus. I have a student card, so the bus is free."
"Hold on a minute and I'll see if I can get you a ride home. Belvia’s quite a ways from here."
Jason looked at Shea and then back to Jake but didn't say anything.
Jake made a call, arranged things, and then hung up.
"I have a police officer ready to take you home in a squad car," he said. "Would you like that?"
Jason's eyes grew huge and his smile matched.
"That would be so cool!"
"If you're real nice to the cop, he might let you sound the siren," Jake added.
Shea smiled at the delight on the boy's face.
A moment later a uniformed police officer entered. "You Jason?"
"Yes, sir."
"I'm Bob Tucker, want to take a ride?"
"Yes, sir."
Bob nodded at Jake, flashed a smile at Shea and led the boy out.
"Who knew you'd be a sucker for a kid," Shea said turning back to her desk. "Maybe you’re the right man for the Christmas job after all."
"Belvia Street isn't in the best neighborhood in the city. Plus seeing him reminded me of me when I was a kid. That jacket needs to be replaced."
"And you’d have loved to ride in a police cruiser when you were that age, I bet."
He nodded.
"A small enough gesture to give him something he'll probably always remember."
Shea nodded, her opinion of the man growing.
He might put on a tough front, but she suspected the more he delved into this project, the more he’d be caught up in it.
As the afternoon wound down, Shea closed up her computer. She'd deal with the rest in the morning.
“I'm off, I'll be here in the morning and finish salvaging what I can from the other corrupted files.”
Jake nodded, planning to head out himself soon.
Shea had just begun to pick up where she left off in capturing what she could of the volunteer list the next morning when her phone rang. She saw it was the IT guys upstairs.
“I’m off,” she said. “Not sure when I’ll be back.”
The test run Stan tried worked. The IT group had begun entering actual data the previous day and found the program worked perfectly–allowing for the different parameters of some of the data, depending on how old the input was.
Shea spent most of the morning making sure everything went the way it was designed to work. They tried all the different features to make sure things were working. Shea grew more and more confident as the morning progressed. Nothing glitched.
She went back downstairs when it was lunch time.
Jake was leaning back in his chair, gazing at the ceiling.
She looked up but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"So, what's up?" she asked.
"Just thinking. I might have to go to the evidence locker later. There's a piece of evidence I want to examine for this case."
"Lunch in the meantime?" she asked.
He nodded and pulled out his wallet.
Shea took his money and left to get their food. She looked forward to lunch each day since Jake arrived. She loved talking with him, learning more about the man, and was pleased to see he seemed as curious about her as she was about him.
Though she wasn't sure he meant to be funny, she laughed at some of the stories he told. He had a dry sense of humor, so maybe he was leading her on after all.
Once lunch was finished, she offered to call some of the volunteers. She wanted to hang out at the police station in case any other problem arose with the new program. This way she'd help out and still be available if needed in IT.
"I'm heading to evidence," he said.
She listened until the thump of the walking cast could no longer be heard, then dialed the first number on the list. Her time here was growing short. Unless she could come up with some reason to stay, tomorrow she’d be back at her own office.
Though, when she thought about it, there was nothing pressing at the office. She could stay longer if she wanted.
If Cal needed her, she'd have to go. But for the time being, she'd stay to help with the Christmas project.