I’d been awake for an hour by the time the alarm on my cell phone started blaring. I reached over my daughter Ella Kate’s slumbering body and silenced the horrid device. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, the ends draped over my shoulder. She lay still, trapped inside a linen burrito made of sheets and a comforter. She’d managed to steal them all during the night. Didn’t matter much to me. It was late September, and the nighttime temperature was cool enough I could leave the windows open without freezing or overheating myself to death. Probably wasn’t a good idea to let her sleep in the same bed, but our lives had been turned upside down and right side over.
If it kept us both sane, then so be it.
It was five a.m. Too early for the sun to be up. Too early for me to be up. But I had no choice, even while suspended from work. I’d slept for three hours, if that. That’d been the case the past couple of nights. Impending doom, I supposed.
My hearing with Chief Warren was scheduled for today at nine-thirty. I faced a lengthy suspension for assaulting another detective.
Assault, my ass.
If the guy was half as tough as he acted, a single punch wouldn’t have taken him down.
They’d likely bring up a string of other infractions that had been swept under the bureaucratic rug and kept there until they needed to use them in an effort to keep me away from the job for as long as they were legally allowed. Maybe even longer.
Huff — my boss — wouldn’t do much to help. He couldn’t. He hadn’t been in middle management long enough to be able to put up and win a fight with Chief Warren.
My sole hope rested with the case my partner, Sam Foster, and I had blown wide-open a week or so earlier. If it weren’t for us, Beans Holland and Debbie Walker would be dead. Two young kids who had been in my ex Lana’s fourth grade class.
In the same school that Ella Kate attended.
Horrible to think what could have happened.
Now, you’d think the fact we rescued those kids would be helpful for my case. If only. I had a feeling it’d come back to bite me in the ass. I pissed off a lot of people. Broke a lot of rules. Hell, I’d do it again, too, if it meant bringing those children home.
My phone erupted in song again — some tune they’d called Soft Morning Rhapsody. I flipped the phone over and traced the slider to turn the alarm off. Ella hadn’t noticed. Oh, to sleep like that. I kissed her cool cheek, rose, and proceeded to the bathroom and hopped in the shower. After drying off, I stepped into my gray suit pants and pulled a white cotton t-shirt on. It looked fresh and bright in the mirror. No stains. I slipped my button-up over it, letting it hang open. I’d throw on the jacket and tie at the last minute. Hell, right outside Huff’s office suited me fine.
Ella Kate sat up as I opened the bathroom door. She stretched her little arms over her head and belted out a dramatic yawn. Her mouth must’ve twisted in seven directions.
“Morning, Daddy.”
“Hello, angel,” I said, leaning over and kissing her forehead.
“Why are you up so early?”
“Got a meeting.”
“At work?”
I nodded, avoiding eye contact. “Come on, let’s get you ready to see your grandmother.”
She freed herself from the tangled web of sheets and hopped off the bed. “I can get ready myself.”
I leaned back against the wall to allow her space to pass, smiling as she blew by and marched right out of the room. When I saw her again she had on a pair of jeans with hearts made from gems running down the leg and a t-shirt adorned with the cast of My Little Pony.
How long until she’d outgrow such things?
How much had Robbie outgrown since we last saw him?
I hadn’t seen my son since my ex-wife, Marissa, left with him in the middle of the night more than a year ago. A few days ago, I received a postcard in the mail from him. Looked to be sent from Denver. It provided the first clue as to their location since they had disappeared.
An hour later, Ella had eaten and I’d caffeinated myself to the point where I could drive. She stood there with her Teddy, aptly named Doggie, and a pink backpack. I loaded her into the Boss — my 1969 Boss 429 Mustang — and we made the short drive over to Momma’s house. The roads were empty and still slick from the shower that’d blown through a few hours before. Faint orange sky peeked over the cluttered horizon.
Momma stood at the front door with a mug of steaming coffee. She shuffled Ella into the living room, turned on the TV, and then pestered me with questions.
“Have you heard anything about which way they’re leaning?”
“No, Momma, I haven’t. I’ve told you before these things are tight-lipped. The chief has a file on me that’s two-inches thick. At least.”
“And another five inches thick that shows him all the good things you’ve done.” She fanned herself with her hand. “The people you’ve helped. The cases you’ve solved. You and Sam are the only good cops left, Mitch.”
“Maybe I should bring you along to lobby for me.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Always making jokes. What are you going to do if they fire you?”
I glanced around the kitchen. “You got an extra room here, right?”
“For Ella. You’ll be sleeping in the doghouse out back.”
“Yeah, well, that might be too nice for me.”
“That’s right. It is. So don’t you come back here without your job intact. Got it?”
I shot her a smile, hoping it would instill some false confidence in her. Judging by the look on her face, it didn’t do the trick.
“Anyway,” I said a few moments later, “I’ve gotta get going. Sam’s meeting me for breakfast. Said he’s got some info from Huff about what the chief might hit me with. Could help knowing in advance. You know? Get a defense going in my head.”
“You said you hadn’t heard anything.”
“I hadn’t. I’m about to. If I have a few minutes, I’ll call.”
She ushered me toward the front door. “Give my love to Sam. And be sure to remind him how lucky his mother is she doesn’t have to deal with her son getting into trouble all the time.”
Sam the Angel. Yeah, right.
Standing on the stoop in the cool air with the sun peeking over the house on the other side of the street, I felt like a teenager again. Sam and I had been friends since high school. Not so much in the years before that. But even back when we were teenagers, it was me getting us into most of the trouble.
And this time I hoped Sam had something that would help bail me out.
Again.