Roland P D Omnibus

by Ruth DuCharme

  Lizzie startled at the sound of the toilet flushing. Quickly walking to her locker, Lizzie opened it and began to take off her uniform.

  A tall blonde woman in uniform exited the bathroom stall and eyed Lizzie through the mirror as she washed her hands. Lizzie tried not to stare but she hadn’t seen another female officer all day.

  The woman finished drying her hands on a towel and came into the shared locker space. Opening the locker across from Lizzie, the woman suddenly turned and stuck out a manicured hand.

  “Sergeant Joanna Shaw” she said

  Lizzie shook the sergeant’s hand, “Nice to meet you ma’am. Lizzie Noble. I’m a rookie.”

  “I figured as much” Shaw smiled back. “First day?”

  “Does it show?” Lizzie replied

  Shaw pretended to examine her, “Yes. Your uniform is still spotless and you don’t have that look that says you need a drink.”

  Lizzie laughed nervously. Shaw turned to her locker and began pinning back her already short hair. Shaw applied some Chapstick. Other than that she wore no makeup. Not like she needed it. She was beautiful. Her boyish haircut was stylish and her blonde hair set off her green eyes marvelously.

  “You work the graveyard shift?” Lizzie asked, trying to spark a little conversation

  “Yep. I’m the patrol sergeant for graves.”

  “Do you like it?”

  “I love it. All the best stuff happens at night and we pretty much have the whole city to ourselves.”

  “Any words of wisdom for the rookie?”

  Shaw turned from her locker to face Lizzie with an examining look. “Stay away from dating these guys. They can be pretty ruthless in their pursuit of you. To them, you are fresh meat. The new girl in school. Don’t be surprised if you are suddenly inundated with male attention. These guys can’t seem to help themselves. Keep in mind that it doesn’t do you any good to date a cop.” Shaw said sternly

  Lizzie gulped “Why is that?”

  “Some women sleep their way to the top and others will take the easy way. They lean on the guys to do the heavy lifting for them. Do yourself a favor and make your own way. One day when you’re the boss they will respect you and can’t say you didn’t do it like they did. These guys, well most of them, work really hard and don’t like women in the profession. It can be a little slap to their ego when a woman tries to do the same job they are doing. The male ego is a fragile thing. If they can help you then they can prove that you can’t do this on your own. I’m not saying don’t take help if you absolutely need it, just don’t need it. Shaw turned back to her locker and slid into her vest. “You’ll be fine as long as you do the work and prove yourself.”

  “Yes ma’am”

  Shaw continued talking as she strapped her duty belt on and snapped the keepers in place. “I speak from experience. I made a few mistakes when I was new and had to learn a few things the hard way.”

  “What about ones you don’t work with?” Lizzie asked “What about dating cops from other agencies?”

  Shaw laughed. “It’s a huge profession but trust me – someone always knows someone. Word spreads fast. Don’t do it. Most cops are liars and womanizers anyway. You’ll see what I mean when you have more time on. Some get into stuff you wish you never knew about. Find yourself a nice teacher, or doctor, maybe even a plumber. Trust me play the safe route.” Shaw’s eyes seemed to flash with a little anger.

  Lizzie was now fully changed into her street clothes and in contrast Shaw was almost completely suited up for work. “Thanks for the advice,” Lizzie said as she walked to the locker room door. Before she exited she looked back at Shaw one last time, admiring the woman and deciding she was going to be just like her. Except for the dating cops thing. She would just have to continue to keep Jack a secret. No one had to know.

  Lizzie watched Shaw take her gun from the top shelf of her locker. Shaw slid back the slide to make sure it was loaded and then kissed the barrel before putting it into the holster on her hip. Lizzie liked that.

  Lizzie reached up and touched the Saint Michaels medal around her own neck. Everyone had his or her own rituals and this was somehow comforting. Lizzie smiled again as she tripped lightly down the stairs, out the back door and into the night air.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Lizzie arrived home thirty minutes later. Taking her gear out of her trunk she went up the stairs to her front door. Quietly unlocking the door, so as not to wake Jack or Sam, she closed the door softly behind her. Lizzie was pleasantly surprised to see Jack still awake. Sitting on the couch with the television on, quietly watching the game and a bag of snacks next to him.

  Lizzie dropped her stuff, kicked off her shoes and sank down on the couch next to him.

  “There’s my girl!” Jack said. He smiled as he wrapped her in a huge hug. Lizzie kissed him on the cheek before sitting down next to him and curling her knees up on the couch. Lizzie grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl that sat on Jacks lap. He handed her a glass of wine he had been sipping from and she sighed blissfully after the first gulp.

  “Tell me everything!” Jack encouraged.

  “Oh Jack, it was awesome! I didn’t realize just how much I didn’t know. I felt like such a baby. The academy just didn’t prepare me for it all. I have so much to learn.”

  Jack tussled her hair as if she were a child. “Welcome to the big boy game!”

  Lizzie smarted a little at the turn of phrase. She thought back to what Shaw had said about being a woman in a man’s world. She quickly dismissed her irritation. Jack hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings. Jack wasn’t like those guys Shaw had talked about. He had always encouraged her.

  “Briefing was interesting,” Lizzie continued. “There are some really cool guys on my team and no girls! I did run into a female sergeant in the locker room. She is badass! I’ve decided I want to be just like her when I grow up.”

  Jack laughed. “You just met her. Maybe once you’ve gotten to know her, you wont think she’s so amazing”

  Lizzie felt a little defensive of Shaw. “Oh no way! She’s the coolest.”

  “You always see the best in people, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do and they don’t often disappoint” Lizzie countered. “Speaking of seeing the best in people, my training officer was a surprise.”

  “Oh yeah, how so?”

  “Rumor has it that he used to be a sergeant but got demoted after some scandal a few years ago. Now he has to train rookies and I’m his first trainee. Oh and I caught my first bad guy all by myself!”

  “You did?” Jack laughed at Lizzies excited banter.

  “Yes! He was driving a stolen car and when we went to chase him he parked it. So I jumped out and ran after him and caught him! And then I got yelled at. But I still caught him!”

  “You got yelled at?”

  “Well my training officer said I was still a rookie so I can’t just go running off without him.”

  Jack smiled, “I think I like this guy already. Is he a mean old fart or is he handsome and your gonna leave me for him?”

  Lizzie playfully punched Jack’s arm. “No he’s not mean but he used to work vice so I think he is a little more cautious than necessary. Maybe you know him? Tom Dekker?”

  “Dekker?” Jack shifted his eyes back to the television in an attempt to appear nonchalant. “No his name doesn’t sound familiar.” Jack felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. He struggled to keep his demeanor as casual as possible. No reason to start panicking yet.

  “No? I think he was kind of a big deal at one point. I wonder why you never met him? Or even heard of him?”

  “I don’t remember ever meeting him but if all the rumors are true about this guy maybe you should try to get a new training officer.”

  Lizzie rolled her eyes “How the hell would I do that? And even more so, why would I do that?”

  Jacks voice took a sterner tone than he intended. “Well if he screwed up as bad as you said he did! Someone died right?
And money and drugs went missing? If he’s capable of that, then maybe he is going to get you into some shit you don’t want to be a part of . I mean hell, Lizzie, you’re just starting out for crying out loud.”

  “Ok calm down. Jeesh. Everyone kind of treats him like crap but he is really a stickler with me on officer safety. And he is really smart. He seems really intent on training me to do the job the right way. Maybe it’s because he messed up once before by shortcutting and now he’s making up for it. I don’t know. I don’t know the whole story. I wasn’t there and neither were you so we can’t judge. Besides, I figure I can find out for myself what kind of man he is instead of going by rumors. If he messed up and is trying to do better, then the best way to have his back is to learn everything I can. If I can be successful, everyone else will see that he’s still a good cop”

  “That’s awfully noble of you, Officer Noble.” Jack tugged at her hair and smiled a little. He couldn’t let her see how much this was bothering him. He had to play this carefully.

  “Yes. I may be idealistic but I believe in second chances. I also believe in second glasses of wine!” Lizzie smiled as she got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen.

  She believed in second chances. Ugh. Jack wondered to himself if he could ever come clean with her. Live a normal life out in the open. She clearly could forgive other people for their mistakes, but him? He’d been lying to her for so long but now that Dekker was in the picture and Joel was lurking around, he wasn’t entirely certain how much longer he could keep up the pretenses. No. Jack mentally shook his head. He had to keep this up. He just had to figure out a way to ensure that he and Dekker never crossed paths. He had to keep Lizzie and Joel from ever crossing paths.

  “Ouch!” Came Lizzies voice from the kitchen

  “What’s wrong?” Frank said from the couch

  “Nothing. I think I just stepped on a piece of glass. How the hell did that get there?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  The next morning Jack was up and dressed before Lizzie. He woke her with a quick kiss. “I have to go in early today. We are doing surveillance.”

  Lizzie sat up groggy from not nearly enough sleep. “Ok I’m up. I’m up”

  “Just sleep a few more minutes. I already gave Sam breakfast and he’s sitting watching cartoons and coloring. I’m sure he will be fine if you take a little longer”

  “Thanks honey. Be safe today.”

  “I always am” he said, swooping in to give her one last kiss. “You be safe too.”

  After Jack left, Lizzie stayed warm under the covers for a few minutes longer but the excitement of yesterday and the promise of today kept her eyes wide open. She might as well get up. Grabbing her bathrobe and wrapping it around her shoulders, Lizzie got up and went to the living room. Ruffling Sam’s hair she sat down on the couch next to him. “Good morning, young prince.” She smiled as Sam climbed onto her lap and smooched her wetly on the cheek.

  “Morning mommy. You slept for a long time.”

  “I know. I was up late working. How was school yesterday?”

  “It was fun! I made you a picture!” Sam jumped up and ran to grab his little backpack from the hook by the front door. Excitedly he produced a drawing made in bright crayons. It was a picture of Lizzie wearing a large blue cape and dressed like a superhero. “See mommy this is you!” Sam glowed with pride at his depiction of his mother.

  “Wow, Sam! This is really good!” Lizzie said. “I know just the place for it.” Lizzie got up from the couch and stuck the drawing to the refrigerator door with a magnet. Sam beamed with pride and Lizzie swooped him up in her arms. Even though Sam was too big to be carried these days, Lizzie is happy for the moments like these. Lizzie carried Sam back to the couch.

  Lizzie made Sam his breakfast and happily spent the next hour watching cartoons with him. Lizzie didn’t want to waste one minute with her sweet son but she eventually rose, showered and dressed for her day ahead.

  As she dressed, Lizzie thought back to what Jack said the night before. She considered the warning he gave her regarding Dekker. Lizzie became annoyed all over again. She wondered if maybe Jack was one of those cops Shaw had warned her about. He had been so supportive but maybe that was an act? Maybe he didn’t really think she could do this job? Lizzie was more determined than ever to make sure she made a name for herself, without Jacks help. She wasn’t going to be known as one of those women who relied on her cop boyfriend to get through training. She was perfectly capable of finding her own way.

  After dropping Sam off at school Lizzie headed to work. By the time she reached Roland, she had forgotten all about the conversation she had with Jack the night before. The irritation she felt was replaced with excitement and uncertainty for the day ahead.

  Chapter Twenty

  Lizzie entered the briefing room and took the same seat she had occupied the day before. Lizzie noticed that the other officers on her team did the same. There was something a little comforting in the sameness of the seating arrangements. It was one thing you could count on when the day ahead would be filled with one unpredictable moment after another.

  Sgt. O’Connell started off briefing by informing them that the peeping Tom from yesterday s briefing had possibly been identified. The graveyard shift was sent to a call of a man threatening to throw himself off the Amtrak trestle. One of the officers recognized him as possibly being the man from the wanted bulletin.

  “Now you can stop hiding in the bushes Ramos! Don’t look so disappointed!” Camden teased. The rest of the team laughed.

  O’Connell brought the room to order by handing out the days assignments. Same as yesterday. No one even mentioned Lizzie’s stolen vehicle and subsequent arrest of Michael the thief.

  After briefing Dekker and Lizzie walked to their car and Lizzie conducted her start of shift inspection. When she was finished Dekker tossed her the keys. At the surprised look on Lizzie’s face, Dekker said, “What’s the matter? You don’t want to drive? Most rookies would give their left arm to drive on their second day.”

  “I want to!” Lizzie replied excitedly as she scrambled into the driver seat.

  “Just try not to make me car sick,” Dekker quipped as she pulled the patrol car out of the parking lot and onto Barnard.

  Dekker fired up the cars mobile computer and checked to see if there were any calls for service waiting for them. Seeing none, he directed Lizzie to a small neighborhood just north of the police department.

  “Pull over here and park,” Dekker said pointing to an empty space at the curb. “I have to run in for a second. Stay in the car.” Lizzie parked. Before she could ask what they were doing at this particular house, Dekker jumped out and bounded up the front porch of a sweet little one story home. The house was painted a simple white with green shutters but flaunted an extraordinary wrap around porch.

  Who’s house was this? Was it Dekker’s? Lizzie saw no signs of kids no bikes on the front porch or balls on the grassy lawn. She really knew next to nothing about Dekker but she was too afraid to ask him any personal questions. She figured if she didn’t ask him any personal questions then maybe he wouldn’t ask any of his own.

  Moments later, Dekker returned to the car. Brown paper bag in hand

  He smiled sheepishly at her, “Lunch. The wife makes it for me every day and I forgot it”

  “You live here in town”

  “Yeah back in the day when I got hired the cops were given a deal. Low interest home loans if we lived in the city. Some kind of Cop-in-the-Neighborhood type of program. We were young and it seemed like a great deal. We moved in and never left. I built that porch myself”

  “It’s beautiful”

  “I’m pretty proud of it”

  Before Lizzie could ask Dekker anything further the radio crackled to life. “Two Lincoln four, I’ve got one running southbound through the block! BMA, black puff coat, six foot, holding his waistband!” The radio blurted out this transmission like a ballgame announcer describing the gam
e play by play.

  Lizzie’s adrenaline kicked into overdrive and she glanced over at Dekker expectantly. “Just hold for a second,” Dekker said, “We don’t even know where he is yet.”

  The radio squelched, “Two Lincoln Four”, Officer Camden panted through the mic. “I’m IFO 124 Sixth Street and he’s eastbound through the block to the rear.”

  “Go now!” Dekker directed “Code three!”

  Lizzie flipped on her overhead lights and siren and floored the gas pedal. She didn’t need directions. She knew where she was going. Lizzie came to a screeching halt behind Camden’s abandoned patrol car and Dekker jumped out. Dekker held her back by saying, “Stay with the car.”

  Lizzie looked down the sidewalk and saw officers with their guns drawn. Six officers lined up in a sort of entry formation. They were about to enter the yard in which the suspect was last seen. The action was about to go down and she had to stay with the car? Lizzie was embarrassed and felt like a baby.

  A canine officer pulled up and got out his pup. O’Connell directed the K9 officer to take the lead. O’Connell, the K9 and four other officers entered the first back yard. Lizzie watched as Officer Ramos hopped up on top of the yards fence in order to get a bird’s eye into the yard. Lizzie was chomping at the bit. She wanted to be doing THIS!

  Officer Ramos suddenly yelled, “He’s right here!” while simultaneously dropping down off the fence and out of sight. Lizzie could hear sounds of thumping, scuffling and “Stop resisting!” Moments later, a line of officers reappeared with the bedraggled suspect in tow and a black firearm secured by the last man out. Lizzie begrudgingly watched while the Sgt. O’Connell smiled and patted Officer Camden on the shoulder. No doubt he was congratulating Camden on a job well done. Lizzie pouted until she saw Sgt. O’Connell start her way.

  O’Connell reached her and with a grandfatherly smile he said, “Kid, I know it’s no fun sitting on the sidelines and watching. There are just some things you don’t need to be a part of just yet. You have a long career ahead of you. It’s my job to help you keep it that way.”