by Jack Parker
"Yeah, he's round heyah someplace," Menkino said as he looked away from the cameras and began scanning the crowd. After just a short while, he found Collin standing only a few yards away said, "There yous are. Get inna this shot, we's are doin' a segment 'bout you."
Groaning, but still smiling, Collin walked over to the camera. He continued flashing his relieved expression into the camera lens throughout every single interview he did later that day.
- ONE WEEK LATER -
"Well, there it is," Lisa said as she put something else up in her office. Right above her on the wall behind was a large picture of Collin; it was one of the literally hundreds of photos taken of him within the hour after the session in court ended.
The picture consisted of Collin shaking the mayor's hand while focusing all of his attention towards looking at the camera.
"I like it," Jess said with her hands on her hips as she nodded her head.
"Goes great with the other pictures," Ian added. "If only the mayor was a hottie instead of a clown missing his makeup."
"Oh, stop that," Lisa ordered, even though she was laughing a little herself. The whole sense of peace and triumph in the room made everyone much more laid back than they were on a typical day.
"I'm with Jess," Christine interrupted. "That's a pretty cool picture. Imagine how awesome it would've been if we got it autographed."
"Oh, I'm sure if we asked Collin to sign it, he would," Lisa answered confidently.
"I was talking about the mayor," Christine replied bluntly. "But yeah, it'd be kind of cute if Coll signed it, too."
Lisa let out a small sigh before Jess asked, "Hey, where is Collin?"
She laughed a little bit before answering, "Where do you think? He's at school, of course."
"Oh, that's right. Any idea where?"
"I think it's out of state. But I'm not sure."
"You're not too far off," said a deep and commanding voice from behind. It was so sudden that it made everyone in the room jump. But they were a bit relieved to turn around and see it was only Teneire. He gave a warm smile before saying, "Hey, everyone. Long time, no see."
Lisa smiled wide. "Yeah, if you call a week a long time. How've ya been?"
"Oh, I can't complain. How about you?"
"Things have been pretty cool around here. The only reason these guys are still here is because they're full-time employees. Tourist season's pretty much over and we're just packing it all in until next spring."
"Ah…always a depressing feeling, closing something up after a while," Teneire philosophically replied. "I almost felt that way closing up the case here."
"Yeah, I guess."
"That's actually why I'm here. I just wanted to make sure all you guys were sure the case was over and everything is settled."
There was a chorus of "Yeah's" and "Definitely's". Teneire allowed a small chuckle. "Okay, sounds good enough for me."
"Wait, Mr. Teneire," Ian called out, "What's gonna happen to Nick?"
"Nick? He's done. I'm guessing he'll get life in prison, and he probably won't be up for parole. That's my guess. I've been wrong before, but I think that's what's gonna happen."
Ian smiled. "Awesome. Now I can tell all my drinkin' buds that I've worked with a guy who's sentenced to life in prison!"
"Uh…sure, if that's your definition of 'awesome'," Teneire said, clearly not understanding what Ian thought was so incredible. "Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I gotta get going."
"Wait, Mr. Teneire," Lisa said just as he began walking out the door.
Teneire froze in his tracks and turned around. "What's wrong?"
Lisa sighed. She turned to her workers and calmly asked them, "Would you all mind leaving the room for a minute or two?"
There was some confusion on everyone's faces, but Ian broke the silence with, "Ooooooh, I see where this is going!"
Lisa scoffed. "Oh, it's nothing like that."
"Heh, heh. Whatever, Lees."
The room quickly emptied until it was just Teneire and Lisa. Lisa took a deep breath before walking around to her desk and opening the top drawer in it.
"Collin came by a couple days ago. He wanted me to give you this," she said neutrally as he handed her the object in her hand; it was an envelope that wasn't all that different from the one that contained the incriminating picture of Nick.
Teneire looked slightly confused as he opened it up. Out came a sheet of paper filled with writing done by a typical ballpoint pen.
"It's a letter," Teneire said with a hint of curiosity.
"Collin wrote it. He wanted me to give it to you."
"Why wouldn'the just give it to me himself?"
Lisa passed a quick glance at the letter. "Maybe he'll say."
Still slightly confused, Teneire started reading the letter:
Dear Sergeant Teneire,
I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for helping me work on that case. I don't mean to imitate Lou Gehrig when I say this, but you helped make me the luckiest kid in the world. I don't think you have any idea how awesome it is to finally be able to sleep without thinking about Scott's death. (actually, you probably do, but that's not the point)
You were a great boss to me when I worked at your station. (And if you see her, tell Lisa she was a pretty good boss, too) I'll never forget everything you taught me about keeping my cool and always doing my best. You're right: it DOES feel good to help keep killers off the streets, even if it's just one.
In case you were wondering, I just wanted to let you know I don't plan on going back to Arbur Winslow to work. In fact, I'm not planning on going back to work with you either, Sergeant, even though you invited me back. I've gotten a lot of enjoyment from working with you both, but I think everything is done now. If fate thinks different, we'll meet again. Otherwise, I think it's best that we all get on. But just to make sure you don't forget these days, I wanted you to have something.
Sergeant, this is the reason why I wanted to have Lisa give you this letter instead of me just coming to you. I thought that if I tried doing this in person, you'd reject it, so I'm hoping this will make it a bit harder for you to do that. Maybe you'll think of it as nothing special and just as a cheap little trinket that I found some use for. I personally hope you find some deeper meaning in it than that.
Again, I want you and Lisa to both know how grateful I am. Working with both of you guys has been awesome. I wouldn't trade this summer in for anything.
Yours truly,
Collin
Thank you.
Teneire gently took the envelope and tipped it upside down. The police badge that Collin had utilized to his full advantage while working on the case came tumbling out, right into Teneire's hand.
He let out a small grunt as the cold badge fell into his hand. He stared at in awe, like he was looking for that "deeper meaning" that Collin mentioned in the letter. After staring at the badge and carefully observing it from all sides, Teneire muttered something.
"Thank you, Collin."
* * *
THE END