Page 33 of Falling for Her

“Should be within the hour.”

“Ummm,” she hesitates, “we’ll be there. If not, we’ll be there not long after.”

“Where are you guys?” I hear more voices in the background now.

“Just out enjoying the weather. Gotta go. All is well, see you later.” She hangs up.

I shake my head as I pull into the station parking lot and drive toward the chain-link fence. The gates open for me when I scan my card. I park the car in its assigned parking spot and grab my personal items from the passenger seat before heading inside.

As I pass the holding cell, I see a couple of people lying on the bench. I toss my keys on the desk. “Car four,” I tell Archie, who is in charge of collecting the radios and keys at the end of the shift, as well as taking care of the holding cell.

He picks up the key and writes the time and day in the logbook. “Captain was looking for you.”

I nod at him as I head up the steps to the office. All the desks are empty. I put my notepad on mine before heading to Captain’s office. I knock on the doorjamb since the door is open. He looks up from his papers.

“Burke.” He leans back in his chair. “Come in.”

“Door open or closed?” I’m not sure if he has something to tell me that is confidential.

“Everyone is out right now, but close it just in case.” I close the door and sit down. “How did today go?”

“Randy is MIA,” I huff out. “Checked all his local spots, and nothing.”

“You think he ratted himself out?” Captain rocks in his chair back and forth.

“No.” I shake my head. “My gut is telling me he’s getting high somewhere, and I’m not on the top of his list.”

“What are you going to do next?”

“I left him a message. Not sure if he picks up messages, but I figured it couldn’t hurt.” I move my leg up and down. “Got a call from Martinez on my way here.” His eyebrows raise. “They got word that a drop is happening tomorrow, sometime in the afternoon.” He whistles. “I don’t think the intel is right.”

“May be a trap. There is no way they’re doing that during the day,” he agrees with me. “You going anyway?” I nod. “I want you checking in hourly.”

I shake my head to let him know that I’m not going to be doing that. “I’ll check in when I can.”

“If you’re going to go in, I want to know when it happens.”

“Got it. I’m going to head home and spend time with Asa since I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. It might be an all-night shift.”

“Report in tomorrow morning when you head out from your house. There’s no reason for you to come in and then go there. Take time with Asa.”

“I won’t say no to that.” I get up out of the chair. “Later.”

“Later.” When I pull open the door, he adds, “Stay safe, yeah?” I look over my shoulder at him and nod.

Grabbing my truck key and phone from the drawer, I head out of the station. “Bye, Cathy.”

She looks over at me and smiles. “Have a good night, Burke.” She turns her head back to the screen. “See you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be working in the field tomorrow,” I tell her. “You’ll get some check-ins from me.”

“Great,” she sighs, “it’s like I’m a babysitter.”

I laugh. “You know we wouldn’t be able to do this without you.”

“Say that with a coffee and a donut.” She looks up for a minute, and then her phone beeps, and she answers as I walk out.

I jog down the steps and head toward the parking lot. The thick air in my truck hits me when I open the door, and I roll down the windows as I pull out.