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She arrived early and sat in the waiting room, studying the framed diplomas from UNC Chapel Hill and Elon. Both were awarded to Helen Catherine Sharpe, an indication that Elingburg was a surname she took through marriage. In the eight or so months Ballard had been seeing her, she had not gotten around to asking how someone who had been schooled in North Carolina ended up in Silicon Beach.
At noon, Ballard heard the exit door from the office open and close. The office was designed so that a departing client did not pass through the waiting room where the next client was sitting. It was a privacy that Ballard appreciated.
Moments later, the door to the office opened and the doctor welcomed Ballard into the rectangular space. To the left was a desk; to the right was a seating area that looked like a basic living room, with two couches, one on either side of a coffee table, and solo seats on the ends. Their habit was to sit across from each other on the couches, and Ballard took her usual spot.
“Water?” Elingburg asked. “Coffee?”
“No, I’m fine,” Ballard said.
Elingburg started with a discussion about the next Monday being Presidents’ Day and a holiday. She told Ballard that she wouldn’t be seeing clients in the office that day, and they could either move their standing appointment to a different day or do it by Zoom with Elingburg connecting from her home. They decided on an office appointment on the following Tuesday and then got to work.
“So, let’s begin. How is your day going?”
“Well, it didn’t start out well. I mean, at first it was good—I was on the water—but then it went to shit.”
“What happened? Work?”
“No, work is actually okay. But I got ripped off when I was on the water. I went up to Staircases because the apps said that was the break that was happening. But up there, you park behind the bluffs. You can’t see your car from the water, and somebody was there watching. Had to be. They saw me hide my key. When I got back from the water, my badge, my wallet with my credit cards and police ID, and my gun were gone.”
“Oh my gosh.”
“Oh, yeah, and my phone. I spent part of the morning at the Apple Store. So not a good start.”
“What happens now? You tell your boss and they investigate?”
“I haven’t told anyone. I’m supposed to report it, but if I do that, I could lose my job.”
“What? It was not your fault.”
“Doesn’t matter. If I were a man and I reported it, they might put a ding in my jacket for being careless. But for me, I’m not so sure. Like we’ve talked about before, I’m on thin ice downtown. There are people just waiting for me to fuck up so they can transfer me to the boondocks or get rid of me altogether. The job I have right now is where I need to be. It’s where I know I make a difference. So I can’t report this because it might be the thing that drives them to say, ‘You know what, we’re going to make a change.’”
“But you can’t go around without a badge or a gun.”
“I have a backup weapon and a boot gun the thief somehow missed in the car.” Ballard opened her jacket to show her backup holstered on her hip.
“What about the badge?”
“Well, I have to get it back.”
“How?”
“I’m going to track down whoever the fuck took it.”
Elingburg just nodded as if considering whether that was a good plan or not.
“Anyway, things got better after that,” Ballard said. “We got a good case going.”
“What is a good case?” Elingburg asked.
“Mostly a case where the suspect has a pulse. And also is out there living his life and thinking he got away with it. Somebody you get to put the cuffs on.”
“You get a good charge from that.”
“Fucking A right, I do. It’s what it’s all about.”
Elingburg nodded again and changed the subject. “Anything new on your mother?”
“No. Nothing.”
