Page 25 of Falling For You

Recommendations I could figure out. Zeus would be the first ask. Doug was on track for sergeant. Once he made it, maybe he could write the second.

The documented investigative experience would need to come from a qualifying unit. A rotation, a temporary assignment, real investigative work that counted on paper. My patrol supplementals didn't check that box. But I'd been training myself anyway, being particular with every call I responded to, documenting every read, every observation, every detail that didn't sit right.

That was what my father did as a patrol officer before he made detective. He treated every call like it mattered, and by the time he transferred, he already knew how to work a case because he'd been working them from the street his entire career.

That left the ride-along. Forty hours shadowing patrol detectives on their cases, sitting in on interviews, watching them process evidence and build files. The request to schedule those hours went through my direct sergeant.

Which meant I'd have to talk to Elliot.

I stared at the line until the letters didn't mean anything anymore. Years of preparation. The courses, the supplementals, the late nights building this file. And the one thing standing between me and the transfer application was a signature from the man I'd walked out on a few weeks ago.

I could ask him. I'd have to, eventually. It's not like he could deny the request. For what? Because we broke up? That would be a nice interesting conversation with HR. A sergeant blocking his patrol officer's career development because she stopped sleeping with him. I almost wanted him to try it.

I sighed and pulled my bag from the hook.

I'd give myself time. Until I was confident I could face him without giving him the satisfaction of seeing what it cost me. Maybe I'd email him next week. CC Human Resources. Professional. Documented. A paper trail he couldn't touch.

Yeah. That was what I'd do.

I closed the locker and headed for my desk.

"Walsh."

I stopped halfway across the bullpen. Burns was in his doorway.

"I need you for Halloween night. Patrol in the residential neighborhoods, trick-or-treating hours through midnight. People tend to be more cooperative around a female officer when there are kids involved."

"I'll be there, Lieutenant."

"Good." He leaned against the frame. "Are you set for the school presentation this afternoon?"

"I'm set."

"Good. Let me know how it goes."

The school gymnasium smelled like floor polish and poster paint. A banner across the far wall read Fire Prevention Week in red block letters, and rows of small chairs faced the staging area. Cops on one side of the staging area, firefighters on the other. A display table near the door held plastic fire hats and coloring books about stop, drop, and roll.

I found the officer coordinator, confirmed the schedule, and took my position near the side entrance. My job was straightforward: talk to the kids about home safety, answer their questions, be visible.

The firefighters had the main stage. Engine 110 was parked outside the gym doors, driven onto the school grounds so the kids could climb on it after the assembly. Travis was helping a kid try on a fire helmet, crouched down with a patience I'd never seen on him. The whole crew looked different here. Softer, less brusque. Nothing like the guys who threw steak knives at dartboards and challenged me to bench press competitions.

Captain Thompson gave his presentation about fire safety, escape plans, what to do if your clothes catch fire. I gave mine about home safety, emergency numbers, what to do if you see a stranger. The kids asked questions.

Do you carry a gun? Yes.

Have you ever caught a bad guy? Many times.

Are you a real cop?

I showed them my badge and they believed me.

After the presentations, the kids lined up to climb the fire engine. I felt a tug on the hem of my shirt.

"Excuse me?"

A little girl, maybe six, her head tilted up, studying my uniform with absolute concentration. Blonde hair. A pink bow clipped to the top of a ponytail. Her blue eyes moved from the badge on my chest to the duty belt on my hip to the braid pinned at the back of my head. Something about her face was familiar, but I couldn't place it.

"Hello! What's your name?" I crouched down to her level.