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CHAPTER45
Danni and Marrs were almost back to the station when her phone rang. It was Sergeant Harper.
“Detective Grace, where are you and Detective Marrs?”
She cast a glance at Marrs. “On the way back to the station. Why?”
“The chief is back. She wants to talk you, Danni.”
“All right.” Danni hung up the phone. “Gee, I thought I’d avoided this. Sorry to mess up your day as well.”
“Your father would never apologize for doing his job. Don’t you either.”
She glanced at Marrs, who faced out the window. He’s right, Danni thought. And I will never apologize for doing my job.
When they arrived at the station, the area in front of the building was almost deserted with only two sign holders.
“I hope they finally ran out of gas,” Marrs commented.
Danni couldn’t agree more as they parked the car and walked into the station. She headed straight to the chief’s office while Marrs continued to homicide to write up their interview.
“You can go right in,” the chief’s admin said.
Danni walked into the chief’s office. She did a double take as she entered the office. Raven had already had the space repainted. She could smell the paint and one of the bookcases was still covered in a tarp. The walls were now a pale-green color, though bare. Estes had had many plaques and photos covering the walls. He had left the blue paint from his predecessor. Obviously Raven didn’t like blue.
When did she have time to do this?Danni wondered.
“Detective,” Raven greeted her from behind the desk and waved her to a seat.
Once Danni sat, Raven folded her hands on her desk and looked at her across the desk. “I’m sorry I missed you and your partner this morning. But maybe it’s best I speak to you alone.”
“Chief, we were following legitimate leads yesterday—”
Raven put her hand up, stopping Danni. “Danni, I’ve been wearing this uniform thirty-one years. And although I’ve been an administrative officer for most of those years, I do know good police work when I see it. Last night, I was caught up in the moment and a little bit out of line.”
Danni sat back, not trying to conceal her surprise.
“Years ago, when I was a sergeant and still in the field, I had a run-in with your father, one of the best cops I’ve ever had the honor to work with. He was a youngster back then. We were on a big call, a mess. A large party got out of hand—a few fights, some broken windows, damaged cars. I didn’t like being hands-on, but I had no choice. My handcuffs were needed and I put them on one of the partygoers who was going to jail. Later, when they were all booked, your dad pulled me aside and read me the riot act.”
Danni had to smile, picturing her dad, an officer, dressing down a senior officer and sergeant to boot.
“Do you know what he was angry about?”
“I can guess. Did you fumble with the cuffs?”
Raven smiled. “I did. Looking back, it was probably comical. I had no control. I was simply lucky the kid complied. Your father pointed out it’s when police officers don’t control a situation, things go sideways. ‘If that kid had wanted to resist, he’d have knocked you on your butt,’ he said. ‘You’d have been his.’ And he was right.”
Danni could hear her father say those words, and she agreed. Too many times after a police officer was killed or seriously hurt, she’d gone to debriefings and watched re-creations go over the incident in slow motion, showing what went wrong. It was dangerous to step close to someone, put your hands on them, cuff them, and take away their freedom. An officer had to control the situation, control the individual. If he didn’t and the suspect wanted a fight, more often than not, sadly, the officer lost. One thing her father had drummed into her: control the situation, go home at night.
“What your father said to me sank in. I really wasn’t cut out for fieldwork. But I’m a very good administrator.”
“I’m not sure what this has to do with me.”
“I’m your boss now. And for however long I occupy this chair, I’m going to try and be a good one. What did you make of Mayor White last night?”
Danni thought for a minute, still not certain where Raven was going with this. “It seems to me Mayor White doesn’t want Thomas Johnston’s murder solved.”
“I don’t believe that. I do believe she has a pathological mistrust of the police.” Raven took a breath, frowning. “Something strange happened this morning. I missed our first meeting because the mayor called me out to her residence. She said she had an emergency requiring my attention. I was almost there when she called and canceled. So I returned to the station and I’m barely in my office when she calls again. This time she’s angry with you.”
