AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hollis said, “It has to do with liability. The injuries I sustained from the impact of the bus were too pervasive, and too damaging to withstand the physical stress of detective work.”
He blew his nose, then looked me in the eye. “I’m going to physical therapy starting next week. I’ll see how that goes.” He tried to sit up straighter. “There’s a chance I could come back. They say they’ll have to monitor me closely, especially my legs and hips. My mom is all about me leaving the NYPD and trying another line of work.”
This young man was truly torn. The pressure from his mom wasn’t making it any easier on him. But maybe there was some truth to what she was saying. Maybe, without even realizing it, I’d put pressure on him. By believing in him, I’d emboldened him to do too much too soon. On the other hand, it was because of his courageous actions that Kelly Konick was still alive and a dangerous killer was off the streets.
I studied the bruises around his face. Finally, I said, “What do you want to do?”
“I want to be a cop.” His voice had some power in it now.
“Why?”
“I want to make a difference. To help people.”
I nodded. “Those are the right reasons to be a cop. Most people have never felt the desire to work in our profession, which makes that feeling, that drive, impossible to understand. Police work has been such an important part of my life, but I realized something as I got older.”
“What?”
“There are other important things in life. There are other ways to help people. You need to decide where to dedicate your talents.”
“What I want to do is come back to work. Do you think I’d be able to come back to our squad?” He sounded like a kid asking permission to go out on a Saturday night.
I smiled. “I guarantee you’d be welcomed back as a star.”
For the first time since I’d arrived, he looked hopeful.
This man had earned the right to be called my partner.
Chapter 99
Mary Catherine had the best idea for working it all out, just as she always did.
My late wife, Maeve, had been the one to introduce us, in a way. Maeve had been the one who’d hired Mary Catherine, sight unseen, from Ireland. Mary Catherine had shown up on my doorstep just when I needed her. I knew this was no coincidence. Maeve had planned out a happy life for me even while she was dying of cancer. Maeve had done it all. That was the way she was. Unselfish.
And so was Mary Catherine. She could read the strain on my face, about Hollis, about Ott, about everything except my family.
“You need a good bike ride,” she said, ordering me to change. Shawna and Chrissy spoke up, then Eddie, Trent, and Jane. Five of ten kids wanted to come with us.
Mary Catherine said, “Anyone who can keep up is welcome to come along.”
I knew that was the kind of challenge she and I would both regret.
We started out slowly—after I first had to pump up a couple of tires in the basement, and everyone had to find and put on their approved bike helmets—carefully working our way toward the bike paths in Riverside Park.
Once we got in the park, Shawna turned and grinned. She said, “Mary Catherine, you can come with us.” She paused for best possible dramatic effect, then added, “If you can keep up.”
That’s how I remember the massive bike race starting. I pedaled until I thought my legs would drop off. My lungs burned and my vision might have blurred a little bit. And I still could not catch my fiancée. No one could. She had the form and grace of a professional cyclist.
I could say the race lasted for days and people died from exhaustion. But that wouldn’t do it justice. The way Mary Catherine rode down those young people and then raced ahead of all of us, she was putting on a show.
She had a competitive streak and had somehow effectively hidden it from us until now. Or maybe we had just refused to see it. The kids would never look at her quite the same way again. Neither would I.
By the time I caught up to her near a water fountain that we used as a meeting point, she was sitting on a park bench with her helmet off like she’d been waiting for us for hours. All I could do was laugh—once I could breathe again, that is.
The kids stared at Mary Catherine like she had jumped off the pages of a Marvel comic book.
I sat down next to her as the kids got water and greeted a couple of their friends who had been playing in the park.
I said, “I like to see you smile after slapping down the kids and me.”
