We’re starting a new story today! I can’t tell you whether it’s more of a short story, a short novel, or a full-length novel, because I haven’t written all of it yet. So we will get to find out together. 🙂
Chapter 1: The Ride-Along
Part 1: Sam
Officer Sam Harrison glared at his offending laptop screen. This had to be a joke. He scoured the email header in hopes of finding an errant email address, but no such luck. It was actually from his boss’s account. Unbelievable.
“Harrison!” barked said boss, Lt. Mike Lehrer, from across the room. Sam jumped to his feet, shut his laptop none too gently, and strode into the lieutenant’s office.
“You see my email?” Lehrer spoke before Sam had crossed the threshold.
“Yes, sir.” Oh, how he wanted to object, but he knew he couldn’t argue and maintain the LT’s respect.
“Good. Report to the front desk. She’ll ride with you until 2p.m. Dismissed.”
Sam gritted his teeth and left the office, detouring to the vending machines before he went out front. He needed a minute, and maybe a Snickers. If second breakfast was a good thing for Sam Gamgee, it was good enough for Sam Harrison.
He finished the last swallow of the candy bar just before he reached the front desk. Seated in one of the visitor’s chairs – nasty, hard plastic things he wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole – was a tall, slender young woman wearing an ill-fitting gray suit coat and matching skirt with a plain white shirt underneath. Her hair, a nondescript brown, was twisted into a tight bun at the back of her neck. All she needed was a pair of glasses to look like a dowdy old librarian, Sam thought with a barely-contained grin.
“Sophie Lane?” he called as he stepped around the desk. Her head snapped back to look at him, the movement so quick she nearly cracked her head on the wall. She stood, stiff and straight, and offered a hand. Sam shook it and noted with mild surprise that she had a strong grip – for a skinny girl.
“I’m Sam Harrison. You’ll be riding with me today,” he introduced himself.
“Pleased to meet you, Officer Harrison,” she replied in a clear soprano voice. Huh. He liked her voice. Didn’t want to like anything about her, but there you go.
“You can follow me out to the car,” he said, waiting for her to grab her book bag before turning and walking out the front doors.
At least it was a beautiful spring day, unseasonably warm for the Midwest. He could roll the windows down and enjoy the fresh air. After the miserably long winter they’d had, they were due a nice spring. 50 degrees in late March? Yes, please.
Sophie pulled a lightweight down jacket out of her book bag and slipped it on as they walked to the cruiser. He supposed she didn’t have enough meat on her bones to stay warm. And why was he thinking about her body? Nope. Back to the weather. Or something else innocuous.
He cleared his throat. “So, do you live in the area?”
“I do. The Maple building on 5th.”
Sam knew the building well. He patrolled that area roughly three times a week. It was on the south edge of town, in a neighborhood that had seen better days several decades ago. Now most of the single-family homes there were owned by rental companies, the larger homes had been divided into multi-family dwellings, and the apartment buildings boasted cheap rent and appliances from 1982.
He took a glance at Sophie’s left hand, clutched tightly around her book bag strap. She was on her own? He frowned at that thought. He wouldn’t want a sister of his living in a neighborhood like that. He told himself it was purely platonic concern – he was responsible for the safety of the residents of Williamson, after all. Still, it didn’t sit well in his stomach, imagining her coming home to the Maple building in the dark of winter.
“How long have you lived there?” he asked next. Maybe she grew up in the neighborhood. That would change the dynamic.
“Since last July.”
There went that idea.
Woman of few words. How was he supposed to spend five hours driving around with a lady who barely put two words together? Ugh. He liked Lt. Lehrer’s idea even less at this point than he had when he first saw the email.
Arriving at the cruiser provided a brief respite. He opened the door for her and told her to keep her bag on the floor at her feet. There wasn’t a lot of spare room in a police cruiser, but she tucked herself in just fine. Sam walked around the car, blew out a breath, and climbed in behind the wheel.
Keep reading! Part 1.2 can be found here on 2/18/25.