Yeah, I can picture how that proposal would be. She’d probably break her favorite tea mug right over my head.
The issue was, I had never lost interest in her like she claimed. In fact, I’d only grown more interested, and more determined to wrap up this case so I could spend more time with her. I was ready to be done lying. And the closer we got to the end of this investigation, the more time it required from me.
In the beginning, the only job I had was to get Sullivan to trust me.
That hadn’t taken long. West liked to tell me I didn’t have a threatening demeanor. It was his way of kindly telling me I sucked as a cop.
It was okay, though, I could live with West’s insults as long as we completed this thing and I never had to do undercover work again. Never. Ever.
Did I need to add another ‘never’ to that statement? I wasn’t sure.
I’d transferred to the Riverly station to apply for a detective position—not to do undercover work. Unfortunately, the condition to getting that position was that I went undercover on the Sullivan Keene case.
They needed a fresh face and had promised me it was the only time I’d have to do it.
Ironically, I’d applied for the detective position after a failed undercover job when I’d been working in Burnside.
“I have a lead on the driver,” West said, bringing my attention back to the present. I opened up the video surveillance of Sullivan’s place.
“What are you going to do about it?”
“He wants a point man when he makes the delivery. I plan on being that guy.”
I opened a bank statement and began writing down the numbers. We had to find where Sullivan was routing the money if we wanted to find out who was behind this. Sullivan was a glorified broker. He wasn’t the be-all and end-all of our investigation, but he was an excellent hub of knowledge.
“Why don’t you go to the bar and do what you do best then? Go get yourself hired as a point man.”
“And here I thought you’d offer to make me a cup of tea and chat.” He stood up, the whole chair creaking beneath his weight. We were nearly the same height, but West was a brick. He had me beat by sixty pounds, and it wasn’t all fat.
“Oh, one more thing. Jenkins told me he met your girlfriend. Wants to know her number.”
I glanced up sharply and realized he wasn’t joking based on the deadly serious look on his face. “Tell Jenkins to stay the hell away from her.”
“You know that’ll only make him more interested. He doesn’t trust you.”
I sighed. “Then tell him the truth. I’ve moved on and she’s not in my life any longer.”
West nodded, then turned to go. He stopped before he made it through the door frame. “Wait, the truth? You’re not dating that girl anymore?”
I pulled open the frame of Sullivan’s office. He was sitting at his desk talking on the phone.
“Yeah, the truth. Saidy broke up with me.”
“Wow. I did not see that coming.”
“I know.” I still couldn’t believe it myself.
“I can’t believe she stayed with you so long. Four months. Is that a record for you?” He chuckled as he walked down the hall.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” I ground out as I turned up the volume to listen to Sullivan’s phone conversation.
Turns out, he was ordering dinner, not organizing another multi-million-dollar heist.
I turned on my personal phone, checking for messages. There were no more from Saidy. I really hoped she hadn’t thrown our hats away. I’d bought us each a matching pair every time I came across one.
Sappy? Yes. Would I admit to someone like West that I loved the idea of matching hats? Never.
But the fact that she was going to get rid of them meant she was trying to purge me from her life. I wasn’t ready for that yet. I didn’t think I’d ever be ready.
I needed to go talk to her. Grovel. Beg. And hope she gave me a chance to explain myself when this was all over.
The drive to Saidy’s house went by too fast. I didn’t have nearly enough time to formulate my “why we belong together” speech. I guess I’d have to wing it.
After I parked along the curb, I pulled her garbage can in from the road, setting it next to the garage where she liked to keep it. It was my weekly routine, and it would have felt wrong to ignore it, even if this night didn’t go as planned.
Taking the necessary deep breath, I walked up the path to the front door.
I knocked. There was no answer. I rang the doorbell.
Still no answer.
Her car was in the driveway, but that didn’t always mean she was home. Her mom or her friend Zoe could have picked her up and taken her somewhere.
It didn’t matter. I’d sit here on the curb until she got home.
A loud crash sounded from the garage. Was it a possible break-in? I sprinted around to the back of the garage and reached a hand into my waistband, resting against my pistol while I slowly pushed the man door open.
I let out a sigh of relief when there was no intruder. I pulled my hand away from the gun I carried whenever I was on duty. I’d been lucky that Saidy had never caught on to the fact that I packed heat regularly.
Saidy was there inside the garage, standing on a ladder reaching for a box tucked into the rafters. At the base of the ladder was the source of the crash: a broken light bulb.
I watched as she climbed up to stand on the very top of the ladder. I held my breath, scared to surprise her and cause her to fall off her
