CHAPTER NINE
It was almost five-thirty when she drove into the parking lot. She was immediately disheartened when she didn’t see the Chief’s Mercedes parked in his designated space. She would never admit it publicly, but she had been looking forward to seeing his grumpy old ass again. She didn’t have an ironclad reason why she wanted to see him again. He wasn’t exactly nice to her yesterday. He left her in the dust when she first introduced herself. He never said another word to her even after she tried to help.
But as she watched him throughout that day, she saw something in him that she couldn’t verbalize. He wasn’t the slouch she expected. He was a leader of men. And he actually listened to her wacky theory about bullet slants that even she would admit wasn’t based on scientific fact, but on her own experience as a cop.
She entered the station, walked up to the information desk, and asked if he was in.
“Who’s asking?” the clerk on duty asked her.
“Marti Nash.”
“That don’t tell me much. Unless. . .” Then he grinned the goofiest grin she could imagine. “Are you that diversity hire they been talking about ‘round here?”
“Diversity hire? Really ?” She wasn’t even going to mix it up with this buffoon. “Is the chief in?”
The clerk, certain she had to be the one, picked up his desk phone and made a phone call. “Someone will be with you shortly,” he said after he ended his call. “Have a seat.”
It was their world and she was just visiting, so she took a seat against the wall.
It took several minutes, but Sergeant Carter finally made his way to the front desk. “That her, Sarge?” the clerk asked him.
Carter looked across the lobby and saw her seated there. “That’s her all right. May I help you?” he called out to her.
Marti grabbed her thin leather briefcase and made her way back to the desk. “I’m here to see Chief McGraw.”
“I’m Sergeant Carter. Are you that consultant?”
“I am, yes.” She smiled and extended her hand. “Marti Nash.”
Carter wasn’t about to shake her hand. How many far more qualified men she had to stomp over to get that job? “You’re late.”
She saw that he wouldn’t shake her hand, but she refused to let him shake her smile. She withdrew her hand. “I had an emergency Zoom meeting with the Attorney General’s office that was far longer than I had anticipated. I phoned and left a message for the chief. Is he in?”
“Chief already left for the day.”
Marti was disappointed. She really wanted to fully introduce herself and get an understanding with the chief about how they planned to work out her involvement, since she was expected to work closely with him. But he was gone already? She’d never known any cop to work a straight nine to five. Especially not one in charge of an entire police department that was already under fire.
Carter, noticing her disappointment, got a bright idea. And he smiled. “He left early, but he’ll be happy to meet with you at his house.”
The clerk looked at Carter as if he’d just lost his mind. Marti stared at the sergeant. She knew she was being needled. She knew he was lying. “Would he now?” she said to Carter.
“He’ll be thrilled! He would love it. Said so himself. Would you like his address?”
He was playing games and she knew it. But she needed to meet with the chief. And if the chief didn’t like the fact that she had come to his home, then she could always blame the sergeant. “I’d love his address,” she said, playing right along with them, as the desk clerk held back his laughter, and as Marti took down the address.