2. Addison
CHAPTER 2
ADDISON
I just want him to treat me with the same respect he gives everyone else and to not count me out just because I don’t have a penis between my legs.
“Congratulations, Detective.”
Cheers erupt in the station, and I search the room for the one person who should be here, feeling defeated when I don’t spot him.
“Don’t take it personally.”
I turn to look at Gary Stone, a man I’ve known for as long as I can remember. He’s a hell of a detective and my dad’s best friend.
“How am I supposed to do that?” I ask sadly. “This is the biggest moment of my life, and he can’t even bother to show up. He’s not just my dad, he’s the Chief of Police. It’s a slap in the face for him not to be here when I’m promoted to detective.”
“You know how he gets,” Gary comments. “He might not be thrilled with your career choice, but he did sign off on your promotion. That’s gotta count for something.”
I heave a sigh. “Yeah, I guess.”
Gary slaps me on the back like he does with all of us. “Cheer up. This is a big day, and you should be proud of yourself.”
I am proud of me. But my dad should be, too.
Gary gets pulled into a conversation with the dispatcher. Sherry’s been in her position for twenty-five years, and she and Gary are close.
After another thirty minutes of mingling and ribbing from some of the officers, I return to my desk to finish clearing the space. Now that I’m a detective, I don’t have to work out of the bullpen. I get my very own office.
“Here, let me help you.”
I smile at Tom, but on the inside, I’m cringing. He’s one of those guys who just can’t take a hint. “I got it.”
He reaches for the box I lifted from my desk, and I swing it out of his reach.
“C’mon, Addi,” he pleads, sounding more like a whiny teenager than an officer of the law. “It doesn’t make you weak to accept a little help.”
“And it doesn’t make you a gentleman if you help me,” I bite out.
I’ve spent over a year dodging Tom’s advances, and he still hasn’t gotten the memo. I’m not interested.
“Bitch,” he mumbles under his breath as he stalks away.
I let the insult go, knowing it’ll do me no good to fire back at him. Filing a complaint is out of the question because my dad would use that to argue his position that women don’t belong in law enforcement.
When I step into my new office, I’m surprised to find a card propped up on a vase full of lilies on the desk. I set my box down and grab the card.
“Mom would be so proud of you,” I read out loud to the empty room. “Love, Dad.”
I fight back tears at the thought of my mom. She died when I was nineteen during a robbery at a gas station. She was always the one person I could count on to have my back, and losing her almost broke me.
For a few months after her death, I considered doing something with my life other than pissing my dad off by becoming a cop, but she would’ve been so disappointed if I didn’t follow my dreams.
So, here I stand with a card in my hand instead of my dad’s arms around me.
“It’s true, ya know?”
I whirl around. “Dad?”
“She would’ve also kicked my ass for not being here on time for the big announcement.”
“She would have,” I agree and tilt my head. “Where were you?”
“I’ve been at a crime scene for the last six hours.”
That piques my interest. “Oh yeah? What happened?”
“Triple homicide,” he says.
“I want the case.”
“I already assigned it.”
Disappointment weighs me down. “To whom?”
“Stone and Briggs,” he replies, referring to Gary and his partner.
“Aren’t they already working several homicides?”
“They are.” Dad tosses a file I didn’t notice he was holding onto the desk. “Here’s your first case.”
The disappointment lifts slightly as I eagerly open the folder, but it doubles down when I see what kind of case he’s assigning me.
“Bad checks?” I snap. “We’ve got several unsolved murders and a new triple homicide, and you want me to investigate a soccer mom passing bad checks?”
“Writing bad checks is fraud and a crime. Someone’s gotta handle it.”
“And by someone, you mean the only female detective here because surely she can’t handle anything more serious.”
“Addison, that’s no?—”
“With all due respect, Chief, I’d like to get going on my investigation, so if you’ll excuse me…”
I turn my back to him and focus on the documents in the folder he gave me. I’m sure I’ll hear about the blatant disrespect later, but I can’t find it in me to care.
Dad sighs loudly, and his feet shifting on the carpet reaches my ears, so I know he’s leaving.
“For what it’s worth, I am proud of you. The fact that I’d rather you have a safer job doesn’t change that.”
The door quietly clicks shut a second after he utters those words, and I flop down into the chair. I know my dad loves me, and I’m sure, in his own way, he is proud of me. But he has absolutely no damn clue how to show me any of that.
I spend the next twenty minutes organizing my belongings, and the hour after that digging into the woman I’m assigned to investigate. I could’ve dug up the info I found in ten minutes, but my mind kept wandering to the triple homicide.
I’m so lost in thought about how I can get in on the case that I don’t realize my office door is open until a throat is cleared.
I lift my head and see Gary smirking at me. He tips his head to indicate the computer. “Anything good?”
“If you consider fraud good, yeah, sure,” I huff out.
He turns to close the door, and when he faces me again, there’s sympathy in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Addi,” Gary says. “He’ll come around.”
“I’m not so sure about that, Uncle G,” I say, reverting to the name I’ve called him since I was a little girl. “The only thing I’ve ever wanted is to follow in his footsteps, and all he wants is to lock me away in a padded room.”
“Can you blame him?”
I narrow my eyes. “I’m a grown woman. He can’t protect me forever.”
Gary lowers his gaze. “Your mother was a grown woman, too, and he’d give anything to have been able to protect her.”
I stiffen at his words. “Don’t. Don’t you dare bring Mom into this. He started treating me like I wasn’t good enough long before she was killed.”
“I know, but that certainly didn’t help.”
He’s right about that. “Look, I just want him to treat me with the same respect he gives everyone else and not count me out just because I don’t have a penis between my legs.”
“Then prove to him that you are as good, if not better, than the rest of us.”
“I thought that’s what I’ve been doing,” I counter.
Gary leans forward, resting his palms on my desk. “I could use another detective on this triple homicide. Whaddya say? Wanna help me out?”
“And go behind Chief’s back?”
Gary shrugs. “Some rules were meant to be broken.”
This is why I love him. He’s always had the same belief as my mom: I can do anything I set my mind to. He’s just a bit more careful voicing that opinion in front of my dad.
“Then let’s break them.”