ONE
I’ll just have one quick go at the crossword, Sarah Burke told herself, and then I’ll get my lazy buns out of this chair and take Denny shopping.
A mall run on the first Saturday after Christmas had never come close to making her Favorite Treats list. In fact, it was near the top of her secret WOO list, composed of things she usually tried to Weasel Out Of. But she had promised this trip on Christmas morning, when gift money fell out of cards and began burning a hole in her niece’s pocket.
No question, Denny had earned the favor. Ever since they moved into the house on Bentley Street, she’d been doing more than her share to support this improbable household. Several times in the hectic months since Sarah and Will Dietz had cobbled their family together under one roof, Sarah had thought, My lover, my mother and my niece? Even the French wouldn’t try to make this movie.
But against all odds, it was working pretty well. And eleven-year-old Denny’s helpful hands, especially in the kitchen, had been a big part of that success. Abandoned by her addicted mother after years of neglect, she had bounced back from the self-abusing waif Sarah had adopted last year and shown how much juice and humor a willing pre-teen could contribute to the lives of striving adults. So if a mall run today felt like pulling teeth without a sedative, Sarah had made up her mind to suck up and do it anyway, with a smile.
But just a little self-indulgence first, to help me stay patient, even if Denny sets a new desert southwest record for the number of jeans tried on in a single day.
She poured a second coffee, yawned and stretched. Around her, the house on Bentley Street hummed with Saturday morning sounds – Aggie’s mixer whirring in the kitchen, Will running a power drill out in his shop. And down the hall from the breakfast table where she sat, Denny’s favorite hip-hop music rattled her bedroom door.
Sarah was counting the letters in ‘ebullient’ when her cell played the opening bars of ‘On the Road Again.’
‘Looks like we might be growing some new brand of stupid,’ Delaney said. Her sergeant was still at home too, she could tell: his background noises were TV cartoons and a barking dog, definitely not homicide division. ‘Some numbskull all by himself, stripping copper wire in full view of heavy traffic. Ripping it out of the power hook-up in front of an abandoned warehouse on Flowing Wells and stashing it in his pick-up.’
‘Easier to see what you’re doing in daylight, I guess,’ Sarah said, waiting for the real news. She knew he hadn’t called to talk about wire theft.
‘No doubt. And then deciding to shoot it out with the officer who caught him at it. That was brilliant, too.’
Ah. Well, there goes Saturday.
‘Officer’s name is Spurlock. He called it in and he’s waiting at the scene for you. Should be three backups covering the scene by now, and the ME’s on his way – I caught Greenberg before he started his morning run. I’ll be along as soon as I get everybody else called.’ She was starting to hang up when she heard him say, apparently from a little distance, ‘Oh, say—’ Then he came back on, in full voice, and added, ‘The IR guy’s running a little late, too – he wants to meet us downtown. So will you secure our shooter’s weapon and shield until I get there?’
Oh, sure, boss. Why wouldn’t I be glad to be the one to strip him of his most important possessions? All she said was, ‘OK.’
On her way to gear up, she stuck her head in Denny’s room and said, ‘I’m sorry but the mall’s got to wait, babe. I just got called to work.’
‘Drat,’ her niece said. But then quickly added, ‘Oh, well, the sales will still be on tomorrow.’ She’d been living in Sarah’s house long enough to adopt a cop’s-kid attitude: stuff happens; work can’t wait; live with it. Anyway, she had fresh Christmas loot – a new iPad that was never out of her sight and shared the bed with her now – so she had plenty to keep her occupied.
‘Got a call, huh?’ Dietz said, coming into their bedroom while Sarah was dressing. It was the closest he would come to offering sympathy. The good thing about two-cop couples was they both had plenty of experience with wrecked weekends, and knew bitching only made things worse.
Will Dietz was a nondescript man, noticeable only for the scars left from a firefight he’d inadvertently walked into a couple of years ago. They had fallen passionately in love during his recovery, just as her obligations to her abandoned niece and ailing mother were threatening to overwhelm her. His efforts had rescued them all, doing most of the work to move everybody into this one old house near two good schools. Now Denny was powering through middle school and Sarah’s mother had a nice guest house in the backyard and the assisted living she needed. Undemonstrative, stoical and steady, he had quietly become Sarah’s North Pole.