Page 37 of Truly, Madly, Deeply
“Want help?” He still had fifteen minutes before he had to leave. “I can clean up. Dishes are my favorite.” He tried to keep his tone light. “You know me. King of the kitchen.”
His mother’s smile fell flat. “Thank you.” She set down her dishrag and looked at him. Straight at him for the first time since his announcement. “Tommy… I’m sorry. For how I’ve been acting.”
He nodded. “Dad says you’re good… with the ride-along today?”
“I am.” She exhaled. Like she was carrying a ton of bricks on her shoulders. “You’ve seen your grandpa John at work in the hospital, and you’ve been with your father in the courtroom.” Her expression was tight. Dark with what was obvious worry. “You need to do this. So you can see if…” She stopped herself.
“If what?” Tommy felt a rush of frustration. “Mom. I’m not going to change my mind. If that’s what you think.”
She didn’t say anything in response. Instead she hugged him—longer than usual. “I’m sorry. That’s all.” She looked at him. “Be careful, Tommy. Please.”
Now Tommy was doing the ride-along paperwork at the downtown station. He wore dress pants, a white button-down shirt and loafers. No jeans. No tennis shoes. The department took the ride-along program seriously.
At least his mother had been kind to him on the way out the door. But now he understood why she’d agreed to this. Because she thought he would get in a police car and see… what? The danger of it? The frustration? Clearly she thought riding alongside an officer would change his mind about being a policeman.
They would have to talk about that later.
Tommy finished filling out the forms and turned them in at the front desk. The next four hours would be spent in a police car. Then he’d go to the hospital to see Annalee. To see how she wasn’t improving and how God wasn’t answering their prayers. At least it seemed that way.
In the meantime, being with Detective Lockwood was going to be a great diversion. The man met Tommy in the lobby a few minutes later. He shook Tommy’s hand. “You look just like your dad.”
“Thank you.” Tommy had heard that before. It was always a compliment.
The detective nodded for Tommy to follow him.“You’ll ride with me this afternoon. I don’t get out on patrol very often, so this will be good for both of us. After today, I’ll assign you to one of our other officers.”
“Yes, sir.” Tommy could barely breathe as they walked to the man’s squad car. Along the way Detective Lockwood told him what to expect. “Anything can happen out there. We’re working to take down a couple of very dangerous gangs and a group of our officers is closing in on a sex-trafficking ring. Beyond that there’s the 9-1-1 calls. And they come in just about constantly.”
Tommy remembered something Annalee’s dad had said when they were in Thailand. The crime they’d seen on the streets there was just as bad in Indianapolis. And most major cities across the United States. Some of it might be more hidden, but it was out there.
Detective Lockwood was still running through the possibilities. “The most dangerous calls are the ones that take us by surprise. The routine traffic stop where an officer is shot before he or she can say a word. Or the calls that lead us on a chase—by car and then by foot. Always the goal is to get the suspect safely in custody. Whether they have a weapon or not.”
Already Tommy’s heart was beating harder. “I’ve watched just about every episode ofCops. The chases seem pretty dangerous. Especially at night.”
“They are. Other bad guys could be waiting for us, hiding in the shadows, ready to shoot. The truth is, every call is a risk.” Detective Lockwood paused as they reached the squad car. A new-looking Ford Explorer. “Butit’s a risk we’re all willing to take. Because honestly… we want to be part of the solution on how people see cops. We could walk away, get a different job. But for most of us, this is a calling. Someone has to help the people. My wife and daughters understand that.”
Of course they do,Tommy wanted to say. Why couldn’t his mother be like them? Maybe she just needed time to get used to the idea. Tommy hoped so.
Once they were inside the squad car, the man explained that the vehicle’s floor was made entirely of rubber. No carpet at all. “Nothing to slow us down if we need to enter or exit quickly.”
Detective Lockwood then pointed out the brake pedal. “It’s larger than normal. Easier for us to stop in a hurry if a crime is in progress.”
In the door there were white envelopes. “For tickets,” the detective explained. “And you’ll see hand sanitizer there. Which we need more than you’d think.”
On the center console was a laptop on a swivel. “The computer gives us options police officers didn’t have in the old days. It’s loaded with programs that help us run plates, check IDs on suspects and write reports.”
Beneath that was a built-in radio with a microphone and a series of switches. “The microphone is constantly connected to dispatch. Same with the one on our uniform.” He tapped the receiver unit near his shoulder. Then he pointed to a switch on the console. “Flip this and everything’s on. Lights, sirens. Back lights. And the wall of light for a traffic stop. All of it ready for action.”
Tommy was mesmerized. He’d never been inside a police car before, and what he’d seen onCopscouldn’t compare to being here in person.
“And of course our spotlight.” Detective Lockwood put his left hand on a shiny knob near the windshield frame. “This helps us see addresses or people we’re looking for.”
Tommy looked over his shoulder to the backseat. “The containment area is only on one side of the car?”
“Not for all police vehicles, but for this one, yes.” The detective nodded to the open seat. “Once in a while we need to transport a citizen for noncriminal reasons. An elderly person, or someone lost. That sort of thing. Obviously we don’t use the containment area for those situations.”
Every detail made Tommy more thrilled about being out on the road.
Detective Lockwood pointed to the other side of the backseat. “This suspect containment area is pretty typical. Hard plastic. Nowhere to hide anything—drugs or weapons. Plexiglass all the way around the top. That way we can see whoever’s back there, but they can’t spit on us or harm us in any way.”
