Page 72 of Things We Hide from the Light
“Dispatch flagged me as soon as Dilton called it in. Had a bad feeling about it so I headed out with Bannerjee. Good thing too. He had the driver out of the car and cuffed, was yellin’ at the wife who was recording him on her phone.”
“Why’s this the first I’m hearing about it?”
“Like I said, you were laid up. And you’re hearin’ about it now cause last night he was overheard running his mouth at that shithole bar Hellhound talkin’ bout how he’s gunnin’ for chief since you can’t do the job.”
Grave pulled no punches.
“I’ll take care of it,” I said, putting the car in gear and scaring the hell out of seventeen-year-old Tausha Wood when I pulled out behind her pickup truck.
“Now?” Grave asked.
“Now,” I said grimly.
A day ago,I wouldn’t have had the energy for this shit, but I’d woken up with a mostly naked Lina pressed up against a mostly naked me. It was more powerful than any prescription I’d tried.
I ran a small, solid department that served a small, solid community. A few thousand people who had more history between them than most families. Sure, we were a rough-and-tumble community maybe a little more likely to solve an argument with fists and alcohol. But we were tight-knit. Loyal.
That didn’t mean that we didn’t see trouble. Being this close to Baltimore and DC meant it occasionally spilled into town limits. But having trouble come from a badge in my department? That wouldn’t stand.
We were good men and women dedicated to serving and protecting. And we were getting better with every response, every training.
There were a thousand ways beyond our control a call could go south. A thousand ways we could make a dangerous mistake. There was no room or reason to add attitude and prejudice to the list.
So we trained and drilled and debriefed and analyzed.
But a department was only as good as its weakest officer. And Dilton was ours.
“Here he comes,” Grave said, giving the heads-up.
Tate Dilton didn’t bother knocking. He strolled into my office like he owned the place. He was a reasonably good-looking guy despite the receding hairline and beer belly. His mustache pissed me off, probably because it reminded me of Marshal Graham, who had helped himself to an empty workstation and was doing a goddamn sudoku.
“What can I do ya for, Chief?” Dilton said as he took a seat, ignoring the rest of the room’s occupants.
I closed the case folder I’d been reading, added it to the stack on my desk.
“Shut the door.”
Dilton blinked before getting to his feet and closing the door.
“Have a seat,” I said, indicating the chair he’d just vacated.
He dropped down again, kicking back and lacing his fingers over his belly like he was on his buddy’s couch watching the game.
“Officer Dilton, this is Laurie Farver,” I said, introducing the woman he’d yet to acknowledge standing by the window.
“Ma’am,” he said, giving her a dismissive nod.
“You know, Tate, growing up, my neighbor had this dog that he kept on a leash. From a distance, that dog looked nice. Soft, yellow fur. Big, fluffy tail. As long as he was on that leash, hewas fine. But the second that leash slipped, it was game over. You couldn’t trust him. He started gettin’ loose. Chasin’ kids. Bitin’ people. My neighbor didn’t shore up that hole in his fence. Didn’t tighten up the leash. Eventually, one day, that dog attacked two kids out ridin’ their bikes. Dog had to be put down. And his owner got sued.”
Dilton sneered around the gum he was chewing. “No offense, Chief, but I don’t really give a flying fuck about no neighbor and no neighbor’s dog.”
Beneath my desk, Piper let out a low growl from her dog bed.
“Here’s the thing, Officer Dilton.You’rethat dog. I’m not always gonna be here to keep that leash on tight. Bottom line is, if I can’t trust you in the field on your own, I can’t trust you period. Your recent actions have made it clear that you aren’t prepared to serve, much less protect. And if I can’t depend on you to do your job to the best of your ability, then we’ve got a serious problem.”
Dilton’s eyes narrowed and I saw a glint of mean in them. “Maybe you don’t get it since you’re basically riding a desk these days, but I got shit to do out there. Someone’s gotta maintain order.”
I sat with that for a second. I had been slipping. And that had consequences. Dilton had taken advantage of the loose leash, which meant not only were his actions on me, it was also up to me to make it right.
