Page 6 of In Her Eyes

“Wait!” Lynn grabs her phone. “Let’s Google it.”

“Google what?”

“Google the police station. Let’s find out who’s in charge. This way, we can ask for them directly.” Her fingers fly on the screen.

I shake my head. “I don’t think police stations have a directory with the names of their cops.”

“Found it!”

“What? No way.”

Her smirk hits a ten on the smug scale. “Told you. I know these things.”

She shows me the screen, and indeed there are a dozen or so officers listed by titles followed by names, which appear to be a decreasing rank. “No homicide detective, though. This town is too small.”

Lynn scrolls down the screen. “I don’t think we want to go directly to the top. Every chief of police in movies likes to yell.”

“Okay, who’s next in line?”

“There’s a deputy chief, a detective sergeant, a sergeant, a K-9 cop, and a bunch of officers.”

“Let’s go with the detective sergeant. High, but not too high.”

She points at the screen. “Then, we want to ask for Jake Knox.”

My stomach churns. Here goes nothing. “Ready? Okay, let’s go.”

She nods, and we open the car doors at the same time. The warm June breeze blows my hair across my face. I close my eyes and take a moment to settle my nerves while Lynn feeds the meter. I push a hand into my solar plexus and take three deep breaths. Imagine myself inside a bubble of protection. Nothing can hurt me in here. We cross the street together. This side of town is a little less touristy but still lined with charming stores, cafés, and restaurants. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel safe. So very different from NYC.

Lynn bumps into my side. “Jaywalking right in front of the police station and all these cops. You like to live dangerously, my friend.”

I’m grateful for her attempt at levity. “I’m following you.”

She steps around a pothole. “Dude, if you’re following me, we’re so screwed. I have no idea where I’m going. I thought I was following you.”

I laugh, but the sound is hollow. I know she’s trying to distract me from the mounting tension in my chest. But experience has taught me that the anxiety will dissipate as soon as I confront my fear and do what I set out for myself.

Gray steps lead up to a red brick and cement building. The words CITY HALL and POLICE are engraved on the wall. People come and go through the wood and glass double doors. A couple of cops linger on the sidewalk talking, hands on belts heavy with gadgets and guns.

One of them has a police dog, and the German Shepherd wags his tail at me, then takes a short step in my direction, his eyes tracking my progress as I near the building and go up the steps. I smile at the dog and the tail wags faster. The K-9 cop notices and smiles at me. He scratches behind the dog’s ear, says something to the dog, and his tail wags faster still.

“He’s cute,” I whisper to Lynn.

“Which one? The dog or the cop?”

“Both, I guess, but I was talking about the dog.”

Lynn giggles. “You did it again.”

“Did what?”

“Charmed that dog. Animals love you.”

“I love them too,” I say as we walk through the front doors.

“Yeah, but you could be like a regular Disney princess with all the forest animals following you.”

I shrug. She’s exaggerating. There was that one cat who hated me, but he hated everyone, so there’s that. Lynn’s not too far from the truth, though. Animals do love me. They can sense something in me. I’m not sure what. Grandma is the same way. “I wish. If I were a Disney princess, they would be cleaning my house and doing my laundry, too.”

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