The Birthday List(27)

The woman gasped again.

“Detective, I don’t, um . . .” He moved out from behind me to my side, speaking underneath his breath. “I don’t think we need to charge her with assault.”

“I’ll take the speeding ticket.” The woman flew to Terrell’s side like he was her new best friend. “Please.”

I held back a grin, fighting to keep the scowl on my face. “I don’t know. It looked awful serious when I pulled up.”

“I get carried away sometimes,” she told me, then looked over to Terrell, nodding fiercely. “I was going too fast. You were right.”

Terrell looked to me and I shrugged. “It’s your call, Officer.”

He nodded, turning back to the woman who was now clinging to his arm. “Ma’am, if you’ll get back in your car, I’ll finish with the speeding ticket. Then you can be on your way.”

“Oh, thank you.” She squeezed his arm and then let him go, ducking eye contact with me as she scurried back into her Olds.

When her driver’s door shut, I chuckled.

“Would you have charged her?” Terrell asked.

“Nah. I just wanted to shut her up.”

Terrell grinned. “Smart.”

I shrugged and jerked my chin to the Olds. “Give her the ticket and get her on her way.”

“Yes, sir.” He took his clipboard back to her window, returning her license and registration. Then he tore off a goldenrod speeding ticket and away she roared, pulling out of the parking lot with—careful—haste.

“Thanks.” Terrell joined me by his cruiser and sighed. “That got out of hand. Seems to be happening to me a lot lately.”

“Unfortunately, that’s part of the job.”

“Every time? I haven’t had a stop in a month without getting a load of shit. Do you think I’m doing something wrong?”

“I doubt it.” I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Come on. I’ll go out on patrol with you for a while.”

His entire face lit up. “Really?”

“Really. Let me grab my keys.” I walked back to my truck, leaning in to shut off the ignition and get my keys. Then I plucked my sunglasses out of the console and went to the cruiser.

Sliding into the passenger seat, I grinned at Terrell’s excitement. His dark face was split with a wide, white smile, and his fingers drummed on the wheel.

“So you’ve been having some rough stops lately?” I asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“Yeah.” His smile turned down. “No matter how polite I am, everyone fights the ticket. I asked a couple of the other guys on patrol, but none of them seem to be having the same problem.”

I didn’t want to be the one to break it to the kid, but his face was probably the reason he’d had such a hard time lately. Not because of the color of his skin, but because at twenty-something years old, Terrell Parnow had a baby face if I’d ever seen one.

Round, chubby cheeks. Soft brown eyes. There wasn’t a thing hard or angular about him. Add to that his shorter stature and skinny frame, and the only intimidating thing about the kid was his gun.

But if someone didn’t step in, his confidence would keep getting rattled and only make the situation worse. He’d either quit the force or someone would think they could push him too far.

“Look, Terrell. I’ll be straight with you here.” I slid off my sunglasses so he could see my eyes. “You’re fighting an uphill battle. You’re half the size of most guys on patrol, and people aren’t going to take you seriously by default. You’ve got to figure out a way to be assertive but not come across as a dick. Find the balance between pushover and asshole. Understand?”

Terrell stayed quiet. The radio clicked on and off as dispatch made calls to other cars, but the kid didn’t say a word.

Shit. Was that too blunt? Had I scared him? He had to know he looked like a teenager, right? I opened my mouth to tone it down a bit, but he spoke up first.

“What if I grew a beard?”

I grinned. “It’s worth a shot.”

“Thanks, Detective. I appreciate the honesty.”

“No problem. And it’s Cole.”

He nodded. “Cole.”

“One other thing,” I said as we passed another patrol car heading in the opposite direction. “If the other guys on patrol say every stop is a good one, they’re full of shit. With every four good stops, you’ll have one bad. That’s normal for everyone and we’ve all been there. Toughen up that skin and don’t let the bad ones get to you.”

“Okay.” He nodded. We rode in silence for a few blocks until Terrell spoke again. “What should I have done differently with that woman?”

I rubbed my jaw, the stubble thicker than normal because I hadn’t shaved this morning. “If I was in your spot today, I wouldn’t have let her out of the car. I wouldn’t have let her cuss at me, and I sure as fuck wouldn’t have let her touch me. But when I was your age? When I was a rookie? I probably would have done the same thing as you. I would have stood there and taken her shit until she ran out of steam. Then I would have handed her the ticket and gotten back in my cruiser and had a beer when I got home.”

“No shit?” His frame perked up.