Page 8 of The Book of Wrath

“Shit, how the fuck is he out?!” Tony complained, slamming his locker door shut. The sound echoed off the walls. A few of the other officers looked our way, but Tony just glared at them until their gaze drifted in different directions.

“That’s the thing. He shouldn’t be. There was a sudden judge replacement an hour before his bail hearing. The judge who originally scheduled the hearing was removed because he had stated in the past that if Paxley came back before him for anything, he would be thrown in prison with the key tossed and lost. Hence the DA wanting me to pull up everything I could find on the guy,” Pete opened up one of the files. The picture on top of the papers was that of a young girl who looked exactly like Megan. It wasn’t her, clearly. The girl was covered in bruises, a busted lip and cut marks along her arms and cheeks.

“Is this one of his victims?” I hesitated to look into the file. I didn’t want to know what else had happened to this woman.

“Yeah, she was one of the girls he tortured in his first high school. He ended up in three different high schools in New Castle County before being transferred out of state to finish high school at some private school in Philly. I have someone looking into his record in Philly. There is no way this dude didn’t continue there as well,” Pete closed the file quickly and shot me a look. Sandra’s voice could be heard over the chatter in the room. She knew she wasn’t allowed to be in the men’s locker room, but she always waltzed in anyway.

“Hello boys,” she said, her voice like nails on a chalk board. She walked over to stand next to me and smiled. “How are you this morning, Max?”

I closed and locked my locker, Tony locking his beside me. Pete excused himself and backed out of the room as if a viper was about to strike him. He wasn’t wrong. Sandra was a viper, one who was cold-hearted and ruthless. She let out a huff at our blatant disregard of her presence.

Tony and I headed for the door after putting our guns in their holsters. He leaned into my side, “When are you going to report her ass for stalking?” he whispered. He was right, I needed to report her to HR, not just for the constant text messages and phone calls but for the barging in on us guys in the locker room.

“Maybe I should do that now. Do you know if Rick is in his office yet?” I asked him, enough was enough. I can’t keep letting her taunt me and try to bait me into lashing out at her. She wants me fired if I won’t forgive her.

“Yeah, he was already here this morning when I got here. Damn man lives here I swear,” he said as we got closer to Rick’s office. He wasn’t wrong, I think the man slept here even on his days off. Things haven’t been the same for him since his wife and daughter died last year. I don’t blame him for not wanting to go back to that house.

“I’ll catch up with you a little later. I’m gonna take your advice,” I replied to Tony as I clapped him on the shoulder. He had been telling me for the last two months to report Sandra for harassment. I should’ve done it sooner. He clapped my shoulder back and headed down the hall. I knocked on Rick’s door and heard him grumbling.

“Come in,” he barked through the door. His voice sounded like gravel. I opened the door to see my captain rubbing his temples with his head in his hands. He wasn’t one to complain if he wasn’t feeling well, though. He looked up and smiled a bit, “Ah, Max. Everything alright? People giving you shit yet?”

“Tony is the only one with the balls enough to fuck with me and you know it,” I chuckled as I took the seat across from him. “Actually, I’m here to talk to you about filing a harassment claim. I’ve put it off far too long, I don’t want to have to go the route of a restraining order in the work place, but I’m done with someone not following a direct order.”

Rick sighed deeply and I could hear the wheezing in his lungs from where I was sitting. He opened up his drawer and pulled out a thick manilla envelope. I was expecting to see the form name on the header tab but instead I saw Sandra’s name on the tab. My eyes widened slightly. Why did he have a file on her?

“You’re not the only person whose lobbied a complaint this week. What did she do now?” he asked as he pulled out a pen and a form from another file still in the desk. I proceeded to tell him about the encounter at the hospital, showed him the hundreds of text messages after my last text telling her to stop contacting me, my phone log, the voicemails. I then moved onto her barging into the men’s locker room and coming right up to me constantly. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had enough of it.

“Are you okay, Rick?” I asked as he finished the paperwork and had me sign it. He sat back in his chair and laughed.

“You’re probably the first person in the last year that has asked me that question. You are probably the only person to bother checking in on me as often as you do. You have a good heart, Max. I’ll be fine, damn allergies are just getting the best of me. Mother nature can’t figure out her god forsaken mind and decide if we’re getting a damn spring or just jumping straight to summer. If she wants to skip spring it’s all well and good just take the damn pollen with her! Don’t worry son, I have my inhaler. I’ll survive,” he finally confessed, I’m glad it was just his allergies. “I’ll have this whole file turned into HR here in a few. Just so you know, they are going to put her on leave since a lot of these complaints come from her time inside this building. I’m going to recommend her get counseling and most likely getting you a restraining order. What you showed me is stalker behavior and I wish you would’ve came to me sooner.”

A soft knock came at the door, Rick quickly put the file in his desk before answering. “Come in,” he shouted through the office like the person on the other side of the door couldn’t hear him. Sandra opened the door with a shit eating grin from ear to ear. My skin crawled as her eyes raked over my body. Talk about feeling violated. This must feel like how women do when men ogle them in the bars and in the streets. It’s disgusting.

“Max! Just the person I was looking for. I need help with something. Marge is having car problems, and I told her you were the best mechanic I knew,” she cooed as she walked into the office and put her hand on my shoulder. I shrugged her hand off, but before I could say anything Rick spoke up from behind his desk.

“Sandra, you’ve been told to stay away from Max multiple times since your split. You are only still working here because there isn’t room at one of the other precincts. If Marge needs help, I will send Max and Tony to go assist. You can stay here. We have to have a chat,” Rick turned to me and commanded, “Go get Tony and see if Marge actually needs help.”

“Yes sir,” I replied, getting up from the chair and walking out of the office. Sandras huff was satisfaction enough that I had done the right thing by going into Rick’s office. Tony was waiting for me at the end of the hall.

“I see she’s getting ballsier. What did he say?” Tony asked as I joined him.

“You’re right about her getting ballsier. She walked in and put her hand on me despite me making it known that I didn’t want her near me,” I shuddered again. I need a shower now. I really wish she would just fuck off and leave me alone.

“You know she’s only doing it because Mendez refused to leave his wife and they’re working it out. She’s hoping you’ll forgive her too,” Tony’s words made me want to puke. Mendez’s wife was a saint for wanting to work things out with him. Then again, they have two kids together so I’m guessing that’s the real reason she’s holding on. Tony cleared his throat, “So what did he say?”

“I wasn’t the first person to report her this week. He took my statement, I had to email him screenshots of my phone. All her calls, messages and I have to send him the voicemails. He’s taking a file to HR once he’s done in there with her. Oh, and we have to go see if Marge really needs our help. That was her ploy into coming to Ricks office looking for me,” I sighed. Marge was a sweet sixty something year old woman who cleaned the station twice a week. We tried to keep it as clean as possible around here so her work wouldn’t be too difficult.

“What’s wrong with Marge?” Tony asked, concern written all over his face. He saw his mother in Marge. The only difference is that his mother in her sixties is spry and will beat you with a fly swatter for swearing anywhere around her. Fly swatters fucking hurt.

“Something about car trouble,” I replied as we headed to the front door. Ralph Fergueson was on front desk duty today. The way he sat there with a scowl on his face makes me think this was pure punishment for him. I wonder who he pissed off.

“Sign out,” he demanded as he slammed a clipboard and pen on the counter. Yeah, definitely a punishment.

“Cheer up, Fergueson. You’re going to scare anyone who comes in here for help. Smile a little more,” Tony teased Ralph. They were in the academy together and at one point were good friends until Ralph took a prank a little too far and Tony got his eyebrows singed off. He never did tell me what happened.

“Fuck off, Tony. Not everyone wants their jaw to hurt from faking a smile for hours like their life is a cake walk,” Ralph snapped, snatching the clipboard back from us. Damn dude had some serious issues. Tony rolled his eyes and stalked off.

Today was going to be one hell of a long shift.

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