Page 15 of Half Baked

He nodded, then headed out while I walked into the chief’s office.

“Shut the door,” he said, motioning to it after I’d walked inside.

I did as he asked, my stomach clenching. He had an open-door policy, which he took literally. He rarely closed the door…unless he was discussing something private. “Should I be worried?”

“Nah, this is just a formality.” He waited until I’d settled into a worn chair in front of his desk. “First, I want you to know I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong. The state police agree, even if they can’t give a formal statement yet.”

“Why do I feel like there’s a but in there?” I asked, my nerves on edge.

“I wanted to warn you that there’s going to be an editorial in the local newspaper. A piece about you.”

I resisted the urge to shake my head and clear my ears. “Wait. Did you say there’s going to be an editorial aboutme?”

He pressed his lips together, looking grim. “Yeah. I got a heads-up from a friend of a friend that they’re questioning the number of shootings you’ve been involved in since coming to Cockamamie.” He made a face. “They’re mentioning the shooting in Memphis too.”

I sat back in the chair, my head feeling light. “Why?”

“It’s a slow news day?” he said with a shrug. “Who knows. I suspect they’re struggling to accept that crime’s moving into their smug little town.” He shifted in his seat. “That fact is, crime has always been here; the criminals have just done a good job of hiding it, and before you got here, we didn’t do a good job of unearthing it. Hell, it’s a badly kept secret that the Brawlers are doing God knows what just outside of town. They tend to keep it on the down low so the citizens can pretend the town’s safe. But there’s no denying thatyou’vebrought those things to light, and they think it takes some of the shine off the town…”

“You mean I’m digging up the dirt they want to ignore, so they’re blaming me for its existence.”

He made a face. “Something like that.”

“I had nothing to do with the fact that some whack job was murdering people during break-ins last fall,” I protested. “I stopped him.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “I know. You’re preaching to the choir, Noah. But the editorial’s still coming out.”

“Okay,” I said, then realized his body posture hadn’t relaxed. In fact, he seemed even more tense. “So, what else do you need to tell me?”

“I know we planned to put you on desk duty, but with the editorial and all, I think we should put you on administrative leave.”

My eyes widened. “You said the state police informally said they were finding me innocent. They viewed the video and took the clerk’s statement. They said my quick action stopped the perp from killing the clerk. Desk duty is the protocol.”

“I know, and I’m not firing you. Hell, Noah,” he said in frustration, motioning to me. “You were injured. Just call it sick leave.”

“But it’s not sick leave. It’s administrative leave.”

He gave me an exasperated look. “It wouldn’t kill you to take some time off. You’ve been busting your ass since you got here.”

“But Lance and I are working the car thefts.”

“Lance can work it with Cuso if he needs help. But I think he’ll be okay on his own for a bit. It’ll be good practice for him.”

“Lance is a new detective.”

The chief lifted his brow. “Are you insinuating he isn’t cutting it as a detective?”

“No, of course not. But…” Anything I came up with would look contrary to what I’d just said, so I stopped. “How long am I on leave for?”

“Let’s say two weeks for now, and we’ll reevaluate next week.”

“You mean after you gauge public opinion around the piece.”

He shrugged. “You know how these things go. There might be outrage for a few days, but things will settle down and everything will return to normal.”

I leaned forward. “I did everything by the book. I always do.”

“I’m not disputing that, Noah. No one in this department is, and every single one of us will stand behind you. But you have to admit that you taking a couple of weeks off might help the situation blow over quicker.”

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