Love, Bullets, and Badges Ch. 01

They only needed to put twelve percent down, but the club's funds didn't have the twenty four thousand for both Librarian's and Booger's bails, so Librarian and Booger sat and waited.

Maggie was being a stupid bitch again; she pointed out that they already had two mortgages on their house and most likely would not get a third one.

"Remember?" she asked in her little girl voice. "You needed a new sled? We had to get that second mortgage, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, God, shut the fuck up, huh?" he yelled at her.

If Librarian or Booger even breathed a word about Little John giving the orders to have the fucking bitch cop taken out, he'd be popped. The only way to make sure they didn't talk was to bail them out, then take them both for a little ride out to the cypress stumps of the Basin.

He looked at Maggie again. She had been St. Thomas Aquinas' Homecoming queen of 1999. Her father looked like he'd just eaten a turd when John Cox showed up to take his daughter to the dumb ass prom. Her mother had tried to be polite, but John wasn't there to win their approval.

They went to the prom, even posed for some stupid pictures, then stood around until she could get her crown.

"Come on," he ordered, dragging her out of the gymnasium.

"Fucking wanted to go to this stupid shit, I would have stayed in school," he grumbled.

Her prom dress had several petticoats underneath, hampering his progress so he simply ripped it off of her, slammed his cock into her, and then slapped her until she quit complaining about her stupid dress.

Two weeks later, he gave her the ultimatum; she could either be with him, or continue to live in her lily-white ultra-conservative, boring life.

Thirteen years later, Maggie was still a stunning beauty, large pendulous breasts with fat nipples, flat belly, and nice round ass. Her legs were still sleek and tanned; her hair was a luxurious thick mane of blonde. Her eyes, however, were flat, dirt brown. Her full, pink lips rarely smiled. Her chin was nearly always pointing down.

"Fuck! Stand there? Make yourself useful, huh?" Little John bellowed at her.

"What you want me to do?" Maggie whimpered.

"Fuck, I don't know, just get out of my face, huh?" he snarled.

She turned and he batted a meaty paw into her backside for not moving fast enough.

She yelped and moved faster.

He admired the way her cutoff shorts molded themselves to her rear end and almost called her back. He decided to snort another line of meth instead.

"Fucking bitch's got to go," he decided.

X.X.X

Henry didn't know why they were having a party but didn't really care either. There was hot dogs and cake.

That woman that Miss Elise said he was to call 'Maw-maw' kept smiling and that man he was supposed to call 'Paw-paw' also kept smiling. Miss Iris and Dr. Charlie also kept smiling. And Trey and Richard and Carmen said that they were now cousins.

"But I thought we were friends!" Henry complained to the three year old Carmen.

"No, no, Cousins is better!" Carmen assured him.

"Sweetheart, cousins is much better," Elise squatted down and looked into his eyes. "That means, no matter what ever happens, you'll have family. Friends? Friends fight and then decide they don't want to be friends no more. But cousins can fight and decide they don't want to e friends, but they'll always be together anyway. See? You can lose a friend, but you'll never ever lose cousins."

That was why Henry loved Miss Leesey; she talked to him like he was a man, not a little kid. Miss Iris was nice; she was real pretty, but she talked to him like he was some dumb kid.

X.X.X

Maggie held the bag of ice to her face. With her tongue, she tested her tooth. He'd knocked it loose again. Dr. LeMoine had fixed it once; at a price of seven hundred and nine dollars. She didn't have seven hundred and nine dollars and her parents weren't going to give her any more money.

She wanted to leave; she wanted out. She'd left him once before. All Little John did was find her, kick in the front door of her parents' home and beat her mother and father into bloody pulps. Then he dragged her out of the house by her hair, threw her onto the back of his motorcycle and take her back to his house.

"You're out when I say you're out," he said, then took off his belt and beat her until she passed out.

X.X.X

"And then we'll see what's for..." Elise mocked as she drove.

"Shut up, okay? Shut up!" Darren laughed.

"And then we'll see what's..." she mumbled under her breath.

"What's it to you anyway?" he asked as six bikers came up behind them.

Elise looked in the rear view mirror.

"I have had more than enough of this shit; hold on," Elise ordered her partner.

"Son of a bitch!" Darren screamed as Elise turned, directly in front of an eighteen wheeler, and then slammed on her brakes just after clearing the path of the large rig.

Little john slammed into the rear of the patrol car, Slick skidded to a stop before hitting the car, Nicky Nick swerved around the car. The other three bikers kept going straight down Highway 52, not having enough time to turn.

Gabriel Florez screamed in anguish as his rig slammed into the two motorcycles and their riders.

"Dad, need an ambulance, Highway Fifty two and Georgia," Elise yelled into the handset of her radio. "Two bikers, hit by a truck."

Got it; they alive?" Dick asked.

"Doubt it," Darren said, pointing to Nicky Nick as he lay on the side of the road, his motorcycle bent around a telephone pole. "Need a one for him too."

"Third motorcycle, telephone pole," Elise said, opening the door of the cruiser.

She put her hand on her gun as the remaining three motorcycles roared up.

"God damn; they cut right in front of me!" Gabriel screamed at Elise. "I, there was no way I could stop in time!"

"I know, sir," Elise said, trying to calm him.

"Got a pulse," Darren said, kneeling by Nicky Nick.

"Elise walked down to where Little John lay. She did not bother trying to find a pulse; his head was flattened into the pavement.

"Dad?" she asked, touching her shoulder mounted radio.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Need the M.E. out here; Little John's definitely not going to need an ambulance."

"Okay," Dick said.

She did not see Slick or his motorcycle, so she walked the one hundred and four feet from the site of the crash to where the tractor and trailer idled.

"Yep, need the M.E. out here," Elise said, spotting the motorcycle and rider pinned underneath the dual tires of the trailer.

"Need a crane out here," she said into her shoulder mounted radio. Rider trapped underneath rear of the trailer."

"He alive?" Dick asked.

"No sir," Elise confirmed.

"Guy's going into shock," Darren said as Gabriel sat down on the pavement.

"Get him in the back of the car," Elise ordered and walked toward Bug, the tallest of the three remaining bikers.

"You saw what happened?" she asked him in a flat voice.

"Not really," he admitted.

"You?" she asked the other two men; they both shook their heads no.

X.X.X

"Look, I'm sorry, all right?" Darren said into his cell phone. "Look, I was involved in a fatality..."

He listened for a moment.

"A fatality; someone died, Amber," he said, exasperated. "I was involved. It means paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork."

"Fine, see you tonight," he sighed and ended the call.

"Trouble in Dessert Land?" Elise asked.

"Fuck you, all right Elise? Fuck you, okay?" he snapped and slammed the office door open, then slammed it shut again after he exited.

"No Dad," Elise said as Dick got to his feet. "Let him be."

"Tells my daughter 'fuck you' and I got to let him be?" Dick asked, angry.

"Afraid so," Elise said and put her signature at the bottom of the report, then slid it over to him.

Chapter 7

The Medical Examiner confirmed that both Myron Mitchellson and Jonathon Cox had substantial amounts of methamphetamines and alcohol in their systems. The hospital confirmed the same for Nicholas Gumm.

Gabriel Florez, with the testimony of Elise Simone, was cleared of any culpability in the deaths of the two men.

Without the leadership of Little John, the Kingsmen seemed to have lost their teeth, lost their bite.

X.X.X

"You're mighty quiet today," Elise commented.

"Uh huh; how'd it go in court yesterday?" Darren asked.

"Judge just renewed my guardianship," Elise shrugged. "Really waiting on the paperwork from St. Gabriel's, though. Soon as Henry's mother signs..."

"I put in for a transfer," Darren interrupted.

"What?" Elise asked, mouth open in shock.

"I told Sheriff Davis I want a new partner," Darren said, staring straight ahead.

"What? Why?" Elise asked, pulling to the side of the road.

"Because," Darren swallowed hard.

"Is it because of what happened?" Elise asked.

"Well, no, that's not all of it, well, yeah, kind of, I mean, I saw how you handled..." Darren said, stammering.

"We were cleared," Elise defended.

"I mean you handled it; boom! Put a fucking stop to it, once and for all and..." Darren said.

"I had no choice!" Elise said, tears of rage building up in her eyes. "When they started threatening my Henry..."

"I know that," Darren said, looking at her for the first time.

"Then why? What is it?" Elise demanded.

"I um, I wanted to ask you out," Darren admitted.

"Wait, what?" Elise asked.

"I wanted to ask you out but it's really not a good idea for partners to be dating," Darren explained.

"Are you serious?" Elise asked.

"See, if I ask you out and you say 'no' then there's all kind of hard feelings might get in the way," Darren went on. "You say 'yes' and then we're all up into each other and not paying any attention to what's going on, could be dangerous as hell."

"You want..." Elise processed the information out loud. "...to ask me out."

"See? It's getting weird all ready," He said.

"What about, I mean, I thought you and Amber were..." Elise asked.

"God, I have to listen to her bitch one more time about my job, her job, God! Or some dumb ass reality show; you got any idea how many of them idiot shows they got? All she does is get drunk and bitch and moan!" he admitted.

"What about dessert?" Elise asked.

Darren smiled widely and shook his head no.

"Dessert's not all that great," he admitted. "Half the time it's 'hurry up, my favorite show's coming on' or she's so drunk it's like..."

"More than I need to know," Elise said, holding up a hand for him to stop.

She looked at him for a long moment.

"Listen, before we go any further, there's a couple of things you need to know," she said seriously.

"Okay," he agreed.

"Number one, I'm a package deal," she said.

"No shit?" he laughed. "No shit? Really? Sit here day after day hearing 'Oh, Henry said this' and 'Henry did that' and you think I don't know you're a package deal?"

"Shut up!" she let an embarrassed giggle escape.

"Yes, Elise, I know, there's you, and there's Henry, and there's Sam, I know that," Darren said.

"Number two and this is usually a real deal breaker," Elise said and took a deep breath.

"Yeah?" Darren asked.

"There will be no 'dessert,' none. THAT is for my husband and my husband alone," Elise said, searching his eyes.

"I can live with that," Darren agreed.

"I mean it," Elise said. "I am being one hundred percent serious."

"I said I can live..." Darren agreed.

"Not even a blow job, you hear?" Elise said. "My pants stay zipped up and so do yours."

"Okay, fine," Darren smiled. "So, would you like to maybe go to Manny's for dinner tomorrow night?"

"Darren, I am being serious," Elise said, taking his hands in hers. "I've had all kind of boyfriends tell me that am fine then get all pissed off because I mean it. I was even engaged one time; I guess he thought putting a ring on my finger would open my legs or something."

"I believe you," Darren assured her.

"And I catch you out getting 'dessert' somewhere else while we're together, I will make damned sure you regret it, you hear?" Elise said seriously.

"Got it," Darren said. "So, how about..."

"Let me see if I can find a baby sitter; Henry doesn't like Manny's," Elise said and touched her shoulder radio.

"No, not just no but hell no; get someone else, ANYONE else to watch your kid," Dick said before Elise could even speak.

"Dad!" Elise giggled. "How'd you know what...?"

"I told him why I wanted a transfer," Darren laughed as they both heard Dick's belly laugh over Elise's radio.

"Fine, I'll call Mom," Elise said.

"Drop him off, aw what am I; we'll just pick him up from Charlie's," Dick said. "When y'all going?"

"Tomorrow night," Elise said.

"Oh, didn't tell you?" Dick said. "Darren's got the late shift tomorrow," Dick said.

"Sir?" Darren said.

"Just kidding," Dick said and terminated the connection.

"Um, okay, Officer Simone; we're still on duty; think you could um, you know, um, actually drive around and stuff" Darren said, pointing through the windshield at their surroundings.

"Shut up; so where are we eating lunch?" Elise asked and put the cruiser in gear.

"Not the Dead End; that's for sure," Darren said.

"What? Why not? Today's pork chop day," Elise said.

"Um, Amber?" Darren said, clearing his throat.

"Um, Bender's a pretty small town; we're bound to run into her sooner or later," Elise reminded him and pulled up to Clark's Drive In.

A pretty teenage girl skidded to a stop and took their order.

Elise watched Darren's eyes as the girl skated away. He passed the test; he did not leer at the girl's round ass in the short red shorts she wore.

"Damn! I'd bust my ass I ever tried anything like that," he admitted as another girl whizzed past, skating backward.

"Yeah; it's a little tricky," Elise said.

"You do that?" Darren asked.

"That your way of saying 'want to go skating?'" Elise asked.

"Sure, why not?" Darren said, smiling. "You can watch me make a fool out of myself."

"Okay, one bacon burger, adds cheddar, one chili burger, extra jalapeño, chili cheese fries, two waters," their car hop chirped.

"You had to order chili fries, huh?" Elise asked.

"Yeah, love them," Darren said.

"Hands?" Elise said.

"What?" Darren asked.

"Hands are going to get all dirty eating that stuff; suppose we get a call?" Elise smirked.

"Uh huh," Darren smiled and pulled out a wet wipe. "This boy scout is always prepared."

"You were never a boy scout," the car hop giggled flirtaceously.

Elise glared white hot anger at the girl. The girl looked stricken, accepted the cash for the meal and beat a very hasty retreat.

"God bless, Elise!" Darren guffawed. "She was just being friendly!"

Elise looked at him, her mouth hanging open in shock at her own behavior.

"Yeah, I see what you mean," she finally said quietly. "It could get a little distracting working together."

"I do love it when I'm right," Darren smirked.

"Whatever," Elise giggled as Darren did a small 'victory dance' in the car.

Chapter 8

"But why I can't go?" Henry asked again as Elise packed his pajamas for his night with Paw-paw and Maw-maw.

"It's a date, Honey; sometimes grown-ups like to go out on dates," Elise patiently explained again.

"But why I can't go too?" Henry asked again.

"Because we'll probably be kissing and stuff; you really want to watch all that yucky stuff?" Elise asked.

"No, y'all can just have a date without all that kissing huh?" Henry asked.

"Probably not; that's what makes a date fun," Elise explained.

Iris nodded her understanding that Maw-maw would be picking Henry up when she got off of work. Elise gave her niece a hug and kiss and embarrassed Henry by giving him a hug and kiss too.

Elise then drove to the station. She waved to Darren as he and Jack Vogel got into a cruiser.

Jack had been assigned one of the three motorcycles purchased by the Bender police department. He was taken off the motorcycle because of a careless, easily avoided accident. He still wore the flexible cast on his left wrist.

Elise frowned as she thought to herself, "I hope that jack ass doesn't tell Darren all kind of stupid stuff about me."

Jack and Elise had been classmates at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, and had been partners when Eric Greene was injured in the line of duty. She had not liked the brash, arrogant Jack when they were in school together, and had barely been able to tolerate him as a partner.

"Officer," Dick Davis nodded in greeting as Elise entered the building.

"Sheriff," she nodded back.

"Oh for crying out loud; stop it, just stop it," Deputy Orville Jackson guffawed.

"Finally got you calling me 'Sheriff,'" Dick laughed, hugging his daughter.

"Whatever, Dad," Elise laughed, accepting the embrace.

"Ready, Partner?" Officer Eric Miller asked.

"Yeah," Elise smiled and grabbed a set of keys for one of the cruisers.

Officer Eric Miller had applied for, and had been granted a transfer from the DeGarde Police Department; the hazing of the openly gay officer had reached a point that the captain feared for Eric's life. Captain Charles Villeaux admitted that he was unable to defend the officer against his own fellow officers.

"Oh, Darren told me, best place to have lunch is either Dead End, or Clark's Drive-In," Eric said as he settled into the passenger seat of the cruiser.

"Clark's got great hamburgers and Dead End's got good old comfort food, kind of stuff that sticks to your ribs," Elise agreed.

"Well, you must not eat there a whole bunch; you look great," Eric complimented her.

"Got a four year old boy," Elise said. "Running after him burns off any fat I might have hanging around."

"Oh, got any pictures?" Eric asked. "My sister's got two; Tiffany's three and Tabitha just turned one last month."

"No, no pictures," Elise said and edged up behind a pickup truck.

"You don't have pictures of your own son?" Eric asked, handsome face wrinkled in confusion.

"Just became my son a few months ago," Elise said and nodded as the pickup truck pulled off the highway. "And he's actually my foster son."

"Oh," Eric smiled.

"But I am trying to adopt him," Elise continued.

X.X.X

"No fucking shit? You? And the Ice Bitch?" Jack hooted.

"Hey, 'Partner?'" Darren said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah?" Jack laughed, not noticing his partner's anger.

"I ever hear you call her that again, we'll take the badges off and go a few rounds, you hear?" Darren said.

"Aw, come on, man," Jack laughed, still uncomprehending. "Just that she was so fucking high and mighty all through school; fuck, really? Everybody kind of thought she was a fucking dyke; hung out with a couple of them, you know?"

Jack noticed that Darren wasn't smiling or laughing and lapsed into uncomfortable silence.

"Um, how about dead End for lunch? Jack said, unable to sit for long in silence.

"No, how about 'Best Wings In Bender?'" Darren said.

X.X.X

Elise almost laughed out loud as Amber flirted outrageously with Eric. Kirsten did a little flirting as well; the man was model handsome with dimpled chin, curly blonde hair, and ice blue eyes. His muscles were prominently displayed in his tight uniform shirt.

"You going to tell them?" Elise asked as Amber wiggled her way toward a customer and Kirsten prepared their pork chop dinners.

"No," Eric said, smiling a gorgeous smile. "Just because I ain't interested don't mean it ain't good for my ego have all these beautiful women throwing themselves at me."

"God, men are pigs," Elise smiled and slid a five dollar bill to Kirsten.

"Officer, meals are on the house," Kirsten reminded Elise.

"Tip," Elise nodded.

"Thank you," Kirsten nodded, pocketing the bill.

"Damn this is beyond good; this is sinful," Eric declared as he tasted the mashed potatoes and skillet gravy.

"Thank you," Kirsten smiled proudly.