Robbery in Progress

Thirty-One

The next day, I woke up and got dressed. The thought of sitting at a desk all day made me sick. Desk duty was the absolute worst thing. It was so boring. I liked being a cop for a reason, and that reason was not doing paperwork. I stopped by the coffee shop on my way to grab a coffee. Peet's coffee was just the best place in town. When I got to work, Paul was already sitting at the desk.

"How are you this morning?"

"What do you think?" Paul didn't speak, but I knew he was aware of what I meant.

"Julie and Christina are making lasagna tonight and homemade garlic bread. They wanted me to invite you."

"That's sweet of them for thinking of me."

"So what do you say? I mean unless you'll be with John this evening..."

"He has to work. Our days off are opposite this week. I doubt we'll be seeing each other."

"Then I'll tell them you'll be there then." I smiled. It would be nice to get my mind off of John and how terrible today was going to be with that and having to sit at my desk all day.

"Jen, can I see you in my office for a minute?" Creighton cracked open his door. I immediately got up and walked inside his office, taking a seat in front of his desk.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes. I know you're not going to like having desk duty for three weeks, but I just want you to take things easy until then. If you need anything or feel tired, just let me know and I'll dismiss you. Your health is more important than this job."

"Thank you, sir, but I don't believe that will happen." Creighton nodded and I knew that he was telling me I could go. I went back to my desk and began working on some paperwork. When lunch came, Paul had run out and got both of us lunch. He brought back a cheeseburger, fries, and a drink. Paul finished eating and left to go on patrol, while I was stuck at the police station. I pulled out my phone to take a break from all the paperwork and came across John's profile on social media. I dropped my phone in my lap, not believing what I saw. I took a second to breathe and collect myself, then picked my phone back up and looked at the picture. I could see John and his arm around some girl. I didn't know what to do and there wasn't much I could do at work so I went back to work until Paul came back.

"Paul?" He looked at me and instantly could tell something wasn't right. He sat down in his chair, scooting his chair closer to mine.

"What's wrong?" I picked my phone up from the desk and showed Paul the picture.

"What the crap, Jen? Who is that?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Okay, this isn't right. Let's go talk to this guy." Paul stood up.

"We can't do that, Paul. He's at work anyway."

"I don't care. We can go to his work."

"Paul...do you think...is it..."

"It doesn't look good."

"I know." I paused for a minute. "Maybe I should ask him before jumping to a conclusion?"

"Text him. This is ridiculous. I swear, if he's done what it seems, I'm going to confront him about it." I sent John the picture in a text and asked him who it was.

I'll call you after work.

"Here." I handed Paul my phone. Paul's face was in complete disgust.

"He better have a good explanation for this. You let me know what he says when you come over this evening for dinner, okay?" I nodded. When I got home from work, I showered and got changed into a pair of jeans and a nice purple striped top. I put on some flats and stud earrings and hurried downstairs to grab my phone that was ringing.

"Hello?"

"Jen?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm getting ready for dinner at Paul's, why?"

"Can I come over?"

"John..."

"Please? I want to explain the picture."

"Okay, fine. You need to hurry, though, because I have to leave soon. I promised them I'd be there."

"I'm on my way." It wasn't long until John showed up.

"Okay, explain."

"Jen, I see it looks bad, but that woman in the picture with me is Rose."

"Who is Rose?"

"She's Adam's sister. I grew up an only child and I met Adam and Rose in Chico. When I came here, they came with me. When I decided to move here and work at the fire department, they moved here, too. Adam's also a firefighter and Rose moved here to be an EMT. We've always been super close. We call each other brother and sister."

"Oh." I paused for a minute. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions."

"I'm sorry, too."

"For what?"

"For not telling you about her sooner. I know the picture looked bad."

"Thanks for coming to tell me, John." John nodded.

"I guess you better be getting to dinner, right?"

"Yeah...do you want to join us?"

"Would it be okay with them? I don't want to intrude."

"Hey, don't get all nervous with me." We smiled at each other and I picked up my phone and keys to leave. "Leave your car parked here and you can ride with me."