Ain't Shady Baby, I'm Hot

80

I slept like a baby. My mind was at ease, my body relaxed and I was out within seconds of hitting my pillow.

Rafe had left shortly after he'd caught me. A phone call from Topper bitching about some dinner Rafe was going to be late for.

I hadn't worried about him leaving without talking about what had happened. Perhaps it was better we didn't digest it. Rather just let it linger as a memory and move on.

I'd finished making my dinner, the house still intact, and ate before finding myself crawling into bed. Sleep taking over before I could see my mom and Gray get home.

And when I woke up early I'd left before either of them were up. A terrible thought crossed my mind as I hoped they hadn't slid to home base while I was just upstairs. Which led to me determining that it wouldn't have been the first time.

The thought had me physically gagging.

"Good morning, how can I help you, dear?" I smiled at the officer behind the glass.

"Good morning, is Sheriff Peterkin in by any chance?"

"She should be arriving in about fifteen minutes. Are you able to wait?" I nodded, shouldering my backpack as I turned and sat down on one of the chairs.

The piece of furniture plastic and uncomfortable as I adjusted every few seconds.

"Well look what the cat dragged in." I grinned standing up and walking over to Sheriff Peterkin. "What can I do for you, Xena?"

"Well. I've been thinking about your offer. And if you'd be willing to have an intern for the last five weeks of summer, I'd like the opportunity." She grinned holding the door open for me.

"Come on back, I'll get the paperwork."

_______•*•*•*•_______

"Now, you know since you aren't 18 for another two days, you have to get a parent or guardian signature." Peterkin commented as she set the paperwork on the table. "But your mother already took care of it."

"What? How?" I asked flipping over the pages to find my mom's signature dated earlier this summer.

"Mother's intuition, is what she said. I've kept it in our filing cabinets waiting for you." Peterkin sat down in her chair as I read the three pages I needed to sign.

One was consent for background checks and drug tests. The other was a layout of what I could expect from this internship such as responsibilities, risk, experience to be gained, and pay. And the third was a detailed set of rules or expectations for me and the county police staff, including a NDA.

"Will I be shadowing different people on a rotating schedule?" I asked rereading responsibilities before signing it.

"You'll have a rotation list. You'll come in three days a week for three hours each. We can discuss what time works for you and we can be super flexible. You'll just have to message our intern specialist May Strevy as well as whoever you're shadowing for that day."

"Well damn. That's really convenient." Peterkin smirked.

"I try to give the best possible outcome the highest chance of success." My jaw dropped at her words.

"That was so cryptic but made so much sense."

"Just sign the papers. We can start today if you want. I've got you for your first three days, so buckle up."

_______•*•*•*•________

"Neon terra and a couple oscars... plop a kuhli loach down in there. I miss the dang thing." Peterkin and I listened to Deputy Shoupe as he droned on. I didn't even know about what. I was just writing in a notebook going over the few things we did today.

I had about fifteen minutes before we were done for my first day as an intern. And nothing crazy happened other than shadowing Peterkin around the station. A blessing in disguise as I realized just how much work she put into her people.

"You got a minute." I looked up from my notes, eyes widening as I saw Ward Cameron standing in the doorway. A hand pressing a bloodied cloth to his arm.

I cocked my head. He should be out fishing with John B.

I discreetly flipped to a new page as Shoupe stood up. My eyes stay on Ward while I leaned backwards and slid the notebook onto my lap.

"What happened to your arm?" Peterkin asked rising to her feet as I stayed seated.

"Goddamned Routledge kid." My heart jumped into my throat as I looked Ward for any signs of information he could give me. I focus on remaining neutral and calm, but really I was on the verge of freaking out.

"Uh, yeah. Come on in." Peterkin closed her Manila folder with a missing person document. She did good to keep my attention away from it. But I'd recognize the bush of hair and thin wired glasses anywhere even though I only knew him for a month.

She was going back through Big John's case file.

"Mr. Cameron, this here is our newest intern. Ms. Xena Tallen. Would you mind if she sat in." I gave Ward a smile. He tried to smile back but something was hidden in his eyes.

"Nice to see you again, Xena."

"Under different circumstances sure. Have you had someone take care of that?" I asked glancing at Shoupe as he grabbed the medkit hanging on the wall before closing the door.

"Uh, no, I came straight here." I nodded jotting that down blindly as I kept my eyes on Ward.

"Would you be uncomfortable if I were to look at it and try to clot whatever the wound is?"

"Be my guest." Shoupe passed me the aid kit as I glanced at Peterkin. Her gaze calculating as she folded her hands together.

"Alright, what happened?" She finally asked giving me a side glance that held an underlying message.

I just hadn't spent enough time around her to make sense of it.

At her question, Ward spun into a tale of what happened. The two had gone fishing, he'd taken them down south. Everything was good until it wasn't.

And John B had a speargun.

"All I'm trying to do at this point is calm him down. I follow him into the galley. He turned around and I can't even believe it." I had cleaned up all of the dried blood around the wound while holding the bloodied cloth over the entry site. My mind busy as I listened to Ward. Occasionally dropping a hand to my lap for 'more supplies' to write in the notebook when he did or said something I found important.

"He fires the goddamn thing at me."