THE COP AND THE POP STAR

CHAPTER 1: MEET TOM HANSON

Tom's view

I'm 24 soon going to be 25.  I'm a Police Officer for the 21 Jump Street precinct.  I have always wanted to be a police officer. Following in my dad's footsteps.

From when I was little, my dad was my hero. And when I was young, I kind of thought about how cool it would be if I could grow up, be a cop like my dad, and work with him.

That never got to happen, because when I was 16, my dad was murdered. By some thug. My dad was in a diner, when a thug came into rob it. My dad was in the wrong place at the wrong time and paid the ultimate price.

I will never forget that day. Valentines Day. Because of that I hate Valentines Day. I guess it's a good thing that I will never be in a serious relationship.  I won't ever fall in love. Be whipped over a girl. I'm sure of that. That life is not for me. No commitments.

I have carried a lot of pain inside and feel a lot of guilt over my dad's death.

It wasn't my fault of course. But I feel like I wasn't the son that I could have been. 

I wanted to fit in with the kids at school. I had my group of friends, and like normal teenagers, they wanted to smoke, drink, parties, girls. I also got into a lot of fights. Skipped class because my friends did. My mom thinks I have a temper problem. I don't think that I do. I can control it better now, but when guys would start something with me, in school. I had to defend myself. I couldn't just back down. Otherwise, then I would be seen as weak. I got in a lot of fights. 

And I feel guilty because his last day, I was a little mad at him. I wish I could go back and redo that day. Since it was Valentines Day, we were having a dance at the school, and I had landed the hottest girl in school as my date.  She was a year older than me, had just broken up with her senior boyfriend. One of the guys I had recently fought. He was pissed that his ex was with me.

Anyway, I didn't have a car. My dad let him drive his Mustang, which is now my car.

I had hoped my dad would let me drive my date to the dance in his car, but my dad insisted on driving us. As you can imagine I was not happy about that, because of how it would look not only to my date, but to the guys. I even said I would take his car and wash it, detail it, and he wouldn't budge.

At the time all I could think about was how bad it looked like I was a child to have my dad drive me and my date to the dance.  What I didn't realize is that my dad was just proud of me, proud to be my dad, and he wanted to share in this night with me.

That night was supposed to be a good night. But it turned into a nightmare. When my dad wasn't there when we left the dance. Now my dad is always on time. And if he is going to be late even 5 minutes, he would always let us know.  The fact that he wasn't there upset me. Worried me. Though I tried to tell myself not to panic. He's probably running late maybe paperwork. Or maybe he stopped at home to see my mom.

But the longer we sat there waiting for him, I was running out of reasons, and I was starting to worry about my dad.

My date was wanting to leave. She was complaining nonstop whining about how she was cold, she wanted to go to the after party, let's go with one of her friends, but actually I couldn't concentrate on what she was saying. I was getting really scared for my dad.

That fear turned to dread, and a sick feeling in my stomach, as I saw my dad's patrol car come to us, and as it got closer, I saw it wasn't my dad. It was his partner, and his Captain. Guys I have known since I was a boy. I will never forget their words to me, when I asked where my dad was.

I was so angry, angry at everyone, my dad for leaving us, not that he had a choice, angry at the thug who did this, who took my dad's life over what a few bucks. I was filled with rage.