My Knight

First Day

Begin raised around police officers I always thought I'd grow up to be one. However, when I began looking into positions with my local station before I made my final decision about University programs, I released there were so many other opportunities with the force then I thought. So I decided to become a detective, studying how to analyze data from crime scenes and assistant in furthering criminal investigations.

When I finished my stay at Uni and had gained employment at the department in Ystad, Sweden, I was thrown into the action. Being assigned to the team of Kurt Wallander, a veteran officer of the force. Kurt was an older man, with gray hair, with slight stubble, and he dresses in a business casual style.

When I walk into the room the group seems to be talking about a case. There are four of them gathered around a table, two women, a man, and Kurt. Once I take a few steps into the room trying to be as quiet as I can Kurt glances up from the table, smiles as he steps away from the table and greets me. "Ahh, here she is, our newest team member."

The two women glance up at me, but the man seems very focused, he doesn't even raise his head. Kurt walks up to me and shakes my hand. "It is very nice to meet you. Everyone this is Emily, she is the newest member of our team and I'm sure she'll be a great asset. I'm Kurt, this is Anne-Britt, Lisa, and..." The women greet me with smiles and Kurt sighs when he turns to see that the young man is still focused on the work in front of him. "Magnus..."

Upon hearing his man the man lifts his head and turns around. When he lifts his head, I see a full head of auburn curls and waves, when he turns to face me I am in awe of how handsome he is. His grey eyes seem to hypnotize me when they met mine and his smile is just as captivating. "So I'm not on the bottom of the totem pole on the team anymore."

I shake my head slightly, being very flustered by Magnus, smiling softly and trying to hide my embarrassment upon being so enthralled with a coworker so quickly. "I guess not."

I chuckle softly and reply to Magnus' joke before Kurt leads me over to the table and goes about explaining the case. "Right, well, we had a young lady, 15 years old, set herself on fire when she was approached by police in a field."

"Could she have had an issue with police in the past that would cause her to think that was her only option?" I tilt my head still up to look at Kurt.

"That would be logical, but we still don't know who she is, so we have no way of knowing."

I look over the photos and notice there is a pendant with the letters D.M.S. "Are those her initials?"

Kurt sighs, "We aren't sure about that either, we need to run a search through the database and see what comes up."

"I'd hate to be the one who has to go through that lot. God, sounds horrible." I glance over to Magnus, as he glances around the group, "Oh, right, that's my job, isn't it?"

Kurt nods, "Yeah, take Emily and the two of you get started on that search."

I nod as the two of us head to a few of the computers in the room. "Anything we can rule out to quicken the search?" I look over to Magnus as the two of us step down.

"Not yet, which means we have a very long few days ahead of us. We have to look through every name and anything else we can find with those initials."

I nod and turn to the computer firing it up. "What do you say you start at the beginning of the list and I'll start at the end?"

"Sounds good to me." I hear the keystrokes as Magnus clicks away at the keyboard. I glance down and can't help but notice his long, almost regal fingers as they type away. Hearing his deep rough voice brings me back to focus. "So what made you want to be in investigations?"

"Uh... I was raised by the officers in my hometown. My dad was the chief so I was around them all the time."

"Which explains the moving to Ystad."

I nod and chuckle softly, "Yeah, can't work with your family so..." I glance over to Magnus, who is leaning back in his chair. I, however, am sitting up straight in the chair and almost on the edge of it.

"You know, you're gonna get really tired of sitting like that." Magnus looks over at me.

I shrug my shoulders and keep typing away. "I know, but it's a habit from concert band and a very traditional grandmother, I'll be fine."

"So you were in band? What did you play?" The two of us continue our conversation as we type away looking through the database.

"Uh... I played the flute. Do you play any instruments?"

"I play the guitar, the violin, the lute, and the piano."

"Any good at them?" I glance over and Magnus, while he is focused on the computer screen in front of him, he has a confused look on his face. "Just because you can play them, doesn't mean you're any good. I could probably play the guitar too, but that doesn't mean anyone wants to hear it."

He chuckles softly, "I don't know, I haven't really played for anyone in years. Maybe you can tell me sometime."

"Maybe... if I don't get fired after this first investigation."

"Don't worry about that, I've had some pretty big screw ups around here when I first started and they kept me." I laugh softly as Magnus continues his thought, "Plus you're a pretty young woman, that could help with some undercover operations."

I blush softly but try to hide my embarrassment. "Thank you?"

"Yeah, no problem."

I don't even think he glanced over to see me turn red, but I know I did. "So how long have you been here?"

"A few years, I'm still one of the bottom men around here. Which isn't that bad, but you do tend to have to do things no one else wants to do. But I guess, thanks to you, my workload just divided itself."

"Until I'm used to everything, then I'm sure you'll be off doing bigger better things."

"That is if you don't show me up."

"That sounds like a challenge to me."

"Maybe it is. No one wants to be settled with the grunt work, it sucks."

I shrug my shoulders, "Sometimes, others it is just nice to know you'll be needed."

Magnus' keystrokes stop, as they do I look over to him. He is just looking over to me with a calm look, it almost looks like he hadn't heard that before. "I guess you're right, I didn't think about it that way." He pauses for a moment. "Are you always so positive?"

"I try to be, but I'm sure some of these cases will suck it out of me."

"Yeah, I mean what's positive about a 15-year-old burning herself to death."

I shrug and glance back over to him, "Well, not to sound morbid or like I encourage this kind of actions and it is in no way a solution to any problems, but she is free from whoever it was that was scaring her to the point that she thought that was her only option."

The two of us stop typing and I look over to Magnus, who is looking at me concerned. "Have you had someone like that in your life?"

I glance down, "I've worked with a lot of women who have been in that situation when I volunteered at the station when I was in Uni."

"Yeah, but have you been through something like that?"

I sigh softly and glance back to the computer, "We should get back to work."

"Yeah, we should." Magnus falls quiet, knowing I don't want to talk about that situation any further.