Karen Reynolds
Copyright© 2025 by Gina Marie Wylie
Chapter 7
Later I looked around my room. “I’m so messed up,” I thought. “I can’t tell anymore what I want. I was being friendly with Carla! How can that possibly be? And Elizabeth? She makes me so angry!”
Mom popped her head in my bedroom. “Start packing, dear.”
I sighed. I’d made up my mind; I was going to go, and quietly. Now though, everyone was suddenly unsure if it was a good idea. We need, I thought, to get consistent.
The next morning, my parents stood with me at the airport gate; Mom and Dad telling me that they’d be over to visit during the weekend; Elizabeth standing a few feet away, silent. Sergeant Katzenberg stood a few feet further away, admiring her handiwork, I thought.
Finally, we boarded the plane, and Elizabeth let me sit by the window; it was interesting to be flying; I’d never done it before.
We didn’t speak at all until we landed in San Diego. “I’ll get the car; you go watch for the bags,” was all Elizabeth said.
I shrugged; evidently, no more close bodyguard. I walked to the carousel with her baggage tickets and mine. It took a bit, but finally, I had a stack of suitcases. Elizabeth showed up, walking next to a man who was, I thought, about thirty. He looked like a policeman. Was, in fact.
“Karen, this is Lieutenant Tim Carruthers, from the Airport detail of the San Diego police force.” I nodded politely. “I have a car waiting,” Elizabeth went on. “Tim is along just to fix the parking ticket.” She grinned at the man, and he smiled back.
“I just wanted to meet you myself,” the man said, holding out his hand. I shook it. “I know you’ve had a rough time; I know it’s cost you a lot.”
“Not as much as others. They’re dead,” I told him.
He shrugged. “But it wasn’t in vain; you’ve rolled them back. Pushed the barbarians away from the gates; and doing it without falling to their level. That, Karen, is the difference between civilized and barbarian behavior. You did good, girl.”
I blushed. “I’m not as brave as you think.”
He shook his head. “Bravery is taking what’s on your plate and dealing with it. Whatever is on your plate. You and Officer Begay should go and get settled; I’d like to bring my sister by; she’d like to meet you too.”
I shrugged; after everything else, what was one more person?
After a bit, Elizabeth led the way into an apartment building. We fetched up at one on the third floor, with a good view of something called Mission Bay. The view was beautiful, and I started at it instead of unpacking; Elizabeth kept busy and out of my way. Dinner was a silent affair as well, neither of us talking, just eating Chinese takeout at the kitchen table. The police lieutenant brought his sister, about twenty, a cute redheaded chatterbox.
The police lieutenant left, his sister in tow, and the two of us went to our rooms for a while. Eventually, I came out, sat down on the balcony, which had a view that was very pretty, particularly when the sun was setting. Elizabeth came out, saw me, and sat down next to me.
“
She’s been crying,” I thought. “ Why?”
We sat watching the sunset for half an hour, neither of us saying a word. Eventually, the sun was a tiny sliver on the edge of the world; the wind had picked up, and it was much cooler.
“I love the ocean,” Elizabeth said out of nothing. “I could sit and watch the sunsets for the rest of my life, and not be bored.”
“It is pretty,” I replied, curious more than ever about what Elizabeth was really thinking.
“I’m gay,” she said baldly.
“This isn’t the surprise you think it is,” I told her, knowing it would pull her chain.
Her eyes met mine. “No, I don’t think it is. Are you? Gay?”
I shrugged. “I’ve never been with anyone. I was kissed once; by a woman. It wasn’t me who stopped.”
“A year ago, I did something really dumb,” she told me. “Lily and I...” She shook her head. “We were at a briefing here about gangs and drugs. One thing led to another, and...”
She looked back out at the ocean, now turned much darker. “A workplace romance is a bad idea at the best of times. With your boss...” She shook her head and looked at me. “You can’t tell anyone about this ... but then, when you don’t want to talk, it’s like a stone wall.”
“No, I don’t talk to people about personal things. About them or about me, about anyone,” I told her.
“Lily had been straight. I seduced her. For about a month, it was ... intense. Then someone asked her what she was doing ... they were thinking about taking her badge; they thought she was the one who led me astray. I took a transfer to undercover, Lily took a reprimand, but her career is on serious hold. Without me, she’d be a lieutenant now.”
Again, her eyes met mine. “I traded a few weeks of personal pleasure for someone’s career; it made me...” She shook her head. “I dunno, a little crazy. I stopped caring about anything but the job. I put everything into that, nothing into myself.