Chapter 4

"So Naomi how was your first day?" Howard asked.

"It was interesting. A lot of hurry up to be get to the scene before some excited patrolman stomped on the evidence, but it was interesting. I think I got my part of the job done correctly, but you are going to have to ask Pete about that," I replied. At Pete's insistence I had gone to Howard's office at the end of my shift.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Pete tells me you are remarkably well trained and follow directions really well. He also says you have a great attitude. He feels I can assign you to a shift, so that you get some practical experience. The crime scene supervisor can keep you out of trouble, so long as you listen. Pete said you listen well, so there should not be any problems.

"That's good to know. I was afraid you were going to send me packing," I said.

"Not just yet," he commented. "I would like for you to work with an experienced man like Pete the Geek, but we have a problem with a new hire. The guy has the right training, he just is a little slow or something. The patrol division says he holds the crime scene too long. That is when there is no expert called. They all understand that on serious crimes, we are going to hold the scene. They say he just works too slow. You could help cut his time on the scene, if you would."

"I don't know that I know enough to be out there on my own," I suggested.

"I know, but I'm going to give you a list of notes. You can look up the type call and it will tell you the things that are always necessary. You just shoot anything extra that is there as well. You can't take too many shots unless you shoot the wild flowers on the side of the road," Fat Howard explained.

"If you think I can do it, I'm willing to give it a try," I said.

"Okay then take tonight off and come in on the evening tour tomorrow. He has four more night then goes on break for two days before coming back on midnight tour." Howard explained. "Here is your ID. You swipe when you come through either the front door or the parking garage door. That one has a CCTV camera on it. Oh course the front door does as well. You have to swipe both places anyhow and now you can."

"That was quick," I said looking at the new me on a photograph for the first time. The face staring back at me wasn't really me but it was close. Maybe it really was me only better. Hell it didn't matter any more. Since it was what I was stuck with, for better or worse. "Thanks," I said putting it into the pocket of the blue cotton polyester slacks I wore. I had been surprised that they had pockets. Even so I also carried a small Nikon camera bag as a purse. No woman wants to carry a wallet in her pants pocket. No way we want our ass to look any larger than it already does.

"Good, if you have those notes I can study them tonight," I suggested. Without answering Fat Howard handed me a flash drive.

Since it was only three o'clock when Fat Howard cut me loose, I took the long route home. In doing so I drove by a building with a long row of bicycles on the porch. They had to be chained to the railing, I thought. I got a glimpse of the hand letter sign. It read, Capitol City Thrift Shop. The building was a dump, so I figured the prices might be low enough. enough so that I could just leave the bike, when the assignment was over.

I wasn't close enough to ride to work, but I wanted it for the morning exercise. I could at least stay flexible and burn a few calories without permanently wrecking my knees. I had read that it was the second best exercise behind running. Okay maybe it was the third best exercise.

I went into the store and spoke to an oriental man. "Hi what's the deal on the bikes?"

"Bicycle have tag. Price on tag," he said it as if I were retarded.

"You ever have a sale?" I asked. I hadn't even looked at the price tags.

"Bicycle price on tags," was all he said in answer to my question.

At 5' 5" I could easily ride a kid's bike, if it were adjusted for me. So I skipped the mountain bikes and the fancy road bikes and went right to the kids bikes. The 20" bikes were all together on the rail. I looked at the prices. There were two which were almost perfect, those were $40. There were also four covered in rust and those were $15. I kept looking till I found one that looked less than new, but not totally covered in rust either.

"You know the rust on that one is light surface rust. The rust on the chain ring is a little worse, but still not bad," Liam informed me.

"I don't know what all the parts are called, but I do know the difference between light surface rust and deep invasive rust," I replied. Some kid looking at me, then decided to move a little farther away. I have to get the blue tooth thing, I thought.

The bike did not have hand brakes, which was a plus to me. The tires looked good.

"They don't appear to have any dry rot," Liam said. I wanted the bike for exercise. I was tall enough so that a boys bike wouldn't present a problem but the seat had to be adjusted. "Too bad you can't make the adjustments for me." I advised the spirit.

"Just remember nothing is as it seems in the real world," Liam said.

I went back inside to the oriental man. "The tag says $20 will you adjust the seat and handlebars before I leave with it."

"Bicycle price on tag," he said again giving me that 'you dumb bitch look'.

"Listen you stupid cocksucker. I will buy the bicycle at the price on the tag, but only if you adjust the seat and handle bars, otherwise I walk. Now did you understand that." What he didn't know is that I knew he had to speak more English in order to operate a business He was pretending that he didn't, so that he could avoid a lot of shit questions. It was time to find out, if I was right or not.

"Harry," he called out. A younger version of him came to the front.

"Can I help you ma'am?" he asked. I explained again what I wanted. "Sure I'll adjust the chain for you as well. Let me get it and I'll take it to the shop in the back."

I parted with twenty bucks plus tax and drove away with the bike in the rear of the pick up. I took it straight to a convenience store with an air hose. I didn't get home till after five what with the stop off to buy the bike. I rolled it up the stairs to my apartment on the second floor. I had one room pretty much empty since I decided not to buy living room furniture of any kind. That being the case, my design theme seemed to be early American bicycle. The bike itself was red, so that would determine the color of anything else that went into the room.

After eating a frozen dinner from the microwave, I spent the rest of the evening watching TV both on the TV, and streaming from the computer. Somewhere after nine I decided that I missed my instructors from Church Camp.

"Liam you here?" I asked out loud.

"Most always," the voice that no one else heard replied.

"Tell me what did Killer say to Alec?" I asked.

"Something like please come down home and try to take Lucy back. You gonna love us Alabama red necks. Then as remember it he bitch slapped him in front of the whole bar." Liam said with a smile.

"I should have stayed to watch," I said laughing.

To compensate my lack of interest in sex that night I went to several porn sites. I watched several women giving blow jobs. It must be all the rage, I thought. I wondered if I had looked the same when I did that. About midnight I shut down the computer and was thinking about bed. I walked by the bike and saw how dusty it looked under the overhead light.

"Liam where are you when I need you?" I asked to the empty room.

"Damn girl you call and here I am. You gonna ask me how to fix that bike?" Liam said.

"Yeah I guess I am," I said.

"Get yourself one of those dish washing sponges. The one with the scrubber back. Now mix up some thin soapy water and scrub the places that are rusty."

I watered the dish detergent down to almost nothing, then went to work on the bike's chrome with the scrubber side and the dusty frame with the sponge side. Most of the rust and all the dirt washed right off.

I feel exhausted into bed without setting my alarm. I instantly drifted off to sleep without even trying. It was a deep untroubled sleep. Untroubled because I had no past to worry about. I was born brand new every day.

It was almost 10AM when I awoke naturally. Since I didn't have to leave for work until 2PM, I decided to that the bike out for breakfast. There was one of those fast food strips about two miles away. From the car it didn't seem like all that much of a bike ride.

Since there were an equal number of up and down along the way it really wasn't too bad. I rode in and found that the restaurant which I chose had converted one of it's corner parking spaces to bicycle parking. I thought that was cool, so I parked my cheap kids bike beside some high dollar carbon fiber shit. I left as much space as possible between them.

Inside I spotted the two bike riders instantly. Even in the forty degree weather they wore spandex bike outfits. I almost laughed. I was in a fleece running suit and damn glad to have it.

I ordered a full breakfast at the counter, then waited while the employees tried their best to turn the food into shit, before I did. It came out of the kitchen looking like a blob of different colored plastic.

Once I found my way to a table I found the coffee wasn't bad at all but the food all tasted the same. The main difference was between the different colored blobs was the amount of salt on them. I went back for a refill on the coffee before I realized I couldn't take it on the bike. Something would have to be done about that, I decided, but not at that moment.

I rode the bike back to the apartment facing a cold wind. It had been at my back during the ride to breakfast but it was in my face on the ride back. I was glad to get home my ear and nose were very cold even though it wasn't below freezing. I added some kind of head cover to my bike list, which had a thermos and a way to attach it to the bike. I was actually enjoying the planning.

I took a long hot shower before I did anything else. The water warmed me enough to wash my hair without fear of getting chilled. The apartment was just a little cool. Since there was no thermostat, I had no control. Which is why I wore a sweat shirt in the apartment. I didn't have a comfortable chair so I had to give some thought to that as well.

I tended to sit propped up in bed watching TV or streaming TV shows on the computer. I also did some work on the computer, but not much since it had to be erased at the end of the job.

When the time came I drove the pickup truck to work. It was easy to find a parking space in the parking lot across the street. City employees parked free, which was a good thing since we had to park there. I walked across the busy street and into the parking garage. I swiped my new ID card and the door opened almost magically.

I swiped the card again to gain access to the lab central processing area where I had waited with Pete the Geek for calls. Pete was sitting with a cup of coffee from some fast food restaurant.

"Where did you get that coffee?" I asked because I knew I would need coffee later.

"I picked it up on the way back to the office from a call. The place is a few blocks north of the station and have a drive through window. The break room has a microwave but Styrofoam and microwaves don't mix well," Pete the Geek said.

"Well I have coffee envy," I said smiling at him. I got my bag with the camera from the locked evidence storage area. Before putting it beside my desk, I checked to be sure everything was as I had left it.

It was two minutes after 3PM when the youngish man came into the room. Pete the Geek made the introduction. Hey Jeff this is your new partner Naomi Roberts. Naomi, this is Jeff Stonebridge he has been a crime scene manager about eight months.

I stood to make a show of greeting the younger man. He was about twenty two which made him about five years younger than me. He also had red hair the color of a Pennsylvania barn. His face had small holes which were no doubt meant for piercings. I wondered how he ever got a job with the Capitol City Police. As a civilian employee he didn't have to conform the cop dress code, but a pierced lip come on now.

It wouldn't really have been so bad had he been tall and thin, but he wasn't. He was short and thin. The effect was a teenager playing at being a punk rocker. He did wear the blue slacks and blue knit shirt with the lab worker ID hanging from a chain around his neck.

"Hello Naomi, it's nice to meet you," he said. He noticed my surprise. "What you were expecting me to ask, hows use?"

"Frankly, yes I was," I admitted.

"I save all that for my days off, or for Heidi's after shift," he said smiling.

"And Heidi's is?" I asked.

"It's a private club most members are cops or firemen. We have a few friends of cops and even some cop wannabes," he informed me.