Chapter 33

The beach was starting to fill up. It was always that way on Friday mornings. The people heading out that afternoon wanted one last day in the sun and the people just starting their vacations were eager to see the sand and surf.

Angel and Anna had disappeared in the room they shared to put on swimwear beneath their clothes. Maria decided that was a good plan so she did the same.

Bryant was still wearing a pair of ratty sweatpants cut off at the thighs, an Emerald Cove PD T-shirt, flip-flops and a black White Sox cap. Dave changed his clothes to match. His shorts were a pair of his old basic dress uniform camo pants cut off into shorts. His hat matched Bryant's almost exactly.

Angel and Anna had taken in the beach and the water on the short walk. Neither of them had seen the ocean before and they ran down to dip their toes in as soon as they hit the sand.

"This is what she wanted for her Sweet Sixteen," Maria confided. "We were planning a big party for her and she told us she would prefer to take a vacation to Emerald Cove instead."

"Sixteen," Bryant said, shaking his head. He remembered the girl from when she was ten. "Jesus."

"You're telling me," Dave lamented. "She started dating last fall. I'll probably take you up on your offer for a spare gun."

The girls drew the attention of most of the teenage boys – and a few of the men whose teenage years were decades behind them. They were laughing as they splashed in the water and Bryant couldn't help but smile.

Chuck was just unlocking his back gate when Bryant and the Jimenez family showed up.

He greeted them with a big smile and ushered them in – pointedly telling a couple of local kids to step back and let the others through.

Bryant shook his head and rolled his eyes. It was a wonder that Chuck had any customers come back a second time.

They took a seat at a table and one of the daytime waitresses – one of the few locals who worked at the bar during the day – came over quickly.

"Thanks for what you did, Chief," she said before they gave their orders.

"You had to put up with me all day," Bryant joked. "I figured it was worth hazardous duty pay. And I thought we decided yesterday that my name was Bryant."

"It was fun, Bryant," the young woman said. "What can I get you folks? Rosa said whatever you want is on the house."

"You don't need to do that," Bryant said.

"We all made four times as much in tips yesterday than we normally do," the girl said. "That was before you gave your tips to us. The least we can do is cover lunch for you and your group. We want to do this."

"Well, okay then," Bryant said. "But I should warn you. Jan's meeting us in a little while and she said she wanted to try everything in the kitchen."

"I'll have Rosa make a catering sample for her," the girl said. "I'll get your drinks and put that in. It'll take a few minutes longer so I'll come back in a few minutes so everything will be done at the same time."

"Tell Rosa that if it's too much trouble that Jan can lump it," Bryant said – completely unaware that Jan was standing right behind him.

"Remind Rosa that if time is an issue, someone lives right upstairs," Jan said with a wink at the others. "And he can have a slice of bologna on two pieces of stale bread if he's hungry."

Bryant gulped and tilted his head backward to look up at Jan. She leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead before smiling at the rest of the table.

"Hello again," she said. "It's really good to see you. How was your flight?"

The rest of the table, with the exception of Anna, had met Jan several times as she helped them pack up Bryant's house in Chicago. The woman in front of them barely resembled the one who had spent time with them a year before. First off, she was smiling. That was something they had rarely witnessed during the hours they'd spent together. The joke was also new.

But she was standing there with her hand on Bryant's shoulder and she had kissed Bryant. The few times the Jimenez family had made contact with Jan Elliot during the packing she visibly paled and stiffened. Now she was standing there with her hand extended to Maria – who was sitting wide-eyed, unsure of what to do. Finally she shook Jan's hand.

"I'm Jan Elliot," she told the one face she didn't recognize. "I work with Bryant on the police force here."

"Uh, I'm Anna Kozlov," the blonde girl said. She was confused as to why everyone looked at the newcomer as if she was a bug under glass.

"Do you go to school with Angel?" Jan asked to give the rest of the table a moment to get over their shock.

"Yeah," Anna said. "We play soccer together."

"Oh, that's nice," Jan continued. She kept up the conversation for another moment before turning to the rest of the table. "Emerald Cove has been good for me, too. I know how you must have looked at me the last time we met. I apologize for how I acted. I hope we can get to know each other while you're in town."

Maria had watched Jan's action with interest. Jan had bumped Bryant's shoulder with her hip when she sat down beside him. This was something else that didn't make sense. Bryant had spoken of his partner during the weeks the Jimenez family had tried to draw closer to him but it was always in a familial manner. He certainly gave no impression that there was any sort of romantic involvement.

Angel was also watching the situation closely. During Bryant's last days in Chicago, Angel had spent almost every afternoon with him. She had e-mailed him a couple of times a week since he arrived in South Carolina. She had not heard a word of him dating Jan Elliot. Angel though the woman was creepy the first time they'd been introduced. Now she was here and looked and acted like a completely new person.

"There are some pretty nice shops on the outskirts of town," Jan continued. "If you guys want to check them out, I'd be more than happy to go with you."

"That would be nice," Maria said. "Are you off until Tuesday, too?"

"Maybe longer," Jan said. "I have to get cleared to return to work by a mental health professional. If you remember me from Chicago, well, it might be more than shooting that creep that keeps me on the sideline."

"You seem to have found yourself here," Dave said. "I'm glad for you. Bryant always told us that you were a good friend to him. I'm happy to see that hasn't changed with the new location."

"It hasn't," Jan said. "And I think you're right. I finally faced my fears. It's a long story and I won't go into it but I was pretty screwed up. Coming down here helped me get my head straight. Bryant helped me even more. He's been a steadying force in my life for a while. Right now, I'm focusing on putting the past where it belongs and looking toward the future."

Everyone seemed to accept Jan's statement as it was meant and the topic moved on to life in Emerald Cove and what the Jimenez family could expect to see during their vacation.

"Can we do a ride-along?" Angel asked.

"I'm sure I can set something up with a patrol unit if your parents agree," Jan said.

"I ... I meant with Bryant," Angel said, somewhat abashed.

Bryant laughed but not at the young woman across from him.

"Angel, about the only thing I drive most days is a desk," he admitted. "I'm still looking for an administrator to handle the paperwork. Right now that still lands on my desk."

"That wasn't how we planned things," Jan admitted. "But it's the way it worked out. I was able to bring in a patrol sergeant from the up north to be my administrator. He's acting chief while I'm on ... how did they phrase it, Bryant? Oh yeah, paid administrative leave of absence. Bryant had to turn his department over to his two most experienced detectives."

"An administrator." Maria said. "Does that person need a background in police work?"

"Not necessarily," Bryant said. "Before the trial prep got started last month, I spent most of my time putting together grant proposals for Homeland Security money. We need to replace our protective vests and we need to start SERT. But the costs of those two things are well outside the city's budget without major tax hikes. We really don't want that. Right now, I'd probably settle for anyone with experience squeezing money out of the federal and state government. But if there is an interesting ride-along chance, I'll give you two a call. I have two top-notch female detectives. I'm sure they'll be happy to have you along unless it's dangerous or something."

"Cool," Anna said. "Uh, do you have a height requirement?"

"One of my detectives is barely above five feet," Bryant told the girl.

"Some departments might be a problem if you're thinking of police work," Jan cut in. "Chicago requires its female officers to be at least five-foot-three. You won't start off as a detective, of course. I was in uniform for six years before I was promoted. Bryant was a beat cop or a military policeman for close to a decade."

"Oh," Angel said glumly. "I, uh, well, the story of how you tracked down that guy who got shot was played up big on the Net. I think I read every story I could find. I, well, I made sure that I e-mailed them to Mom. I know the city IT department checks every attachment. I made sure that City Hall knew what they lost when they caved into pressure from the media and community groups."

Bryant blushed.

"She accomplished her goal," Maria admitted with a sad shake of her head. "The IT guys pasted them all over the place. They tacked them to the bulletin board right outside of the alderman's meeting room. The mayor got anonymous updates each day."

"But they got the last laugh when things played out like they did," Jan said with a frown.

"Every media source I found called you both heroes," Angel said firmly. "I thought about seeing if Dad would let me get an Emerald Cove newspaper subscription for those old fossils. Meanwhile the murder rate has almost doubled in the last year in Chicago. It's stupid."

Maria and Dave hadn't slept much on the plane and they were ready for a nap. Jan volunteered to take Anna and Angel to the beach and the girls hung out with Bryant and Chuck – ogling the college guys who infested the bar – while she went upstairs to change.

The girls could probably pass for eighteen year olds but they certainly didn't look twenty-one. Bryant was thankful when Jan came back down the stairs. Then he remembered what Jan's suit looked like.

"Did you remember the string this time?" Bryant asked. Jan smiled and nodded as she directed the girls off the deck and to the sand.

Jan led the Anna and Angel to almost the same spot she'd shared with Bryant earlier in the week. It wasn't far from the hotel where the girls were staying but there were fewer families this time. It was mostly filled with college guys who had already been booted from their hotel but who hadn't started the trip home yet.

Jan frowned but spread out the blanket anyway.

"This is a lot bigger town that I thought," Angel said after they had shucked their shorts and T-shirts. The girls' bikinis were no bigger than the one Jan wore.

"In a couple of months, it will seem a lot smaller," Jan told them. "There are only about 35,000 people who live here all year. But we get close to two million tourists from April to September. Right now, in the city limits, we have a hundred and fifty-two hotels, motels, inns and the like. We have almost three thousand rooms and all of them are booked for six months out of the year. In the winter months, we run to about twenty-five percent capacity most weeks – people taking golf or deep-sea fishing trips. We have a dozen or so conventions in town each month – ranging from the meat-packers union to the Federation of City Sanitation Workers. I think the Chamber of Commerce pushes for 2.5 million tourists each year. They fell a little short last year but they expect more than three million this year."

"Wow!" Anna put in. "You get as many people here as in Chicago!"

"In a lot smaller space," Jan said with a nod. She was watching the group of half-drunk college guys make their way down the beach. "Chicago is close to 250 square miles. Emerald Cove is 13 square miles. Almost all of the 3 million people are using the 3.6 miles of coastline here. That puts our population density in the summer at about 10 times that of Chicago."

"How many police officers do you have?" Angel wondered.

"Right now, we're at seventy-five," Jan confided. "I'm hoping to get to one hundred in the next budget. We're about half the size of Myrtle Beach and we have about a third of its police force. We're pushing to steal tourist dollars from up the coast and down the coast and the Tourism Bureau seems to be doing a good job of that. I need to make sure some of money comes my way or to find some other way to pay for what we need to keep people safe."

"That's what Bryant meant by getting federal money, isn't it," Anna asked.

"That's right," Jan said.

"That's what my Dad does," Anna said. "Well, he did. Right now he's working at a store in the mall. He used to work for the Planning and Development Commission before cutbacks. He said those people had it backward. They kept the highest paid administrators and let the people who brought the money in go."

Jan turned her head to look at the petite blonde girl and wondered if that was what Maria was trying to gauge.

"Do you think your family would like to move down here?" Jan asked.

She didn't get the chance to hear Anna's reply. The guys she had been watching had set up shop right in front of the three unattached females. They were doing the typical posturing that all post-pubescent males learned. But they also had broken out some bottles from their cooler. The label on the outside said the bottles held cola but the coloration was completely wrong. Jan would have let it go if every other word out of one of their mouths wasn't "fuck."

"Hey, Sport," she yelled to the one closest to her. She reached into her bag and pulled out her badge. The guy gave his buddies a smirk and turned back around. His smirk was gone when he saw the gold shield in Jan's hand. "Alcoholic beverages are banned from the beach except for designated areas. This is not one of those areas so you boys need to move along."

The kid looked at the drink in his hand and pointed to the label.

"These are Pepsis, Officer," he said.

"It's Chief," Jan corrected. "And those aren't Pepsis. Unlawful possession of alcohol on the beach usually would cost you a weekend in jail and $1,000 fine. Lying to a police officer is known as Obstruction of Justice in these parts. That will net a month in the lock-up and $25,000. Do you really think I can't smell the rum you mixed in with your Pepsi? Get a clue, Pal."

The kid bristled. There was no way he was going to spend a month in jail in South Carolina. He figured he and his two friends could overpower the woman and her kids pretty easily.

"Don't even think about it," Jan said. "Here are your choices. You can take the cooler and store it somewhere and come back and enjoy the spot you've found or you can move along to an area designated for alcohol consumption – if you're twenty-one, which I doubt. You can enjoy your stay here and then head back to Pennsylvania, Kentucky or wherever it is you're from. But if I have to get up off this blanket, I'm going to make you cry in front of your friends and then you're going to jail for as long as I can keep you there. Now make up your mind."