Linda Kay Silva - Delta Stevens 3 - Weathering the Storm (10 page)

Putting his arm around her, the sergeant smiled warmly. “I warned you about that in the academy, didn’t I? Don’t try to make up for something you couldn’t stop, Delta. It’s like a baseball player who keeps striking out because he’s trying too hard to get a hit. Don’t blame yourself and don’t try so hard to make up for Helen’s death. You can’t change the past, Delta. Let it go.”

Nodding, Delta inhaled slowly and walked away.

Let it go? If only she could.

I suppose you want to drive," Delta said, tossing Tony the keys.

“I wouldn’t mind.” Hopping in the car, Tony jammed the key in the ignition and started the engine. “God, don’t you love the sound of these babies?”

Delta just shook her head as she reached over and turned the engine off. “You have a list here that needs to be checked before you hit the streets.”

Tony turned to her, a puzzled look settling on his face. “A list?”

“It won’t do you a damned bit of good to go blasting out of the parking lot with only half your equipment. You have to make sure that everything works, that you have everything you’re supposed to have, and that the unit is full of gas.”

“Isn’t the last guy in the car supposed to fill it?”

Delta cringed. “Yes, that’s how it’s supposed to be, but you’d be amazed at how many sergeants and lieutenants `forget’to gas up before they come in.”

Tony nodded. He reminded Delta of a horse ready to burst out of the starting blocks. “Okay. So, I check all of this stuff and then we can go?”

Delta handed the clipboard to him. “Yep. I’ll look in the trunk, you do the rest.”

Tony glanced at the list and started checking items off. When they were through, Tony jumped back in the driver’s seat and gripped the wheel like a race car driver. On his hands were black leather gloves with the fingers cut off. “Can we go?”

Delta stared at the gloves. Used to be that the only cops who wore gloves were the ones who liked to crack heads. But now, with the AIDS scare, almost every cop she knew donned the black leather gloves just as they did the bulletproof vests.

“All right, eager beaver, go for it.”

As Tony pulled out of the lot, he turned to Delta and flashed his most charming and sincere smile. “You don’t really do all that checklist stuff every time, do you?”

Delta couldn’t remember the last time she and Jan had done it. It was something that seemed to get interrupted as soon as they were in the car. Too often, she took for granted the necessary items would be where they were supposed to be. But she wasn’t supposed to tell a rookie this, was she?

“Get used to it. How would you like to get to a scene and you need a rope to get down a hill to help a victim, and when you open the trunk, it isn’t there. How would you explain that to the captain? Or worse, how would you explain it to the family if the victim died because you couldn’t get to her?”

As Tony nodded, Delta wondered how long she would be able to last in the car with his overpowering aftershave. Miles had stopped wearing his after Delta told him it gave her a searing headache. But then, that was Miles.

“You can’t believe how long I’ve wanted to do this!” Tony said as they rolled up to a light.

Oh yes, she could. Being a cop was something Delta had always wanted to do. The excitement, the thrill of the action, the feeling of helping people who needed assistance, gave her a reason to get up in the morning. She loved it. She had always loved it. Remembering how her first day felt, she grinned. It was like the carrot and the stick all the way through the academy, and when she finally got on the streets, that carrot tasted better than anything she had ever eaten or would eat.

“What do we do now? Just drive around looking for action?”

“You were at muster. Weren’t you listening? Let’s cruise by the arcade and check on the kids.”

For awhile, they drove in silence—silence Delta was more than happy to have. There would be plenty of time to answer the onslaught of questions he was bound to have, questions she hoped she would have the patience to answer.

Finally, Tony cleared his throat and turned to her. “You don’t like me much, do you?”

Delta shrugged. “I don’t know, yet. From what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think so.”

“Why? What’ve I done to piss you off so much?”

“For starters, you hustled men who had every right in the world to want to crush your face. Then, when my friend and I intervened to keep them frombashing your pearly-whites down your fool throat, you pull some macho act that, frankly, turned my stomach. And you never even offered your thanks. You tell me how you’d feel?”

As the light changed, so did Tony’s expression. “I’ve been told that I make a good first impression where the ladies are concerned.”

Delta visibly cringed. “That’s your first problem. I’m not a `lady.’ I’m a cop. I’m your partner, the person who has to trust in your ability to size up situations and make the right choices. I wouldn’t say hustling a couple of big bikers was a very bright move. Nor was turning down help when you so obviously needed it.”

Tony grinned. “I suppose not. But you can’t judge me by a couple of stupid mistakes. You act as if I’ve done something to you personally.”

“Turn left here,” Delta said, leaning back and letting a loud sigh escape her lips. “Look, Carducci, it’s no secret that I didn’t sign up for this assignment. It was thrust on me like hot coals. No offense, but babysitting a rookie isn’t exactly my style. I work hard, fast, and live by my gut. My beat isn’t a place where someone with training wheels should play.”

“You don’t think I can do the job?”

“It’s not that. This is one hell of a tough beat. If I were a captain, I wouldn’t assign an inexperienced cop to it.”

“Well I’m supposed to be getting the right training from you so that I can be experienced. How can I learn anything if you treat me like some jerk?”

Delta nodded in understanding. “Look, to be honest, you’d be better off asking for a transfer to someone who really wants to be an FTO. I’m a cop, Carducci, not a teacher. I keep saying that, and no one seems to want to hear.”

Tony nodded as if he understood.

“Carducci, I work on instinct and gut knowledge. I don’t know how to teach those anymore than I could teach you how to have courage. I’ve had a rough couple of months and the last thing I need right now is to try to bottle my expertise and pour it down the throat of some rookie.”

“If it’s nothing personal, could you at least give me a chance? I mean, you’re no teacher, and I sure as hell am no student. Maybe I’m not like all the other rookies out of the academy. At least give me a chance.”

Delta tried not to grin. Of course he was like the others. She remembered her buddies from the academy. And no matter how good they were, they all came out the same: over eager, rambunctious, and idealistic, usually completely unaware of the real and present dangers of the street. She had been where he is and when the harshness of the beat slammed her in the face, her idealism quickly took a backseat to her survivalism. One didn’t learn that; one had to simply wait to experience it.

“I don’t see that I have much choice, do you?”

Tony shook his head. “Thanks for the confidence.”

The hurt in Tony’s voice was evident. “Look, I apologize for being so rough on you. But if you’d done what I have, you’d find this assignment patronizing and slightly demeaning.”

“That’s just it. I do know what you’ve done. ” Tony said, fully smiling. “I’ve heard of your adventures. The academy is full of stories about you. Everyone knows who Delta Stevens is, man. You’re the stuff legends are made of. Can’t you just forget what an ass I was the other night and start new right now?”

A sudden warmth wound its way through Delta’s hardened exterior, forcing a slight grin on her lips. She could see where his charm might be disarming to women who would notice such traits. He was a little boy in a man’s body, who just wanted to be a good cop. She had to give him that much. “All right. If I’m stuck with you, we might as well find a way to get along.” Delta tried not to smile, but Tony was sitting there with that silly, proud grin on his face. She couldn’t help herself. Okay, so his first impression stunk. If people judged her by herfirst impression, she’d have no friends.

“Great. What do you want me to call you? I mean, I already know what
not
to call you.”

“Just call me Delta. If you ever call me anything I might consider sexist, you’re history. Pull that Mister Man crap like you did the other night and I’ll do everything in my power to see that you end up in dog pound school. Make any racist, bigoted, sexist, or homophobic remarks and they’ll have to surgically remove my baton from your butt. If you can handle that, then I’ll agree to a fresh slate.”

Tony nodded, as if he was going to be tested on this material. “Okay, Delta. That’s cool. I can handle that.” Tony let out a monotonic whistle. “Boy, are the guys going to turn green when I tell them who my FTO is. You’re all we talked about after the Zuckerman case.” Tony’s enthusiasm and excitement over her past was slowly melting the cold wall she’d raised. “Did you really climb up ten flights in an elevator shaft with blood pouring out of your leg?”

Putting down her pen and realizing she wasn’t going to get any work done until his curiosity subsided, Delta nodded. “My stitches broke open half way up the elevator shaft.”

“Holy shit. And you just kept going?”

“I had to. My best friend’s life depended on it. It’s not as heroic as everyone makes it out to be.”

“Heroic? Man, they should have promoted you!” Suddenly, the light in Tony’s eyes changed as he slowly turned to Delta. “Now I get it. That’s what you’re all pissed about, huh? Instead of a promotion, you got me.”

Delta shrugged away the all-too-familiar ache. “Something like that. I made a lot of mistakes going in there. People, a child, was caught in the crossfire of Elson’s sickness and was killed. You don’t make mistakes like that and expect a promotion.” Delta tried to ignore the pain searing her chest like a glowing branding iron, but it was no use. She would never get over the pain of seeing Helen’s head dangling at an impossible angle, her eyes staring up at the sky. Those eyes would stay with her for the rest of her life, as would the eyes of Helen’s mother when she stared down at her child’s little lifeless body.

“But you stopped him. So what if you broke a few regs? You should have had a hero’s parade.”

Delta searched for some neutrality in her voice to hide the agony of remembering. “One doesn’t get promoted in law enforcement unless you follow all of the rules and take stupid tests that have absolutely nothing to do with your ability to handle yourself on the streets.”

“From what I hear, your ability is pretty amazing.” Tony interjected loudly.

Not amazing enough, Delta thought, thinking back to the multitudes of questions Helen’s mother angrily hurled at her, questions with no answers—questions Delta would ask herself for the rest of her life. The woman’s child was dead. It was no wonder the mother reached out to hurt the one person who could have saved her daughter’s life.

Could have. Police work was full of could haves, should haves, might haves, ought to be’s. It was this singular “could have” which imbedded itself into Delta’s spirit as sharply as Elson’s star imbedded itself into her thigh, leaving a scar far deeper than the corporeal one she would carry forever.

“I get the job done, that’s all.”

“That’s all? You’ve got one of the best conviction records in the department. In report writing, they always used your old reports as examples of how to do it right. There are records in the academy that will never be broken. Man, you’re what every rookie wants to be some day.”

Delta looked out her window. She hoped that those same rookies never had to hold a dead child in their arms, or feel the helplessness of not being able to prevent her death. She hoped they understood where taking chances would get them. It was so different on the street than in the academy. It was almost unfair to send such unprepared waifs into the dangers of the night.

Closing her briefcase, Delta ran her hand through her hair. If there were some sickos stealing and murdering children, she had an obligation to keep other children from harm; and there were two children in particular whom she had sworn to protect.

“Carducci, there’s some personal business I need to take care of. Swing by Pulido Avenue for me and stop when I tell you to.”

As they turned onto Pulido, Delta pointed to a white and yellow house on the corner. “That one. I’ll only be a minute.” Delta leapt from the car when it stopped and jogged up to the door. Raising her hand to knock on the front door, she was surprised when it sprung open and two brunette children stood smiling crookedly at her.

“Mommy, mommy, it’s Auntie Delta!” Throwing the door wide open, Colin pushed past his sister and jumped into Delta’s arms. Delta was amazed at how much taller they were than the last time she saw them.

“Hey, there, Tiger. How’s my best guy?”

“Great! I got a hit yesterday!”

“It was an error,” Casey said, hugging Delta around the waist. “The shortstop missed the ball and it went right through his legs.”

“Well, at least you’re hitting the ball, eh, Tiger?” Squeezing the seven-year-old and feeling the same bond she had shared with his father, Delta kissed Colin’s head before setting him back to the ground. “How was your game. Case?”