by Angel Rose
“Hello? I’m sorry; I think you have the wrong number,” I said drowsily and uninterested.
“Well, did you call the precinct or not?” the man’s voice barked loudly. The precinct…I remembered. I quickly jumped up and sat up in the bed and said, “Oh my God! Yes, yes! I did call, I’m so sorry!” I nervously pulled the sheets off of me and jumped out of bed.
“Okay, so…are you still interested? Can you come in later, say around, three for an interview?” he said impatiently. I could hear him tapping on something through the phone.
“Yes, of course, I’ll be there.” My voice changed from nervous to relieved.
“Do you need the address?” he asked.
“No, it’s on the card. Thank you.”
Things are looking up, I thought to myself. A potential job in the making and I needed it so badly. My student loans at Penn State were close to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and I spent one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to pay most of it, and John Jay was going to take the rest.
I was afraid. Afraid I wouldn’t have money to live. I looked through my closet and chose a black silk buttoned down blouse and a long beige skirt. I wore my very comfortable Clark’s low-heeled shoes. I grabbed my purse, my coat and hat and walked down the stairs carefully making sure I
lifted my skirt not to trip over it. I hailed for a cab as the December chill crept up my skirt sending shivers through my lightly covered legs. I was keeping my fingers crossed in the cab ride all the way there. God, please let him hire me, I’m desperate…desperate.
We arrived at the precinct and when I got out of the cab, I dropped my purse and all of its contents went flying in different directions on the sidewalk.
“Dammit!” I mumbled.
“Here, let me help you,” the voice of a handsome, tall man blew into my ear. He bent down to help me grab my belongings. His beautiful blue eyes shocked my system, and I dropped my compact mirror on the floor again and it shattered into tiny pieces on the sidewalk.
“Whoa…be careful.” He grabbed my hand to lift me to stand.
“Thank you.” My eyes were set on his. He smiled at me and bent down again and continued to pick up my lip-gloss and keys.
“Here you go…” He gently handed me my lip-gloss and keys. I grabbed my purse and placed everything back inside.
“Thanks, I really had a hard day and this night just started.” I giggled flirtatiously.
“It happens.” He nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m sorry, I’m already late…thanks again.” I walked into the precinct and walked towards the front desk.
The reception from the people inside was typically New York. Everyone stopped and stared at me like I had three heads. I had three strikes against me already; I wasn’t from New York, I didn’t really know my way around the neighborhood, and I got lost and was fifteen minutes late.
“Hi, I’m looking for David Hearns?” I asked the desk officer who seemed to be preoccupied with a crossword puzzle. Then the phone rang and he didn’t even glance up at me once.
“Yeah, wait here,” the desk officer snapped. As I waited for Mr. Hearns, an attractive woman with long brown curly hair and deep brown eyes dressed in her uniform stared at me noticeably irritated. Then, she cracked an uneven smile and answered the phone that rang on her desk.
“Can I help you?” said this tall, very handsome, older gentleman in his late forties…maybe even fifties. His soft oval-shaped brown eyes and long eyelashes to match glanced at me up and down. His dark brown hair was set in waves and his smile was gentle.
“Are you David Hearns?” I asked timidly as my eyes met his.
“Yes, and you are?” he answered with his eyebrows raised.
“You called me this morning and asked me to come in, for the night job?” I said trying to help him recall our morning conversation.
“Oh, yeah, yeah, sure… come on in. Jesse, get us some coffee, will ya? The rest of you, get to work! What the hell are you all staring at? Move!” he said, aggravated. He motioned with his hand for me to follow him to his office.
“Sit. Please… sit down, um, your name again?” he asked, seemingly lost. The very pretty woman walked in, handed me a cup of coffee, and seemed still equally irritated. She left the milk container
and packets of sugar and equal on his desk. The music from the radio on his desk was a little too loud. I glanced towards the radio then answered the question.
“Umm…I didn’t give you my name, its Jenesis. Jenesis Heart,” I answered nervously. The jazz music that was playing had distracted me. I loved the saxophone. It was one of my favorite instruments besides the violin.
“Yes, yes. Jenesis, well, it’s nice to meet you. Milk? Sugar? Equal? Don’t be shy now. Here, let me lower this.” He reached over to the radio and lowered down the music. He offered me the milk
and I poured some into my coffee, and grabbed two packets of equal. I stirred them into the coffee as he spoke.
“I’m looking for someone who can work at night; a part-timer… you know…secretarial work you can say, you know, to do light paperwork? Filing…Are you familiar with computer programs like word, excel, PowerPoint’s? Tell me a little about you,” he rambled on as he asked one hundred
and one questions. His eyes widened with anticipation as he slowly tapped his fingers rhythmically on his desk. I knew he was tapping on something this morning over the phone.
“I majored in forensic science at Penn State, and I just recently moved to New York. I am familiar with all of those programs. I was a bit of a nerd in college. Umm…when you say work at night, do you mean like at six o’clock?”
“Six o’clock? No, no. I mean at ten o’clock. Ten to two in the morning, a little more than a graveyard shift…I guess.” He laughed knowing I felt I was out of my comfort zone.
“Wow, that’s late.” I felt really uncomfortable, and I didn’t want him to notice, but it was too late for that.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” He chuckled.
“No… Pennsylvania, things are kind of slow there. But, that’s okay. I really need the job. I just worry about going home alone. I got lost coming here.” My head lowered in embarrassment. I wanted to crawl under his desk. I was really hoping I didn’t blow my chances of getting the job.
“Oh. Well, that’s not a problem. Where do you live?” he asked curiously as he sat back in his chair folding his arms across his chest.
“Not far… 695 St. Mark’s Place.”
“Shut the hell up! Wait, seriously, I live there! Apartment #10, we’re neighbors!” he slammed his hands on the desk catching me off guard. I jumped back in my seat, my eyes widened and my mouth dropped open a little. I spilled my coffee on the floor and as I looked up at him, feeling like
a complete loser, he seemed to be panicked. He scared the hell out of me. I almost had a heart attack.
“Jesus, I’m sorry.” He laughed. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said seriously as he handed me a paper towel. My cell phone vibrated in my purse. I pulled out the cell phone and there was a text
from Vivian. I glanced down and smiled. She made me relax after Mr. Hearns scared me half to death.
“Everything okay?” he asked curiously.
“Yes. It’s just my best friend Vivian. I can’t make a move without her blessing.”
“Really? How long have you been friends?”
“Forever.”
“Nice…well, we’re done here,” he said seriously. “So, since you live so close to me, I’ll have one of the officers take you home at night. Wow! That’s so strange, though. It’s a small world, ain’t
that right, Jen? You don’t mind if I call you Jen, do you?” His brown eyes smiled at me as he leaned forward resting his big hands on top of his desk.
“No, Jen is fine. It sure is a small world. I live in apartment 12 upstairs on the fifth floor,” I said hesitantly as I stared into his big dark brown eyes. I wasn’t sure if I should have given
him that
information, yet I’m sitting in his office applying for a job. I have to thank my father for these feelings of insecurity.
“Well then, little lady. You’re hired. Let’s fill out the paperwork so I can get you on payroll. When can you start?” he stood up and grabbed a pen from his desk drawer and tossed the application on the desk. I stood staring at him not giving him an answer. He glanced over at the clock.
“How about tonight? I could really use the money.” I sounded desperate but I wanted to make some money right away. What else did I have to do tonight anyway?
“How ‘bout this, Jen? How about if I pay you off the books so I don’t have to put you on payroll and you don’t get taxed and I could pay you every night? You can have all of that clean money to yourself. It’s like you don’t even work here. Just fill out your name and address…you know,
birthdate and stuff,” he said as he walked around his desk and leaned against it in front of me with his arms folded across his chest.
“Isn’t that illegal?” I said innocently, but sounding God awfully childish. “Legal…shmegal.” He smiled. “Not really, but, I’m the boss. I can afford to pay you say, around, fifteen dollars an hour.
What do you say, kid?” You could see he was getting bored with the conversation. I made my decision quickly and stood up.
“Sure, I mean, yes, thank you.” I was so excited I didn’t know what to do next.
“Well then… welcome aboard little lady! Let me show you around and introduce you. Come along. Can you keep a secret?” he grabbed me gently by the hand.
“Yeah… sure,” I said cautiously as my eyebrows frowned at him. His touch alarmed me.
“Um…listen…don’t tell anyone that you’re my neighbor. They’ll think I got you the job. You know…favoritism. It’ll make things awkward for you around here. You’re a beautiful, young lady,
Jen, and the guys in here will be hitting on you all of the time, so be careful and ignore them…most of them, anyway,” he whispered in my ear.
“No problem,” I whispered back. He frightened me a little, and my body tensed up when he got so close to my ear. I didn’t want anyone hitting on me, and I definitely didn’t feel I was going to make any friends, especially since everyone in the precinct seemed so unfriendly to begin with.
Dave walked around the precinct and introduced me to everyone. Some people smiled and some people didn’t. Dave was the captain of the detective unit. He was the boss and he knew it. So did
everyone else. He walked tall and straight and his brown wavy hair shined underneath the fluorescent precinct bulbs. I was excited to start working and from the looks of it, so was he. We
walked down the corridor to his office, and he motioned with his hand for me to sit behind his desk.
“Okay kid…you’re the boss when I’m not here. I need these files placed in this cabinet. It’s really self-explanatory. I’m sure you won’t need any help, but, if you do, here’s my number. Just call me, if I don’t answer, text me. If
I don’t get back to you, go to the front and ask Cassandra…she’s the one that brought in the coffee…she could be a bitch…but otherwise, she is very helpful. She’s a cop and prefers to work
in the precinct. She’s the princess around here, obviously. Oh…and this is Nick.” I turned around and then took a step back.
“We’ve met.” He was dressed in his uniform, and his sandy blonde hair and stunning blue eyes shimmered at me. He was gorgeous. I lifted my head and smiled at him. He extended his hand to me, and I gracefully accepted. He looked so different out of uniform when he was bent over on the
sidewalk helping me collect my belongings. I guess it’s true what they say about a man in uniform. They are simply irresistible.
“Yes we did…nice to meet you, again.” I smiled and stared at him for a moment, admiring his face and his beautiful blue eyes. I released my hand as I batted my eyelashes at him flirtatiously.
“Take it easy, Nick. Take care of her when I’m not around…I’ll. See. You.
Tonight.” He poked his finger into Nick’s chest while emphasizing each word, and then he winked at me and started to walk away.
“Oh…okay…are you leaving?”
“Yep, gotta go, doll. You can stay and check out the space, see where you want to start off. We’ll talk tonight. And hey, good luck.” He grabbed his coat and did a swirl before leaving the room. He seemed really happy. He really needed the help. His office was a mess. The papers on his desk
were practically piled to the ceiling. He had cigarette butts and coffee cups in every corner of the room.
“I’ll check it out tonight. Wait, I’ll walk out with you.” I followed him out to the front of the precinct, hailed for a cab, and went straight home. I thought he might ask me to share a cab with him as we both lived in the same building, but he walked in the opposite direction. I was excited
that I got the job, so I rummaged through my closet to find some outfits I could put together for the week.
I went into work that night, and I managed to clean up a quarter of his office. I used three garbage bags that were filled to the rim, and that was just with garbage only. I didn’t have time to go
through files and place them in the cabinet. Dave was nowhere to be found. As I piled the files on one side of the desk, I felt a presence in the room.
“Hello, I’m Stevie.” A short white man with a large dark grey garbage can presented himself to me. He had really big, light brown eyes that lit up the very dark hallway. I always had a thing for
studying someone’s eyes. They say so much, even when you have nothing to say. My father’s eyes told me so many things. Hate, some more hate, and most of all…hate. The look of hate radiated
through his eyes at me all of the time. Regardless, I always loved him. Sometimes, I think I should’ve showed him I loved him more. I just want to know why he didn’t love me.
“Jenesis, nice to meet you.” He waved his hand at me as he stood in the hallway, his eyes outlining the room.
“Jenesis, Hmmm…straight out the damn bible, huh? Man, how can you work in here? This guy’s a fucking pig! I can’t imagine what the fuck his house looks like!” he said loudly as he shook his head in his disgust. He was loud and had shocked me a little.
“Sorry about all of the bags, I really needed to clean up a little.” I shrugged my shoulders.
“A little, shit, if this is a little, I don’t want to be here when you clean up the rest of this goddamn mess!” He bellowed a laugh that came straight from his belly.
“I’m gonna leave some extra bags for you, just in case you come back tomorrow.” He grabbed some bags from the side of the garbage can and handed them to me.
“What do you mean by that?” I grabbed the bags from his hand. My tone was stern.
“Why the hell do you want to work here? You’re beautiful, you could be a model, you look like you should be a teacher or a chef…yeah, a chef…that’s it.” A chef? What the hell was this guy on?
“Well Stevie, I need this job, and thanks, I will be here tomorrow night.” I rolled my eyes at him, not realizing I was being rude. I didn’t mean to, I guess I was just feeling defensive from not getting a warm welcome from everyone else in the precinct.
“Fuck if I care,” he said as he pushed his garbage can on wheels out of the room. I could hear him mumbling as he walked down the hallway.
I was waiting for Dave to return, it was almost ten to two. I didn’t feel like throwing any more garbage away so I started to look at the pile of files on his desk. The large file cabinet was vomit
green and old as hell. It had four cabinets and each of them had about twenty little dents in it. One cabinet had CASES written on it in black permanent marker. The second cabinet had COLD
CASES written on a white piece of paper taped against it. The third cabinet had misc. on it, I guess for miscellaneous. The last cabinet had nothing written on it. The files piled on his desk were cold
/> case files. I was really curious and wanted to be a snoop. The suspense was killing me, so I opened the first file and started to read it:
Cold Case incident# 15-98768: Homicide- Angela Hartnett, 18: Cause of death: Gunshot wound to the head, torso and stomach.
I felt uneasy reading the file. It sent a chill up and down my spine. I couldn’t imagine someone so young, losing her life, let alone being shot three times, especially in the head? I slowly turned the
page, and as I looked up, I saw Dave standing in the doorway with his hand leaning against the entrance of the doorway slowly tapping his fingers rhythmically against the door.
“Are you looking for something?” he said softly.
“No, no…I was just cleaning up,” I said nervously as I closed the file rather quickly.
“It’s okay to glance over it if you’re going to file it, but if you’re not, try not to read them, they’re confidential, plus they might give you nightmares.
I wouldn’t want you to go home and have nightmares, Jen,” he said as he grabbed the folder from his desk and placed it in the cabinet and locked it.
Little did he know…I had nightmares every night.
“Yes, of course, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry,” I said feeling guilty. “It’s fine, don’t be so serious. It’s time to head home. I’m staying here. I have a lot of work to do.” He picked up the phone on the desk.
“Yeah, Nick, do me a favor and take Jenesis home, thanks,” he said as he hung up. I smiled internally, not letting Dave know that I was extremely happy that that gorgeous specimen was taking me home.
“Nick’s coming right now to take you home safe and sound. Thanks for the cleanup, Jen. It’s looking good in here already. I’ll see ya tomorrow night,” he said as he lit a cigarette.
Nick walked in.
“Hey, are you ready?” He gazed at me up and down, his sexy blue eyes gleaming at me. “Hey, read the sign lately, Dave?” Nick said as he kept his eyes on me, and then pointed at the sign on the door that read NO SMOKING.
“Let me grab my purse.” I gathered my things feeling embarrassed that I got busted looking through the files. I really meant no harm, I was just curious.
