by Jenna Baker
*****
Captain Harris was basically what you’d expect. She was a little overweight with dark brown hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. Her face didn’t have a scrap of makeup on it and she looked worn and tired. I looked in her eyes and tried to imagine everything they’d seen.
I sat across from her at her desk as she finished up a call. I regarded the gold wedding band on her meaty finger and wondered if she was the boss at home too. Captain Harris hung up the phone and held a hand out to me. “Captain Joan Harris.”
“Victoria Sharpe,” I said, shaking her hand.
“You getting settled in okay?” she asked. Her voice was gruff and masculine. “We didn’t know if you would need a work space, but there’s a spare desk out in the bullpen.”
“Thanks, that would be great. My crew is bringing in the equipment now, so I’ll let them know to leave everything by that desk. I hope you don’t mind if we rig some of our cameras in the interview rooms. We would of course get the permission of the, uh…interviewees…before taping.” I decided that saying “criminals” might be a mistake because of that innocent until proven guilty thing.
“That’s fine. Lenny is an old friend, and he explained how everything would work.”
“He is?” I asked. “Captain Harris, are you aware of the prank the team pulled on me last night?”
She leaned in and looked at me, straight faced. “Everyone is, honey.”
“And you approve?”
“No, I don’t. I think they took it a little too far.”
Okay, that was more like it. I had my lead-in, so I decided to go for it. “I wanted to talk to you about Detective Reid. He doesn’t seem to be on board with this project.”
Captain Harris nodded. “Yeah, he’s not thrilled about this, but he’s a good cop, and that’s what we need for this kind of thing.”
“Right,” I continued. “I was wondering if maybe you could talk to him about getting with the program. I didn’t want to say anything, but he’s been pretty combative.”
Harris laughed. “Do I look like his mother? It was hard enough convincing him to do the show – the rest is up to you, honey.”
“Yes, but as his captain…”
“This is not part of his job requirement, sweetie pie. This is a favor to me, and if you want a good show, you are just going to have to work with what you’ve got. We’re cops, princess, not actors.”
I was a little stunned. Here I thought I was going to get Detective Reid spoken to and instead I’d been handed my ass. These cops didn’t mess around. I decided to drop it and stood up.
“Yes, understood. I will make it work.” I said. “Thank you, Captain Harris – it was nice meeting you.”
“Sure thing,” she said in a chipper tone. “If you need anything, you just let me know.”
