The Christmas Cop

by Barbara McMahon

  “Too bad. I was thinking Bikers for Christmas. Well, maybe another time. At least you aren’t frowning as much as before.”

  He looked at her for a long moment. “I know something that would make me smile,” he said softly.

  “What?”

  “Another kiss.”

  Chapter Ten

  Shea felt the heat rise in her cheeks as her heart rate sped up. She stared into his eyes for a long moment, then gave into temptation and leaned over so her lips brushed against his.

  She pulled back and stared into his eyes.

  Slowly Jake began to smile.

  She laughed. “So that’s all it takes for a smile?” she asked.

  “Guess so.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind. Now, when is the TV interview? We want them to have a trailer across the bottom giving the website and where people can donate or recommend kids for the program.”

  “I’m not committed yet.”

  She ignored his comment. She knew when the chips were down, he’d come through.

  “I’m going to call Stan at your IT department and talk about another page on the police website. This could really expand the program throughout the city.”

  “Sounds like more work to me,” he grumbled.

  “We’ll have it so automated there will be very little work to do,” she said, rising to cross to her desk. In only a minute she was scribbling ideas and notes on paper.

  “There might be a limit to how many toys a store will donate.”

  “That’s why we want the general public to donate money, so we can buy what isn’t donated,” she said, focused on the ideas already crowding in her mind.

  “We could discuss it over dinner,” he suggested.

  She looked up at that and grinned. “I’d love it. What do you have in mind?”

  “What are you up for?”

  “How about we go back to my place and order in pizza. We can work from there and won’t have to worry about others around us.”

  He nodded. “Sounds good.”

  Before they left, however, Shea called the police department’s IT section and talked with Stan. Getting his okay to draft up a page, she smiled. “I’ll have something for you tomorrow,” she ended.

  “That’s done,” she said.

  Jake enjoyed watching her enthusiasm. She jumped right in, and knowing what she was doing, was able to start the ball rolling. Now he felt more obligated to make that appearance on KZFF, much to his chagrin.

  They ordered pizza before leaving Shea’s business, knowing it’d cut the wait time at her condo. They only beat the delivery by ten minutes.

  Jake was again amazed at the way her place was decorated. She had enough items to open her own Christmas store.

  “So did you solve any more cases today?” Shea asked when they were seated and began to eat the pizza.

  “No, but I did delve deeper into another murder. This one seems to have been investigated thoroughly. Sometimes, however, things turn up later that put a different slant on things.”

  “Like?” she asked.

  He wasn’t sure she really wanted to know, but her trait of focusing solely on the person talking was enchanting. He liked her focus on him.

  “Someone who benefited from the crime but didn’t obviously do so at the time might lead to another round of questioning. And sometimes people let slip something they didn’t reveal in the initial investigation.”

  “Umm. Does it ever get you down? You’re always trying to find out what human killed another human. Wouldn’t you rather do something else?”

  “Like what?” he asked.

  She thought for a moment, then shrugged.

  “I guess every crime is pretty bad when I think about it. Maybe robbery wouldn’t be so bad–then I think of an older person who has their entire life savings stolen, that’s heartbreaking. Or juvenile cases–trying to get kids on the right track before they do something awful and then having them fail.”

  “It does get me down sometimes. Especially if it’s a horrible crime. But I feel cops are the only hope left to see justice done for the victim. Even if there’s no family left, or friends, at least I know I did what I could for someone who can no longer do for himself.”

  She smiled slyly. “So that’s why you should do the Christmas project annually–have one time of year when you are surrounded by happiness, not death and destruction.”

  “Only I’m not good around kids.”

  “I wouldn’t say that. You did great with Jason.”

  “That was one kid.”

  “Ah, it’s bunches of kids together that get to you,” she said.

  “Maybe. I’m not usually around bunches of kids.”

  “Still, this is a great project and I think you’ll find come January that it wasn’t so bad and be psyched up next December to take charge again.”

  “Maybe. Would you jump in and help?”

  She nodded her smile doing weird things to his heart.

  They finished the pizza. Shea cleared the table and suggested they move to the sofa to complete their list.

  She brought out her laptop and fooled around with different images and ideas, ending up with one she shared with Jake.

  “What do you think of this for our page on the police website?” she asked, turning the laptop toward him.

  “Looks good. I can’t believe you put it all together in such a short time.”

  “Easy peasy. I’ll send it to Stan and he can upload it to the department’s website if he approves it. So expect calls to start coming in as soon as he gets it uploaded.”

  “I’ll warn Janey. I’ll check with the captain, but I think she could screen the calls. There are a couple of other support staff there who could help if we get swamped.”

  “Sounds like a plan. And a lot can respond by email that can be read when we have time.”

  She closed the laptop and half turned on the sofa to face him.

  “So tell me more about the case you’re working on. At least what you can tell me.”

  He talked with her for a while about the cases, the frustration with being so long after the fact, and the variety of reports–some well done, some virtually useless.

  “So does the police department review these cold cases only when someone has desk duty?” she asked.

  “We used to have a couple of guys devoted to cold cases, but budget cuts eliminated those positions, so yeah, pretty much when someone like me is on disability but can still man a desk.”

  “Seems sad that the crimes are never solved. I’m glad you caught one bad guy at least.”

  “I still have several more weeks on the DL. Maybe I’ll find something on another case.”

  “Want to watch a movie?” Shea asked. “I’ve got more Christmas movies we can watch.”

  “To get me in the mood for the holiday?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Pump us up for the big day, and all the excitement those kids are going to have when we start showing up at their doors with presents and Christmas dinner.”

  “You look almost as excited as you’re saying those kids will be,” he said.

  “No more frowns. This is the best time of year!”

  She selected Miracle on 34th Street and whipped up a batch of popcorn. They sat in companionable silence watching the story unfold.

  Shea had tears in her eyes at the ending. “I love this movie,” she said.

  She looked at Jake. He looked at her.

  “Didn’t you say that about the other one we watched?”

  She nodded. “Probably, I love all the Christmas movies. Did you like it?”

  He shrugged. “A little too sweet. Life isn’t always that way.”

  “Which makes the movie special because you can actually believe it might be that way sometimes. You’re cynical because of your job.”

  “Or you’re an idealist because I haven’t a clue why. No hardships in life, maybe?”

  “Maybe, or because I choose to see the best. Want any hot choco
late before you go?”

  “No, but thanks for the offer. With your problem at work solved, will you be coming to headquarters tomorrow?”

  “Yep, I’ll be there.”

  Shea walked him to the door and waited patiently while he put on his heavy jacket.

  She wasn’t planning on a goodnight kiss, but if Jake wanted one, she was game.

  He did.

  Shea dropped her things at her desk at the Mondano Police Department the next morning and took her laptop up to the IT department. After some discussion with Stan and, a quick call to the chief of police, the web page for Christmas was approved. Working together it took only a short time to have it up and operational.

  “I still think we should have a picture of Jake wearing a Santa hat on the front page,” Stan said.

  “I can just see that–not,” Shea replied.

  She grinned just thinking about Jake and the Santa hat.

  Jake didn’t like the teasing he got from the others, he’d hate to have his face on the website, no matter how good the cause.

  She grabbed her laptop and headed back to the large room she shared with Jake. He was at his desk, papers spread all around, on the phone arguing with someone.

  She waved and went to sit at her desk. She planned to check in with volunteers this morning and set up a feed from the website Christmas page directly to a report so they could quickly gather data for kids in need and donations.

  Jake slammed down the phone. “Stupid bureaucracy,” he said.

  “Obviously a problem.”

  “About the TV interview. My captain wants me to do it, but now the public affairs department wants to coach me on what I can and cannot say. I know enough to focus all attention on the Christmas project. What do they think? I’m going to give away some crucial information about an ongoing case?”

  Shea leaned back in her chair and let him vent. She didn’t see much of a problem, but Jake was obviously wound up about it.

  “Can you get a list of the questions before you go?” she asked.

  He looked at her. “Probably.”

  “Then get the list, send a copy to whoever’s bugging you and prepare to answer the questions without giving away any crucial information on a murder case.”

  She smiled at the thought. Even she knew Jake would never do such a thing.

  He rubbed his face in frustration. “I don’t have time for this. I want to focus on this case.”

  “Remember this is for the kids.”

  “The new motto–for the kids,” he grumbled.

  She nodded. “Good news, we have the website page up for the project, got the okay from your captain, and I’m setting up a spreadsheet for the information we’ll get. You need to give the studio the links so they can have the trailer across the bottom ready to go when you're interviewed.”

  He nodded and reached for the phone again.

  In only a minute, Shea heard him ask for Sara Stanton, the afternoon anchor who’d be doing the interview. He explained what he wanted and listened to her apparently tell him how to handle things. When he finished the call, he looked at Shea.

  “She’s going to email me the questions and I can email her back with the website info.”

  “Okay, let me know when you get the email and I’ll give you the URL.”

  A few minutes later Shea was caught up in contacting volunteers and verifying schedules for wrapping and for delivery.

  When her watch indicated time to walk, she jumped up and started to roam around the room. Noting that Jake seemed intent on what he was reading, she took her walk in the hallway instead.

  They were a week away from the wrapping party. She’d double checked all her lists and contacts. Every thing looked to be coming along perfectly. She hoped so. She was so excited for the kids to have a taste of Christmas she was almost fearful about thinking how well it was going. She didn’t want to jinx it.

  “Are you taking a break for lunch?” Jake asked some time later.

  She looked up. “I am. Want the usual?”

  He nodded, holding up some bills.

  Shea was glad for the break, though it was cold outside. And it looked like more snow might be in the works. But the fresh air cleared her head. And she had lunch with Jake to look forward to.

  She loved spending time with him. His seriousness was in direct contrast to her own more lighthearted view of life. She was definitely an optimist. He leaned toward the pessimistic side, but if she had to deal with the horrors he did, she might feel that way, too.

  It was fun to be part of a couple. Not that they were a couple, necessarily. But they did watch movies together, eat together, work together.

  She liked the idea of a possible future with Jake.

  Would they continue to see each other once the project was behind them? She’d be back at her office, he’d get off the disabled list and return to work.

  She knew from the talk she’d picked up around the department that most of the detectives didn’t keep strict nine to five hours. If interviews needed to be done in the evenings, they were right there.

  Still, he’d definitely not work all the time.

  She hoped they’d continue to see each other. She was starting to think she wanted more than just a few hours here and there. She’d like to see where this attraction led.

  Did he feel the same?

  Chapter Eleven

  “You do know I have another job,” Shea said as they were finishing lunch.

  Jake looked at her and nodded. “Your point?”

  “I need to get back to work. My work. This is fun, and I can keep checking for updates, but we’re closing down over the holidays and I want to get as much wrapped up before then as possible on some of our projects.”

  “The TV interview is Thursday,” he said. “Can you stay until then?”

  “You don’t need me. I can give you an update right before you go on the air if you need it. Did you get the questions?”

  “Yeah, and they're easy, mainly explaining what we do, asking for names of any kids we might not know about and asking for donations.”

  “You’ll remember to smile, right?” she teased.

  “Do you not have any faith in me?”

  “Of course I do, only sometimes I think you forget that.”

  He faked a grin at her and she burst out laughing.

  “Okay, maybe a bit tamer.”

  She went to her desk and picked up a scrap of paper.

  “Here’s the URL for the web page. It’s easy to remember. Really all anyone has to do is log onto the police website and hunt for Christmas.”

  “I’d expect people who see the broadcast will respond that afternoon, don’t you think?” Jake asked. “Maybe you could be here then to make sure everything’s working like you want for gathering the data.”

  “Sure. That’ll work. So I’ll take off after we finish lunch and be back Thursday afternoon.”

  “How about dinner tomorrow night–just last minute coaching for my big television debut.”

  “I’d like that. Where can I meet you?”

  “What would you like, we’ve done Chinese and Mexican and pizza. The basic food groups.”

  “How about Rusty’s Steak House. They have melt in your mouth filet mignon.”

  “Six o’clock?”

  “Deal. I’ll look forward to it.”

  She knew she’d miss being here at the cop shop as Cal called it. But she had her own responsibilities, too. And she’d better remember that. No matter what happened in the future, she knew this project was ending in a little over a week.

  They were ramping up as the holiday drew closer. Next up was the television interview. She expected a lot of input from that. Then next Tuesday was the wrapping party and then all hands on deck with picking up the meals and delivering everything. It ought to be a total mad-house that day at St. Anne’s, but she trusted it would all work out as it had in previous years.

  Wednesday Shea had a hard time concentrating. She was loo
king forward to dinner with Jake and found herself daydreaming when she should have been reviewing code. Or imagining a celebration dinner on Christmas for a project that exceeded expectations when she should have been reviewing financial numbers.

  She could hardly wait for dinner.

  Cal came in around 4:30 and sat in her visitor’s chair.

  “I think everyone's getting short-timer’s disease.”

  “What?”

  “There’s more conversation going on about Christmas and presents and the kids deliveries than there is discussing program plans.”

  Shea nodded. “I’m having trouble concentrating myself. Well Christmas is just over a week away. We had this last year, as I remember.”

  “I almost feel like shutting down now, but we still have six more days and we can get some work done.”

  “Nothing major I expect,” she said, tossing her pencil down and leaned back in her chair. “I’m fine with just coasting for these next few days. When everyone gets back in January, we’ll all be rested and focused on the new projects and customers.”

  “I know. I’m as bad as the rest of them. I’m taking off now. You staying?”

  “For a while. I have a date at six, so will go directly there from here.”

  “With the cop?” Cal asked.

  She nodded.

  “You two are close,” he said.

  “We’re working on the project together.”

  “Is that all? No conversations that aren’t project related? No activities that aren’t project centered?”

  She shrugged. “We’ve been to dinner a couple of times and watched some Christmas movies.”

  Cal studied her for a moment, then jumped up. “Take care of yourself, Shea. Have fun tonight.”

  He gave a slight wave and left.

  Shea checked her watch and decided she’d call it a day as well. She had time to go home and change from jeans to something nicer for the steak house.

  Not that she was dressing up for a date. Though she’d called it that with Cal.

  Was it a date? Of a kind, she thought.