Estranged (2 page)

The shop door burst open and two
figures in full SWORDE uniform stepped in. They wore black from
head to toe: helmets with blacked-out visors, polyester jackets,
polyester pants tucked smartly into a pair of sturdy boots,
complete with gloves covering each hand. They were both armed with
assault rifles as they yelled for everyone to get back and put
their hands up.

Kalei looked back at the Estranged
body on the floor. The eyes were now closed.

One of the Wardens, female, judging by
her voice, pulled Kalei aside. “Ma’am, I understand you are a
police officer, but I need you to stay here until another Warden
comes by to administer a test—”

Kalei wasn’t listening to the Warden.
Her eyes were still locked on the Estranged. She thought she saw
one of the fingers twitch. If it got up, it could kill the
shopkeeper standing next to it before anyone knew what was
happening. “That body— I think the Estranged is still alive. You
need to get—”

“
Ma’am, this is now a
SWORDE crime scene. You need not concern yourself with—”

“
I’m telling you, she’s
alive!” The mother and the shopkeeper jumped and stared at Kalei
with wide eyes. The shopkeeper looked down at the Estranged body,
slowly stepping away from it.

“
Ma’am, if you could
please step out to the van with me.”

Kalei was furious. “That Estranged is
alive! You’re putting everyone in danger—” The Warden grabbed
Kalei’s arm above the elbow and pulled her toward the door. Kalei
relented as she heard the insanity of what she was saying. There
was no way the Estranged was alive; it was missing half its brain.
But the eyes... Kalei shook her head. It must have been one of
those weird post-mortem twitches, like rigor mortis or something.
Kalei sighed. All this stress was making her loopy.

Outside, the police had already
erected barricades to shut down the sidewalk and half the street.
Within the circle of police stood the SWORDE van with the back
doors flung open. The interior was pretty bare, just a pair of
benches with lockers underneath.

The Warden sat Kalei down on the back
bumper and pulled a kit from one of the lockers. The kit was red,
with a wire sticking out on one side, ending in a clamp. The Warden
said, “Sit still. This will just take a moment.” Kalei tried not to
flinch as the warden clamped the device onto the top of her ear.
After a couple seconds, the device gave a quiet beep. “You’re all
clear. Please submit a report to your sergeant by the end of the
day.” With that, the Warden picked up the kit and returned to the
store.

Kalei sighed and leaned forward,
propping her elbows on her knees and placing her head in her hands.
Today was such a shitty day. E-day was already shitty every year it
came, but this year, it was particularly shitty. She sighed again,
sat up, and hopped off the bumper. She spotted Marley along the
barricade and walked over to him.

She was about two feet away when he
turned around and said, “Why can’t you just do your job like you’re
supposed to?”

“
And why can’t you mind
your own business?”

“
Dammit, Kalei, I’m
serious. Ever since we were kids, you—”

“
Give it a rest,
Marley.”

Kalei’s cell phone went off, saving
her the trouble of arguing with him further. She didn’t even look
to see who it was before she answered, “Distrad here.”

“
Kalei, once you are
cleared by SWORDE, I want you to come straight to my office.” The
caller hung up. She had been expecting the call, but her stomach
still turned to ice.

Marley noticed the change in her
expression. “Was it the sergeant?”

“
No, the
captain.”

Marley sighed. “Well, I’ll put in a
good word for ya in my report. Maybe he’ll let you off
again?”

Kalei grumbled, “Not likely. This is
the captain, Marley, not Sergeant Barslow.”

“
Well, good
luck.”

“
Thanks.” Kalei stepped
past him and made her way through the barricade. The crowd on the
sidewalk was tightly pressed together, and a couple of reporters
tried to heckle her for information as she passed, but Kalei pushed
sullenly by, ignoring them all. Most jumped out of her way freely,
not wanting to be touched by the drying blood on her
hands.

The full implications of what she had
done were finally crashing in. Kalei’s entire future was crumbling
down around her because she wouldn’t let a little boy bleed to
death. The captain himself had called her cell phone, and Kalei
couldn’t think of anything more indicative of the trouble to come.
What had this police force come to, that they would fire someone
for saving a life?

Her phone went off again, and she
automatically answered, “Yes, Captain?”

“
Nope, not the captain.
Just me.” Kalei was relieved to hear Fenn’s voice. But then the
relief turned to dread as she realized... she would have to tell
her husband that she was losing her job. “Why were you expecting a
call from the captain? Are you in trouble again, Kalei?”

Kalei rubbed her hand lightly across
her forehead. She wasn’t officially fired yet; no need to tell him
anything. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you when I get home. So
what’s up?”

Fenn hesitated, clearly deciding
whether or not he wanted to press the issue. Apparently he decided
not to. “Uh, yeah, I was just calling to let you know that we’re
going to have the girls again tonight. Qain is dropping them off at
two.”

Kalei wasn’t sure if she had the
energy to keep up with her nieces tonight. At two and four years
old, they were anything but quiet, and tonight was the last night
she would want kids around. But, she resolved that she could
probably use the distraction after a day like today. Reading the
girls bedtime stories and pretending everything was all right would
probably be better than knocking down scotch and trying to sort out
what career options remained to her. Not many, she was sure. Fenn
was still making money with his graphics job, and they had a
decent-sized savings, but she would need to find new employment
soon...

“
Kalei?”

“
Yeah. Sorry, honey. That
sounds great. I’ll see you tonight.”

“
Are you sure everything
is all right?”

“
Yeah, fine. Look, I can’t
talk about it now. I’ve got to go. I’ll be home for dinner,
alright? Love you.”

“
Love you too.”

Kalei hung up the phone, staring at
the cement tile beneath her feet. She hated the twelfth of May. She
hated E-day so much... First, it took her parents, now it was
taking her job... Kalei forced herself to take a deep breath. She
closed her eyes, squared her shoulders, then resumed her walk to
the station.

Kalei saw the captain the moment she
stepped out of the elevator. He was sitting behind the desk in his
glass-walled office. He spotted her as she approached, setting down
a stack of papers and standing up to lean against the front edge of
his desk, crossing his arms in front of him. His hair was grey,
buzzed short along the sides with an inch more allowed at the top.
His large frame loomed over the desk even as he sat, his
lean-muscled torso perfectly erect as Kalei walked in. He said,
“Close the door behind you, Kalei.”

She obliged, the door latching to the
frame with a resounding click, feeding her anxiety.

The captain looked angry enough to
blow, but his voice remained quiet and even. “This is the third
time you have been reported for breaking protocol and entering an
Estranged crime scene. The first time, you tried to apprehend the
criminal yourself. The second time, you gave some excuse about the
suspect trying to escape. Each time, Sergeant Barslow has come to
your rescue. Each time, he convinced me that you would not do it
again. And now, you have made a third breach. You’ve used up all
your get-out-of-jail-free cards, Kalei. If I had my way, I would
sack you right here on the spot. But this is beyond you and me now.
The people won’t appreciate punishing an officer for saving a life,
but neither will they appreciate rewarding an officer for
consistently breaking the rules. This is an impossible situation
you’ve put me in.” He pushed off his desk and stood up, a full foot
and a half taller than she was. Kalei felt her heart race
frantically in her chest. She clenched her jaw tightly. “So, until
I find a solution to this mess, you are suspended indefinitely.
Hand me your badge and your gun.”

The shock unlocked her jaw.
“Indefinitely, sir?” She pulled her gun out of her belt and handed
it to him. “As in, forever?”

The captain barked, “No, not forever,
Kalei. As in, ‘not defined.’ As in, ‘I have no fucking clue, so
give me your badge until I make up my mind one way or another.’”
Kalei obliged, and as he took the item, he said, “Now get out of my
office. I expect you to fill out a report and have it on my desk
before you leave.”

Kalei stood there, stunned, her
thoughts tangled in a dizzying whirlwind of emotions. She heard
herself ask, “So, I’m not fired?” She slammed her mouth shut,
silently reprimanding her mouth for asking such a stupid
question.

The captain was already behind his
chair, dropping her gun on the wooden surface of his desk,
gesturing toward the door with his free hand. “Will you just get
out of here?”

She jumped and hurried to escape,
shutting the door carefully behind her.

Talwart stood just outside, hands in
his pockets. He was a skinny man with a narrow face and fully
dressed in his police uniform, although he usually never left the
station. He typically spent his days managing paperwork and
collecting gossip. He casually asked, “So, how did it
go?”

Kalei thought about it for a moment,
trying to make sense of what had just transpired. She gave up with
a shrug. “I have no idea.”

Even agonizing over every
word she put in her report, Kalei still made it home well before
two o’clock. She was grateful because it gave her a chance to talk
to Fenn before the girls arrived. She still didn’t know how she was
going to tell him... but she knew there was no way out of it.
She
had
to tell
him.

She pulled her car into
the garage and pulled the keys out of the ignition. She stared at
the dashboard, still trying to find the words to explain what had
happened. Would he be mad
? I mean, I know
this is Fenn we are talking about, but how could he not be
mad?
Her screw-up had just dropped all
financial responsibility on him, and there was no way they could
pay for their house on just one income... But that was just it. She
wasn’t even sure that she was out of a job. “Indefinite” was
very... undefined... Would her sergeant find some loophole and
convince the captain to let her stay on? Would he want to? Kalei
had to admit, she had been nothing but trouble for the department
since she started... Then she remembered, the captain had said that
the people were involved now... did that mean that the press caught
wind of the incident? What if the commissioner became involved?
What if the mayor stepped in? The thought made Kalei
sick...

Kalei stared at the white numbers of
her speedometer, the pale simplicity of the font a sharp contrast
to the grim possibilities swarming her mind. But the worst thought
of all was the realization that she had probably blown any chance
she had at becoming a Warden. Even with her high academy scores and
her zealous determination, all of her applications to SWORDE had
been rejected. And now... there was no point in trying anymore.
There was no way they were going to admit her now... She would have
to find a way that didn’t involve SWORDE. There had to be a way for
her to—

The door from the garage to the house
opened. She looked up to see Fenn in the doorway, his soft brown
eyes shining with concern as they found her. He was absolutely
perfect in her eyes, a lean, not-too-muscled figure, with a strong,
straight nose that didn’t quite fit his soft mouth. He opened that
mouth to say, “Kalei?”

Kalei clenched her jaw and forced
herself to open the door. She wasn’t ready to leave the shelter of
the car just yet, but she had to face the music. She climbed out
just as Fenn came around, and, without thinking, she wrapped her
arms around his body, her head burrowing into his shoulder. She
didn’t realize she was crying until she heard him whispering in her
ear, “There, there. It’s all right... it’s all right...”

When her tears slowed, he pulled back
and looked her up and down. “Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?
What happened, honey?”

Kalei said, “Let’s go to the kitchen.
I need some water.”

When they were settled at the dining
room table, Kalei told Fenn about the event at the store, and what
had happened with the captain. At the end, she said, “And the worst
part is, the boy would have been fine if I hadn’t gone in. SWORDE
arrived right after we did. Sure, the kid would have been a bit
worse for wear, losing a couple more ounces of blood, but he still
would have been fine. I’ve screwed everything up for
nothing.”

Fenn held her hands and looked into
her eyes. “It wasn’t for nothing, Kalei. You had no way of knowing
that SWORDE was going to get there so fast. You did the right
thing. Don’t doubt that.”