The Wrath Walker (The Wrath Series Book 1), Matthew Newson [8 ebook reader .txt] 📗

a secret since we worked together. The department frowned on inter-office romances because they had caused a myriad of human resource and legal problems in the past. I had heard stories of how hostile things got when a couple had broken up, and one had moved on before the other, or if cheating had been a factor. There seemed to be a lot of unfaithful people in the city.

I remember the day I stopped in and told him about her.

“Dad, I have some great news to tell you.”

He stepped down the ladder. “Hello, Officer Farmer. What can I do for you on this lovely day?”

“Dad, I wanted to tell you about a girl I started seeing. She’s amazing, super smart, black hair, athletic, extremely motivated, and knows how to fight,” I said with a big stupid smile on my face.

My dad looked puzzled, as if he was trying to find the words to say. “That’s great son, but tell me, is the girl a fellow officer?”

“Yeah, and I know what you’re going to say. We need to be careful, and keep it quiet, which we have already planned to do. The best part is she wants to be a detective as well. Isn’t this great?”

My father took a deep and labored breath and leaned up against a bookshelf. “It’s not that I’m not happy for you, son, but don’t you think it’s a little reckless to date someone you work with?”

“I know dad, but we are going to be careful,” I said with a hint of frustration since I thought he would be more excited with my news.

“I’m sure you will, but you have wanted to be a detective since you were a kid. What are you going to do when your boss finds out, because he will, and what are you going to do if you both become detectives? Have either of you given any thought about what might happen if it doesn’t work out? That can make your workplace miserable, son. Take it from me. Before I met your mother, God rest her soul, I dated a girl I worked with and it didn’t work out. She broke it off with me to go back to her ex-boyfriend, and she rubbed my face in it every day for some reason. She made my life a living hell at work until I finally found another job and got out of there. Then I met your mother, and the rest is history.”

My joy in the moment was crushed by my father’s simple words of reason and logic, and I had nothing to say in response. What could I say, I had let my emotions override my reason, and I promised myself that day to never let that happen again.

My father placed his hand on my shoulder like he had always done to comfort me in difficult times.

“I know you, son, and I can tell your heart is set on this girl. Just promise me you will be careful, okay?”

“I will, Dad.”

Lizzie and I were extremely careful that year, and no one suspected we were an item. We studied together every day for our detective exam, and we ended up taking our test on the same day. That night Lizzie, my dad, and I celebrated, and my father had us over for a big dinner he prepared for us. In spite of his earlier concerns, he loved Lizzie as much as I did, but that would be the last time I’d see my father alive. Ten days later I received my exam results. I’d passed with flying colors. I rushed to my dad’s bookstore to tell him, but when I got there I watched as he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. He slipped into a coma and passed away later that night from a massive heart attack he suffered earlier in the day. I sat by his side and held his hand as he breathed his last and passed away peacefully.

I remembered very little of my mother since she died when I was so young, but my father was my whole world. When he died, part of me died with him. A large group of officers and just about all of my father’s regular customers came to my father’s funeral and paid their respects on that gloomy fall afternoon. The overcast sky and cold breeze seemed to match what I was experiencing in my heart, and that is when I officially met the great Ron Horn.

“I’m sorry about your father, kid, you have my deepest sympathies.” Ron reached out and shook my hand. He was a solid guy with light brown hair with little to no gray for being in his late forties. The way he carried himself commanded respect from others around him. He was a powerhouse from his years of weight training and boxing, which I had witnessed firsthand from training in the precinct gym.

“I know this may not be a good time to talk about work, but whenever you’re ready to get back into the thick of it, you’ll be partnered with me. How does that sound, kid?”

In that moment of misery, I felt like I had been thrown a lifeline and won the lottery all at the same time. Ron had an outstanding record and seemed like there wasn’t a case he couldn’t solve. He was something of a celebrity at work, and I was immediately starstruck, and that would cost me dearly. For all my skilled observations, I was blind when it came to Ron. I thought he could do no wrong.

I thought back on my response as I tripped over every word that came out of my mouth. “Me? I...uh. Well...a... That sounds great, but didn’t you have a partner already?”

The right side of Ron’s face tilted up in a half smile, and I knew now he was drinking in the praise I laid on him. “I did kid, but they’re