Get caught up:
With memories of his surfing date fresh in his mind, Max double checked his uniform not only for appearance but also that everything was lined up properly. His “gig” line – the line of his shirt buttons, his belt buckle edge and the flap covering his pants zipper – was a straight; only it wasn’t his shirt, it was the Elbeco external vest carrier that LOOKED like a shirt. And under it was the Elbeco suspension system – something that was new to him in police work but felt very much like the H-harness he used to wear for his field gear in the Navy. The system took some of the weight of his gunbelt off his hips and helped his lower back feel better. BUT, having the suspension system, which laced through and worked with the external vest carrier made him feel like he needed to triple-check how the whole thing “hung” on him – and affected his gig line. It looked straight in the men’s room mirror so he headed to the squad room.
JP was already there along with everyone else except her senior partner, Bill. Bill was on vacation for the week so JP was riding by herself. Max knew that Eddie wouldn’t be so obviously over-protective of JP as to assign anyone to hang out in her patrol sector, but casually done… off to one side… “unofficially”… Eddie made it clear that he wouldn’t give any of the other patrol teams grief if they happened to “stray” into JP’s sector to make sure they were close if she needed backup.
Their recent surfing date was on JP’s mind as well. The challenge was that she held mixed emotions about it. She liked Max. The date was fun. He was what she thought he was as far as fitness and activity level. He seemed reasonably mature (at least as mature as most men ever get) and she was looking forward to their next date – which hadn’t been set yet. Her challenge was that he was on her squad. She knew she might be reassigned in the next few months when she finished her FTO program but in the meantime, any relationship she developed with Max could potentially cause problems in the squad. She valued the integrity and family feeling of the squad. She didn’t want to mess that up. She didn’t LIKE the idea of not dating Max but she couldn’t bear the idea of screwing up the squad with unnecessary drama. In the end, only to herself so far, but shared with Max soon enough, she’d decided that dating him was okay as long as they kept things platonic; no romantic involvement until they were on different squads. She’d make it clear she WANTED the romantic involvement but valued the squad too much. She felt sure that Max would understand and support her position.
The squad quieted as they sat and Eddie took his place up front. He shared information about the recent murders in Oceanside and emphasized patrol checks behind businesses and in the areas where few eyeballs normally went. He wanted to catch whomever was committing the crimes and put high value on aggressive patrols in and around those places where someone might move about, USUALLY unseen. “Let’s go see ‘em,” he said with a smile.
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All of Season 2 of The Oceanside Chronicles, including officer survival notes and an alphabetical list of characters can be purchased as an anthology on Amazon.com via Amazon Prime.
http://amzn.to/2duah34
