Page 17 of The Hero Next Door

Even though he didn’t make a move on her tonight, she wasn’t discounting the meal. They’d had a good time and Adam had as well.

Heck, Adam had latched onto him like a tick. She would have to make sure he didn’t bother him too much.

Sage pushed away from the door, heading toward the kitchen. She had laundry to change and a big cast iron pan to scrub. And a boy to chase to bed.

Her gaze fell to the rose. And a mystery to solve.

Sage put Brian out of her head for a few days and she warned Adam that he needed to not be a pest with his questions. Adam looked a little crestfallen, but he’d nodded. Sage knew that look. He’d probably alreadybeenpestering him.

Thursday, she went back to work and lost herself in her job. Columbus PD was busy. So much busier than Cheyenne PD. And the calls were very different. Sage had never been much of a city person, so getting used to the miles upon miles of downtown asphalt was hard.

And the demographic was different. She was used to a laconic, more laid-back lifestyle. The bumper-to-bumper traffic and impatience, and just general rudeness was a lot to get used to.

Her training officer was a long-time veteran that seemed to know most of the people in Columbus personally. Gary Blake, who’d been with the department thirty years, was nearing retirement, and he was an absolute font of information about the city. Both good and bad. Sage was very glad she’d paired with him. He and his wife had even been over to their apartment for dinner one night and Adam had fallen in love with Gary’s wife Candice. She was the epitome of grandmotherly energy, and he was missing that out here.

Sage’s parents had lived north of Cheyenne almost an hour, but she’d made sure to make the trek to see them at least every couple of weeks. She’d made the trek more often after she told them they were moving just so they could get as much time in with them as possible.

Her mother understood why they had to move, but she hadn’t liked it. Her father, on the other hand, had railed against it, telling her Adam could do college classes online.

It had been one of the biggest fights they’d ever had, and she understood why he hadn’t wanted to give up his grandson. She had a brother on each coast, and they had left a few years ago, building their own families. Adam had been the closest grandchild to their home property, and he’d been her father’s buddy.

It had broken her heart to leave, but she had to do what was best for Adam. Yes, online college courses were getting better, but there was still a practical aspect he needed to experience. In her eyes he would always be her baby, and he’d lived a pretty sheltered life in Cheyenne. Now he was in a very urban environment, just on the outside of central Columbus. She worried about him every day, but she’d gotten him a cell phone, as well as a GPS tracker she kept in his bag. Adam was a smart kid, but he was a little naive sometimes. He might wander off his path just reading historical markers. He’d done that in Cheyenne once and she’d lost him for a couple of hours. Adam hadn’t realized it, but the entirety of the Cheyenne Police department had been looking for him that day. Once one of the guys had spotted him, they’d radioed Sage and told her where to pick him up.

As soon as they’d moved into this apartment, Sage had hired a woman in the apartment building next to theirs to keep an eye out for Adam. Jane Smalls had two little kids of her own, and was down at the bus stop anyway, so she just made sure Adam made it off the bus and into the apartment. The single mother needed every dollar she could scrape together, and Sage liked feeling like she was helping them both out. Adam would kill her if he found out Jane was watching, because he was ‘almost eleven and too old for a sitter’. Sage had to have that reassurance, though. When they’d lived in Cheyenne, her best friend had lived next door. Adam had gone to Bet’s house every day after school, and he’d loved it because Bet had three boys close to Adam’s age.

Sage missed Beatrice. They’d always been at each other’s houses, and it had been as hard to leave her as her parents. Adam had to be her priority, though.

“This guy’s going to cause a wreck,” Gary mumbled.

Sage had been watching the erratic driver and was already compiling a list of infractions in her head. The beat-up old Honda may have been red at one point, but now it was a faded, chalky pink, and the back bumper was black, dented and hanging off one corner. Obviously, the driver had an exemplary driving record. He wove through traffic, shaving corners and even though he appeared to be under the speed limit, he was taking risks. Then, someone slammed on their brakes as he pulled in behind them, and the driver’s response was delayed. He crashed into the back of the silver Hyundai, his car coming to a rocking stop.

Sage flipped on the overhead lights and called in their location as she positioned the cruiser to block the lane. It was nearing rush hour, and they would need to get this cleared as soon as possible.

“Someone will probably join us but go ahead and call it in for a second unit,” Gary murmured. “If only for traffic.”

Sage called their final location in and requested assistance, called in the out-of-state plate, then moved to step out of the car. Traffic was a large part of her job in Columbus and if they hadn’t stopped for this crash, they probably would have been sent to a different one. They had very little downtime.

Sage knew this was going to be a doozy when the guy who instigated the crash hopped out of the car, stomped up to the other car and started yelling at the other driver, a young Indian woman. Her window was rolled up and her eyes were wide with fear.

“Hey,” Sage called out. “You need to get back into your car.”

“Fuck that!” the guy said. “She caused the crash, and she’s going to pay for it.”

“Get back in your car,” Sage commanded. “I need your license, registration and proof of insurance.”

“I didn’t cause the crash, bitch. She did!”

“I need information from you both, so get in your car,” she commanded, getting aggravated that he wasn’t listening.

The guy rounded and stalked toward her. Casually, Sage rested her hands on her gun belt, then remembered that she didn’t yet have a Taser. She hadn’t been through the training yet. Fuck! She shifted her hands. She still had her Asp baton and her mace. And if all else failed, her Glock.

She’d only ‘cleared leather’ half a dozen times in her career and in each incident, there had been clear and present danger. She’d never had to shoot anyone, but she was ready to do so if the situation warranted.

Gary shifted forward to take the man’s attention and she appreciated that he did that. Columbus PD generally patrolled with two-man cars, so he was acting as he should with a partner.

The driver, a younger man who appeared to be in his thirties, didn’t let up, though. He stalked toward them, escalating the danger of the situation. If they felt like they were in fear, or the general public was in danger, they had a responsibility to act. Yes, his emotions were heightened because of the crash, but if he didn’t get himself under control, they would have to control him.

Sage held up a cautioning hand. “Listen, we saw the crash, get us your information, we’ll get the report rolling and we’ll get you out of here.”