Page 9 - The Peggy's - Chapter 1

Rowena’s smile broadened as she checked in with dispatch. As a sergeant at a desk
job, technically a desk job anyways, Rowena had to check out a vehicle. She didn’t
have one assigned to her personally nor did the Dead possess a single car. Most of
those who worked the division used their own vehicles. Something the police
commissioner frowned on. Which is why no one got mileage for using their own
vehicles.
“Bastard,” Rowena muttered under her breath as the dispatcher gave her the keys to
an actual cop car. As far as she was concerned, Idris Abede, the police commissioner,
was a complete and total butt fucking asshole.

She thought about running the lights and sirens as the car meandered down to the
park on the lake’s edge. She didn’t need GPS to find this location. A location well
represented in the news and media outlets for over a decade. A location attached to
Rowena’s name since she was the first on the scene back then.
When she solved the case after a decade, it made her the top cop in the city. Put her
on the short list for police commissioner. When Rowena went under cover for the
next five years and took down the slimy bastards who ran this city, she should have
been given the keys to the city and the job as the new police commissioner
automatically.
Except Abede turned out to be better than she was at keeping information. Or at
least in keeping those close who possessed the information it took to take Rowena
down along with all the others she’d busted.
The coffee warmed her as Rowena stayed in the vehicle. This was one stop she didn’t
want to make. Who would? She had four months left until she retired. She could file
her retirement paperwork next month. By the time her stint at the Dead was over,
Rowena would be able to retire quite well thanks to the deal she made with the police
commissioner.

The only catch? All Rowena had to do was keep quiet. A simple thing, especially
given where she worked. And yet, Rowena felt a niggling down her spine that her deal
was over.
To Rowena’s great relief, the crime scene was covered in a large industrial sized tent
with EMTs and crime scene guys coming and going. To her even greater relief, there
was no media coverage. How in the hell did that happen? It was obviously a murder.
So why the lack of media presence?
“Adair,” the police commissioner spoke from beside her door.

He didn’t try to come close. Rowena covered her mouth with her coffee cup to hide
her smile. There were enough of the police brass on hand who were more than old
enough to remember when she took down Abede as a cadet in training.
It had been so mind boggling. Abede ran his mouth about how good he was in hand
to hand combat. Proved it on some poor souls who didn’t have a clue how to defend