A lawless man

Chapter one continuation part3

Officer Rowan smiled for the first time as he tore off her copy of the ticket, and Noah became furious with herself that she found his smile so appealing.

"Well, then, Ms. King, " he said as he dropped the ticket through the windows and into her lap," I look forward to seeing you in court. Have a nice day. "

Only after he'd turned and walked casually back to his motorcycle did Noah bravely whispers the word PIG . She watched in her rear view mirror as he straddled his big motorcycle and shoved back the kickstand with his boot, throttled the machine to a rousing roar,then sped off past her, spewing gravel in his wake.

Noah wadded up the ticket and stuffed it into her purse, grumbling about fascism and police states, ill-tempered brothers and men in general, then urged her own little car to sputtering life. She was not having a nice day. Worse than that, she knew it wasn't going to get better anytime soon.

****************************************************************************

Late that Friday afternoon found Richmond Rowan sitting on a bench in the locker room at the police station, staring thoughtfully into his locker. Man, it had been a b***h of a week. Vaguely he noted the calendar taped to the inside the scarred metal door, a collection of dates that seemed meaningless now somehow. He had a dentist's appointment next Thursday.....a date with that new redhead in homicide tomorrow evening.....that cub scout career night thing on Monday.

His eyes wandered over all these appointments until his gaze fell on one date marked in bright red ink, circled five times for effect. His great grandfather's ninetyfifth birthday would have been next Friday. It was the day Richmond was to have met the old man for the first time. Now he neverwould. Because his great grandfather had never made it back to the states from wintering in New Zealand, and now the old man's body was resting quietly at sea.

An attorney had telephoned last week with the news of Jaime lannister's death, and to confirm that Richmond Rowan was the sole living relative and heir to the lannister holding. It was strange to think now, that the family name so famous for wealth and refinement around the suburban community of clemente, Ohio, would turn out to be Richmond's own. He'd grown up knowing of the lannister as everyone else in clemente had, as the town's richest, most illustrious citizens. Who would have ever guessed that he was one of them?

He wadded up the black uniform shirt in his hands and stuffed it unceremoniously into a wrinkled duffel bag. The Boots came off next, falling to the floor with a slow thump.....thump, then Richmond pushed up from the bench with a ragged groan to remove his black jodhpurs. He rotated his left shoulder to alleviate the stiffness still presents from his wound, then headed for the showers.

He leaned unto the swirls of steam that rose around him, letting the moist heat rush into his pores and sore muscles, easing the tension that resulted from a combination of many things the remaining of pain from a gunshot wound that scarcely two months healed, the frustration of finding a family he never knew he had only ti lose it again so quickly, the odd,sudden realization that life was passing so quickly, too quickly for him to stop and enjoy it for a while......

The lingering fragrance of flowers he couldn't quite dispel from his memory, a fragrance that brought with it the reminder of coffee brown eyes full of spirit, and blond curls that had seemed to beg him to touch.

Richmond pushed the memory away. He'd ticketed the woman, for God's sake, he reminded himself. Even if there was some obscure chance he might run into M.s Noah Kings again, she wasn't likely to be receptive to any romantic overtures on his part. Still,he couldn't help but smiled as he recalled the expression on her face when that condom had come tumbling out of the gloves compartment along with a number of other belongings. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a human being blush with embarrassment. There weren't many people left who felt such a thing anymore.

"Richmond? You in here?"

He recognized the voice of his friend and coworker Mike stromborn and called out, "in here, sorry."

Mike materialized through the rolling white fog, dressed in his nondescript plain clothes detective wear, his white blond hair scarcely visible amid all the steam. His impenetrable black eyes were as piercing as ever, though, and Richmond marveled at the way they made an otherwise innocent looking man seem utterly menacing.

"Got good news for you, pal," Mike said, holding up a white, legal size envelope. "Captain pierce sent me down with this for you. Your orders came through. They’re bumping you upstairs. Fraud squad. Although why you'd want to hang out with us bunco guys is beyond me. You could have taken homicide or vice. What's wrong with those? Not enough man for them?"

Still naked and dripping wet very comfortable with his masculinity, thank you very much Richmond strode toward his friend and took the proffered envelope, running damp fingers under the flap. The paper he withdrew was engraved with the clemente, Ohio, P.D. letterhead and quickly grew limp in the humid air. Nonetheless, the words it contained were precisely the ones he wanted to read, and he smiled.

"Homicide's a bit too grim for my tastes, " he said. "And those vice guys are lunatics. But fraud....now that's what I call a good time. Besides, Mike, i miss seeing your ugly mug every day now that you're gone from the cycle unit. Anyway i put in for a transfer out of uniform almost two months ago. It's about dammed time this came through. "

He thrust the letter and envelope back toward his friend, then returned to the shower head to rinse the remnant of soap from his body. When he was through, Mike tossed him a towel, and Richmond knotted it carelessly about his waist.

"There weren't any openings until now," Mike told him.

"You're replacing Tommy Greenville. His wife got some big promotion, and they're moving west." He smiled as he added, "you and me, richy, we'll be partners again. "

"Just like old times. I hope the department knows what they're doing. "

Mike chuckled."They want you to report for duty two weeks from Monday, " he said as he followed Richmond back into the locker room. "Think you can stay out of trouble on your bike until then? "

Richmond nodded impatiently. "Yeah,yeah. I'll do my best. "

"No more trying to shoot it out the bad guys one on one? "

Richmond scowled as he rubbed unconsciously at his shoulder again. The skin was still pink, puckered and raw looking on both his chest and back where the entry and exit wounds had healed "no worries there. I hope I never have to look down the barrel of a gun again. Why do you think I put in for a transfer? Uniform duty is getting too dangerous. "

Mike looked at his friend doubtfully. "Too dangerous? Did I hear you correctly? This from a man who vacations in the desert just so he can go night biking without headlight? "

Richmond smiled grimly. "Nobody shoots at me in the desert. Too many things can happen out on the streets. I want to live long enough to enjoy my retirement. "

He held up a hand when Mike appeared ready to object. He knew what his friend was going to say. What was the point of retiring when he had nothing to retire to? Unfortunately Richmond couldn't quite contradict that line of thinking. Both his parents were dead, and he had no other family. Not anymore, anyway, he amended reluctantly, recalling his great grandfather's death. He was a thirty seven year old man who had very little to show for his time on earth and no big plans in the making. Why start thinking about the future now?.