KAY
As a cop, I hardly remember the first time I hit the streets. As a uniform, anyway. They all blend together, and I was real ambitious then, mostly trying to learn how to move up to the next stage. I listened to older cops, who showed me that, and a few other things after hours I’dve been wiser to pass up, huh? But hindsight’s always 20-20.
My first murder I remember. A kid named Rollins got shot for his running shoes. Talking to his mother’s still the hardest thing I ever did.Partly because she didn’t believe me....she must’ve thought this redhaired white lady coming to her door was one of those hidden-camera things. I put it down right away, though. Cause his brain-dead friend kept the shoes. I still can’t imagine the kind of person that would do that. Much less something like the Adena thing...if I’d been faster picking up, that’d be in my lap, not Timmy’s.
Part of me thinks I’dve been able to do better with it, but who knows?You don’t get much time for what-if in Homicide. My first time on the street as a “rogue demon-fighter” started with a phone call too(Every time I say first time, I hear Munchkin in my head saying “You never forget your first time,” and I picture him making one of his faces.)
Cordy was on the phone, just ordering office supplies or something, when she got really pale and started sweating. She cried out and dropped the phone.”I see it,” she said. “It’s big and hairy.”
”What did you take, Cordy? I warned you about those party girls at acting class, didn’t I? That’s gonna end up nowhere nice, huh?” I wished Munchkin was there, with all his extra-curricular experience.
”It’s not drugs,” Gunn said. “She’s having a vision.”
“A vision. Like when the Indians go on quests and shit?”
“Nah, more like newsbriefs. From The Powers That Be.”
“Our Cordy...the one that thinks pretty people should have special parking places? Has a pipeline to God. And I thought I’d seen everything.”
”Not God, exactly. The Powers....Wesley was very definite about that. You know how he gets.”
“Yeah. What do we do?” This was making me wish for a simple OD. I hated having to ask for help.
“First, I heard that. And second, now we ask Cordy whether she can identify anything...places or people.”
“Cordy, “ I said. “Focus now. What do you see?”
”The sign says ‘Factory outlet’
“Have you been there before?”
“Did I stutter? It’s an outlet mall. My mom did...while my dad was doing his Michael Millken impression.”
I was surprised that she’d even try to front while suffering so much, and I felt bad to learn her dad had been Inside. That’s a tough break for any kid, and she was just a little more than a kid now. I held the trash basket as she heaved.(I’m really getting to enjoy all the glamour of Hollywood....I should have taken time off sooner.)