You Can't Run by Hope Davis (best way to read books .txt) 📗

And to be honest I was expecting a call any minute with some sort of information or a body, and that hasn’t happened. So, now I’m wondering if she’s already dead and no one has found her yet, or if last time really was a fluke and he didn’t accomplish what he wanted with Julia.”

“Well, what would you say to a drive?” She proposed.

“What are you thinking?”

“Well last time that farmer said he only found her because of the hawks circling, right? What if that is his dumping ground, but the farmer isn’t out in the fields today?”

Before she even finished Atlas was already out of his chair with his jacket pulled halfway on. “You’re right. Let’s go.” They both waived at Captain Brody as they turned and headed for the door.

“You really are a good detective.” Atlas complimented her. “I see why they didn’t have a problem transferring you here as one.”

“What do you mean?” She asked as he held open the glass door and they both waved to the receptionist as they exited. Naya had never considered the fact that when she requested the transfer and position change it could be denied, she had just presumed it would be approved since the position was open.

“Well typically, when someone wants to be detective here they have to start out as a regular officer and work their way up. Everyone was shocked when the position of detective, and my partner, which had been empty for three months which had several in house officers vying for it, was suddenly given to a random person from La Junta.”

“Oh.” She hadn’t considered that. “I guess, I assumed they gave it to me because I was a Sheriff.” She opened the door to their department car while Atlas situated himself in the driver’s seat.

“I’m sure that was part of it. That’s why I asked you that first day though, because political transfers often take priority. So, if you had been in some shit as Sheriff, they would’ve hid you up here as a detective, but when I looked at your file I noticed it was clean, but you also had a near perfect record for solving murder cases in La Junta. I think that’s why you got the position over the others.”

Yeah, perfect except for three, she thought to herself.

“So, I guess I should ask. Does everyone who was vying for the job hate me now?”

He shrugged. “I don’t think so. I mean, maybe. There are obviously a few hard feelings that you slipped in, but I also think they all understand you were clearly ahead in rank and more qualified. Also, there were three of them trying for it, so I think they were all prepared to be forced to relinquish the position to one another. The fact that the other was you doesn’t make much difference I would suppose.”

She let that sink in for a minute. She hadn’t realized her transfer would  make so many waves. Things were so different than in La Junta. She had worked her way up there, but it had been, well, expected. Her father had been the sheriff before her and his father before that, the fact that Vance hadn’t gone into the force and become sheriff had been more of a shock to people than her taking his place. Her leaving afterwards had stunned and devastated everyone, unfortunately there wasn’t the same kind of extensive medical care for Vance in La Junta. And now that she was here, she saw that even if there had been, removing him from the support of his friends would’ve been worse.

“I wouldn’t worry about it if I was you.” Atlas said, clearly thinking she was still worried as to whether people hated her or not.

“Oh, it’s not that. Just thinking about how to keep my second family hidden from my first is all.” She quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

“Might I recommend saying you have to work overtime?” He shot back, making her smile at the truth in his joke.

As they turned down the rural road flanked by fields where Julia Charles’ body had been found, it suddenly occurred to Naya how little she actually knew about her partner and decided to work towards changing that.

“Wait, you don’t even have one family?”

He shook his head “I’ve always been too married to this job to even consider romance.”

“Really? Not even something noteworthy when you were fresh out of the academy?” She had a hard time believing someone as kind and thoughtful as Atlas had never had a romance which impacted his life.

He shrugged. “They say men are like a fine wine, we get better as we age. And I think there is some truth to that. I wasn’t a great person when I first graduated the academy. I was cocky and full of myself, and I wasn’t interested in having a woman for longer than one night. And women came easy then because I was a young cop, fit, with tons of energy and fresh out of the academy.”

“What changed?” She asked as Atlas slowed the car and they both began looking for any signs of a body or disturbance in the area.

“This job. It changed me.” He was solemn now. The conversation taking a serious turn with the admittance.

“It was great while I was a beat rookie, just pulling over speeders and giving tickets to kids who were drinking underage. But then, probably three or four years in I was called to my first murder. A man had killed his wife...” Naya’s eyebrows shot up. “But here’s the thing. I had been called to that address multiple times, and every time by the time we got there, the fighting had died down and the wife would refuse to file a report. There was nothing we could do. The kids would report they had seen their father