Free Grand Theft Retro (Style & Error Mystery Series Book 5) by Diane Vallere

to put people I loved at risk.
    I finished my birch beer and nuked a frozen pizza. In the time it took to finish heating and eating, I reached a few conclusions. Pritchard Smith’s arrival on the job at Retrofit had not been an accident. He’d had knowledge of something in Jennie Mae Tome’s attic, something that he’d tried to keep me from discovering. Whatever that knowledge was, I was too close to exposing it and now, the lives of the people I cared about were in danger.
    And since there was nobody around to protect me from him, I was going to have to learn to take care of myself. Which is exactly how I found myself at the police station the next morning.
     

Chapter 9
    FRIDAYMORNING
    “I’d like to fill out an application to the citizen’s police academy,” I told the officer behind the desk. He was dressed in the standard Ribbon PD uniform: navy blue shirt and trousers made from fabric so thick it might have been recycled from discarded water bottles. His name, Kent Callahan, was embroidered above his left breast pocket in neat block letters. On the opposite side was a patch in the shape of a badge. It had a picture of intersecting ribbons circled by the words Ribbon Police Department. To Protect and Serve.
    As a counterpoint to his official police uniform, I was dressed in a maize colored peasant blouse and a pair of chocolate brown wide legged pants that hid my platform shoes. Oversized gold hoop earrings swung on either side of my face.
    Officer Callahan didn’t bat an eye at my request or my outfit. He opened a metal file cabinet, flipped part way back, and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Fill this out and bring it back in.”
    “Can I fill it out here?”
    “If you want.”
    I carried the sheet of paper to one of the empty chairs in the lobby. There was no table to use as a desk, so I pulled Pritchard’s pen out of my handbag and then used my handbag as a lap desk. The point of the pen went through the paper twice before I got the hang of it.
    The questions were easy enough. I breezed through the expected name/address/driver’s license fields and the “Have you ever been arrested?” (thankfully, close calls don’t count). Next: How did you hear about Citizen’s Police Academy? I chewed the end of the pen while I considered the pros and cons of writing Detective Loncar’s name. I could come back to that.
    The bottom portion of the form was a series of yes and no questions that required Xs in the proper boxes. In the military? No. Been convicted of a felony? No. Relative in law enforcement? No. This was easy. I was a shoe-in.
    The second page, however, gave me pause. What is your current occupation? Editor for online fashion magazine. Why are you interested in Citizen’s Police Academy? I have an ongoing interest in establishing a healthy working relationship with the local police. (I wasn’t even in class and already I was trying to butter up my instructors.)
    The last question was optional. What are your goals in the community upon graduation?
    There wasn’t nearly enough space for a proper answer.
    I completed the application and returned to the desk. Officer Callahan didn’t notice me until I cleared my throat. He looked up. “Yes?”
    “I’m finished.” I held out the papers.
    “Congratulations. Wait here while I get you a badge,” he said sarcastically.
    “Do you get a lot of applicants?” I asked.
    Callahan took the paper and set it face down on a copy machine. “Fair share. The background check weeds out anybody with a criminal history. Most quit before it’s over. Couple turn in the paperwork and don’t bother showing up again. Why do you want to do it?”
    “Detective Loncar suggested it to me once.”
    The copier spat out a piece of paper. The officer picked it up and looked at it. Then he looked at me. I held his stare for at least two solid seconds. “Wait here,” he said.
    Five minutes later, I was seated across the desk from Detective Loncar. This wasn’t the first