Chapter 6 Not Enough Time

Jordan came out of the white home with blue trimmings, and he felt like retching. He had never had to deal with a scene like that before, not in his life. He had thought he understood grief and all it entailed; after all, he had lost his mother at a very young age.

At an age when any child shouldn't have to face such a thing, he remembered how much he loved his mother and how much it had affected him. He could remember how much it had affected his grades that year, even though he had his father's support and love.

Then he unexpectedly lost his father as well, at a time when he couldn't believe it as the loss hit him with such an impact that he had not expected. A death he still had not been able to reconcile within his heart.

He had thought he knew all there was to do when dealing with the grief of people he had to break the news of the loss of their loved ones to. After all, he had dealt with a few homicides back in Rova, even though the county had a low crime rate.

Since he came back to Baleria, he has been given the position of sergeant because of his experience as a Sheriff and his capabilities.

The post had been a sort of step down for him, but he had taken it up with diligence, and he had been active in street raids and surveillance, so much so that some had expected his promotion in no time, and as a result, in three out of ten cases taken by their precinct, he was involved in them.

Jordan believed he had enough experience when it came to dealing with the families of the deceased. None of his experiences had equipped him to deal with Aria's grief, nor had those of her parents. After taking Eric's body to the state morgue the night before, he went in for a debriefing and wrote down everything that went down at the hideout they had been staking for months now.

Eric was a corporal, but the man had enough smarts and was streetwise as well, which had been the reason why Jordan had chosen him as his partner in Tomas Dorricelli's case. It had been a surprise to Jordan when Lance approved his selection. Jordan had been expecting an argument, but that day he went to Lance's office to inform him, and he said okay without hesitation.

Jordan was surprised "Okay? Just okay? No need for explanation, questioning, or something?" Jordan had asked in amazement that day. Normally, he would avoid the pompous, peacock cop as much as possible. He sneered inwardly at what he had seen Lance doing that day. Filing his nails.

Jordan had no idea how a man who loved putting on flashy colors, shacking up with different women, and giving orders while sitting on his ass or going about having fun had ended up as an inspector, but it was not in his place to ask such a question. He had voiced his skepticism to Eric one day, though, and the latter laughed as he quipped that the man has voices in high places.

"Even the ASP can't do anything to him, I hear. I wondered why he had not been promoted, though. Maybe to the post of Chief of Police? Well, it must be that he is quite useful in his current position." Eric had answered his question before lounging at Jordan's doughnut, which he had been eyeing after licking off his crumbs.

As Jordan stood in front of Inspector Lance that afternoon with surprise on his face, the man looked up at him from his task; he had moved on to cleaning his nails now. In his spiffy, clean uniform that Jordan doubted had ever seen any action in the past months, he gave Jordan a wolfish smile "Is that too hard for you to comprehend, Mr. Alarick? Would you prefer I banter words with a junior officer first? Or would you like for us to enter the ring and spar? I am sorry that I will have to disappoint you with that. I am way too refined for that."

"Or too much of a coward," Jordan thought before thanking the man and turning to leave

"One more thing, Mr. Alarick," he said, pausing for Jordan to face him back. Jordan could see how much he enjoyed wielding his superior power, and he fancied that every junior officer was there for his use. The more reason why he had not been in good rapport with Jordan since the latter had not tried to suck up to him like most of the officers who knew his history do. The exact reason why he had been surprised when he agreed with him on something for once

"Yes?" Jordan said tightly

"You will have to report to me on any operations and stakeouts you are going for regarding this operation. Every single one. You are not to make any decision or take any step without my permission. That is an order from your superior, Sergeant. Are we clear?" he asked with a derogatory emphasis on the title. He looked at Jordan with a sneer as he expected an answer.

Jordan gritted his teeth against the retort that jumped to the back of his teeth. He knew there were times to give in, and this was it. Lance had the authority to deny his request, so if the bastard felt that reporting to him would give him any kicks, Jordan was not above letting him have it.

"Okay, Inspector," he had replied. He couldn't stop the urge to place the same emphasis Lance had placed on his title on his own.

He left the man's office with the thought of how much he would love to plant a facer on the arrogant man's over-pampered baby face, but he guessed his hands would be dirty anyway. The man was as rotten as bad eggs.

Doricelli's case was that of a young teenager who had been lured into one of the crime rings by his friend. The hapless boy had gotten to their base before he realized what his friend had led him to. After confiding in his sister, the boy tried to pull out, and the idiot told his friend that he was never going back there.

The syndicate killed the boy in the presence of his family. Eric retched terribly from the way the boy's brains were spattered over the spaghetti bowl on their table. They were at dinner when the men came in, shot the boy after telling him that they had come to help him pull out, and left without saying anything.

The ASP, who had heard of the exceptional work of Sergeant Alarick, told him to take charge of the case. Inspector Dickson had seemed miffed, but officers had been surprised when he said not a thing about it and more surprised when he gave Jordan the go-ahead to have Eric as his partner on the case. Eric had to pull out of a case he was handling with another officer.

The condition had stayed, though, and Jordan had to report everything to him, every little detail. Jordan had tried at first to withhold some information, but he had no idea how Lance had known, and he had called him into his office for a serious warning.

Lance Dickson knew when Tomas's sister came forward to explain what her brother had told her and how she could help them locate Drew, the friend.

The girl's hacked body was dropped in a body bag at her father's shop the following day at dawn. The father was a butcher who had a steak shop.

The little information they had been able to garner, plus the sister's testament, had made them find out about one of the hideouts of the syndicate. Dickson had the report.

They had come up empty-handed in their first stakeout at the hideout. Lance had provided enough backup for them and had blamed Jordan for being useless when it yielded nothing. Jordan had received an anonymous warning letter to desist, and that had spurred him on to try harder.

They had come close to capturing some of the gang members, but at the last minute, they escaped again.

After more than a month of surveillance, they finally found out about the new hideout. Lance Dickson knew about it. In the same operation, he told them when they called for backup that all the officers were on duty and there was no backup at the moment. Jordan had no idea how he had been with the dispatcher when he called, but hearing his smug voice, he knew that something was wrong.

He was about to tell Eric they should pull out when his partner saw the guy Tomas's sister described entering the joint they were casing. He looked around furtively before entering the place. Jordan thought back that that should have been enough red flags for them, but at the moment it was happening, the fact that they finally had their perp at hand after months spent on the case had put them at risk.

Jordan had forgotten about telling Eric to pull out. He radioed Lance again, and as he was explaining the seriousness of their situation to the man, Eric signaled to him that there was a form of movement in the house and now would be the right time to act. They hadn't detected any other person in the house apart from Drew, but when they went in, the door had been slightly ajar, and they were waiting for them.

Jordan closed his eyes tightly as the memories of what had happened flooded his mind. By the time they were able to lose the guys that were chasing them in the alleyway, it had been too late for Eric. His partner had ended up dead, and all he sustained was a shoulder injury. The bullet had grazed his shoulder, taking with it a chunk of flesh. That had prevented it from embedding in Jordan's arm. He had noticed when he carried his partner's body. He finally realized that the blood on his shirt was not just Eric's. Most of it was his.

"Eric," he thought in pain. He should have protected his partner better. He should have found ways to avoid this. He should have just pulled out when he had an inkling. He should have argued more when Eric offered to cover for him. There had not been time, though, for thinking and analyzing. They had a split second to take action. actions that had deprived his partner of his life. that had deprived a one-year-old and an unborn baby of their father. that had made a lovable woman a widow. He should have done better.

Pain lanced through his heart as he thought of the indescribable anguish he had felt in the beautiful home that had been filled with love that he had just come out of.

Oh, the anguish.