Good Cop, Bad Cop

The city of Denver, Colorado, wasn’t typically known for its nightlife and entertainment—at least, not if you’ve ever visited Texas. However, it was an interesting city nonetheless. It attracted tourists year-round, maintained a steady influx of visitors, and continued to see a growing number of people relocating there to buy homes. Denver was part of a state experiencing rapid population growth and urban expansion.

The police officers in the area were your regular, everyday folks. They worried about what their kids would eat, managing health issues like diabetes, cheating spouses, pensions, life insurance, and practically anything else involving saving or spending a bit of extra money. At the Colorado Police Department, in a small office near the water dispenser, sat two officers. One of them was Officer Smith.

It was a Monday morning. Smith, with his cup of black coffee on the desk, sat with his head slightly bent as he stared at the daily newspaper spread out before him. The front page showed the face of a young boy, no older than 17, next to a smaller picture of a man past 30. The article described an altercation that had taken place in front of a local spa on a hot afternoon the day before.

The fight involved a young college student, an 18-year-old girl, who had apparently been the center of the conflict. The 30-year-old man had picked her up from school and driven her to the spa, only to be followed by her boyfriend—the 17-year-old teenager. While the girl was inside, getting her nails done and her hair styled, the two men outside engaged in a heated brawl. Unsurprisingly, the older man had overpowered the teenager, sending him running off in his old truck.

Still basking in his victory, the older man waited outside for the girl to return. However, the teenager showed up again—this time, with a handgun. Long story short, the boy pulled the trigger. Before the older man could apologize for beating him up or stealing his girlfriend, he was lying dead in the spa’s parking lot. The crowd quickly dispersed, and the teenager fled the scene.

Apparently, boys will always be boys—or at least foolish. Of all the places to hide after committing murder, the teenager chose to run to his grandmother’s house, a small cottage about 15 kilometers from town. The police soon smoked him out, and he was now in detention. The girl had been taken in for questioning, though her influential family ensured she walked free. She insisted she had nothing to do with the fight, claiming the two men were simply battling for her attention.

Officer Smith snorted at the story on the front page of the daily newspaper. He had seen dozens of similar cases during his career. In fact, he made it a point to read stories like this—they always left him contemplating the foolishness of humanity and the extra effort required to ensure neither he nor anyone he cared about would ever be so reckless.

Officer Smith had encountered plenty of murder cases in his lifetime, and more than half of them involved a lover, a jealous partner, or something related to sex or intimacy. Whether it was a jilted lover, a scorned spouse, an angry girlfriend, or a cheating partner, it seemed people were increasingly willing to kill—or be killed—over matters of the heart and sex.

Smith liked to think he was a small man, and so he liked to think with a square head and a straight face. Also, he had his fair share of women, and though he was being kind of honest with himself, he was still having his fair share of women. Women liked him, and he liked women too—he was straight, after all. He told himself there was nothing wrong with being with a couple of women at a time as long as they knew the place they had in his life.

One thing Officer Smith had learned in his life was that how someone acted or treated you was based on who they thought they were in your life. He saw a lot of men make grand promises to women, offering them the earth just to get between their legs. He didn’t think this was proper. Simply telling a woman he was going to screw her brains out was enough to make them fall into his lap. He didn’t have to promise them a trip to Paris or a diamond necklace.

Maybe it was his good looks, or perhaps it was his charisma—he didn’t know what it was. Either way, he found himself always drawn to women, and women were always drawn to him, unable to turn him down. So, as it should be, Smith thought to himself. As long as he told a woman the role she had in his life and where she stood, she had no business worrying about wanting to stab him to death or pour acid on his new girlfriend.

Every day, he saw more cases like these in the papers. He simply smiled, knowing it would never happen to him—at least, not in this lifetime. His father was a prime example of what a perfect player should be. He had a way of owning ten women who never suspected they were being played. He had mastered the art of being here, there, and everywhere, but never anywhere for too long.

Having begun Tuesday with a good cup of caffeine and enough energy to wake up, Smith glanced at his bracelet and then turned to his colleague and somewhat friend, Officer Teddy, who was seated at the desk next to him. They had been partners for the past eight years. If he was being honest, Teddy was one of the most terrible people the department in Colorado had ever employed.

Still, Smith had worked enough cases with him to know Teddy wasn’t completely hopeless. The man was blunt and a loner. Nobody got into his space or asked him questions about why he didn’t have a family or why his girlfriend had left him just three weeks into the job. Frankly, Teddy didn’t have an answer to those questions, and he hated it when they came up. They made him feel like a loser, even though he knew he wasn’t one. He just hated the fact that women wanted to use him while he didn’t want to be used. But he didn’t mind using others. Keeping a woman in his life was an option, and he gladly passed on that option every single time.

Not that Teddy didn’t care about his colleagues at the office, but children who played around or messed up the whole department weren’t his concern. Besides, he hadn’t been 100% sold on the idea of getting a woman for himself, let alone the thought of having a child.

That said, Teddy was a huge man. Whenever he walked into the small department, he made it feel even smaller. He had been with the Colorado department since October 6th and always had a way of looking scary, even without trying. That didn’t mean the ladies didn’t like him. In fact, Teddy had just gotten a divorce and was currently seeing a certain high school teacher.

Smith was not envious of the man. As a matter of fact, he was more sympathetic. He understood how little the man had and how much he was dashing away to women in the name of lust and alimony. On that same morning, as he turned to his colleague at the table, Dave cast a meaningful look. While Smith turned back to his coffee, Dave turned back to his very noisy cell phone, no doubt handling trouble in his life—something he was very used to.

That morning, however, would be different. All the heads of the department, including Martin, were on their way to push out a major assignment to both of them. It was a lead they had been following for the past three months. They had all the details available, and now they were going in strong. It wasn’t anything new, but it was still a tease—exciting enough to take seriously.

The week had dragged on since Sunday when all Smith did was clock in, drink, and then pass out on his worn-out couch. At least now, they had something to look forward to. He hoped this mission would bring some excitement to their lives, even if just for a couple more days.

The office had been boring—but, of course, it had always been boring. Smith was getting used to it, though maybe not entirely. Somehow, the monotony of the whole office situation had gotten to him. Not that he minded the lack of danger or even fewer cases involving people. He didn’t have a particular reason for his dissatisfaction other than the fact that he had picked law enforcement as his profession. To be honest, Smith didn’t mind the quiet nights in the office or the even quieter days.

The highest level of crime reported in the Colorado department was something shy of high school revelry or parent-child violence. To be honest, murder cases were not very prevalent in the area—except for the story Smith had been reading that morning.

It was almost noon when the clinking of mugs and the hum of activity filled the office as coffee cups and other small distractions broke the monotony. At this point, the younger officer announced to them that Martin was giving a speech in the hallway. Everyone began gathering to listen. It wasn’t odd for the police chief to address them that way. As a matter of fact, it was his style to give impromptu speeches and attempt motivational pep talks that he thought would inspire the staff.

Smith and Teddy exchanged a meaningful look, shook their heads, and left their seats to listen to what Mr. Martin had to say to the crew.