Planning

So I figured...well, okay, YOU guys figured, I just agreed with it, but, well, we needed a break. Lizzie more than me.

And, with the carnival in town (she goes fucking nuts about that thing; it's like the one time of the year where she actually ALLOWS herself to be four years old), I figured this was my chance to make up for it. As much of a workaholic as she is, even she can't resist the carnival.

The trick, though, was getting her to agree to a day off. That was easy, though, because of my little back-up card.

Besides Lizzie and I, there's one other guy that's a permanent attachment to the case. See, with any case, there's a detective team, and then there's the regular police. Whenever we need evidence gathered, or perimeters set up, or guarding or whatever, we call in regular officers and they help out. Other than that, though, it's just the three of us that's assigned to this case.

Anyway, the guy's name is Eric Riley. He's thirty-four, he's been around about as long as Lizzie has. About my height, short brown hair, blue eyes, pretty friendly but not in the open-smile kind of way. If you say hi to him or engage in conversation, he'll reply back and carry on until either one of you have to get back to work. Unless engaged, however, he pretty much just sticks to himself. He used to be a working detective, but some shit happened a few years ago and he's been working behind a desk ever since, which suits him.

I don't mention him too often because, well, I don't really know the guy. I mean, I've talked to him a few times, but nothing substantial, Lizzie's normally the one who talks to him. I figured, though, that he wouldn't be opposed to doing me a favor.

So this morning, I walk over to him, trying to catch Lizzie's eye and failing miserably. Eric looked up at me and one look was all he needed to get the idea that I was probably going to yell at him for something. What can I say? I've got a reputation around here for a reason.

Here's the conversation:

Strahm (me): Hey, Eric me boy, how are we today?

Eric: Hey...Zeke...

S: Listen, I need a favor-

E: Uh huh...?

S: I need you to cover the casework tomorrow while I take Lizzie to the carnival.

E:...You're skipping work to go to the carnival?

S: I'm not skipping. I'm taking my day off and I'm giving Lizzie the same opportunity.

E: She never takes a day off, though.

My fists start to clench, and I made sure he saw that to get the point across that he was starting to get on my nerves. Like I've said before; get past a minute in the conversation, then the white flag is taken down and I start looking for heavy objects to beat them to death with.

E: Well, I mean...if you really NEED to-

S: Trust me, we need to. SHE needs to.

Thankfully, this guy's not stupid. He understands. He almost got kicked in the groin by Lizzie earlier today just by asking her if she was okay. He had known her longer than I had; he knew just as well as I did how much she needed it.

E: Okay, um...what if I need to get a hold of you, if I find something?

S: Write it down, put it in an envelope, spread your cheeks apart and stick it up your ass until the next day. This day is for us, alright?

The way it sounded, I realize now, he probably thought we were actually dating. I even saw him raise his eyebrow, but he lost it when I raised my fist as if to threaten him. Reputation. Got to love it.

So, that was settled, I approached Lizzie. She glared at me as I stopped at her desk and gave her an apologetic smile. She returned it with an angry face. Who says this girl ain't as stubborn as me?

I tell her about the carnival, and I see her face slack for a second, before she shrugs it off and tells me she's got too much work. I tell her Eric will take care of it, to which she gives me another look. I give her a smile and tell her it would just be the two of us, and, if she played nice, I might just win a stuffed lion for her.

She's wanted one of those forever...and in the end I think that was what won her over. Not so much the part where it would just be me and her. I knew she wouldn't just forgive me right away, but there was no chance she was going to pass this up.

That went about fairly easy. Now to just make sure tomorrow goes without anything going wrong...