Chapter 11

“First, dear Justice, let me school you in the many varieties of red flowers.”

“The only bloom I recognize immediately is a rose,” I had said.

Presently, Freddie was all smiles, as usual. “That new cop in town may be yummy, but you’re still tops in my book. Glad to have you back on the beat. You are on the beat, right?” He pulled back one side of my sports coat to check for my badge on the inside pocket and my gun on my hip.

“I am.” I covered up both, thinking how sports coat might be another old man word, while also wondering why I still wore one every day.