Deadly Associations by Laura Belgrave

Author:Laura Belgrave
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Fiction Works
Published: 2014-09-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

At eleven o’clock, the firearms range saw little business and Claudia had the place to herself. Other cops would show up at shift change, but by then she’d be at her desk. Naturally, the range belonged to the sheriff’s office, though it accommodated officers from smaller departments as well. Over the years the range had steadily expanded along with the sheriff’s budget. The handgun range boasted sixteen twenty-five-yard lanes surrounded by twenty-foot berms. It also offered a rifle range, a live-fire shoot-house, and an air-conditioned range house with vending machines, lockers, a classroom and an honor board to announce the top precision shooters. Claudia’s name regularly appeared on the honor board, but for her it was a hollow distinction. Marksmanship on a range bore little reality to marksmanship in a live situation, when snap decisions and adrenaline could combust faster than a lit match on gasoline.

She stationed herself at Lane Seven, then prepped and loaded her service weapon, a .38-caliber Colt Special. Most officers had abandoned revolvers in favor of 9mm semi-automatics, but Claudia thought them less precise and an invitation for recklessness. She’d stick with the .38. When she was ready, she donned ear protection and gave the ready sign to the range master. He acknowledged her by calling out “lanes are hot,” then settled a distance away to watch. Claudia nodded, took her stance, and sighted across the revolver’s barrel at a metal knockdown silhouette.

For a moment, she hesitated. She didn’t need to be here. Suggs required that sworn officers qualify with their service weapons twice a year, but she was current. And, although she practiced at least monthly during open-range hours, she’d been at the range less than two weeks earlier. So why come?

Because you’re a cop and you need to be ready.

Boom!

Because you’re a cop and you deal in death.

Boom!

Because you’re a cop and you need to be ready to deal in death in order to preserve life.

Boom! Boom!

To preserve life. To preserve life. To preserve life.

She fired forty rounds, pausing only to reload. The air was sharp with the scent of cordite and when she was finished the after-image of blue flame from the revolver’s muzzle floated in her vision. Not all of her shots hit dead-center, but none had strayed far from it.

When she checked out the range master complimented her on her shooting. She almost shrugged it off to luck—no wind, no pressure, no rush—but then she thanked him instead. She was a cop. She handled her firearm well. It’s what she did and neither required an explanation or apology.

* * *

“I don’t care where you put it, Carella, but these bags are not stayin’ here. They already smell like road kill and that’s before you’ve even opened ’em up.”

The voice belonged to Chief Suggs and Claudia could hear it rising above the drone of everything else before she’d even stepped fully through the back entrance. She paused, trying to get a handle on what she was walking into.

“Well, we can’t open them in the multipurpose room,” she heard Carella say.

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