When Cicadas Cry by Caroline Cleveland

Author:Caroline Cleveland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Union Square & Co.

CHAPTER 20

“WHAT’LL IT BE, FOLKS?” THE WAITRESS ASKED AS SHE PUT DOWN the two sweet teas and placed paper-wrapped straws beside them on the checkered plastic tablecloth.

“I’ll have the blue plate special,” Lee said. “Addie?”

“What’s good here?” she asked, looking up at the menu written in colored chalk on a blackboard.

“It’s all good,” Lee said, “but if you order anything other than the blue plate special, you’ll probably regret it when you see mine,” he warned her.

“That so?”

“Oh, yeah. Miss Tess can cook up a storm and nothing she fixes is bad, but when you let her choose whatever she happens to be inspired by at the moment, that’s not mere food, it’s an experience.”

Addie looked at the waitress, who nodded enthusiastically.

“Make that two, then,” she said. Addie had ridden with Lee in his cruiser and had already decided that she liked him before they ever sat down at the table. Kate had been right, of course; he came across as a cop’s cop who just wanted to do his job.

“Not that it’s any of my business …,” Addie said after the waitress left with their order.

“But?” His grin suggested he knew that wouldn’t stop her.

“But you seem a little young to be retiring. For that matter, you seem a little young to have been working a case this big thirty-four years ago.”

He laughed. “Thanks, I think. After high school, I got a two-year degree in criminal justice from Carolina, then I came straight here to the sheriff’s office at age twenty-one. They sent me to CJA—the police academy—and then out on patrol. That first summer they assigned me to the beach—probably because I was only a few years older than most of the kids they expected me to keep out of trouble.”

“So, why’d they give you such a big case?”

“Didn’t—they put a senior sergeant on it, but I was assigned to work with him since I was working the beach and knew some of the kids who hung out here. He was all hyped up about it at first—liked the attention that came with a big case. But when the case dragged on for weeks and then months with no leads, he started pushing more of it my way until I finally ended up handling it mostly on my own and reporting to him.”

“That explains why you got to work on a big case so early, but why retire now?”

“Under the state retirement system for police—PORS—officers who’ve been in the system as long as I have only need twenty-five years of service or to be fifty-five for full retirement. I hit the twenty-five-year mark years ago but wasn’t ready to give it up. Last month I had my fifty-fifth birthday, and I decided this was a good time to hang up my spurs. Maybe see what else I might like to do for a while.”

“Aren’t you worried you’ll miss it?” she asked.

“No. I’ve loved it, but I’m getting too burned out to do this anymore. I’m grateful for every

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