On My Terms by Ashley Farley

Author:Ashley Farley [Farley, Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AHF Publishing
Published: 2021-10-26T04:00:00+00:00

My first week back is the hottest of the summer so far. The street thugs are on edge. We make many arrests every night, mostly drug possessions and drunk-and-disorderlies. I’m partnered up with Leo, and I’m grateful he doesn’t mention driving me home after the attack. Our personalities are compatible. He’s quiet by nature, and I’m not in the mood for idle chitchat. He’s a seasoned cop. Instead of chastising me when I make mistakes, he’s patient in explaining the proper way to follow procedure.

My days fall into a routine. I work from four in the afternoon until two in the morning. I manage a few hours of sleep before I’m inevitably awakened by a recurring nightmare from the day Jason died. I head out early for my version of boot camp—a long run followed by military-style calisthenics. After breakfast, I spend a few hours creating podcasts. Mentioning no names, I tell my listeners about the people and danger I encounter on the street. My content seems to resonate with them. As a result, my following grows.

Most days, I arrive at work early. I follow up with complaints citizens make through the nonemergency police hotline. On the first Wednesday of August, I read a report from a woman concerned about the sound of her neighbor’s children crying. I disregard the report at first. Children cry. Dogs bark. But as I read further, my curiosity mounts. The woman, Linda Collins, claims she hears crying next door late at night, but she’s never seen a child enter or exit the house during the day.

Instead of calling her, I get in my truck and drive to her house, which is in an undesirable neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. Linda comes to the door wearing a housecoat with her hair in curlers.

I flash my badge. “I’m Officer Jolene Hogan, following up on a complaint you made to our nonemergency hotline.”

“Oh, right. I’m surprised you actually came.” She steps onto her covered stoop, pulling her door closed behind her. “You must think I’m nuts complaining about crying children. But the man who rents the house next door doesn’t have any kids. Or a wife.”

“Are you sure the crying you heard was a child and not an adult?”

Linda plants a hand on her hip. “I’m positive. I can hear a pin drop. My late husband called me a bat. In case you didn’t know, bats have exceptional hearing.”

I scrunch up my face. “I didn’t know that, actually.”

Linda bobs her head. “They do. They rely on their hearing to survive.” She gives me a skeptical look. “You know bats are blind, don’t you?”

“I did know that. Hence the saying, blind as a bat.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my vision. And I’m telling you, I’ve never seen a child coming or going from that house.”

I follow her arthritic finger to the ramshackle one-story house next door.

“But I hear those precious children sobbing their little hearts out at night. Just tears me to pieces inside.” She grips my arm with surprising strength.

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