Read Online Superbia 2 by Bernard Schaffer - Free Book Online Page A

identify yourself as a police officer to that woman in the dry cleaners?”
    “I…I think so.”
    “She said you didn’t.”
    “But I was in the uniform and hat.  I told her I was on a foot patrol.”
    “She said you made her feel intimidated and refused to tell her why you were in her store.” 
    Reynaldo shook his head, “That was not what happened.  I just stopped in to say hello.”
    “Say hello?” Iolaus eyed him for a minute, then leaned toward him through the window, “You got a thing for Oriental chicks?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean you think that now you’re some big shot in a police uniform it gives you the right to harass women.  Specifically, Orientals.”
    “Absolutely, completely not true.  I just went in there to say hello, like I did at the Post Office.”
    “This isn’t some dating service, and I don’t want any more complaints about you from women.  You understand me?”
    “Yes, Officer Iolaus.”
    “Good.  You gotta remember something, she’s not from here.  Where she comes from, every cop’s an extortionist or rapist or conscript ed child soldier or some shit.  She thought you were coming in there to hurt her, probably.”
    Reynaldo raised his hand and said, “I swear on my mother, I was only trying to do my job.  In New York, where my mother worked, the police stop by every day to check on the store and see if she was okay.  She knew all of them by name.”
    Iolaus shook his head sadly and said, “Those guys were just trying to bang her, buddy.  Wise up.  Anyway, this isn’t New York.  Those people are animals up there.  Worse than Philly even.  They’ve got so many special units nobody knows how to wipe their ass.  I’ve got a buddy who told me one cop sees a violation and calls it in, so a special unit comes to make the arrest.  That unit calls somebody else to do the interview.  Then some other goddamn special bullshit swoops in to take over the whole case and file charges.  This, right here, what we’re doing, is more police work than any of those big city mopes will ever see because from start to finish, we do it all.  You understand me?  Now, I need you to go sit at the intersection of Smith and Beltran and monitor it for an hour.  The township got a complaint about the lighting cycle and passed it along to the Chief.”  Iolaus put his car in drive and said, “If you see any traffic violations call me and I will deal with them.  The only thing I want you doing is counting cars.”
    Reynaldo did not speak.  He realized he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly it was starting to shake.  The rubber casing was twisting until it split under his hands.  He drove onto the street with the words of Jim Iolaus ringing in his ears about someone, anyone, banging his saintly madre.          
    ***
    “I wanted to kill him.  Who the hell is he to say things like that?”
    Aprille nodded as she listened, stirring two maraschino cherries at the bottom of her glass of Sprite.  “I’d have been pissed off too.  You should have called him on it.”
    Reynaldo pushed away his half-finished beer and grunted in frustration, “People like him can say whatever they want to someone like me.  Especially while I’m a probationary employee.  What makes me mad is I become a police officer because it is respectable profession, and I want to protect people and help them.  Instead, I count cars and cannot turn on my lights without permission.”
    Aprille had stopped listening the moment Reynaldo pushed his beer in front of her.  She looked down into its rich, golden coloring.  “You’re going to finish that, right?”
    “No, I do not even want it.”
    “You can’t waste it, Reynaldo.”
    “You want it?  You can have it.”
    “No.”
    “It’s good.  Want me to get you one?”  He raised his hand for the waitress. 
    “Put that down,” Aprille hissed.  “I don’t want one.”  She looked over to see if the waitress was still