Detective Confesses His Feelings

Transcript

Excuse me. I thought it was you. Yes, you do know me.

I suppose it's a little bit difficult to recognize me in the shorts and the t-shirt. You're used to seeing me in more professional attire. Three years ago, you had a stalker case.

That's me. I'm the detective who worked your case. I am a little bit surprised to see you here.

Yes, I remember that. I remember that. And after we resolved the case, you kind of disappeared without a trace.

Well, I'm glad to see you here, alive, well. From the looks of things, prospering? Thriving? Although a little bit, a little bit far from home, huh? Oh, this is home now.

Do you mind if I sit with you? Thank you. Well, this is a little bit odd, not something I usually get to do.

I don't usually follow up with people too closely after their cases are solved, you know? I usually don't get a chance to. And to be honest, it's not very often that I.

.. Well, you and I developed quite a rapport. At least, I thought we did.

Yes, and Detective Simmons gave me a lot of grief over that. He seemed to think there was some kind of spark between us. He wanted me to take it further.

I told him that that was well outside professional boundaries. Well, I enjoyed those conversations too, as much as one can enjoy them when one's working a stalker case. Let's put it this way.

I enjoyed your company. I enjoyed getting to know you. I didn't enjoy the reason that you would come across my radar.

It's never fun to know that someone else is being stalked and harassed and threatened. Definitely nice to know that I was able to do. ..

to be effective in helping to resolve that. So, you said this is home now. Was that a career decision? Were you trying to get away from everything that happened? Did you just want to get away from me? I see.

I see. So it was a career move. How's that working out for you? I'm sorry if I'm getting too personal here.

You can feel free to tell me to back off. I'm not at work. You don't have to answer my questions.

Good. Good. I'm glad you're doing so well.

You happy here? That's wonderful. Me? Well, that's why this is such a coincidence, I think.

I was raised just down the road here and my folks still actually live in the house that I was raised in. So I had a little time off, a little bit of paid vacation, and I decided to come out here and visit the folks, see my old stomping grounds, visit some of my friends that are still in town here. I got here two days ago and I leave Saturday.

So the better part of a week. It's interesting is what it is. Had you spent much time here before you relocated? Hmm.

So you really only know the town kind of the way it is now, more or less. It's grown a lot. It really has.

And for me, I get little snapshots, you know. I'm only here every few years, so I get to see little snapshots as it progresses. Very different from how it was just a few years ago.

Much bigger. Exactly. Well, I gotta say, I do wish you would.

.. Well, I'm not trying to guilt you or shame you here. It would have been nice to know you were okay.

It would have been nice to know that you had. .. That you're dropping off the map was nothing bad.

Of course I was worried. You know, I got into this line of work. I got into police work, detective work, because I want to help people, because I believe in the rule of law.

I want people to feel safe. And in your case, there was someone who was posing a very real threat to that safety. They cost you your sense of security, your sense of well-being, right? And so, yeah, we were able to get him for some other stuff, and he's.

.. I don't know. Did you follow his trial at all? I didn't know that you would, because there was nothing that he did to you that was actionable in court.

But we were able to get him for some other stuff, and he's gonna spend a good little bit of time upstate. Let's just put it that way. But, you know, I know how important that sense of well-being and that sense of security are.

And so when you dropped off the face of the map, I knew that with, you know, with your stalker arrested, facing trial, and eventually behind bars, that you were just as safe as you could be. But I wasn't sure if you realized that, and I didn't want you to live in fear. I would have called, but you didn't leave a forwarding address, and you changed your number, so not much I could do there without employing police resources in a not-so-legitimate way.

Plus, it would have given Simmons more fodder for the speculation about some kind of thing between you and me. I must say, he did have a point. There was a report between the two of us, and he called it chemistry.

I called it two people that are personable and good conversationalists. Well, that is a, that is a tough subject. I would give your best to Detective Simmons, but he passed away last year.

In the line of duty, he was involved while we were involved in investigating a drug ring, and ultimately things culminated in some shots fired. A few folks didn't make it, and Detective Simmons was among them. Thank you.

Thank you. It does hurt. Simmons was a, he's a good detective.

He's a good man. The world's a little bit darker without him in it, but it's what he knew he was signing up for, and honestly, I'm glad he was able to go out, making the world a little bit safer, making the world a little bit better. It wasn't a pointless sacrifice, and he, well, he's an inspiration.

He's really an inspiration. Yeah, he taught me so much. He taught me a lot about detective work.

He taught me a lot about life, about being a better, about being a better man, about being a better friend, about being a better partner. I miss him, and I try to honor his memory by doing my best work, being the best kind of man that I can be. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him.

I really appreciate that. Thank you. Not best to dwell on the past.

He's in a better place. You and I, sounds like we're both in a pretty good place, too. Yeah, go ahead, ask.

Wow, well, no, no, no, I just wasn't expecting that.