The funeral
Evie’s heart skipped a beat as she stepped into the bedroom, Dillon had on a very nice uniform. She collected herself, “does that uniform have a name?”
Dillon gave her a sad smile. “Not formally. We have our tactical uniforms that we wear every day. And our dress uniforms for such occasions.” She held up the jacket for him. As he slid his arms in, he spoke, “I realize this is askin’ a lot.” He paused. “As much as you can,” He held her hands. Playing with her fingers. “I need you today Evie.”
She held his face, “I will be as close as I can get to you.”
The minute they got to the funeral home, they saw Banks being bombarded by the press. As they approached the steps, Banks spoke, “this is not the place for your questions.”
A woman chimed over the crowd, “why so much police prescents? Feeling guilty?”
As Dillon held the door open for Evie, Banks took a breath to open his mouth but Dillon pulled him inside before he could speak.
When they got back home after the service, Evie walked past the bathroom door, going to the bedroom to change. She saw Dillon’s shoes. There he sat, in the floor, behind the door. When she touched him, he fell apart. She wrapped her arms around him and would be right beside him, as long as he needed her to be.
A week later, Dillon was settin’ at the kitchen table, there were papers and receipts all over the place.
“Need help?” She sat with him, coffee in hand.
He looked at her for a long moment. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“What ja doin’?”
“Deek didn’t have any insurance. I’m figuring out how much everything cost. We did the ‘in leu of flowers’ but still came up short. I need to prove that none of my deputies got paid for that. It was all voluntary. No department funds were used. Show where the money came from. And publish it in the paper.”
“You really do run a transparent office.”
“We do our best to. It’s important to me that we are good stewards of government money. It belongs to the people of Sunshine Valley.”
“Was that an officers burial you gave Deek?”
“It was.”
“And the press is screamin’ you did it for show because your deputy killed him?”
He gave a heavy sigh, “Sunshine Sue being the loudest.”
“How short are you?”
“$1,500.00.”
“I’ll do a private donation.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know. This is important to you. And you are important to me.”
He kissed the top of her hand. “Thank you.”
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