Healing Haven - Book 2 in Haven Series [Complete]

2| Day Job

For Ethan Davies, the week had started awful and took a backslide straight into miserable.

With the calendar rolling into October, the tourist season should have been rounded out to the bottom end of its stretch, the days should've been getting quieter, but instead the beaches were still thick with bodies, the streets congested with cars, and his desk overburden with two month's worth of extra paperwork.

With all that media hype following the trial and last summer's events generating almost as much interest as the OJ Simpson case had spilled into early fall with a push of people he hadn't expected or braced himself for. Some of whom even flocked to the precinct looking for Ethan's autograph or, god help him—a photograph. Sometimes both. The news had touted him as Haven's Hero Cop, a name that had invariably hung over his head.

And just last week Ethan had to peel off a particularly aggressive chick at a bar who'd wrapped herself around him not five minutes after he'd sat down looking for a quiet beer. Only when threatening to slap cuffs on her-and not in the kinky fashion-did she grudgingly back off.

He'd been able to have that quiet beer without further upset, but man, all this attention was getting him itchy and aggravated. Chaffing him raw around the collar.

Thankfully he had cases like this morning's shit storm to channel some of that pent up frustration into.

Hands set on his hips, Ethan took in the damage to the storefront. Shook his head. Fucking kids messed the place up really bad. Tossing tables and even launching a chair through the front window. Out in the streets after a night of hardcore drinking, they'd wobbled their way down Main, upending garbage bins and scattering filth into the roadways.

But here, at the corner, Hong Shing's Chinese food restaurant had sustained the worst of the damage when Mr. Ji Kim had refused to let them in to his establishment. And rightly so, Ethan thought, after taking in witness statements and first on the scene report. They'd been a wild, rowdy bunch and spoiling for trouble.

Thankfully one of the more sober patrons had the presence of mind to call the ruckus in before things got really physical. As it stood, the extent of the damage was to the property and could easily be cleared up with insurance claims, though Ethan didn't envy Ji the hassle and run around.

"Mr. Kim," Ethan sighed, pulling his slender notepad out from his holster, patted himself over for a pen then remembered he had it tucked at his ear. "Let's start at the beginning, shall we?"

Head in his hands, hair peppered with grey, Ji sighed, rolling tired eyes up to Ethan. "I told story to Officer already."

"I know, but I want to hear it myself." Ethan turned his calm gaze to Ji. "I want to make sure there's no holes, no lapses, no cracks for these dipshits to slide though, alright? They're going to pay, Mr. Kim. I'll see to it."

That softened the stiffness and grief in the old man's shoulders, and the sheen in his eyes firmed with renewed vigor. Hauling his skinny frame out of the chair, Ji folded his arms over his chest.

"Okay," he said. "They come in round two in morning..."

Ethan listened intently as Ji worked through the scene, laying it all out, right down to the last letter. Taking a few photos on his phone--though he trusted his officers implicitly, Ethan wanted to take a visual from the scene to keep on hand.

He left there about an hour later, just as the morning rush was rolling in thick. Cars pushing down the main streets towards the heart of Salt Springs, a tidy and bustling hub of Haven's island community. Yawning hugely into his hand, Ethan turned into the precinct parking lot and thrust his car into his reserved spot.