Dont Be a Hero

Knottalia Ripcord

   Jackson felt better rested the following morning. He hadn't slept more than usual but he definitely felt better. He had been awakened by a phone call from the station. The female officer on the other end informed him that more criminals had been apprehended by vigilantes. There were two young men locked in the jail and awaiting his arrival. He had wasted no time in getting showered and out the door. He was curious to find out the details. Now he sat at his desk sipping his coffee and reading over the report while he waited for Macy to arrive.

The two guys that had been apprehended were caught in mid-attempt to commit grand theft auto outside of a club downtown. They had been strung upside-down, Spider-man-style right outside the station and had been left there to be discovered by whatever cop came upon them first. Instead of using webs, the vigilante had used bungee cords. The frightened young men had hung there that way calling out for help for about an hour before they were discovered by an officer stepping outside for a smoke at around 3AM.

The report said that they had been inside the vehicle, a 2001 Camaro, and were attempting to disarm the alarm when a figure in a mask and costume had dropped from somewhere above, landing on the roof of the car. They had both tried to escape but were easily apprehended. They had been knocked unconscious before waking up bound and dangling upside-down.

Jackson read over the brief report twice before Macy finally arrived. He cringed visibly when she stopped just inside the entrance, flung her arms out, and sang out his name. "Jackson Wolfe, my lover! I have arrived! Come and kiss me, darling!"

Every cop in the place once again looked up at her in surprise and then looked at Jackson. They began laughing and shaking their heads at his obvious discomfort.

"Macy, quit being obscene and get over here! We have work to do," he growled at her menacingly.

"Hello, my pet!" Jackson heard the Chief call out from behind him. He had also just arrived and was making his way toward his office. 

"Good morning, Chief darling!" Macy sang out in an even higher pitch. "I would come kiss you, but Jackson was just about to ravish me thoroughly, so I must wait!"

"I was about to do no such thing, Chief! She's all yours," Jackson called over his shoulder as he made his way toward his partner, hoping to silence her.

Detective Grey trotted across the room and flung her things on top of her desk with a sigh. "You are just the meanest man I've ever met, Jackson! You break my heart, you do! Every day, you shatter me with your mean-ness!"

She plopped down in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. She stuck her bottom lip out with a "Humph!" before popping back up like a Jack-in-the-Box. She appeared to have forgotten about her woes. "Did you say we have work to do? What's happened, darling? Something new? Tell me! Tell me!"

Jackson eyed her as he picked up the reports he'd been studying. He was anxious to talk to the guys who had been brought in. He wanted first-hand information. He didn't like forging ahead without Macy, though. Not when it came to direct witness accounts and hands-on investigating.

First of all she was sharp. She often noticed things. Off-the-wall details no one but her would pick up on. It was the unique way in which her mind worked, he supposed. Secondly he didn't like having to converse with her a whole lot and if he forged ahead without her he would just be opening himself up to an entire conversation in which he would have to explain to her every detail and then listen to her ask question after question. She would continuously become sidetracked and go off on little tirades about insignificant, off-subject topics, so that a conversation that would normally take 15 minutes would last a couple of hours by the end of which he would be pulling his hair out and suffering a migraine.