The Aurian Chronicles Chapter 8: New York's Finest

 The morning sun slowly shone on the NYPD building as Police officers clocked out of the evening shift and into the morning. A young Chinese woman admired herself in a mirror inside the building. She ran a comb through her long, beautiful Black hair, then folded it neatly into a bun as she stared into her own chocolate brown eyes. "Okay, Amanda... First day on the job, Intimidating, yet approachable... Stern... Yet soft... You got this!" She said, checking her uniform for lint as she straightened her tie and badge over her blue Police top. She tightened the belt over her black pants as much as she could, then headed into the office, where a bunch of officers were gathered.

"Come on, Matthews! Give us the deets!" said a skinny, short, black-haired Caucasian officer. He looked directly at another White cop with a high-and-tight haircut, dark blue eyes, and a tall, muscular frame, whom Amanda assumed was Sergeant Dominic Matthews, her highest-ranking cop under her. "What's the new Lieutenant like? I hear she's gonna be our Captain once our current one retires! Is she a tight ass? DOES she have a tight ass? I gotta know!" He asked pleadingly.

Dominic rolled his eyes and placed a hand on the other officer's shoulders. "Listen, Durant, I think if you spent more time filing those reports, and less time trying to chase the skirts of people who could have your badge for talking like that... I might not have to make you work so much overtime just to get it done!" He said as he looked around. "Now listen, all of you! This is the NYPD! Not a high school gossip corner! I've never met Lieutenant Amanda Cross, but I'm willing to bet she hates slacking as much as I do, so if you really want to get a good first impression from her, stop standing around and get to work!" He yelled out.

"Could not have said it better myself, Sergeant!" Amanda said, making her presence known as she walked in behind him. A bunch of wide eyes turned to her. "Quite the 'Tight ass' am I? Well, how about this? I'm going to walk to my office with Sergeant Matthews, and if there is any more chatter once my door closes, all paperwork is due by the end of everyone's shift!" She exclaimed as she walked to her office, with Dominic following close behind.

As she closed the door, Dominic sat in a chair in front of Amanda's desk while she filed through a new stack of paperwork over a foot high. "Tell me, Sergeant Matthews... Would you like to maybe take a guess at what this paperwork is?" She asked, looking him in the eyes.

Dominic studied the paperwork closely, took a nervous breath, and exhaled sharply through his nostrils. "If I had to guess, those would be all of the open cases not yet tended to by the NYPD... Ma'am," He said while looking down at his boots. 

Amanda nodded. "CORRECT! And why might that be, Matthews?" She asked, studying his eyes, pleasantly surprised when he didn't look away this time. Instead, he sat up straight and gave her a stern look back.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we've been stretched thin... VERY thin. Crimes are on the rise; some of them are strange... I've been stringing a few together on my own time because of similar patterns, but with the multiple budget cuts and the public's unwillingness to trust us... And certain officials outright shutting cases down to focus on the ones they want us to focus on... It's been hard." Confessed Dominic.

Amanda squinted hard at him. "What does that mean? Officials shut down active cases so you focus on ones THEY want you to focus on?" She asked. Dominic shrugged. "It means exactly what I said, ma'am." He said, indicating he couldn't break it down any further, much to Amanda's frustration.

Amanda placed her palm on her forehead and looked as downward as she could. "This place is so corrupt; if I were a lesser lieutenant, I'd say I didn't know where to start in cleaning up the mess on my hands." She said while pulling the first paper from the stack. "Luckily, the most obvious answer is from the top. We've got several murders at the 'Deadshot Lounge.' Oh, that's a lovely name. Would you mind telling me what's been done about finding the killer so far?" She asked.

Dominic grunted a bit at the question. "Not much, due to what also occurred that night." He stated. Seeing the look in her eyes, Dominic continued. "Commissioner David Greene was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head... that was MY assignment, Ma'am." He said.

At the mention of David's name, Amanda pulled up his file. "Interesting, a few of the names on the list of people murdered coincide with the murder of Commissioner Greene's son... What do you think that might mean?" She asked, now not even looking at Dominic.

Dominic placed his hand on his chin. "If I had to guess, it's more than likely that He paid for the deaths of those guys, and then, after they were confirmed dead, he committed suicide on his own." He said, looking at her as she turned back to face him.

"WOW! LOOK AT HOW FAST THAT WAS! And you see what we did there, Sergeant Matthews? We had open dialogue, speculation, and a believable story about the possibility of what occurred during two separate cases that, until now, might have been written off as unrelated!" Amanda said, narrowing her eyes. "Talk to your men, Matthews. I don't care how 'stretched thin' we are. We are supposed to be upholding the law, and my plan to fix how we do that takes effect immediately... You may go!" She said, watching him get up.

"And let this serve as a reminder to you and your fellow officers how 'TIGHT' my ass is! The next time I hear chatter about that, I won't be so nice. Spread that warning now before it becomes a problem later!" She added. Dominic nodded and left quietly as Amanda stared at the large stack of papers.

"I knew this job was going to be rough, but I haven't backed down from a challenge since my career started, and I do NOT intend to start now." She said as she got to work preparing tasks for her officers. As far as she was concerned, the sooner the paperwork was gone, the better.

As Dominic left the office, a crowd of officers began to pull up, curious about what had happened. "Well? The fuck are all of you doing? This ain't a union break, get out there and make New York City better!" He ordered with authority. He wore a proud look as he watched the other officers sprint. For the first time in what felt like forever, things looked like they were starting to change, and he could not wait to see what Amanda Cross had to bring to the table.