[This part is written from Kelly’s POV]

"You look, fine Darling," Matt said to me for what seemed about the twentieth time.

“I agree,” said Nancy.

I was feeling far from fine. It felt like my first day at the NYPD Academy all over again. That didn’t go down very well as the chief instructor and my father were not the best of friends.

Matt had driven us up from San Francisco the evening before and due to Nancy’s insistence, we had stayed with her rather than at a Hotel. I wasn’t so sure but Matt saw a lot of Ma in her and was not inclined to want to get on her bad side at a time like this.

“Time for me to go,” I said hesitantly after checking my watch for the umpteenth time.

“No, time for us to go,” said Matt.
“I’m going to see you to the Town Hall and then meet up with Nancy at her coffee shop. When you are done, you can come and tell us the good news.”

“Hey! I have not got the job yet, not by a long way.”

“You are by far the best candidate, and don't you forget it," said Matt.

I knew that he was trying to keep my morale up, but there comes a time when I had to do this for me, on my own.

"Sorry, Darling, I'm going to do the 'perp walk' myself. I'll find you at Nancy's later."

He didn't argue, which made me realise that was what he'd wanted all along. That man could read me like a book which was why I loved him so much.

I left Nancy's and walked the short distance into town. A few people stared at me. I guess that the strange Police uniform made them stop and think. I wondered how many of them could even begin to guess where our particular Custer County was on a map of the USA.

I put them out of my mind and tried to remember what it was that Matt had said about the style of policing we used back home. Ah yes, ‘Consensus Policing’ and most certainly not ‘Confrontational Policing’ that I’d experienced in NYC and also here under the old regime.

Home? Yes, Custer County was my home now. It had been much more welcoming than New York had ever been to me or at least the part of the five boroughs that I’d grown up in. My only wish would be that if I got this job, then the locals would be as welcoming as they had been in Custer County. I had wondered more than once how they'd take to a woman as Chief of Police and then if they accept me for being transgender. I know that it hasn't stopped me from doing my job apart from wanting to give Matt's brother Walt a knee where it hurts when we had him in custody, but I didn't.

My brain was rapidly turning into mush as I walked into the Town Hall. I stopped just before opening the door and checked my watch. I was more than ten minutes early. Far too early to go inside. I stepped to one side and watched the town go about its business. Seeing that it was not much different to the same scene a thousand or so miles to the east calmed my nerves. The big difference was the fact that everywhere was green. That's down to it being on the coast. I'd gotten used to Custer County turning various shades of brown once the heat of summer got into the earth. The infrequent thunderstorms did little other than raise the humidity and certainly did not solve the sometimes, severe shortage of water.

---

Six minutes before the allotted time of my interview I presented myself at the Town Hall Reception. I was directed to wait outside an office along a tiled corridor to my left. Apart from the receptionist, the place seemed to be deserted. Then I heard voices from the room I was sitting outside. That was then the nerves set in again.

I had not felt like this since I came out to my parents, and that didn't exactly go down very well.

The clock that hung on the wall above the Receptionists Desk ticked on. It ticked past the time of my interview, and still, the voices carried on inside the room.

A good ten minutes after my allotted time, the door opened, and a man in a Police Uniform that was strange to me stormed out of the door. He walked one step into the corridor, turned around and said in a loud voice,
“You can stick your tin-pot job. This dead-end hick town does not deserve someone like me.”
As he stormed away, I read the badge on his arm. He'd come from Eugene in Oregon. For a moment, I wondered how he'd heard about the job. Then I stopped and mentally cursed myself. I had to think about myself and how I would run the department and not about another candidate for the job.

His words did start me thinking.
I asked myself,

"Was this a dead-end hick town? If it was, what was Custer County then? By comparison, this place is a big city. The population of the town was almost the same as the whole of Custer Count,y and most of the adjoining Clark County added together.”

I concluded that I might be able to use that to my advantage.

A couple more minutes passed before I was called into the room by a woman who seemed to be the model for a traditional spinster of the 21st Century. My first impression was that if she tried to tie her hair bun any tighter, she’d probably scalp herself. I tried to put that thought out of my mind. She was dressed all in grey, even down to her shoes. I'd never been much of a fan of grey or black, for that matter. It just seemed so… dull and lifeless. She wasn't wearing any makeup either. That just emphasised the lifeless part. At least I'd put on some mascara and lippy for the interview. Matt had painted my nails the night before. He was much better than me.

“Kelly Beecher?”
Her words brought me back to the here and now.

“That’s me.”

“Will you please come this way,” said the woman who led the way into the room.

The interview began with a review of my CV and especially why I’d left New York. That was easy for me to answer.
“I left because most of my family are in the NYPD or NYFD. None of them would ever want a female relative to be their boss. That fact alone would ensure that I’d never be anything more than a beat cop and that was not what I wanted from life.”

“So… Custer County was different from that then?”

“Absolutely. I was one of the team right from the start. So much so, I ended up marrying the Sheriff.”

“We can see that. Why isn’t he sitting there instead of you?”

“My husband is done with law enforcement. His very words were, 'it is time you got some responsibility. The new Sheriff of Custer County is a woman and a good friend of mine but she is only a few years older than me."

“What brought you to this neck of the woods?” asked the ‘spinster’.
“This is hardly a big city?”

“In many respects, the town is much like Custer County. I’ve grown to love the slower pace of life outside the cities but I miss the ocean.”

“What is your husband going to do? Should you take up the position of Chief of Police?”

“He’s not committing to anything at the moment. I haven’t got the job yet.”

“What about Children?”

This was one of the questions that I’d laboured long and hard over.

"I can't have children. Something went wrong inside me, and things never developed right. We may think about adoption, but we have not discussed it at any length so far."

That was close to the truth without actually telling a lie. Matt and I had agreed that this was a good story. If I was challenged on the matter then and only then, I was to tell them the full story.

“What are your thoughts on Policing in general?” asked another man. He’d been silent thus far but had been taking copious notes.

"I favour a consensual style of Policing. The PD is part of the community and, there has to be trust on both sides. I found right away that Custer County is a very different place from New York. We know everyone by first name and what their business is. People are in general, very law-abiding, and we rarely have to prosecute a local. Give them a very stern talking too is often all that is needed. I've not had to threaten a local with my weapon in all the time I’ve been there. The NYPD is very different. Hardly a week would go by without me drawing my weapon.”

“How does that affect your budget? Historically, our PD has prospered on income from fines. How does your style of policing work with that?” asked the man.

“I know from first-hand experience the methods of your old PD. My husband fell foul of the parking too close to a fire hydrant scam when we visited here on our honeymoon. We were parked in a marked bay but because we were driving an out of state rental, we got a ticket. That is not justice and, in my book, 'justice matters'. We are all supposed to be equal under the law. If I were to become Chief, then I'd look at every bit of the operation of the department and budget accordingly. There is, as far as I know, a section of the court taxes is allocated to the department. I’d start with that and see how things work out. I don’t expect to know any more until I get a look at the books and can do my due diligence. That is only right and proper.”

And it went on but after a while, it all became a bit of a blur.

---

Almost an hour later, I emerged rather unsure about what had happened. I knew deep down that I hadn't screwed up, but beyond that, it was all a mess in my mind. The questioning had oscillated between, personal, work experience and my plans for the future in what seemed to me, a totally random order. My normal calm and collected psyche always went to pot at times like this. I was only ever left with an impression about how I'd done. This time it was saying to me that 'you did good girl'.

I did remember their last words though.
“We will let you know by close of business tomorrow.”

At least that was positive. I’d know in thirty hours if I had the job or not.
As I left the Town Hall, I started to shiver. It felt like the temperature had dropped by ten degrees in the past hour. I pulled my coat tighter and headed for Nancy’s shop. I knew that warmth both inside and out awaited me there.

---

The bell above the door dinged when I went inside. I could see Nancy behind the counter. I looked around but could not see Matt. For a moment, I wondered if he’d given up on me and gone back to Nancy’s to prepare lunch.

Before I could turn tail, Nancy spotted me and waved me over towards her.

“How did it go?” asked Nancy.

"I think it went well," I replied, trying to sound enthusiastic.
“They said that they’d let me know by close of business tomorrow.”

"That's good, isn't it?"

“I don’t know. I don’t think I goofed too badly.”

“Brain fug?” suggested Nancy.

“Something like that.”

She laughed.

“Where is Matt?”

Nancy grinned.
“He told me to tell you that he has gone to see a man about a dog. I don’t have a clue as to what that means but he said that you would understand?”

I remembered Matt telling me about the phrase. He’d picked it up from a British Sergeant Major in Kandahar.

"I think it means to mind your own business, but all will be revealed later."

Nancy laughed.
“I shall have to remember that one.”

Her eyes flicked towards a table near the window.

“Eh? Nancy… How many times did you say to me as a child, ‘don’t count your chickens and all that?’”

Nancy came around from behind the counter and took my hand.

“I’m sure that the job is yours.”

“I’m not so sure…”

Nancy grinned at me before saying,
“Come.”

She took me over towards the window. Two women were sitting at a table talking to each other.

“Ingrid, Melissa, this is my niece Kelly. She’s here to be interviewed for the position of Chief of Police.”

"Hello, Kelly, I'm Ingrid, and this is my wife, Melissa. Please take a seat. I would love to know how you are going to run the department. You can't be any worse than the last crowd. They were a bent as a paperclip."

“Coffee and a muffin Kelly?” asked Nancy.

“Please.”

“Then I’ll get them for you. In the meantime, Kelly, please take a seat. You and Melissa have a lot in common.”

Her final words made me fearful. The last thing I wanted was to be outed especially if I was going to get the job.

I sat down, almost unable to look at the two women.

It was Melissa who saved the day. She took my hand and said quietly.

"Don't worry Kelly. Your secret is safe with us. I have to say I think I'd rather like the new Chief of Police to be one of us 'special women'."

Melissa’s accent was not that of an American. She was English. How a transwoman from England could end up here was a story in its own right and one for another day.

“I think it would be rather cute,” said the other woman, Ingrid.
Her accent was also British but with a good deal of what seemed to be Texas twang in it.

,
“How did two people from the other side of the Atlantic end up here?”

The two women looked at each other. I could tell that they were deeply in love.

“That’s a long story. Probably as long as yourself. You hail from New York if I’m not mistaken by your accent.”

“I did but Custer County is home at the moment.”

“I remember it well,” said Melissa.

“You know where it is? Very few people do.”

“I do,” said Ingrid.
“Not long after I came back to the US in search of this one here, who had done a runner. He skipped town when I got a little over-keen back in London. I bought a cheap Toyota Corolla in Jersey City and was driving it across the country following her trail when the transmission finally died just short of the state line in Custer County. I was rescued by a full Sioux Indian driving a tow truck. How can I forget that? He was a real magician because he fixed up the car well enough to get it to Denver, where I sold it for scrap.”

“That’s Barney SWA,” I said without thinking.

“That’s him. Funny name. He was a bit shy about telling me what it meant but, he got me out of a hole. A couple of months later, the trail ended up here, and I've been here ever since.”

“Matt and I passed through here on our Honeymoon and got a parking ticket for our troubles,” I said, changing the subject.

“Ah yes, the old parking scam. Out of state vehicles and rentals were a big target for the old lot of crooks who masqueraded as cops.”

"Yeah, we found that out, but if I get the job, that will be history."

I looked around for Matt, but there was still no sign of him.

"We need some fresh blood around here, especially in the PD," said Melissa.

“It is out of my hands now,” I said as Melissa stood up. Ingrid followed.
“It has been nice meeting you two. I hope that we can meet again if I get the job.”

“I hope so too. We need a friendly face in the PD. Confrontational Policing is not the way to go,” said Ingrid.

Her words made me remember something I’d said in my interview about the style of policing I’d enforce. Ingrid was right about ‘confrontational policing’. A lot of the NYPD had been brought up on that in the past and going to a more softly-softly approach didn’t go down well with many especially those in my family who were NYPD officers. As I remembered some of the conversations with my father about it, I shuddered. That was the beginning of the end of our relationship as father and son, a son who was to make him even angrier when a few months later I came out as Transgendered.

As I watched the two of them leave, I wondered what they did for a living and if one of them could be a deputy. Staffing would be a problem. I'd said that I'd prefer to recruit locals to the positions rather than people from say LA or elsewhere in the state.

Slowly, the events that had happened in the interview came back.

Nancy brought my order over.
“I hope I didn’t drive them away?” I said hopefully.

She smiled.
“I doubt it. Melissa has a shift starting soon.”

“Oh? Where does she work?”

“At the bar on the road north out of town. It is called Jake’s Bar and Grill.”

“I think I remember it from when we first came through here.”

“I hope that I wasn’t too forward in introducing you to Ingrid and Melissa?”

“No. It is nice to see that I’ll have a couple of supporters in town.”

“More than a couple. Anyone who takes the job and has no association with the crooks that ran the department before them would be guaranteed to get a lot of support.”

I was about to question her when Matt walked into the shop. He looked pretty pleased with himself.

He came and sat next to me after giving Nancy an order.

“How did it go?”

I smiled.
“You mean apart from the brain fug? From what I can remember, it went well. I do know that I did tell them about my proposed style of policing.”

Matt grinned. I knew what he was thinking.
“Yes, clever clogs. You were right.”

“What about you? You seemed very pleased with yourself when you came into the Café?”

“I’ve got myself a job.”

That shocked me. My face gave the game away.

“Don’t worry, it is conditional on you getting the Chief’s job.”

I sat waiting patiently for Matt to tell me what his new job would be, when Nancy came over with his order.

She was grinning broadly.
“Have you told her yet?” she said to Matt.

“I was about to,” he replied smiling.

“I’ll leave you to it then,” said Nancy as she retreated behind the counter.

“Is there some sort of conspiracy going on here?”

Matt chuckled.
“Far from it. Nancy gave me the heads up about a possible opportunity so I followed it up.”

“And you aren’t going to tell me what it is?”

"I was about to once I'd discovered how you got on with your interview. That's the most important thing, isn't it?"

Sometimes, Matt can be the most frustrating person on the planet. At other times, he knows exactly what to say to make me feel good.

“If we assume that I get offered the job, what is this mythical job that you have landed?”

“I’m going to take over managing the bakery next door.

“What?”
I exclaimed. Then I broke down and laughed.

“Sorry, my Darling, but what the hell do you know about running a shop, let alone a bakery?"

"More than you think, my dear, more than you think. I used to make the bread at the store in town at weekends before I went into the Army."

“I’ve never seen bread like that in Harry’s Store?”

“That’s because after I left, they couldn’t get anyone to take over from me. The big mixer is out the back of the store to this day. If you doubt me, just ask Ma when we get home.”

I was determined to accept his challenge but making bread was only half the story.

Matt must have read my mind.
"I'm… well… if you get the job, Nancy and I are going into partnership. She'll take care of the books and all that stuff. I'll supply her shop with goodies as well as allowing her to expand her menu to include things like Pizzas. Her ovens are not big enough, and there is no room in her kitchen to add a bigger oven."

“You seem to have everything stitched up. You could not have done all this today?”

This, was the cue for Nancy to say,
"I called Matt a few days ago about the possibility of this happening. We spoke a few times on the phone before today. I set up a meeting with the bakery owner Cain about Matt taking over the rest was up to your husband. It appears that he's been successful?"

I had this feeling of being outmanoeuvred.

"But, it all depends on me being appointed Chief of Police?"

"It does, and Cain is fully on board with that."

"What if I say 'no' to the job offer? What then, eh?"

Matt didn’t look happy. No siree. Not happy at all.

Then he twigged that I was playing a little game with him.

He gave me a big hug.
“Which you won’t do because you want to stick it to your family don’t you?”

Damnation! He was right. There was no way that I would ever turn the job down and with the chance to give my family back in NYC the big finger. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when they find out that I’ve made Chief of Police.

---

The next day was awful. Waiting for the smoke to appear from the Town Hall was horrible. Matt did his best to keep me busy. He showed me the bakery and what his plans were for the merger with Nancy.

I was so preoccupied with what might not happen that I sort of tuned him out
“Earth to planet Kelly!”

“Wha…?”

Then I realised that he was right. I was miles away.
“Sorry. I was miles away.”

Matt smiled and hugged me.

“That’s perfectly understandable. You have a lot on your mind.”

“But it not good enough. I should have been paying attention to you.”

Matt laughed.
“My dear, the only time that you pay attention to me is when you want me to do something.”

“That’s not true!”

Once again, he laughed.

“Gotcha!”

Once again, I wondered what I’d done to be married to such a wonderful man.

[to be continued]