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Peter frowned over the phone records he had been scrutinizing for the past hour. Growling in frustration, he pitched the forms onto his desk and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"What's the matter, Partner?" Skalany called over from her seat. "No answers jumping out and hitting you in the face today?"
Peter snorted and shook his head impatiently. "I know it's right here in front of me somewhere, but I can't…" He broke off his diatribe abruptly as Strenlich approached him, looking upset and distracted.
"What's up, Frank?" Peter raised his eyebrows quizzically and relaxed back in his chair.
"I don't know how to tell you this, Pete. I just got a call from the hospital and…"
The detective's face went white and he suddenly found it hard to breathe. "The hospital? Oh, my God, please don't tell me something's happened to Kacie!"
Strenlich looked startled at the thought and shook his head vigorously in the negative. "No. No. Nothing like that."
Peter let out his breath in a whoosh of relief. Closing his eyes momentarily while he composed himself, he admonished shakily, "Jesus, Frank! Don't do that to me!"
Strenlich continued to regard Peter seriously. "It's Jack Martin, Peter. He was shot in a liquor store robbery this afternoon. He died ten minutes ago."
Peter stared in shocked disbelief at his chief. "Jack? I-I just saw him this morning. Kacie and I watched their little girl for him and Carla just last week. Carla, she-she's eight months pregnant with their second baby."
Strenlich put his hand on Peter's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Pete. I know you and Martin go way back."
Peter's shoulders sagged, and he stared out vacantly over the nearly empty squad room. "We-we graduated from the academy together. Kept in touch since then. Jack and Carla are -- were -- the first 'couple' friends Kacie and I had."
"Captain Simms is contacting both sets of parents for Jack's wife. According to the hospital, Carla is pretty distraught. They had to give her something to calm her down."
Peter turned his attention back to Strenlich. "Is there anybody with her now? What about their little girl, Whitney?"
"Simms is taking Carla home. A neighbor is watching the little girl and is going to stay with them both until Carla's or Jack's parents arrive." Strenlich paused momentarily before adding, "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, Pete." Patting the younger man's shoulder again, the heavyset chief lumbered off to his desk.
Skalany had watched the exchange without speaking. After hesitating a moment, she made her way over to Peter's desk and propped a hip on one corner of it. "You OK, Partner?"
Peter shook his head slowly in stunned disbelief. "I-I-I just saw him this morning. Kacie and I were supposed to go over to their place for dinner this weekend." He took a shaky breath, nervously twisting his wedding ring around on his finger. "We're surrounded by violence like this every day, Skalany. That coulda been me or you or any one of us at that liquor store today."
"That's the chance we take at our job, Peter. 'To protect and to serve.' Whatever the risk, whatever the cost." She reached over and gripped Peter's shaking hand in hers.
"I know. I know," Peter said slowly. "I guess it's hitting me for the first time that when I leave Kacie in the morning, I take it for granted I'll be coming back home again that night in one piece. That I'll see her, hold her in my arms, make love to her, have a future with her." He lifted anguished eyes to meet Skalany's compassionate gaze.
She squeezed his hand more tightly. "Don't dwell on it, Peter. You'll drive yourself crazy if you do."
"I just saw him this morning," Peter choked in a small voice, and bowed his head against his chest.