Erwin Smith

Regrettably, it was morning. Pale sunlight filtered through the blinds. Erwin tossed the file on his desk, set his mug (Number One Dad, though he was nobody's father) next to it, and sank heavily into his chair. The station coffee managed to be both watery and bitter-burnt, so it was really only bearable when it was still steaming. He had developed the trick of distracting himself while he drank so that he would notice as little of the scalding or the taste as possible.

Today's reading was the report Lieutenant Levi had put together after the nasty situation at the chemical plant a few weeks back. He leafed through the pages. A straightforward homicide case, disgruntled worker, two bodies, a co-worker and a supervisor, dumped into a vat of solvent in an attempt to hide the evidence. The suspect had been spotted on site and Levi had run him down on foot, apparently sprinting over a walkway and hauling his ass up a 15-meter scaffold to do so. The thought of it sent a familiar chill down Erwin's spine, not unpleasantly.

He'd see Levi soon enough. Probably he was cleaning up last night's paperwork, and waiting, in his cunning way, for Captain Smith to be awake enough to fully appreciate what was coming to him. And Captain Smith did wonder what it was going to be - ugly sweater? Silly hat? Levi's sense of humor was very strange and Erwin didn't put it past him to show up with some instrument of minor torture, like shoes in the wrong size.

But then, if he didn't want to be a good sport about losing a bet, he shouldn't have been betting with Levi in the first place.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Before the fireplace lay a green rug, two chairs, and a table on which rested an old-world novel bound in crimson linen; this last was an orphan from the two massive bookshelves which dominated the western wall of the office. The open window admitted the shouts, gentled by distance, of the soldiers training in the courtyard below. A long yellow column of afternoon sunlight draped lazily upon the wooden floor and the rightmost third of Commander Erwin Smith's desk. Here there was the restful scent of paper, and a sense of order as steep and clear as if drawn from a deep well.

Erwin himself was seated at his desk, where he was drawing up a set of expense authorizations in his swift, neat handwriting. The sound of footsteps in the hall disturbed his focus not at all. The pace was intimately familiar, and he knew by speed and heaviness what to expect, and how soon to expect it. He finished the line just in time to look up, tip his pen into the inkwell, straighten his shoulders, and in all other ways convey to his visitor that his attention belonged completely to the matter at hand.

"Welcome back." It was not necessary to indicate the comfortable chair on the other side of his desk. "How did it go?"