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minute later. When we pulled into the station, we saw a middle-aged man sitting on the ground at the phone booth. He had a cut over his right eye, which was bleeding rather profusely. I got out of the cruiser and told Baxter to call for an ambulance. As I began to get the details of the robbery, I watched Baxter leave the unit and walk toward us. His uniform was neat and crisp and hung on his body like the frame on a fine oil painting. His hips moved ever so slightly from the weight of the gun belt as he walked . He truly was a very handsome man—and with no girlfriend!

    “Sir, tell me what happened and describe the assailant as best you can and in as much detail as you possibly can,” I said as Baxter started to take notes.

    “Officer, I went on break and used the restroom here at the station and as I was coming out, this big guy knocked me flat on my ass just as I opened up the door. He hit me again, on the jaw with a gun, when I tried to get up, and tore my watch off and demanded my wallet. Then he demanded the keys to the station so he could get into the till. I was about to give them to him when a customer pulled in for gas, and I guess he got scared and ran towards the back of the station and into the woods over there.”

    “Give me his description as best you can,” I requested.

    “Well, as I said, he was big. It all happened so fast that I was in total shock that this was actually happening to me! He was a white guy, not sure how tall, but he wasn’t short, had a medium build, wore a baseball cap, and I think had dark hair and brown eyes.”

    “How old was he and what was he wearing?”

    “I think he was in his late twenties, early thirties, and he was wearing jeans, a white sweatshirt that said ‘Washington Redskins’ on it. I’m not even sure what he had on his feet. Damn, my jaw hurts!”

    “Okay, Baxter, get this out on the air fast,” I said.

    As Baxter put the description of the suspect out over the air, the ambulance arrived. The medics began to staunch the flow of blood from the cut on the victim’s head and from what looked to me like a broken tooth, and then decided he needed to go to the hospital. Once the ambulance had departed the scene, we drove around the area looking for the suspect. I turned up the car air conditioner in order to alleviate some of the humidity that saturated the night air. Even though I was sweating, Baxter was dry as the sand in a desert.

    I had called into dispatch and requested K-9 units to search the woods to see if they could pick up a trail, but they had no luck. I noticed that Baxter was eating the situation up, just like every other rookie I had ever worked with on a call like this one. His youth and eagerness was refreshing, as many cops tend to become rather jaded by this sort of call after spending years on the job. One day Baxter would be just like that, but for now, the criminal world better shake in its boots, I thought as I smiled.

    We were unable to locate the guy we were looking for, and the shift was ending. This would have to be one strictly for the Detective bureau to handle. We arrived back at the station and prepared to close out for the shift.

    “Finish up the report on the robbery and turn it in to the desk sergeant so that we can get out of here,” I said as he bent over into the back seat and grabbed his briefcase. What a fantastic ass this boy had on him. Damn, it might be difficult to work with this guy after all. Then I had an idea—one that might not have been the smartest I’d ever had, but I was determined to figure out the score before much longer.

    “Listen, Sean, you feel like coming over to my place and going for an early morning swim in my pool? It’s a good way to cool off before going home to bed,” I observed.

    “Sure. I would love to, but obviously I don’t have a bathing suit with me.”

    “Ahh, never mind the bathing suit. It’s just going to be us, and the pool has a high, wood fence all around it.