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into a confident and capable expression. He tried to smile at Chief Palen, but unfortunately it came out as more of a grimace.
    “Tell you what,” Palen continued. “I’m going to keep an eye on you for the next couple of months or so. Then, if everything looks okay, I’ll give you a trial run.” He rested his chin on the tips of his fingers. “It’s not about the accident, Shane. You know that, right?”
    “I know,” Shane said quickly, not wanting to rehash the events of that night. He had spent more than enough time dwelling on them already.
    “It’s about how you unraveled afterwards. Not that I’m saying I blame you. It would have brought any man to his knees, no doubt about that. But when you’re out there, patrolling the streets, you need to be at the absolute top of your game. And I’m just not convinced that you’re there yet.”
    “I’m there,” Shane said, imagining how good it would feel to run his fingers along the dashboard of his cruiser once more. “When you think I’m ready, that is,” he added hurriedly, not wanting to outwardly disagree with Palen.
    “It’s settled then,” Palen said, reaching across his desk to pump Shane’s hand up and down. “We’ll meet again in two months, and go from there.” He reached for one of the file folders littering the side of his desk and pulled it toward himself, then patted around his shirt pocket for his reading glasses. “Gotta take another look at this homicide report,” he muttered, unfolding his glasses and sliding them onto his nose. Shane, knowing himself to be dismissed, left Palen’s office, closing the door quietly behind him. As he turned to walk back to the front desk, he saw Buddy strolling toward him with a broad grin on his face.
    “Hey, man,” Buddy greeted Shane, then leaned in conspiratorially. “What did Palen want? Are we gonna be partners again?” He ran his hands through his buzzed blond hair. “Sanchez is great, but he’s just not the same.”
    “Not yet,” Shane replied, “but he’s going to give me another shot in a couple of months, if he thinks I’m ready.”
    Buddy’s face fell, but he tried to quickly recover by clearing his throat loudly. “Want to come over for dinner this weekend? Maribel’s making her famous enchiladas.”
    Shane shuffled his feet uncomfortably. “Maybe some other time. I have a few things I need to take care of around the house.”
    Buddy examined Shane’s face closely. “Come on, man. You haven’t been around in ages. You’ve barely even seen Henry. He’s getting so big now, you wouldn’t believe it. Right now he’s learning his ABCs.” Buddy puffed out his chest with pride.
    Shane offered his friend a tight smile. “I’ll see what I can do.” Buddy shrugged, then patted Shane on the back and pushed through the front doors of the station, calling to Sanchez as he made his way to the police cruiser. Shane watched in envy as the two of them slid into the car and slowly pulled out of the parking lot.
    Yanking the chair behind the front desk out so roughly that it tipped over, Shane swore loudly and kicked it, then immediately regretted his decision. As he was hopping around painfully on one foot, a voice called him from behind. He swung around to find Nick, the rookie cop who brought in Zachary Griffin, watching him with a bemused expression on his face.
    “Uh, everything okay here?” he asked uncertainly.
    “Fine,” Shane snapped back, rubbing the toe of his right foot to try and assess the damage. It was already swelling rapidly; Shane would be lucky if he escaped with just a sprain. Just add it to the list of things going wrong in his life, Shane thought bitterly.
    “Uh, that’s good. Listen, I found these on the floor last night.” Nick pulled out a small MP3 player and pair of headphones. “I think they belong to that kid I brought in. You know, the weird one wearing all black? Anyways, I thought you might want to give his mother a call to come down to the