Trouble In Paradise

EPILOGUE

Warning: Lengthy, heartfelt A/N at the end.

"Hey, would you like to come to a party tonight?"

I looked over at the 16-year-old arrogant ass of a boy handcuffed to Officer Sanders' desk.

I smiled back at him and his gaze immediately turned hopeful, only for his expression to drop at my words. "Only as much as I'd like to swallow a stapler. Besides, you, little boy—" I ignored his protests at that, "—are going home with your mom and staying there."

The kid grumbled under his breath as Officer Sanders uncuffed him and had his mother sign some papers.

"Having fun with the kid?" Officer Sanders chuckled at me, adjusting the pile of papers that sat on her desk like a true neat freak. Her actions only reminded me of a certain someone who liked his things in a neat order as well.

Checking my phone, I noticed that my ride would be here in another 15 minutes.

"Another date with Torryn?" Officer Sanders smirked at me.

"More like a group date," I smiled happily. "What are you doing later?" I asked as I looked over Inspector Bryant's calendar once more. Nothing important today.

"Probably stay home with Stacy and watch some stupid show on Netflix," She shrugged.

"Uh-huh," I smirked, "Watch Netflix. Like that's all you're gonna do."

"You don't even know who Stacy is," She chuckled. "She could very well be my sister."

"Right," I nodded. "That's why you got that lovely bouquet of roses from a Stacy last week; sisterly love."

"You don't miss anything, do you? Sometimes, I feel like you should be at one of the Detective desks and not on Inspector Bryant's assistants'," Officer Sanders crossed her arms.

"Then I wouldn't get to annoy the old man as much," I pointed out.

Officer Sanders shook her head and walked away with a light laugh.

Striding to Inspector Bryant's cabin, I knocked before entering.

"Hey, I'm leaving if you don't have any more work for me," I informed the old grump, who nodded.

"Just answer one question before you leave," Inspector Bryant leaned back in his seat, pinning me to the place with an intense stare. "That perp from the burglary case yesterday refused to say anything and today, for some mysterious reason, he felt very chatty. You didn't have anything to do with it, did you?"

"No, I would never dream of interfering with police business," I answered with a straight face.

Inspector Bryant gave a derisive snort at that.

"Seriously, I'm only here part-time, remember? I don't even know the perp you are talking about," I shrugged. "Anyway, I gotta go. Have a nice evening, Inspector."

"Hmph," Inspector Bryant said merrily.

It had been an entire month since that night.

The FBI and the police had been very eager to cover up the whole 'drug ring' fiasco in our little town. True, they'd caught Jason and Mr Hatter in time along with Ellie and they were all off to jail as well. But, I had a feeling that the residents of Paradise would not be very happy that they were unaware of what had been going on in their town. So, only the important details had been released and as my reward for 'helping the police to protect Paradise', I'd snatched up the opportunity and asked for a part-time job as Inspector Bryant's personal assistant. I had lost my job at the cafe after all.