Who: Madison and Grady When: Early morning, Tuesday, September 19th Where: The police station What: Mads gets the obligatory welcome and rundown from her new boss.
While it had been a busy, stressful week, and the goddamn rain wasn’t helping anything, Grady was still grateful for the new deputy starting that morning. They needed more hands on deck, and it had taken him awhile, but he finally managed to convince the city officials to loosen up the purse strings. He got to the station early that morning, undeterred by the rain. It was fall, and they lived near the ocean in Maine. He was just thankful it wasn’t bone cold and snowing yet.
Once inside, he pulled out Mads file, though the paperwork was essentially finished. Then he started the coffee and got to work. There was much he had to do with her on her first day. She was a seasoned cop and didn’t need her hand held. But Grady felt like he could… warn her a bit about the eccentricities of the town. She would experience them herself soon enough.
Despite being absolutely exhausted the night before from the combination of packing and driving, Mads was up a good two hours before she had to report for duty and surprisingly energetic. She was anxious to start her new job. She was one of those people that was happiest when she was working and the less time she spent between jobs the better. It was why she decided to start that day; so what if her last day with the Bangor PD was Sunday? No rest for the wicked, as they say.
She arrived at the station several minutes early to the smell of fresh coffee and her boss looking over papers. "Madison Pierce reporting for duty sir," she announced with a smile and a casual two fingered salute.
Grady looked up to see Madison and he nodded in greeting before motioning to the coffee. At least she looked eager this early in the morning. How long before that 'new job excitement' wore off? Grady couldn't remember how long he had been working in Point Pleasant before he began to dread waking up in the morning. It wasn't that he disliked his job, but it was an unpredictable one. He never knew what calls would be coming in on any given day. "Help yourself if you'd like. We can have a quick chat in my office before you're off and running. Have you gotten settled in alright?"
"Don't mind if I do." Sure, she had already consumed one cup of coffee this morning, but what's another? Besides, you weren't a true public servant until you've consumed at least three cups by noon on a regular basis. Mads stepped over to the pot and picked up a random mug. "More or less," she replied as she poured herself a cup. "Still need to unpack and such, but I have a roof over my head so that's good." brought the mug up to her lips, gently blowing on the brown liquid before taking a sip. "All of my paperwork in order, sir?"
"It seems so," Grady said. He led her into his office and walked around his desk to set his own coffee down. "You're experienced enough that I don't feel the need to assign you a partner right away. I just want to talk to you a bit about this town." He gestured toward one of the chairs in front of his desk so she could sit. "I know you're from Point Pleasant. So I've got to imagine you've heard plenty of stories about this town's history. You moved when you were younger, though, right?"
"Great," she replied with a little more pep than she was used to having. Mads was thankful she didn't have to sit through anymore paperwork. She hated paperwork. Following him into his office, she took a seat when he gestured toward one of the chairs in front of his desk and waited for him to continue. He planned to talk to her about the town which was to be expected.
"Yeah, when I was seven," she confirmed with a nod. "Came back every summer though." So, yes, Mads had heard plenty of stories about the town and its history. She even experienced some of the more mundane (if you could all any of the events that happened mundane) occurrences. "Been awhile since I've been by though. What craziness has happened recently? Ongoing cases?" She was obviously ready to sink her teeth right into her work.
"We've got a few ongoing cases, but as of right now, they're being taken care of. We've got a backlog of cold cases I'm been sorting through," Grady admitted. "It might help to have a fresh pair of eyes look over a couple, if you find you've got the time and the drive." Grady paused long to take a drink of his coffee, because he wasn't entirely sure how to approach the next subject. He was not a Believer, by any means. He was positive there were logical explanations for every strange occurrence in town, even if he couldn't figure them out right away. "We've had some unusual problems here for the past few years --" Longer than that, really. "-- and there are a lot of people here who want to chalk it up to supernatural or paranormal activities. It's the history of the town fueling a lot of it, I'm sure. Conspiracy theories. It's easy to get caught up in it, but I do ask that my deputies be mindful of it and approach every problem with a logical mind."
"I am more than happy to be a fresh pair of eyes for those cases, sir." Truth be told, Mads enjoyed looking over cold cases. They could be frustrating at times, but also a thrill to delve into. And when you somehow managed to make a breakthrough? It was a great feeling.
Far more than a few years, Mads wanted to say, but remained quiet, allowing him to continue uninterrupted. "You don't have to worry, sir. I stopped entertaining that nonsense years ago." Around high school to be exact. "Everything has a logical explanation, even if it might be hard to find."
"That's good to hear." Whether or not he believed her was a completely different story. He would just have to see how things fell into place over the next few months. "Call me Grady," he said after a moment, wishing he didn't find being called 'Sir' so uncomfortable. None of his deputies did it. They usually called him Barrett, or Chief and while he knew 'Sir' was professional, Grady felt like it put a line between he and the rest of the department that he didn't want. Grady stood and walked over to the door behind Mads to reach out toward the wall hooks. He grabbed a pair of keys and turned to hand them to Mads on his way back to his desk. "I've got car 003 logged out for you. The radio is on the dispatch channel. I'm not going to hold your hand through this, because you're experienced enough to know what you're doing. Do you have any questions for me?"
"Will do, Grady." Mads smiled but felt a bit uncomfortable calling her superior by his first name. It just seemed so wrong. He had requested it, though, so she would just have to get used to it. She turned in her chair so her eyes could follow Grady from desk to door. "No questions," she replied, taking the keys handed to her and standing. "Not right now at least. But with how this place is I'm sure I'll have some sooner or later. Please bear with me when I do."
"Of course," Grady said. "Everyone here will do whatever they can to make this transition easier for you. We're all available for questions and anything else you might need." He nearly wished her 'good luck', but felt that sounded rather ominous, so he left it alone. Grady offered his hand out to hers to shake it. "Welcome aboard, Deputy Pierce. We're grateful to have you." And hopefully she would stick around for awhile. This town could pull people in, or push them out. They couldn't afford to lose anymore deputies at this stage.