After my shift is over, I park my motorcycle in the station garage, change out of my uniform, and drive my Audi from the station to Livia’s place. She’s got a condo squeezed into a cluster of pale brick buildings and edged by a little park. The whole affair is ringed with tired sidewalks and those trees that drop too many spiky brown balls.
It’s on a busy street, and when I park my car and glance at the street and then at the buildings in front of me, my mental rolodex of police history spins and flutters on its own. It’s one of the best and worst things about knowing a city so well; I know exactly how safe a place is, I know the character of the people who live around there, I know how quiet or noisy it is. Which I like, because I like knowing things.