Lassiter was studying the empty desk across from him. He'd actually done it. He'd sent in the request to transfer Barry to the Sacramento force. He hadn't liked the smirk on Karen's face when she'd taken the paperwork from him. It was like everyone knew his secret. They probably did thanks to that psychic Spencer and the blabbering rookie McNab.
Lassiter scowled at the empty desk. It was taunting him. He'd have a new partner before long, but right now the emptiness was laughing at him. It was reminding him that he had never had a successful relationship with a woman. Not even a successful working relationship. He'd managed to screw that one up as well.
Lassiter scowled again. It wasn't that he had never had a relationship, but they just seemed to all crash and burn one way or another. Barry had been a distraction from the situation with Victoria. His wife was taking her sweet time debating whether or not she wanted a divorce. What was worse was that now since Lassiter had time to think about it, he wasn't sure if he wanted a divorce anymore. He and Victoria seemed to agree on very little, something they'd both ignored until after they had said their vows, but part of Lassiter wanted to push through those disagreements and make it work. He loved Victoria, he knew that, he just wasn't sure if she loved him as well.
Lassiter leaned forward, resting his hands on his chin, and looked at the desk again, contemplating who would be his new partner. He'd probably get some wet behind the ears rookie who didn't know one end of a gun from the other. At least he knew for sure that McNab hadn't taken the detective's exam recently.
Maybe his next partner wouldn't be so driven by promotions and power. That had made Barry a good worker, but sometimes her deductions lacked proof. Lassiter furrowed his brow in thought. He just hoped his next partner would never hear about why his last partner left.
He also hoped his next partner wouldn't be so sympathetic with this psychic nonsense the chief seemed to like so much. Barry had even helped Spencer. Apparently Lassiter was the only sane one in the entire station.
Lassiter watched a young woman walk nervously up to the desk and look around before setting a box down on top of it. Her blond hair was messy and she kept pushing it out of her face. Her clothes looked like she had raided her mother's closet before coming to the station. She looked young, very young. Lassiter frowned as he watched her look around one last time and then start unpacking the box.
"Can I help you?" Lassiter drawled out, standing and walking over to her. Obviously she'd been told to unpack her things at the wrong desk. No way this girl was his new partner. She'd probably been in grade school when Lassiter had started the academy.
The girl jumped, turning to face him with an armful of framed pictures and other personal desktop decorations.
"Can I help you?" Lassiter repeated, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Nope, I think I can manage. Thanks for the offer, though." The girl shifted the items in her arms on to the desk and then held out a hand to him. "Juliet O'Hara, I just started here today."
"Head Detective Carlton Lassiter," Lassiter emphasized his title as he shook her hand.
"Oh!" The girl, Juliet, smiled broadly. "You're my new partner."
Lassiter felt his insides plummet. There was no way this girl was going to be rational. He expected her to quit after her first case.
"I just moved here from Miami," Juliet continued to talk, ignoring his silence. "Everyone here is just so nice. I've been wanting to move back to Santa Barbara since I graduated from college, so I was so glad to see this job open up."
Lassiter watched as she set out pictures, post-it notes and several different types of pens. He scowled at the brightly colored items that now littered the desk at which he had just been looking. The desk that offered him possibility in his new partner. A partner who would be the way Lassiter had been as a first year detective, by the book and ready to learn whatever his senior partner threw at him. This girl would probably cry at the drop of a hat.
Juliet hurried off somewhere. She made some comment about needing to take her firearms certification test.
She had better pass it, Lassiter thought to himself. He was sitting at his own desk again, staring across the room at the now full desk where his new partner would sit. The desk that had offered him so many options just fifteen minutes ago was now giving him only one option. He was going to be saddled with a brand new detective who was brand new to the station with an affection for her parents and glitter covered pens.