3.
Romero.
~ Alex was too old to be young. He was too young to be old. It was difficult for him to be taken seriously at times because, as an elected official, people expected their Sheriff to look a certain way.
They expected their Sheriff to be a seasoned professional and with a reasonable amount of graying hair and perhaps twenty pounds of extra weight from sitting behind a desk all day. They expected a man like his father had been. Who had aged relatively well and gained the required weight. With hair that thinned on top and grayed heavily after forty. Who complained about a bad knee and who's doctor warned of heart problems if he didn't take medication for his blood pressure, stop eating so much fast food and drinking so march hard liquor.
Alex Romero, looked nothing like his father. The 'former Sheriff Romero'. A man so feared and infamous, people were still afraid to speak his name. It had been a great scandal when the former sheriff Romero and several of his closest friends were apart of an FBI raid involving dirty money.
So it was a wonder that Alex, Romero name and all, had won an upset election eight years ago to become White Pine Bay's youngest Sheriff at barely 37 years old. Most men served in the department for at least a decade before such a victory, but Alex had felt as though he'd committed some kind of crime when he'd received the news on election night. Not that he was a newcomer to law enforcement. He'd earned his BA in the Marines where he'd worked as an MP. He'd come back home after his mother had died, and just in time for the aftermath of his father having to step down as Sheriff and all the trials that followed.
Without thinking too far ahead, he'd joined the Sheriff's department. Much to the annoyance of some and the delight of others. Barely five years in, he was encouraged to run for Sheriff by Bob Paris of all people. Paris even funding his campaign and saying the county needed younger people involved. Alex didn't question it then, although he regretted that careless decision now.
He'd overthrown Jack Jonas. A reasonable man who'd made no waves and left no lasting impression. Old Jack looked the part of a Sheriff. Or of a career politician which is what, Alex found out later, he went on to become. Ran and won a local office in Oregon after leaving White Pine Bay. Complete with that look of a respectable older man people liked to see in their leaders.
When the paper took their picture together after the election, Alex looked far too juvenile to be Jack's replacement. He didn't have Jack's large build, graying hair or decades of experience. People didn't look at him with the same amount of confidence.
Eight years later and Alex knew he looked much the same. He even had photographic evidence to prove it. The city required everyone in the department to update their pictures for security reasons, he was the Dick Clark of the office. Sheriff Alex Romero remained so unchanged, people would seem disappointed in meeting him. That they were expecting someone... well, someone older to be the Sheriff. He was too young to inspire any confidence in people and now, at 45, he was too old to play romantic games with the new motel owner, Mrs. Bates.
No. Those games were meant for the likes of Zack Shelby. A man who liked to pretend to be stupid so he could weasel out of anything imaginable. Alex watched women fall for it all the time. Zack pretending he didn't know where something was so Regina, their front desk girl, would roll her eyes, smile and get it for him. He'd pretend not to know how to use a copier or computer so someone, usually Regina or another office girl, it was always a girl, would type up his reports.
In the field, Zack Shelby would spend more time talking to people and letting the world pass him by than doing any actual patrols. Alex had lost track of how many times he'd written him up for shooting the breeze outside of a restaurant or bar with the locals when he was supposed to be working.
Now, here Zack was, chatting up Mrs. Bates.
She'd come in early to fill out the complaint against Keith Summers, and Zack, ever the helpful good boy when it came to attractive women, was helping her. Lending her his pen and showing her exactly where to put her name.
"Norma?" Zack was saying. "Unusual. We don't get too many Normas anymore."
Alex cut a hard look at Shelby who was leaning against the wall, as if to hold it up, and was all smiles to the new motel owner. A look that said many things, but to Romero, just proved another annoyance.
"Yeah." Mrs. Bates (Norma) said. Her face pulled into a scowl as she tried to maneuver away from Zack and into the waiting room to do her paperwork.
"Norma Bates." Alex said curtly and perhaps too loudly. He couldn't help it. Couldn't help how harsh and unfriendly his voice sounded sometimes when he was in a bad mood. Couldn't help the menacing glare he gave to Shelby who stopped leaning on the wall and stopped smiling that perfect smile at her.
Norma Bates looked up at Alex to. Her expression concerned with how abruptly he'd spoken. In fact, Alex could tell all eyes were on him now and he didn't care.
He nodded back to his office. Behind the impenetrable glass of reception. A place visitors never went.
"Why don't you fill that out in my office?" He suggested.
Norma.
~ "Coffee?" Sheriff Romero asked. Norma looked up from the three pages of forms to see him pointing to an elaborate coffee station that took pride of place in his office. Perhaps being in law enforcement required great amounts of caffeine at any given time.
Her head was still swimming from being rescued from the dreary waiting room; with that overly helpful deputy had been all too eager to practically fill out the forms for her himself. Now she had to remember her personal information while Sheriff Romero wanted her to place an order for coffee in his office.
"Oh, no." She said having to remind herself of her new address and how it was separate from the motel address.
"I have tea." Romero offered. "Electric kettle."
She looked up and thought she'd caught a ghost of a smile. Something that faded out as soon as she looked at it. He held up a mug with a brightly painted gold star on it. White Pine Bay Sheriff's Department printed in large official letters was very off putting.
"No." Norma said going back to her paperwork. "Thank you."
"I have to write down exactly what happened?" Norma asked looking at the blank spot where she was supposed to write some kind of novel about what happened... in her own words.
"Yeah." Sheriff Romero said turning the coffee maker on and coming back to his desk. "Just tell us what happened so we can have it for the file."
"Well, I only know what happened because you and Dylan told me what happened." Norma complained. She wished Dylan was there with her. That creepy deputy wouldn't have tried to hit on her with Dylan around. Men never did hit on her with Dylan around. Especially after he started shaving and looked more like a grown man than her son. No one ever guessed he was her son anymore. People always thought she was his older sister.
'Don't think like that.' She scolded herself. She was always having to apologize to Dylan and to herself for raising him like a younger brother and not as her own child. Someone to be friends with, and not have a normal mother son relationship with. It had been easy to be Norman's mom, but Dylan...
"Just write what you know." Romero was saying. "Even if you didn't see this guy or witness him making threats."
"Well, Dylan is over eighteen." Norma offered. "I really feel like he should be here." Norma said quickly writing out what she knew in her girlish script.
She caught Romero looking at her. Caught that odd look people always gave her when she mentioned how old her son was. It had been that way ever since she'd enrolled him in kindergarten and she looked barely out of high school. She WAS barely out of high school back then. Dragging her malcontent of a son, kicking and screaming to kindergarten alone because she had to do everything alone.
"I had him when I was seventeen." She explained without asking. She knew what Sheriff Romero thought of her. She knew she looked too young to be Dylan's mother. Looked too young to be Norman's mother if she was being honest.
"I was a little surprised when he called you 'mom' last night." Romero admitted and she thought she saw him almost smile again. Almost smile. Not quite.
"Everyone always is." Norma said sourly and knew she was rolling her eyes.
"I would have guessed he was your little brother or something." Romero added.
Norma wanted to defend herself. To tell him off for such a comment. That she was Dylan's mother and she raised him perfectly.
Instead, she shrugged. Romero hadn't meant it to insult or vilify her motherhood status. His tone had been kind. Just as it had been last night at the motel.
"We've grown up together." She said feeling uncomfortable.
"His last name is different from yours. Mrs. Bates." Romero said as if reminding her of what her last name was.
Norma nodded and wrote down Dylan and Norman as witnesses to Keith Summers coming onto the property.
"I divorced his father. Long time ago." She admitted sadly. "Remarried."
"Is Mr. Bates helping you fix up the motel?" Romero asked. It was almost painful how casual he was trying to sound.
'Whoa.' Norma thought and had to bite her lip not to laugh. 'Put some more bait on that hook.'
She and Dylan would have a good laugh about this when she told him.
'See, Norma, there you go again. Treating Dylan like your best friend and telling him about random men hitting on you. He's your son. That should be the last thing he should care about.' She thought.
"Mr. Bates..." Norma said slowly and tried to sound sad even though she didn't feel it. "Passed away about six months ago."
She saw Romeo's face form that complex web of emotions. Should he express sympathy at her loss? Happiness that she was single? Or try to remain professional and distant.
"Oh." Was all he said.
"The boys and I wanted to start over." She admitted.
"The boys?"
"Dylan and Norman. My sons." She told him waiting for him to look horrified.
He didn't though. His expression was mildly interested.
"Norma... and Norman?" He asked dryly.
'Oh God, he's one of those people.' She thought.
"Yeah." She said.
"Unusual." He said.
"Well, men name their sons after themselves all the time." she told him. She'd decided against the full argument she was used to telling people.
"I'm sure you're right." Romero said. "I don't have a son... so I don't know."
Again, Norma was visited by the idea that he was fishing for something. Perhaps pity. Men like him, men in power, always liked the idea of having a son. At least, that's what she'd always thought.
"Norman just started school this week. Sophomore." She said proudly.
"Bus comes right up to the motel." Romero added. Showing off how well he knew the town. "Although that might change when the bypass comes at the end of the year."
Norma looked up at him.
"Bypass?" She asked. The word sounded important. Important enough to change Norman's bus stop.
Romero nodded.
"What bypass?" She asked unsure of what just happened.
"The bypass that will start about five miles from your place. City planners have been having to deal with a lot of through traffic coming into downtown. We don't have the roads for it and they want to keep downtown a walking area." Romero explained.
"And... this bypass will start five miles from my motel?" Norma asked.
"You didn't know about this?" Romero asked. "Your realtor didn't-"
"No, he didn't-" Norma interrupted. "The guy who sold me the house looked like he just dropped out of community college. I bought it at foreclosure."
She could feel her blood pressure rising. A bypass like what Romero was describing court cut off traffic to her her business completely. She'd be bankrupt before she even got started.
"No, I had no idea." She said feeling defeated. She glanced up at Sheriff Romero who offered no helpful solutions.
"I thought they would want people... downtown." She said lamely.
"The city council has contracts with... big box stores." Romero explained carefully. "Means jobs that we need. We'll have an off ramp to downtown."
"Well, who can I talk to about an off ramp to my motel?" Norma asked feeling the urge to cry. She realized her voice was doing that thing again. Pitching high to sound like a little girl. Dylan was always complaining about it. How it was manipulative and he wasn't going to fall for it. They would have some of their worst fights when she would cry and he wouldn't give her her way. What was worse, was how he'd encourage Norman to just ignore her to. Like she was a toddle throwing a tantrum. It made her feel even more as if she'd failed Dylan as mother.
Romero looked at her with a slight nod of compassion.
"Finish filling these out." He nodded to the forms. "I know Lee Berman. He's head of the city council. They don't have a meeting for another six months, but I'll call and see if he can talk to you."