I Can't Believe My New Girlfriend is a New York Cop

By Leigh Madison

Mike Howard is a British reporter for Favorite Magazine in NYC. His latest assignment sends him upstate to interview witnesses to an event. On his way back to the city he is pulled over by the police. Mike is completely captivated by the female police officer, Brooke Webb, that deals with him and he asks her for a date. She is reluctant at first but after checking him out decides to go. The relationship quickly gathers pace with it often becoming fiery and humorous.
After Mike's story is written up but with the wrong photos added, all hell breaks loose after submission for publishing. Covert Ops personnel arrive at the magazine building and Mike's witnesses start turning up dead. Now they're coming for him. It seems that Brooke is the only one he can trust and she's going to try to get Mike out of the country asap.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leigh Madison
• Release date: Sep 5, 2020

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I Can’t Believe My New Girlfriend is a New York City Cop

By

Leigh Madison

Smashwords Edition

Copyright: Leigh Madison 2020

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This eBook may contain some historical events; however, they have been fictionalized. All persons appearing in this work are fictitious or names used for dramatic purposes only. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

I Can’t Believe My New Girlfriend is a New York City Cop

‘Oh, Damn and Blast!’

Mike Howard was working for Favorite magazine in New York City. He was hoping to seek his fame and fortune after moving from the UK just over a year ago. The fame and fortune hadn’t arrived yet but the hard work and long hours still prevailed.

To be honest, he didn’t really mind that too much because there was a good crowd working at the magazine and they soon got him into bad drinking habits on Friday’s when everyone clocked off for the weekend and let their hair down.

Today, Mike was pissed off because he’d been given the brown end of the stick by Earl Dronberger the Features Editor. He wanted to tell Earl to stick it, trouble was, it was difficult to refuse as he really needed the work and would just have to suck it up.

Worse, if you can believe it, he’d need to be on the road by four a.m. tomorrow to escape Manhattan’s rush hour before it turned his day into a complete nightmare.

Being more of a night person, Mike detested early morning starts as it found his mood was never at its best. Apparently, he’d always been that way, right from a baby, much to his poor, sleep-deprived, mother’s annoyance. He found out in later life she once told a friend, ‘…anyone that constantly keeps you up so late, soon becomes very difficult to love.’

Ouch!

Over the years, Mike’s previous girlfriends also agreed with his mother, which left a trail of doomed relationships in the rear-view mirror. Night owls are generally looked on as a nuisance.

There was a small bonus to this trip. Getting out of the city at that hour ensured it wasn’t too long before the rising summer sun came up to make the passing view a lot more interesting than the dull cloak of darkness. Away from Manhattan, New York could be quite rural and often making a journey a surprisingly pleasant one, especially in its colourful fall.

Fortunately for Mike, and a little to his surprise, the magazine stumped up the money for a rental BMW 3 Series. That meant he could leave his lovely classic Buick at home and not put unnecessary mileage on it. He loved this car as it brought him great joy, even though its chunky V8 wasn’t considered very eco-friendly these days. However, when out driving, a lot of New Yorkers or its visitors earned Mike many smiles and waves of appreciation at a car that no longer represented America’s ability to make cars with excitement and soul. Sadly, those days were gone. Today, what you got was a vehicle that was reliable, fairly economic, very safe, but dull as ditch water to own.

Mike’s itinerary today would consist of three different but reasonably close locations. The office had arranged interviews after several witnesses called in about an extraordinary event that happened two days ago.

Driving up the scenic Hudson Valley on the I87, Mike was on his way to his first call in Queensbury, after that was Warrensburg before finally heading to Chestertown. Coincidentally, all three towns were to the west of Lake George, where the alleged sightings were supposed to have taken place.

As a reporter, but now due to certain cutbacks, was working a stringer. Mike had covered most topics in his career, yet had never been sent out on a UFO story. Truth to tell, Mike, like a lot of people, possibly like yourself, had mixed feelings on the subject.

Often, many witnesses were regarded with suspicion and generally understood to have a bit of a screw loose or were often considered as attention seekers.

In an effort to remain objective, he wanted to get more insight and balance as he knew the subject was prone to ridicule and dismissiveness by some. So, Mike’s research had him watching last night’s H2 channel that gave him food for thought.

On one particular episode, he discovered quite a few witnesses were actually very credible. Surprisingly, some were serving US Navy pilots that encountered and filmed these incredibly high-speed unknown flying craft whose existence were supported by other reliable military and scientific trained professionals that owned great integrity and many years of experience as skilled observers. You certainly wouldn’t call those people cranks or fantasists. Coming forward with frivolous unfounded reports could seriously jeopardise your career in short order. That’s why only one in a hundred sightings are ever officially reported by the aviation world in the fear you weren’t considered stable.

Deciding to stay neutral and to use whatever confirmable info he could get; Mike now understood his task would be to write up what these witnesses had to say. It was going to be tough, but he would try to make it exciting and hopefully worth reading without straying too far into the realms of fantasy. Damned if you do…

Being a pragmatic kind of guy, Mike’s journalistic experience generally enabled him to quickly sniff out a genuine story from a dead-end. He would have to tread carefully with this because he didn’t want to end up looking a fool and have to take a mountain of shit from all the office jokers at work. Yet, he wanted to treat his witnesses with respect as they took the time to call the magazine.

Arriving in Queensbury, Mike met the Charlton family who were very hospitable and eagerly invited him into their house. It felt like a real family home and oozed happiness.

They fed him coffee and amazing warm cookies straight from the oven not ten minutes ago. This immediate hospitality was an encouraging start, plus he always worked better when well fed.

Ed Charlton was in his sixties and seemed an amicable type of guy. Mike found he warmed to him quickly as the man reminded him of his own grandfather, especially around the eyes.

The Charlton’s neat and tidy retirement property overlooked the pretty Lake George. Anyone would love a weekend away here as it was wonderfully scenic and something of a chocolate-box location. Some would shed a tear when having to go back to their city home after a vacation here.

On taking Mike out to the back of the house, there was a terrific view of the lake. Mike told him that he was completely jealous of this beautiful place. Like a heaven on Earth. Ed smiled and nodded as most people said that. He began by saying that he noticed the strange lights hovering over the lake just before eleven pm two nights ago. His first thoughts were quite natural and presumed they belonged to a large helicopter, possibly an army Chinook out on a night training exercise. However, with a slight wind running in his direction, he should have heard some rotor or engine noise but found it was eerily silent.

Intrigued by this, he called out to his wife Mary to come take a look and also to bring their camera. This was close to Mary’s bedtime and she wondered what on earth Ed was yelling about. It had been a long day and she just wanted to turn in.

Coming outside onto the rear porch, Mary handed the camera to Ed. At that time, she hadn’t looked over to the lake to see what this fuss was about and wondered if Ed was playing a trick on her.

‘Look, can you see that over there?’

‘You mean those lights?’

‘Yes, what do you make of them, Mary?’ Ed reinforced his question by pointing to where she needed to look.

Mary adjusted her glasses for better focus then studied the apparent hovering coloured lights for a few moments.

‘They’re probably those Chinese lanterns, Ed. I expect someone’s got a birthday party over the far side of the lake and they’ve released a few in celebration.’

That did make sense. He hadn’t thought of that, which just reinforced his acceptance that she was the brighter one in their family.

But another thing had puzzled him.

‘Mary, the wind is in our direction, so those lanterns should be heading towards us.’

‘Oh, I don’t know, Ed, but they do look pretty, don’t they? Anyway, I’m off to bed now, don’t be too