Touch Too Much Read online

  Touch Too Much

  Touch of Gray, Book Three

  Leia Howard

  Copyright © 2020 Leia Howard

  https://authorleia.blogspot.com

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  eBook ISBN: B0852RCZTB

  Cover design by: MatYan

  DEDICATION

  Thank you to Veronica and Cole for the beta reads. As always, mistakes are my own.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  EPILOGUE

  WORLD OF TOUCH OF GRAY

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Welcome, everyone, to our last preparatory meeting for the upcoming new Psycept Police Divisional training. I appreciate you giving up a large portion of your Saturday morning for this. This is the first time we’ve all met together as the full group and I’m going to do a brief roll call for the record.

  “First up, our Psycept Police Division in Albuquerque. We have Sheriff Helki, sub-chief of Bosque region, and Lt. Setimika who is newly arrived to lead the Psycept Division. We also have the three unit sergeants Sully Randolph, Alicia Tamez, and our newest addition Catori along with Divisional assistant extraordinaire Mark.

  “In our central police headquarters in Wir-Kiva, we have Police Chief Yanaba, Head Police Instructor Sgt. Hototo, and Lead Trainer Kaliska who will be conducting the classroom instruction.

  “Finally, from my palatial home office, I’m Gray, the project manager and host of this video conference. We’re devoting two hours to this call and we have a lot to cover, so I propose we begin.

  “The first agenda topic is an overview of the four-week schedule, so we’re sure everyone knows what days and weeks they will be in attendance. Each week has three days of training, Monday through Wednesday. Week one is Sully and Lt. Setimika, week two will have Sgts. Tamez and Catori for the week, and week three will be Sheriff Helki and Chief Yanaba. Also, because Wednesdays has country of origin training, there will be some sergeants, lieutenants, or chiefs that require additional training on the country featured that day. Week four will be a relief for Trainer Kaliska as she won’t have to travel down here and she also won’t have to put up with y’all anymore, it’ll be completely new detectives and officers.”

  “Gray, if I were not so diplomatic, I would say I am greatly anticipating week four. Having guests in training is nice, but what is that saying about visitors and fish?”

  “Kaliska, you said it and I agree. Also, we really appreciate your willingness to come down to Albuquerque for the first three weeks and conduct training here for our existing detectives and officers in the division. It’s easier to have one or two people to travel here than sixty plus people travel up there. The training itself also makes sure everyone’s information is consistent and up to date, and it fosters team building by sending them through with their new units. Chief Yanaba and Sgt. Hototo, we also thank you for agreeing to come here. Mark, can you take us through the setup?”

  “Sure, Gray. Each week will consist of fifteen detectives and forty-five officers. In addition, we’ll have our two leaders per week and visitors on Wednesdays. We’re using a large capacity meeting room and the computers requisitioned for the new hires. Once the third week of training is complete, we’ll move the equipment to the empty desks in the Psycept Police Division to await the arrival of the new graduates coming from Wir-Kiva.”

  “Great planning with the resources, Mark. Instructor Kaliska, can you take us through the first two days of Psycept Police training? Please highlight any considerations you’re making for the fact that the first three weeks are existing Psycept Police.”

  “Happily, Gray. I have uploaded the full training schedule that will be used for new detectives or officers. We will follow the same topics for the retrain, let me point out how I will tailor the information for existing police units.

  “Our first day is very similar to the old Psycept training and seeing that much of this is a retread of information, some info will be reviewed in an interactive quiz session. I will divide the trainees into teams and have a trivia game to spark their competitive nature. However, since it has been several years since many were originally trained for the Psycept unit and the GT has added new settlements in the meantime, discussion of the seven Psycept settlements will be more formal.

  “Finally, I will cover the new divisional setup with no adjustments for prior training. With the Psycept unit increasing to a full division including a unit’s worth of new detectives and officers being added, plus a third sergeant and new lieutenant, the restructuring of smaller units, and how cases are assigned changing, I want to cover the full scope of this new Division. This is merely a topic expansion of the changes the sergeants have prepared their people for.

  “Monday afternoon will be devoted to Psycept categories,” Kaliska continues. “We will discuss all and highlight examples when the police may work with each category on a case. For new hires, over half of the time will be spent on TouchVoyants since they handle the majority of Psycept cases that involve police investigation. For the retraining, I will have them break into smaller groups and create an FAQ or pamphlet about each of the seven categories then present their results.

  “Day two is the nitty gritty, Psycept database and police procedures. Looking at the agenda, I will quickly list the specifics for the retrains. Psycept database assignments, their main screen will now display the cases grouped by country rather than the Psycept. I will show them how to drill down and sort their individual cases from that. Navigation, the same. Case notes, the Psycept database will continue to have all the consultant notes, recording, and reports. We have added a link to the police database where the detectives and officers will continue to detail any investigation or communication handled by police. Psycepts will still not have access to the police database, but they will now see the police case number to reference through email or phone if they need to contact the detective assigned to the case. We will continue to restrict access of vasmaj police and Psycept departments from other conservatorships.

  “Next is the protocol and procedures of handling Psycept cases. I will make sure the retrainees know where all this information is housed and will have a scavenger hunt for them to navigate the system and answer specific questions. We have a new training category regarding PCSS and that will be instructed in full by Director Lowell. This ends the first two days of training.”

  “That sounds great, Kaliska. Lt. Setimika and I look forward to being with you for the first week. Hopefully the two of us can corral the unit and you’ll show them that they don’t know everything about Psycept policework. Be sure to let us know if you have pushback from anyone, but our presence should discourage that.”

  “Yes, thank you, Kaliska. Sully, you segued yourself right into the next topic. We’re going to talk about the morning materials of day three, which is to say the country of origin-specific training. Sully, the floor is yours.”

  “Sure, Gray. Week one will be specific to the US. Jurisdiction; federal, state
, and local police and their rankings; basic laws both criminal and civilian; evidence and witnesses. The training guide is uploaded to our shared site. I’ll be doing the training that morning with Kaliska and Sgt. Hototo as observers as they will be handling this for any new recruits. Sgt. Catori, Lt. Setimika, and Chief Yanaba will also be in attendance to learn the country’s specifics. Sheriff Helki and Sgt. Tamez will be spared as they know this information and helped me write the material.”

  “I’ll be going over the particulars for Mexico on week two,” Sgt. Tamez takes up speaking. “The three major-Spanish speaking conservatorships are Cochise, Llano Estacado, and us. As neither CoCon nor Lla-Esta have Psycept communities, the bulk of Psycept cases from Mexico are handled by SWACon. Even if the petition happens to be claimed by a Psycept in another conservatorship, our police handle the investigative part as it’s in Spanish. Because of this, I’ll conduct the training in Spanish and the training materials are written in Spanish. Both Kaliska and Sgt. Hototo will observe my session, but the sergeant will take point for new hires due to his fluency in reading and writing Spanish since Kaliska feels less comfortable in Spanish literacy. As she is not the only person on SWACon that feels less comfortable in reading Spanish than speaking it, I’ve also provided an English language training manual for reference if ever needed.”

  “I guess it’s time for me to discuss the third week” Sheriff Helki says. “I’ll be covering the cases that originate from Canada. Sgt. Catori will be the sergeant over this unit, but she’ll be learning the structure basically at the same time as her direct reports. Don’t worry about this, Catori. Canada is refreshingly easy in their structure as they have the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that serve as federal, provincial, and municipal police in most instances. There are just a few exceptions that we will discuss. When the third week’s training is complete, we’ll have a fully trained and up-to-date Psycept Police Division, as we’ve envisioned.”

  “Sheriff Helki, I want to commend your region and specifically the Psycept Police Division for taking on this tremendous task. After the training is complete and the new detectives and officers in place, this Division will have sixty detectives, one hundred and eighty officers, three sergeants, and one lieutenant. You will also soon work with over thirteen hundred Psycept Police consultants, by far the largest of the seven conservatorships. I look forward to bragging about this at our annual SWACon meeting and our Chiefs of Police gathering.”

  “Thank you, Chief Yanaba. With that glowing praise, I feel that the last item discussing the detective training is a bit anticlimactic. Sergeant, if you will?”

  “I appreciate the great setup, Gray,” Sgt. Hototo responds sarcastically. “As we heard, Wednesday morning is the country-specific information and after that concludes, the officers will be dismissed for the day. Detectives will return in the afternoon to have a session with me. For the retraining classes, this will be half professional interaction and half Q&A time. Other units or divisions have a clear separation of officer and detectives. Officers are out in the community interacting with the people they serve, and they report to the watch sergeant. Detectives investigate crimes and have their own detective sergeants they report to. They interact with officers, but usually only to gain information about the incident they have been called to investigate.

  “The Psycept Police Division is different. The detectives have three officers on their team and provide direct task assignments. I am going to make sure that the existing detectives have the necessary soft skills to be team leaders. The detectives will now be working on cases with a multitude of Psycepts, before they had about twenty Psycepts they worked with. I want to make sure they can handle working with a variety of different people and personalities. The fourth week’s new detectives will be easier since I am developing their team leader skills and I’m not having to change the way they handle workload. I get to work with them from the ground up, as opposed to renovating an existing detective. New trainees will spend Thursday and Friday with traditional training. Detectives will learn investigative techniques and new officers will have practice scenarios with a final exam Friday afternoon. But for the retrainees, their session ends Wednesday.”

  “We appreciate you working to enhance our detectives’ leadership skills, Sgt. Hototo. This may be a good opportunity for me to ask a question,” Lieutenant Setimika interjects. “Can we discuss the selection of the new officers and detectives? In addition, while I am happy to now be a part of this Division, I do not come from the Psycept police ranks and I am getting some questions as to why I am now in charge. I will not go into specifics, but I would like to have some talking points to address these issues.”

  “Seti, I’ll address you and Catori here on the call, so all parties who may be questioned have the same information,” Sheriff Helki answers. “For Catori, with the reorganization and expansion of the Psycept Police Division, I need a third sergeant. Catori was a detective with the Hohokam police region for eight years and passed her sergeant exam a year ago. There just hasn’t been a sergeant position available in SWACon. I could’ve promoted a Psycept detective to sergeant, but only one has taken the exam and that was just a month ago. Catori has seniority and I didn’t feel that I could pass her by yet again, just because her Psycept experience is minimal. Your case is even more stark, Seti. Neither Tamez nor Randolph have been sergeants long enough to qualify for lieutenant and there is no path for a detective to become a lieutenant and skip being a sergeant. You’ve been a lieutenant of a small department in Mesa Verde for over a year and were a sergeant for five years before that. In addition, you were one of the detectives from Chaco region that came to help Sheriff Lowell at the first arrival of the Psycepts, before a Psycept unit was even created. So, you have unique Psycept experience.”

  Now that’s interesting. I had one brief interaction with Helki and Setimika when I first arrived. Helki was an officer who recently passed his detective’s exam. He was waiting for detective training and region reassignment so decided to come and help the then Sheriff Lowell in the meantime. However, it seems Setimika was already a detective. I next met Helki seven years later when he arrived as the new Sheriff of Bosque. Sheriff is the title, but the position is sub-chief of police and Helki is over police in the entire Bosque region of Southwestern Alliance Conservatorship, or SWACon. I wonder how Helki took over for Lowell as sheriff eight years ago while Setimika is a newer lieutenant. My limited knowledge tells me that Setimika is the norm while Sheriff Helki had a meteoric rise through the ranks.

  “So that leaves me with the recruit selection question,” Chief Yanaba says. “The new detectives come from me. I, like Sheriff Helki, decided to no longer prioritize Psycept officers for promotions within the division. When the Psycept unit was first created, it was staffed by officers from Albuquerque. This is standard, officers stay in the region they originate from while detectives are reassigned from other regions. My predecessor decided to make an exception and promote Psycept officers to Psycept detectives as we needed to quickly ramp up the unit and the Psycept police learning curve is steep. After the initial three years of chaos, the tradition of promoting within the unit was in place. Now, I see this as a perfect opportunity to put the Psycept Police Division back in line with the rest of the conservatorship. I have a backlog of officers that have passed their detective exams and are waiting for positions to open. I have fifteen new detective positions opening here. Should I promote only Psycept officers as they have Psycept experience? No, I should not. Psycept cases can be taught, just like homicide or assault or robbery. So, I promoted the new detectives from the other three regions, which is aligning the Division back to the standard practice. Any current Psycept officers that have passed the detective or sergeant exam have been added to the pool for the next available position in one of the other three regions. The new officers were selected from police academy applicants from Bosque and all officers need to know that becoming a Psycept officer is no longer a fast track to a detective.”
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  That internal friction is more than I need to know, and I take it as a sign for me to conclude the conference. “Thank you both for the explanations and I am sure this knowledge will come in handy to those that are asked questions regarding this. To summarize, Chief Yanaba has authorized fifteen new detectives and forty-five new officers to be added to the Psycept Police Division. New officers were selected from the Bosque candidate pool by the Division leaders and are currently undergoing police academy training at Wir-Kiva. The detectives were promoted from other regions and are wrapping up any current cases and preparing to move to Albuquerque. In three weeks, all new personnel will undergo additional Psycept specific training which will be held in Wir-Kiva going forward.

  “But for now, everything is set for the first group, to go through the revamped Psycept Police training beginning Monday. The current Psycept police have been assigned to their new country-of-origin units and will undergo retraining here in Albuquerque over the next three weeks.

  “It was nice working with everyone, great teamwork. We’ll meet this Thursday to discuss the first week, then again when we have our formal project review and analysis discussion in one month. If you need anything from me beforehand, please contact me. Thank you.” And finally, the conference, and the project itself, ends. All I have left is the review and analysis, but that is a headache for future me.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I have enough time before the next call to let Echo outside to stretch his legs in the dog run. At five months, he’s midway up my thigh and a solid thirty pounds. He has a couple more inches to grow and about ten more pounds until he reaches adult size. To reach the dog run at the back of the property, we go through the sunroom. In addition to serving as the exit to the back yard, the sunroom is also the dog area where Echo’s bed, blanket, toys, and food and water bowls are kept. The doggie door that leads to the half-acre enclosed dog run is securely locked to prevent Echo from running back and forth between the inside of the house and the outside dog run. One-third of the dog run is sand for digging and laying on, especially in warmer weather. The other two-thirds is tall fescue grass that is drought tolerant of Albuquerque’s semi-arid environment. The original plan was when the weather warms, I’ll close the door between the sunroom and the rest of the house and let Echo ping-pong between the sunroom and the dog run. He’ll be old enough to keep himself company by then. Also, in that time, Kyle will help me build an obstacle course for Echo to help with his energy as he’s a Border collie and is very task-oriented.