No one needed to know her dubious history that she was still trying to get over.
So Sorcha shrugged. “Don’t know. Guess I’m just unlucky.” And a little too accurate with her aim.
Uncomfortable with this line of questioning, Sorcha cleared her throat and glanced about the old Victorian mansion that had been converted into an office building. The former living room was now a reception area and the woman before her was quite…
Something.
Tall, thin and with dark skin that was smooth and perfect, Bernadette was beauty incarnate. She had short sister locks that framed a face Sorcha could tell was used to smiling and laughing.
She liked her already.
Even if she was nosy.
“What did you do to be sentenced here?” she couldn’t resist asking Bernadette.
“Girl…that is a long and lengthy list. Let’s just say it involved a police captain, a night stick that went some place it shouldn’t have, and a bite that may or may not have been infectious.”
Sorcha felt her jaw go slack. That sounded almost as bad as what she’d done. “Wait… Seriously, what did you do?”
“Oh, you heard me.” Propping her elbow on the top of the desk, Bernadette rested her chin on the back of her hand and smiled. “Not like he didn’t deserve it. He did. Trust me, I wouldn’t have risked rabies or parvo lightly. Anyway, I’ve been here five years and love it. You will too once you get used to your coworkers. We’re all a little…unique.”
“Bernadette! Would you stop trying to scare off the new hire.”
Bernadette scoffed. “Not a new hire. She’s a transfer, like me. I want to know the dirt on her, and I will find it.” She leaned forward and whispered behind her hand to Sorcha, “That’s my special skill.”
Shaking her head, a short middle-aged brunette joined them. She held her hand out to Sorcha. “Captain Elana Reyes. Nice to meet you.”
Sorcha shook her hand. “And you, Captain.”
“Elana, please. We’re not that formal around here.” She slid an irritated glance toward Bernadette. “Will you get back to your real desk and let Ryan have hers?”
With an impressive dramatic gesture, Bernadette rolled herself back from the desk and stood up. “I wanted to meet the new one first. Shoot me.”
“Keep it up and I might.” Elana winked at Sorcha. “That’s how I got sentenced here.”
“That is true,” Bernadette said. “Which is why I’m going upstairs right now before she gets an itchy trigger finger. See y’all later.” She gave an impudent wave of her hand as she left the room.
Confused, Sorcha turned toward her new boss. “Is she another detective?”
Elana nodded. “My second-in-command, Lieutenant Bernadette Corwin. Her skill is intuition and clairvoyance, in addition to research. She’s like a magpie on a shiny object.”
“And yours?”
“I’m the boss at Infernal Affairs, which means my special power is not losing my shit when someone does something they’re not supposed to. Let that not be any kind of encouragement for you to break rules. As my father used to say…shit rolls downhill. I will always have your back, but please remember that I really do have an itchy trigger finger. And everyone has a breaking point. Please don’t be mine.”
Given that she had a similar itchy trigger finger and father, Sorcha felt an immediate kinship with the captain. She also suspected there was a lot more to the captain than she let on. In fact, she could feel something “special” about Elana Reyes besides patience.
“How many detectives are there here?”
“Eight altogether, including you.” Elana stepped back and gestured to her right. “Shall I give you the grand tour?”
“Sure.”
The captain indicated the room where they stood. “The front desk here is normally occupied by our office manager, Ryan Braddach. Not sure where she’s run off to at the moment, but I know she’ll be right back. She’s extremely reliable.” She led Sorcha past a small waiting area in front of a bay window to a set of double doors. “This is one of our interrogation rooms.”
Nice. It held a small table and four chairs.
Along with a very thick chain that came out of the wall and made her wonder who or, more to the point, what they interrogated. That thing looked big enough to handle a rhino.
