Page 7 of Property of Whiskey

“He’ll blame your outfit.”

She looks down at the bodysuit. “It cost two hundred dollars.”

“It sounds like busted windshield wipers.”

“Jealous.”

“Deeply.”

She grins and shifts the ice pack. “Whiskey was watching you again.”

I open my locker. “Everybody was watching me. That’s generally the point of wrestling.”

“He doesn’t watch everybody like that.”

She watches me through the green-tinted mirror while I pull out my uniform shirt.

“That biker watches anything he thinks he can steal.”

“Maybe he wants to steal you.”

“Then he better bring help.”

Sheila laughs, but I keep my back to her as I peel off my gear.

Mostly because I don’t want her seeing my face.

Whiskey does watch me.

I’ve noticed it for months. I pull on my undershirt, then button my uniform shirt one snap at a time while watching myself in the mirror. Whiskey looks at me the way men aren’t supposed to look at women carrying badges. There’s no caution in it. No calculation about my father or my job. No nervous glance toward Sheriff Dix as if Daddy might leap from the bushes with a shotgun.

Every boy I dated in high school was terrified of my father. Every man I tried dating after joining the department was scared of both of us. The last one asked if I could leave my service weapon in the car because it made him uncomfortable. I asked if I could leave him in the car instead.

Whiskey ain’t scared.

That should make him appealing. Instead, it makes him dangerous.

I drag my uniform pants over my hips, tuck in my shirt, and reach for my radio.

It crackles before I can clip it to my belt.

“Unit twelve, respond to the Piggly Wiggly on Paradise Road. Possible disturbance in progress.”

I close my eyes.

Sheila snorts behind me.

The radio crackles again. “Caller reports two women fighting near frozen foods. One may be armed with a ham.”

Sheila lowers the ice pack and stares at my radio.

I press the button. “Unit twelve, show me en route.”

Then I let my hand drop.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“A whole ham?” Sheila asks.