When Mac pulled in, I was standing in the parking lot waiting for him. I had already briefed him on the phone about the license plate, and he was excited to help. This was totally up his alley.
“I can see it now,” Mac said. “And the Emmy for best documentary television program goes to…”
“I know. We keep this up and you and I can retire from TV and transition to secret agents,” I said.
“I like it,” Mac said. “I’ll wear a tux and go undercover in Monte Carlo. ” He winked at me, jumped in the SUV and took off.
I turned to walk back into the station when I saw Rose approaching me. It was nine in the morning, but she was dressed in skintight black vinyl pants and a black and gold corset top that squeezed her in all the right places. She had a beige pashmina draped over her shoulder – a fruitless attempt to look dignified in a place of law. My guess was that she was out late last night and, instead of changing after the club, she came straight here. I was wearing a meager pair of blue jeans with a t-shirt that said “California” on it. I had thought I looked okay when I left my apartment this morning, but now I was rethinking that.
Rose walked right up to me. She looked like she was going to hit me or something, but there was no time to run. I had to face her.
“You seem to be everywhere I am lately,” she said to me. Her bright red lipstick was smeared, probably from her late-night make-out session with Kitt.
“What are you doing here, Rose?” I asked.
“I came to talk to your friends. Alone.”
She pushed past me, and I followed her inside. I signaled to the front desk officer that she was okay to enter. We walked into the war room, where she spotted Foxy sitting at his desk.
Rose turned to me. “Where’s the other one?”
“He’s home, taking a shower.”
“Too bad. I got all dressed up for him.” Her eyes narrowed. “I figured since you tried mine, I could try yours.”
“Detective Reid isn’t mine, we just work together. Besides, he wouldn’t be interested in consorting with a murder suspect,” I countered.
Foxy stood up from his desk and walked towards us. Rose leaned into me. “We wouldn’t be consorting, honey – we’d be fucking. His big hands on my breasts, in between my thighs…”
Now I was getting mad. She was crazy if she thought she was going after Reid. Even if he wasn’t mine, she thought he was, and I didn’t like her talking about him like that. I didn’t like violence, but this chick was getting me really worked up. I was two seconds away from grabbing her hair when Foxy walked over to us.
“Sharpe, I think I can take things from here. Rosario, how can I help you?”
“You can start by telling your girl here to stay the fuck away from me,” Rose spat.
“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m trying to help find your boyfriend’s killer,” I corrected. “Although you didn’t seem too broken up about it last night when you were going after my sloppy seconds!”
“Wait, I thought nothing happened?” Foxy said, looking uncomfortable.
“It didn’t,” I said. “But he wanted me.”
“Ha!” Rose laughed. “You couldn’t handle him.”
Manny, who was sitting at our crew desk, jumped up and came over. “Hey, can I help over here? More to the point, can I get in between you two while you go at it?”
“Shut up, Manny!” I said.
“Thank you Vicky, that’ll be all,” Foxy said, dismissing me with his glare. I backed off and Manny walked me outside.
“Why you getting so heated, chica?”
“She was just saying stuff about Reid.”
“You’ve got the hots for him, right?” Manny asked.
“No. Look – be quiet. A lot of stuff went on last night that you don’t know about.”
“Between you and the detective?”
“No, just forget it, okay? She’s just pissed at me because I flirted with someone she liked.”
“Not that crazy hot rodder, right, chica? Oh man – you went after that dude?”