“Alright. Kirk, Torres, Flynn, you each take two of Patten’s seven. Catlin?”
“I’m scheduled for court this afternoon, Chief. I’ll be there from lunchtime onwards.”
“Yep. Which means I’m pulling the mystery body out and seeing what I see.”
Aubree glances left. Right. Questioning. Curious. “And me, Chief?”
“You’re with me. Always.” I set my ruler back on my desk. “If the phones ring, we’ll allocate cases as they come in. Remember to exercise willpower today andnotget caught up in watching the computer nerds doing their thing. Otherwise…” I tip my chin toward the door and release them without saying the words. “Oh, and Doctor Raquel?”
She makes a whole production of climbing off the sofa, extending her long, grasshopper-like legs and grunting like she’s ninety, and not a spry thirty-something. “Yeah, Chief? What’s up?”
“I’ll find time to come down today so we can do that thing.”
“Sounds dirty.” She strides across my office and drags the door wide. “Y’all! The boss just solicited me for something illicit and inappropriate!”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. Was it only a few minutes ago that I felt peppy and excited for work? Energized and able to take on the world. “Doctor Raquel?”
“She waited for y’all to leave so she could say those things to me!” she hollers. “I. Am. Scandalized!”
“She’s exhausting.” Aubree drops her not-very-practical military skirted butt into my single visitor’s chair. “What’s on the agenda today besides our mystery body, Boss? You think it might be quiet?”
Just like that, my phone trills with an incoming call that makes her wrinkle her nose. “Yeesh. I think I jinxed us.” She picks it up and grits her teeth. “This is Doctor Emeri speaking.”
ARCHER
“Welcome back.” Fletch claps my shoulder and circles my desk to his, pulling out his chair and tugging the ball cap off his head as sweat already makes his hair wet. He wears jeans, like he always does, and an unbuttoned t-shirt over a chest-hugging tank I know he wears purely to torment Seraphina Lewis whenever she’s nearby.
Seraphina, also known as Sera, also known as Fifi when Minka wants to piss her off, is so ridiculously prim and proper. She’s delicate and uptight and won’t dare admit she has a thing for the rough, little-bit-sweaty, single dad homicide detective she loves to loathe.
But she looks at him when he wears certain shirts.
And he looks at her… always.
“Is this summer ever gonna end, or what?” He drops into his chair with a grunt, air whistling from the cushion almost as obnoxiously as if he just let a fart rip. Then he slaps his hat onto his knee and drops his elbows onto his desk. “The air in my building is on its last legs, my daughter’s in the habit of waking at two a.m.every single nightand dragging herself and three hundred of her favorite Care Bears intomybed, and then she has this thing where she curls into every nook and cranny I own. I didn’t even realize Ihadnooks or crannies till I had a daughter!” He sits back and sends his chair into a squeaking frenzy, bringing his hands up and the heels of his palms to his eyes. “I get that she’s a baby of trauma, and it’s not like I have a problem with her need for physical contact. ButJesus, Arch. It’s embarrassing how much we sweat. I’ve gotta change the sheets every damn day.”
“Mmhm. Life sure is hard for you, bruh.”
He drops his hands and hits me with a glare. “I’m considering putting puppy pads under us. Save me the extra laundry. Now my baby girl’s living the high life, lounging by the pool over at Resort Malone, Cato’s spoiling her rotten, Mary’s stuffing chilled fruit down her throat, Sera drops by at least once a day, butneverwhen I’m there, and Steve’s serving up all the grandpa vibes her own grandparents are too useless to provide.”
“So, you’re jealous of your own kid?”
“I’msofuckin’ jealous it makes me sick,” he chuckles, slumping back in his chair and spreading his legs wide. “I wish I knew what generational wealth felt like. I wish my daddy was a crooked, good-for-nothing sack of shit who left me oodles of money and boyhood trauma, too.”
“Really?”
“Mmm. Cos I’ve got the crooked, good-for-nothing sack of shit trauma stuff on lock. But my folks forgot to leave me my money. Now I’m sweating it up in Sauna Fletcher instead of, ya know…”
“Resort Malone.” Amused, I fold my arms and set my feet on top of my desk. If Lieutenant Fabian comes out and sees me like this, he’ll probably kick my ass. But I risk it. Just for a few minutes. Just for as long as my best friend needs to cool off and stop sweating through his shirt. “Have you considered appealing to your landlord and getting a new AC installed?”
He snorts. “Yeah. Same time we chatted about how he keeps driving my rent up, even though the toilet only flushesmostof the time. Or when the shower started pushing brown water out. He was totally receptive to my constructive feedback.”
“Sounds like a cool dude. Have you considered moving across to Minka’s building? I heard they’re getting a brand-new HVAC system installed soon.”
“Yeah? Where’d you hear that? Last I checked, that place was an oven too.”
I heard about it when I approved the work order for immediate start. That way, the next time my wife needs a minute to herself in the height of summer, she won’t die of heat exposure.
But I don’t tell him that, because then we’ll circle back to the thing about generational wealth and whatnot.
