Page 24 of Flash Freeze

With a good-natured laugh, Flash motioned to the full grocery cart. “At least you won’t starve. Hey, it was good running into you. I’m really glad you’re OK.”

“Thanks. I’m glad you’re OK too. Now, I can’t use the 15-item-or-less lane to check out, so I’d better get in one of those hour-long waits. Don’t be a stranger.”

Flash watched Nikki push her cart out of sight, nostalgia warming her. Nikki was cute, and they’d had fun dancing at clubs, drinking too much, and romping under the sheets. But to be honest, she hadn’t thought about her in years. Athena was a different story. Every time they were together, or even talked over the phone, the yearning in her heart grew stronger. Something lasting had formed between them—at least on Flash’s side. She had to play this right, so she didn’t chase Athena away.

Valentine’s Day, she thought. I can’t go shopping in this chaos, unless it’s online. I’ll have to think of something.

Flash breathed fresh air upon exiting the crowded grocery store and stowed her purchases in her saddlebags, tucking the fragile wine bottle into Snuffles’ carrier. She put up with the crazy traffic, unloaded her baked ziti ingredients, then braved the chaos again to pick up Snuffles from the groomer.

“Snuffles!” She opened her arms with enthusiasm when Louise brought her out.

“All done,” Louise said. “She was a perfect little lady, so well behaved.”

At once, the little dog’s eyes lit, tail wagged, and she wiggled to get free. Flash took her in her arms and received a tongue bath as a prize.

“You look and smell so much better,” Flash praised. “I can’t wait to show Athena how beautiful you are. Thanks,” she said to Louise.

Horns honked, and brakes squealed as Flash negotiated her way home. She passed two fender-benders. “Shift tomorrow’s going to be busy,” she told Snuffles.

Back at her loft, Flash straightened up and vacuumed, wanting everything to look good for her date. Her heart danced whenever she picked up something of Athena’s and carefully tucked it into a dedicated drawer. That drawer was getting full. Maybe I can get her to move in one shirt at a time, she thought. A pair of hose here, shoes there, her shampoo in my shower. She liked it. It felt right.

But her loft was so common, so ordinary, not good enough for the woman she loved. Athena’s condo was newer, more expensive, but not better. The mansion in Piney Point Village was where she pictured Athena living, where she deserved to be. Flash plopped onto the bed, her shoulders slumping. It was so far away from Station Eight. She could transfer to a firehouse in the suburbs, but her friends, her team, her family, were at Eight.

No need borrowing tomorrow’s worries, she told herself. Now, to whip up an easy meal that tastes like I slaved in the kitchen for hours before Athena gets here.

Snuffles barked from the living room. Flash meandered out to see what she wanted. She sat, pretty as you please, draped in a red heart-covered bandana big enough on her petite body to look like a superhero cape, with a stuffed lamb lying in front of her paws. “Arf!” Her tail wagged.

Flash jutted in like a football running back, crouched low, zigging and zagging, and snatched the toy. She squeaked it, getting Snuffles even more excited. The pup danced on her hind legs, stretching as tall as possible. Flash threw the lamb, and four paws scrambled on the hardwood floor as she sprang into the chase. Snuffles seized the stuffy in her mouth and thrashed it back and forth, flinging it high into the air. She raced after it, tossing, pouncing, shaking, and flinging. If it had been a mouse or a rat, that’s exactly how she would have dispatched it.

After a vigorous attack, Snuffles brought the “dead” stuffed lamb to Flash, dropped it at her feet, and grinned up with a happy, panting face, anticipation radiating off her well-groomed body.

“What a good girl!” Flash praised and rewarded her with a small treat. “You’ll have to show Athena when she gets here. She’ll be impressed.”

Snuffles beamed.

Chapter 12

They questioned and released Omar Nasif. Athena was convinced he wasn’t involved, but another of Ice and Hernandez’s suspects appeared more promising. She stared at the file on chemist Wayne Butler.

“Agent Ice, did you or Hernandez check out Butler’s alibi?” Travis and Samuel had just returned from taking Nasif back to his hovel.

“I called his mother,” Travis confirmed, “and she said he stayed over. But she fell asleep around nine p.m. after taking her medication, so it’s shaky at best.”

“If we get a warrant, we could check the GPS on his car,” Hernandez suggested, “see if he took a jaunt across town in the middle of the night.”

Athena shook her head. “The file says they tried that last time he was a suspect. Butler owns the Acura RDX outright and removed the GPS tracking system from it. We’ll keep him on the list.”

“No rooftop chase for us,” Campbell said, a hint of disappointment in his tone, “but one of our names, Matthew Reid, also out on parole, is nowhere to be found.”

“We checked his residence, called his cell phone number,” Shoops said, “and contacted his employer. Today is his day off, but she expects him to be at work tomorrow.”

“The other guy is in a wheelchair after being shanked in the back in prison,” Campbell added. “He was home alone and let us look around. No bomb-making materials, and, even if he made one, it’s unlikely he planted it in that generator.”

“We’ll keep Reid on the list and try him again tomorrow,” Athena said.

“Hey, look at this!” Detective Bach peered around the monitor on Agent Howard’s desk. Athena said he should make himself useful. “Can I put it up on that big screen?”

“Campbell, make it happen.” While Paulson usually played with the electronics, they all knew how to display something on the wall screen. Campbell moved to Howard’s desk, punched the right buttons, and used a remote control to activate the six-foot-wide screen.