Sunday, February 10, 2008

Chapter 3

Ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

“Come on in, Miss,” he called to whoever it was.

“How do you always know it’s me?” a female voice asked from the entry hall. Dashiell got out of the chair, bent over to pick up the spoon, setting it on the desktop next to a fork that lay in repose there, and started walking back up the hallway to greet his guest.

“I didn’t know it was you. Could have been any woman.” He entered the main foyer inside his door and nodded to the woman who was standing there. “Hello Regina. What can I do for Metro’s finest?”

“You didn’t answer my question, Dash.” She stood about eight inches over five feet, lean, with a runner’s body, and a crop of bright red hair. It exploded from the back of her head like a firework on the Fourth of July. She had been growing it out recently, but it wasn’t quite long enough for a full ponytail yet.

“Well that makes us even, since you didn’t answer mine.” He leaned against the doorjamb that separated the foyer from the hall.

“I asked you first.” She was dressed in street clothes, not a uniform, but professional, the black skirt suit showing off muscular legs. She was wearing sensible, closed-toe flats. Even standing perfectly still, she looked like she was full of energy, ready to burst out at any second.

“What are you, twelve?”

She stuck her tongue out at him, as if to prove his point.

“Keep that up, your face will freeze like that.”

“Is that a threat?” she asked, in mock affront.

He chuckled. “If I had that power, I’d have used it on you long ago, Detective. Now what brings you to see me?”

She arched an eyebrow at him, then grinned wickedly. “If there’s something strange in the neighborhood,” she sang. “Who you gonna call?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Very funny, Regina. Now you have something for me, or are you just here to bust my chops?”

“Can’t it be both?” she asked, smiling innocently. When he responded with nothing more than a flat stare, she decided it was time to get to the point. “We have a strange case and the Captain asked me to see if you might be interested in a little work.”

At the word “work,” Dashiell perked up considerably. “What’s up?”

“There’s been a break-in at the National Zoo,” suddenly, she was all business.

“What makes you think it has anything to do with the occult?”

“Captain wasn’t specific. Just said he got a sense the occult might be involved. I got the call on my way into the office this morning. Asked me to stop by on my way up there, see if you might be interested in joining us. I just assumed we always called you for all that ‘eye of newt, wing of bat’ stuff.”

“Well, I’m always happy to assist the Metro Police in their investigations,” he said.

“Funny, that’s not how I remembered it when you worked the Bureau. Why the change of heart?” she asked.

“Well,” he said, a smile returning to his face as he grabbed his jacket, “these days, I can charge you when Metro gets in my way.”

Next>

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dresden files, much?

Allan T Michaels said...

Actually, I've never read the books or seen the show. So I suppose it's possible. But I can't comment one way or the other.