Page 30 of Love Undecided
Brad: I would be working.
Brad: You at the precinct? I’ll be there soon.
Shit. Fuck. Piss.
Now what have I gotten myself into?
“Hey, guess what?” I say to Bauer. “Brad is going to come help us with the case.” I take a drink of my coffee, and peek at him from over the rim of the cup. Not really wanting to see his reaction.
“Who’s Brad?” he asks, without looking up from the file.
“You met him last night. Brad Matthews. He’s with the fire department. He’s my, ah, ex.”
“What do you meanhelp us with the case?” He looks up at me and he doesn’t look happy.
“Well, he’s been to every scene, you know, ‘cause the fire department always responds to pretty much everything that’s called in. So, he’s seen it all.”
“And how is that going to help, exactly?”
I take another sip of coffee to avoid answering. Because I really don’t know how that’s going to help. Brad is really smart, but he’s not a detective. He’s a firefighter. Although, they have to investigate stuff all the time, like what starts a fire. But that’s not really the same as someone leaving water on for no reason. In fact, it’s almost the exact opposite, like fire and water.
I laugh at my own stupid joke.
Bauer gives me a stern look.
“This had better be because he’s actually going to help, Cookie. I don’t have time to entertain some little firefighter who wants to play cop, ‘cause he’s got his panties in a bunch over his ex.”
“He doesn’t want toplay cop. And he doesn’t wear panties.” I hear a deep voice from the doorway.
Brad.
He’s in his uniform still, dark blue slacks, short sleeved SSFD button-down shirt, and SSFD ball cap. He looks good. His shirt pulls tight in all the right places, across his chest and arms. My heart does a little pitter pat and my vagina butterflies force themselves from temporary hibernation and charge forward, full speed ahead.
How did he even get here so quickly? And then I see his pager and realize he must be on call and was close by when he texted me. The fire station is only a couple blocks from the precinct.
Bauer sighs heavily and gives Brad a head nod.
Brad nods his head in return.
I look around for something to cut the tension with. A chainsaw, maybe?
“Hey, thanks for coming. I think we can use all the help we can get,” I say to Brad.
“Speak for yourself,” Bauer says.
Brad sits at the table next to me and I show him the file I’m working with and the pictures.
“We are obviously missing something big,” I say to Brad. “I mean, this is just evidence, and evidence always leads to a crime. I should be able to figure this out more quickly given all the criminals I've defended in the past. It's just deductive reasoning and I am a master at that. Or at least I was before...”
“You’ll get back there, it just takes time,” Brad says. He moves his arm as if he's going to touch me.
I want him to touch me.
Even though the idea of it makes me tense up.
But I’m still disappointed when he drops his arm back to his side.
Bauer seems to accept that Brad is helping and starts listing out everything about each victim. Four in all so far. I stare at the board, willing my brain to come up with something, anything really that will move this case forward.
