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| Illustration by Mark Satchwill |
Bum's Rush
Written by Katherine Tomlinson
Illustrated by Mark Satchwill
Esme Morales felt like shit. She’d finally told her mother she was working Thanksgiving, without revealing the assignment was by choice, and the ensuing phone argument had consumed her entire lunch break. She’d scarfed a power bar and chugged some water, but now, three hours later, she was starving, with the beginnings of a brutal caffeine withdrawal headache.
“Hope you haven’t eaten lately,” the young uniformed cop said as she and Edgar walked up to the crime scene.
Her partner perked up. Nothing like a little blood and guts to chase the boredom.
“What do we got?” Edgar asked, which always irritated her because he knew it irritated her when he dropped into CSI-speak but did it anyway. It was one of the friction points in their partnership.
She preferred to concentrate on Edgar’s little flaws so she wouldn’t focus on the real problem, which was that he was a lazy, fat-ass prick who did the least amount of work possible to collect a paycheck but couldn’t seem to stand back and let her do the job without him.
It made her crazy.
She squeezed her eyes shut to beat back the headache and tried to concentrate on what the uni was saying.
“…he hasn’t been here more than a couple of hours.”
Esme looked around the location in disbelief—across from a high school, right around the corner from a donut shop—the guy’s body should have been found within minutes.
“Too much to hope there are security cameras pointed in this direction?” Edgar asked.
“We’re checking now,” the uni said, then added, “sir.”
Kid, you are sucking up to the wrong detective, Esme thought. He won’t even remember your name the next time he sees you.
It bothered Esme that she thought of the young cop as a kid. She was only 34 but days like this, she felt a worn-out 50.
“Let’s see it,” she said, sounding bitchier than she meant to.
The young cop glanced at Edgar. He gave the kid a “What are you going to do?” shrug.
***
