Fireball (Cheap Thrills #1)(6)

“Look, my mother raised me to be respectful to everyone, especially the police, but you’re really pushing my last nerve!”

The scent of the perfume she was wearing was light in the air, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t give a thought to how the best scratch and sniff items could be made with a photo of this woman and a spritz of the fragrance. I breathed in a bit deeper than was normal, getting as much of it into my system as discretely as possible. You didn’t have to be a genius or a police officer to know that sniffing people was just weird.

Sitting down slowly in the free chair, I shot her a grin as I made a point of opening the file I’d brought in with me.

“Ok, Tabitha Newton, aged twenty-six…” which meant there was a seven-year age gap between us.

“Height five-foot-three-inches,” she interrupted sarcastically.

This information made me pause. “Really?” Huh, she’d seemed much taller. At six-foot-two-inches, she was almost a foot shorter than me.

“Yeah, really,” she huffed, slouching down in her chair slightly.

Shaking it off, I went back to what I’d been doing. “Says here you’re a native of Bloomfield, New Jersey, and worked at Bloomfield High School.” Closing the file, I linked my fingers together and looked her straight in the eye. “How is it you find yourself in Piersville, Ms. Newton?”

“I found out I had a sister who lived here, so I moved to be closer to her after my mom died five months ago.”

Casting another glance over her, I tried to figure out if she looked like anyone I knew here but no one came to mind, then how she’d phrased it hit me. “Wait, you found out you had a sister here?”

Nodding, her hand disappeared under the table and for a second I broke my track record of professionalism again when I pictured her touching her pu…

“Yeah, got one of those DNA test thingy’s, and the results identified that I had a sister,” she explained quietly. “We spoke and got to know each other, and because I didn’t have Mom tying me to Jersey anymore, I moved closer to her.”

Taking a minute to process this, I looked her over, seeing what her tattoos were of now and things that I’d missed before. They were an eclectic and diverse mix of things, but had somehow been made to suit a woman – this woman. Feminine roses, an eyeball, a strange zombie skull in bright colors, the peacock feather, the Looney Tunes character Pepé Le Pew on her inner bicep, and she had what I can only describe as what looked like a Geisha girl version of Alice from Alice in Wonderland on the inside of her left forearm. Teamed with her pink hair, clothes, her fireball personality and the Hello Kitty Converse on her feet – she wasn’t like any woman I’d ever come across.

I’d never dated someone that I’d arrested, or arrested someone to date them, but something inside me screamed that she wasn’t a criminal. So, I’d do my job and find out exactly what she was, and if it was all ok, I’d ask her out. My professionalism might be shattered, but I couldn’t find it in me to care about that right now.

I caught her eyes as I leaned forward and rested my arms on the table between us. “Sorry to hear about your mom,” I told her gently, just catching myself before I added ‘baby’ at the end. “Have you met your sister yet?”

Please don’t let her be someone we’ve arrested repeatedly.

Her sad expression lifted slightly at the mention of her sister. “Yeah, she’s really great, even though she’s going through a lot at the moment. I arrived last night just as she caught her husband with his pants down, and then he got arrested,” she replied, then closed her mouth with an audible snap when she realized how much information she’d given away.

I didn’t need to ask who it was. There was only one man who’d been in that situation last night who’d been arrested by Logan – Larry White.

“Your sister’s Josephine White?”

“Half-sister, and soon to be Josephine Harrison.”

No surprise there. Logan had called me on his way home after he’d gotten off last night to fill me in on the case, laughing because apparently the giant pain in my ass, Rita Wang, had been restrained by a neon yellow bra when he’d gotten there, after attacking the heavily pregnant Jose.

“Whose bra was it?” I chuckled, watching as amusement took over her expression.

“It was all we had to hand, and I’m still pissed the bitch stretched it out the way she did. It was one of my favorites.”

Bursting out laughing, I watched the play of emotions across her face from irritation, to amusement, back to irritation again.

“It was a good play on your behalf. From what I heard, the woman was intent on seriously hurting Jose.”

All amusement dropped from her face hearing the comment. “Yeah, she was. What kind of woman does that? What kind of man does that to his pregnant wife?”

The answer to this was – Larry White, the scum of the earth, and Rita Wang, the bitch of the earth. I’d had enough run-ins with both of them to say that with the utmost authority. And thanks to my dad, Rita’s didn’t end outside of my home life – but that was another story. I didn’t say any of this to her though, because my feelings for both of them would have been clear on my face.

“Is Jose ok now?”

Sighing, she lifted her cuffed hands and ran the fingers on both through her hair, momentarily distracting me with the way the thick pink tresses floated back down around her shoulders. How did someone get their hair that color? Didn’t it wash out?