Gazing pensively at the passing cars five stories below, Joni let her mind take her wherever it wanted to take her.
It took her home. It took her to the movies. It took her back in time.
And then it took her to Nadirah Haddad.
What was it about that woman that made her keep coming to mind every half hour or so as she had been for the last twenty-four hours? What could the woman possibly have against her, and why was she suddenly turned on by someone who seemed so unfriendly in the first place? Was it the way she walked? The way she talked? Her hair? The way her dark eyes would affix themselves upon her, unwavering, non-intimidated, challenging? – even.
She reached up and touched the spot behind her left ear. If only the pain would quit!
She heard Huan come out of the bathroom and turned to face her. “The cab should be here in just a few minutes to pick us out-of-towners up for another fun-filled day in the world of computers and science. Ready to escape this hotel room and go downstairs?”
Joni nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be for one with a headache from hell.” And a crush on someone who’s an apparent bitch that I’ll never see again in my life after another week or two, she added silently to herself.
Once they arrived at the building, Joni was almost disappointed that she wasn’t assigned to assist the mysterious forensics investigator named Nadirah.
“She’s out in the field,” Gifford later told her at lunchtime. “Some sorry loser decided last night that if he couldn’t deal with life, neither should his wife and two children. Bastard shot them all, then himself in the end.”
“That’s terrible,” Joni said sadly. “At least the sicko was kind enough to take himself out, too.”
“Yeah, well, anyway… Nadirah’s on the scene. Even when things appear obvious enough, the standard routine still applies. Ballistics testing and other forms of testing are still required by law to be done.”
Joni sat thoughtfully for a moment, swallowed a mouthful of her chicken sandwich and said, “She’s just amazing. I don’t usually scare that easily and I have a pretty strong stomach, but I don’t think I could step into a scene of such horror like that.”
“She’s a pretty tough woman,” Gifford agreed.
Nadirah’s hardness suddenly made sense to Joni. Wouldn’t one have to be that tough in order to deal with such bloodshed, heartache, and rage? Or was it the other way around? Maybe the years of living so close to such atrocities had a hand in making her the way she was.
Gifford took a swig of his soda as Joni said, “So she test-fires guns too, as part of her job?”
“Yup. She does a number of things.”
“Fascinating,” Joni said. “Just fascinating. Women and guns turn me on, though I never fired one myself other than when Rachel, the lady cop I was with, taught me how to shoot in self-defense. Most cops want their ladies to be able to protect themselves, you know?”
“Guess it makes them feel better,” Gifford said with a nod. “Oh, here comes both Nadirah and Tamika right now.”
Joni glanced behind her as the two women approached their table with trays. “Never met Tamika before.”
“She works in Records.”
They were sitting at a table for four by the window, just like the last time. And also like the last time, Joni and Gifford were closest to the window. Nadirah seemed to be heading for the seat next to Gifford, but Tamika beat her to it, leaving her to have to sit next to Joni. Joni sensed she wasn’t happy about it either.
“Hello,” Joni said in a cheery voice.
“Hello,” said Tamika.
“Joni, this is Tamika. Tamika, this is Joni,” said Gifford.
Joni and Tamika shook hands across the table just as Tamika said, “Ah, the Caligirl who’s considered the redheaded version of Rapunzel.”
Joni laughed and said, “Not sure I consider this all that red, but I’m definitely a Caligirl right now who shares some similarities with ole Rapunzel.”
Tamika smiled and said, “Now if you don’t have a nice man to climb up that long braid of yours, I hope one does so very soon.”
“Well, I would prefer it to be in the form of a woman, but just as soon as one wants to climb up, I’ll consider sending it on down to her,” Joni said, running her fingers along the length of the braid.
“Oh,” Tamika said hesitantly, not sure what to make of the unexpected, blunt revelation of sexuality.
Yeah, I’m a fucking lesbian. Live with it! And guess what else? I’m just itching to soften up the hot-looking bitch sitting beside me, Joni thought devilishly.
Joni swore she saw the faint hint of a smile play upon Nadirah’s lips, although she seemed as if she were trying to hide it by leaning an elbow on the table and part of her face in her hand.
“So how are things going, ladies?” asked Gifford.
“Fine, just fine,” said Tamika, diving her fork into her potato salad.
Nadirah still hadn’t said anything other than the greeting she had first muttered.
Gifford and Tamika talked for a while about different things, and then Tamika asked Joni how she became interested in languages.
“I’ve always had a passion for languages,” she told her.
“Oh, yeah, that reminds me,” said Gifford. “What language family does English fall into?”
“It’s an Indo-Euro language,” Joni said, noticing out of her peripheral vision that the turn in the discussion seemed to pique Nadirah’s interest.
“Is German an Indo-European language, too?” asked Tamika.
“M-hm, and also considered a Germanic language, of course,” Joni said, chewing on the last of her lunch.
“Must’ve been lots of hard work learning all the languages,” Tamika said.
“Yeah, it was. But that’s the thing with me. The harder things come easier to me while I tend to struggle with the easier things.”
“What other things are you into?”
“Music and writing.”
“What do you write about?”
Unsure if she should say anything, Joni simply shrugged and said, “Whatever comes to mind.”
“So if Nadirah came to mind, what would you write?” Gifford asked.
Joni laughed and Nadirah suddenly stopped chewing and glanced at Gifford. Joni wasn’t sure if her expression was an amused one or an annoyed one. “I would write that she ought to smile a little more.”
Everyone but Nadirah erupted with laughter.
Nope. Nadirah was definitely not amused.
And Joni felt as if she could pinch herself.
Tamika quickly steered the subject in another direction and asked Joni how long it had been since she lived in the area.
“Almost twenty years.”
“Wow. That’s a long time,” Tamika said. “But you still know people around here, don’t you?”
“No, not really. Everyone’s pretty much moved on or passed away.”
“What were you up to when you were last here?”
“Breaking the law,” Joni answered.
“Fifty-seven stab wounds?!”
Nadirah and Gifford turned to look behind them. They hadn’t even heard Joni enter the laboratory.
“I hope the poor guy was a real bastard who deserved what he got,” Joni added, gazing at the medical illustration that hung on the wall.
Gifford remained in his chair.
Nadirah strode over to where Joni stood, noting that the language fanatic looked a hell of a lot better than she wanted to admit and said, “Excuse me, but this is privileged information. And so I suggest you focus on what you came here to do in the first place.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Joni said apologetically as she turned to face Nadirah. “I promise to mind my own business from now on.”
Gifford, who still remained seated, grinned as Nadirah studied Joni. This was no plain lame Jane. She wore little to no makeup, but she didn’t need any in the first place. She was dressed casually in jeans and a soft green shirt that brought out the green in her eyes. Her hair was loose with only the sides pulled back and she stood perhaps an inch or two shorter than herself.
Magnificent. Just magnificent.
“Good. Now, what can I help you with today?” Nadirah asked, putting on her best professional voice.
“Uh… actually, I’m the one who’s supposed to be helping you.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. Funny, ain’t it?”
Nadirah couldn’t see Gifford grinning because her back was facing him, but Joni could.
“And what are you to be helping me with?”
“Don’t you need a new drive installed on one of your backup computers?” Joni said, trying to lift a heavy box of parts and supplies onto the table. “The boss said you did.”
“Well, yes, but believe it or not, that’s something I can do myself, even if I’m not quite the little genius you are,” she said half sarcastically as the box slid from Joni’s grip and fell to the tiled floor.
Joni glanced down at the box, then back up at Nadirah. “Hope the damn thing still works.”
Gifford laughed as Nadirah bent down to pick up the box and easily placed it on the table. “You two would make a great team,” he said. “Joni with the brains, you with the muscles.”
“Shut up, Giffy,” said Nadirah, drawing another chuckle out of her coworker.
Joni walked past Nadirah and closer to where Gifford stood, also laughing. “Sorry about the stabbing comment.”
“Oh, that’s okay. Some things you can’t help but notice.”
“Yeah, that’s quite a graphic illustration, alright,” Joni said.
“Makes you wonder what they did to each other before knives were invented.”
“Who knows?” Joni said with a shrug. “Guess that’d be like asking what people wiped their asses with before the days of toilet paper.”
Gifford laughed harder this time, input some things into his computer, then rose from his chair. “I’m going on break, ladies. Have fun together.”
“Now?” Nadirah said, annoyance thick in her voice.
“I don’t bite,” said Joni.
Ignoring her, Nadirah said, “But what about the Johnstone case?”
“I already began the initial tests, and they’re sitting in solution right now,” Gifford said.
Joni’s eyes followed where Gifford had nodded and studied a table with several glass vials of various sizes. Most seemed to contain some kind of liquid in an array of different colors. Joni had a feeling she didn’t want to know what substance they contained either.
“Okay,” Nadirah said reluctantly, making it obvious to Joni that she didn’t want to be alone with her.
“Would you prefer me to come back some other time?” Joni asked, not hiding her own annoyance that was now threatening to surface.
“No, you can do your thing,” Nadirah told her begrudgingly.
“Okay, then,” Joni said, gathering up the necessary hardware. “Like last time, it won’t take long.”
“Back in fifteen,” said Gifford heading for the door. He pulled it partway open when he suddenly turned back and said, “Hey, just what did they wipe their asses with before there was such a thing as toilet paper anyway?”
Joni was sitting by herself in the break room later on when Nadirah entered the room. This time, she wasn’t wearing her white lab coat. She was dressed in jeans and a royal blue shirt.
Joni studied her arms.
Nice muscle tone. Joni was turned on even by the simple way Nadirah turned to look at her.
“Good afternoon,” Joni said to Nadirah, who muttered something inaudible in return and bought something from the vending machine. Then she turned and gazed at her with cold eyes.
Another woman who had been sent in from out of state on a special assignment entered the room. The heavy woman’s angry eyes quickly focused on Joni’s large, innocent-looking ones. “You know, it really bothers me to have you do my own job for me,” she said.
“Hey, I just did what the boss lady told me to do,” Joni said. “You got a problem with it, take it up with her.”
“I did take it up with her. She said you offered to do it.”
“Well, of course, I offered to do it. The job needed to be done. I was available and you weren’t.”
Gifford and another man Joni had never seen before, came into the room.
“I was asked to do it and so I did since you didn’t return after lunch like you were supposed to.”
“But it was my job.”
“Then you should’ve come back right after lunch, not an hour later. Don’t blame others for having to do what you’re not around to do,” Joni said, irritation now rising in her voice.
“Don’t tell me what to do!” said the woman, stepping over to where Joni sat.
Joni rose from her seat. She wasn’t about to be bullied around just because she was small. Or for any other reason, for that matter. “I’m telling you to get out of my face and take it up with the boss!”
“She’s right, Louise,” said the man Joni was unfamiliar with. “If you’re not around when things need to be done, someone else has to do them.”
“Well, I’m still going to make sure you don’t get to do shit around here!” Louise screamed, advancing menacingly towards Joni.
Joni also moved towards Louise, who was pulled back by the guys just as Nadirah pulled her back from Louise.
Both Joni and Louise were now shouting insults loudly at each other as the guys guided Louise out of the room, Nadirah letting go of Joni in order to follow them. But even after they were gone, Joni continued to scream in anger. She began kicking at chairs and tables.
“Screw the shit people give me everywhere I go!” she wailed, flinging a pile of magazines from a table and onto the floor. “It’s bullshit! Just pure fucking…”
A strong pair of hands suddenly seized her by the shoulders from behind. Joni yelped in surprise as she was roughly guided to one of the few chairs she hadn’t managed to topple over and then shoved down so hard into it that it too nearly tipped over.
Now facing the person, she glanced upward at whoever it was that had decided she badly needed to take a seat.
Nadirah.
How the hell had she handled her so easily? They were pretty close in size, weren’t they?
Nadirah gazed down at her angrily. Joni almost felt like a scolded child as Nadirah said, “Those who know me say I have a pretty nasty temper when pissed.” Then she bent down so they were literally face to face. “Would you care to take my temper for a test drive, little lady?”
“But she…”
“We know what she did, and she was wrong,” Nadirah said, cutting Joni off. “She’s gone now. But she’s no reason for you to take a shit fit like some spoiled little bratty kid, is it?”
Joni shook her head.
“Then I suggest you clean up this mess and come and see me in the lab.” Nadirah turned to leave.
“Yes, boss,” Joni said to the woman’s retreating back.
Although she found herself embarrassed by her childish outburst, she couldn’t help but smile as she picked up the chairs and magazines that were strewn about. That Nadirah was one fine-looking lady, temper or not. She didn’t know why, but she replayed the scene in her mind and found herself quite turned on by the way the forensics investigator and technician had looked, talked and moved.
With the room back in order, Joni happily headed for the laboratory, wishing Nadirah would take her for a test drive and see that she really wasn’t all that bad after all. A little crazy at times. But not that bad at all.
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