Page 17 of Solanum

Chapter Three

"We've been asked here by Walsh to meet with the new detectives who took over the Grays Harbor Cold Case Unit," said Anita as the three of us waltzed down the halls of the headquarters of the Seattle Police Department. Not unusual for us these days at all.

"Grays Harbor doesn't have a cold case unit." Nora's brow furrowed when we entered the larger conference room down the hall. The two of them in matching pencil skirts and blazers, appeared like a pair of Feds that fell out of the same cookie cutter pattern. The only difference belonged to their hair styles, not color, unfortunately. I smirked at the two of them, powerhouses in their own right, but the tiniest sprites when they folded under pressure. I walked behind them, listening to the two of them chatter on.

"It's a subset of the Seattle P.D. right now. All of the cold case units condensed into one," Anita explained.

"Wait… The King County cases, too?" Nora set her padfolio down on the table beside Anita's leatherbound planner.

I dropped into a chair, rolling around a bit obnoxiously while my mind strolled around topics. At that moment, it landed on Anita and Nora's previous sexual encounters. It wasn't easy to imagine the two of them fucking at all. Between Nora's timidity and deep needs, and Anita's…Anitaness, it just…no way.

"All of them, I suppose." Anita shrugged and unfastened the middle button on her blazer. "Why?"

Nora gulped as if swallowing a bundle of nerves. I'd seen her do that before, and the clinical glaze left her usually stoic face.

"Anita…Why would the two of us be called in together without Wilkinson?" Nora glanced to me, her tentative gaze returning.

"I—they're your colleagues." Anita's brow furrowed now, her suspicion rising. "I'm a consultant. Why don't you know what's going on?" She glanced to me and I shrugged.

"Don't look at me. I'm not even supposed to be here. I just followed Nora," I said.

"Informative, Donovan." Anita frowned at me, though the way her gaze lingered on me a little too long amused me.

"What's with the face?"

"Nothing." Anita's expression tightened and she looked back to Nora.

"No one else is here and that's all I know." Nora paced a few steps by the table while her thoughts seem to spiral. "You and I have ever only shared one big ongoing case."

"What are you talking about?" Anita folded her arms over her chest as her concern seemed to suddenly match Nora's. "We've shared dozens."

"No, Anita. Listen to what I'm saying here. This is about the Four Point case."

Anita blanched, her already pale skin sallowed with Nora's revelation. "What?" She glanced at me and I held my hands up in surrender.

"Don't look at me. Seriously, Wilkinson told me nothing."

"It has to be." Nora glanced to the door when voices approached us. "Why else would they be making such a big deal?"

Anita's expression tightened, melting away from colleague to the hard and fast psychiatrist we knew her to be. Her lips pressed to a thin line, her brow smoothed, and her gaze steadied with her demeanor. She held her hand up to Nora, as if setting a hard limit, before the onslaught of people arrived.

Captain Walsh entered, followed by two detectives with their badges pinned to their bodies. I vaguely remembered their faces, but Nora and the hot toddy of a brunette that waltzed in shared a nod of greeting.

"Thank you all for meeting with us," Walsh said, closing the door behind him. "Agent Brody, Doctor Oliver, Agent Donovan, I'd like you to meet Detectives Miller and Moreno." Walsh gestured between all of us as he introduced us.

Moreno, an unusually tall man with finely-tamed dark hair and a warm smile shook our hands one after the other. "Nice to meet you all."

"Well met," said Anita, returning his gesture just the same.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us," said Miller, her firm tones demanding attention as she cut right to the chase.

Breathtaking didn't even begin to describe her nature. Dark brown hair, dangerous blue eyes, and a confidence that nearly plowed over everyone else in the room. Not me, of course, though I fought the smirk when I thought about her attempting to try.

She met Nora's gaze and smiled when they shook hands. "Good to see you again, Agent Brody."

"You, too." Nora returned her smile and sat when she gestured for us to do so. "I didn't know you took on Cold Cases."

"Relatively new at the moment," Miller said, keeping her responses short.

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