The Thoughtful Detective

Chapter 6 - Eggo

Year 2016

Friendly reminder: Sentences with *stars* around them are other people's thoughts that Colton has extracted. 

On another note, this is a longer chapter. But it's worth it; I promise. 😉

"Okay, so let me get this straight...he snatched the hot dog from your hand, and then took off?" I asked the victim.

She shook her head. "It was a hot dog and a candy apple, and he took a bite out of the hot dog before he ran off," she said.

Eva's mind erupted into a string of obscenities. I took a step over to the side to reduce the volume of her cursing in my head.

"Miss Sinclair, I'm sorry this happened," I began. "It can be frightening to have something stolen from you, no matter the value of the item. I can understand your distress. However—"

The victim crossed her arms. "You're not going to do anything about it, are you?" she asked me, in an obnoxious tone.

We were currently standing in the middle of the annual Miami Beach summer carnival, with approximately 2,000 attendees and 300 staff members. Miss Sinclair couldn't even provide us with a decent description of the hot dog thief. She was right; I was not going to do anything.

I sighed and stole a quick glance at Eva. She was chewing her gum loudly and tapping her foot impatiently on the ground. Before I could give Miss Sinclair the bad news, her friend stepped forward and gave me an apologetic look.

"Officer, we're sorry to have disturbed you. Cindy just wanted to report it for your records. We're not really expecting you to do anything about it. But...can you just keep an eye out for the umm, the accused?" She gave me a coy smile.

The friend: *He's such a cute cop!*

Miss Sinclair shot daggers at her friend, as she grumbled the word "traitor" under her breath.

"I will definitely be on standby for other thefts or disturbances. Have a good evening, folks," I said. I turned around quickly to avoid further squabble with Miss Sinclair. Eva followed behind me. When we were out of earshot of the two teenagers, she turned to face me.

"This is the type of adrenaline rush I live for; the high stakes chase of hot dog robberies. It's just so thrilling," she said in a sarcastic tone.

"Hot dogs and candy apples," I reminded her.

She rolled her eyes at me. "I'm so glad to be done with this stupid carnival. I couldn't handle another day of this bullshit."

The carnival was a compilation of unruly knuckleheads and intoxicated teenagers. It was an absolute abomination. Something about the supposedly fun atmosphere brought out the most annoying humans. They were not necessarily the worst kind of folk, but certainly the most irritating.

Four weeks had passed since Eva had transferred to our precinct. Unfortunately, we had been forced to spend the last seven days patrolling this godforsaken place. She was indeed every bit as difficult as Matheson had described. She wanted control of every situation, and her tone towards me was immensely condescending.

The only good thing about the carnival was Eva's hatred for it. She claimed that the petty offences were so beneath her, that she wanted nothing to do with them. She had relinquished all control over the past week. At the same time, I was also looking forward to returning to our normal routine outside of the carnival.

Eva glanced at her mobile phone. "Lopez and Weitzman are here. We're off duty now," she said. She reached behind her head and removed her hair tie. Her long dark hair cascaded over her back and shoulders. She was just as beautiful as she was aggravating.