Angie Fishtail Mermaid Cop

Chapter 2

Angie sat in the squad car. It was her first day with her new partner and he was eager to learn from her.

Maybe he wasn't so bad, Angie realized. He was much better than her last partner who saw her being a mermaid as a handicap.

"How can you chase down criminals if you don't even have legs?" he once told her.

That was one of the reasons why she didn't want a partner. She was glad that Lester wasn't like that. For the short time she knew him he was starting to grow on her, like fungus.

Just then the driver-side door opened and Lester appeared holding two paper cups.

"I got you a coffee," he said.

"Well, I'm not much of a coffee drinker," Angie told him. "But I'll take it."

Lester handed Angie the cup and got inside the car.

He took a sip of coffee, then looked over at Angie. "So Fishtail, tell me about yourself."

Angie stared at him.

"I mean, how did a mermaid like you become a cop?" Lester asked as though he was just trying to make small talk. "Unless you think it's none of my business. You don't have to tell me."

"No, it's fine," Angie said. "It all began when I was a young mermaid. My parents abandoned me. Then one day I was exploring the sea when I got tangled in a fishing net. I was taken aboard a boat by two kindly fishermen who raised me as their daughter." She smiled as she thought back. "My dads were into two things. Cop shows and classic TV. I saw so many episodes of Father Knows Best I could recite every show off the top of my head."

"I've never seen it," Lester said.

Angie continued. "When I saw my first cop show I knew I wanted to be a cop. My dads used their life savings to send me to the Police Academy."

"I hope you weren't too disappointed," Lester told her.

Angie stared at him. "About what?"

"Well, you said you wanted to be a cop from watching a cop show," Lester told her. "Those shows don't show what it's really like being a cop. It's not as action-packed as one might think. There are a lot of boring parts, too. Like waiting for hours for a crime to happen just like what we're doing now."

Angie sipped her coffee and said, "I  can stand the waiting around, but at this point, I'm willing to even take a jay-walker."

As though on cue a voice came over the radio. "Calling car eighteen. Go to the boarding house at Fifth and Tailor. Disturbing the peace."

Angie picked up the speaker and said into it, "This is car eighteen, we're on our way."

She hung up the speaker, then grinned at her partner as she said, "So much for the boring part."

Lester turned on the siren and the squad car raced to the scene of the crime.

+++

In a few minutes they pulled up in front of the boarding house where a man and a woman was waiting for them. The man had one hand on the temple of his head as though he have been hurt.

Angie and Lester got out of the car. Angie balanced herself as she walked on her tailfin. Something she have been practicing.

"Are you the ones who run this boarding house?" Lester asked as they approached the couple.

"We are the landlords," the woman replied.

"Want to tell us what's going on?" Angie asked.

"Go inside and see for yourself," the woman cried.

"One of those punk threw a lamp at me," her husband snarled as he rubbed his head.

"You need an ambulance?" Lester offered.

"No, I just want those bastards out of there," the man snapped.

"Yes, sir," Angie said and the two officer entered the boarding house.

There were about twenty teenagers as far as they can see inside. Not all of them could possibly live at the boarding house. All doped up out of their minds and floating about two to three feet off the floor.

"What's going on," Lester gasped as he gazed around  in amazement at the floating teenagers.

"They're are high on Sweet Dust," Angie explained.

Lester stared at her in confusion. "Sweet Dust?"

Angie nodded. "It's a new drug. It gives the user the ability to float but cause them to lose all senses and put them in a happy state. We've been trying to catch the one who have been distributing this drug for weeks, but we don't know who he is. All we know is that he goes by the name the Duster."

Angie held up her badge and yelled. "This is the Police, you are all under arrest!"

The teenagers giggled. Some pointed and made oinking noises.

"You never catch me, pigs,"  one of the teenagers yelled, flapping his arms as he tried to float away. "I'm a bird!" He crashed into a wall.

Angie turned to Lester. "'I'll take care of down here. Check upstairs to see if there're anyone else in this house."

"Right, ma'am." Lester went upstairs.

Angie went on her phone to call for backup and to bring a paddy wagon.

While she was on her phone a kid who was floating upside-down said with a goofy smile, "Hey, lady, you're being eating by a fish. It's already up to your waist."

When Angie was done with her call she plucked the kid out of the air, turned him right-side up, and pinned him to the wall.

"Where did you get the drug?" she demanded.

His goofy smile never left his face. "Wow, you are so hot," he said as he puckered his lips. "Ever thought about going out with a real man?" He then giggled. "If you don't get eaten by that fish first."

Angie was about to shake him when Lester returned from upstairs.

His face was pale as he slowly descended the stairs.

"What's the matter?" Angie asked, concerned.

Lester stared at Angie. "I found a body."