Charlie Bishop and Happy Lowman were childhood sweethearts as they grew up in Bakersfield, California, but fate intervened sending Charlie with her parents to Alaska. Now, several years later, they are both in the same place again, but will fate int...
Charlie Bishop stopped at the red light in the middle of Charming and waited, looking to her right when she heard the thunder of motorcycles. She grinned and looked over the top of her sunglasses as a group of bikers rounded the corner going in the opposite direction. She didn't know what it was, but the sight of a man on a Harley had always done things to her. She shook her head at herself as the light turned green and she eased her black Dodge Charger into traffic, Five Finger Death Punch blasting from the car's speakers.
This was technically her first day living in town, although she'd been in and out for the last few weeks getting her house set up before she started work. As she slowed to turn into the police station, she grinned to herself, thinking that Charming resembled Mayberry. There was no sign of the usual stores or fast-food chains that you found in other towns and cities. It was as if the town had been stuck in a time warp of some kind. She got out and locked her car after making sure that she had her badge and gun clipped to her waistband and her phone in her back pocket.
She walked into the air-conditioned police station, smiling at the woman at the front desk before walking around it to where she knew the chief's office was. When she knocked on the open door, she saw Chief Wayne Unser wave her into the room, nodding to the other man in the room.
"Come on in, Charlie. I don't think you've met my deputy chief. This is David Hale, Jacob's brother. David, this is Detective Charlene Bishop, the newest member of Charming P.D."
Charlie smiled and held her hand out to the unsmiling man in front of her. She grinned to herself, thinking that he didn't look very happy to see her. "Nice to meet you, Deputy Chief."
Hale nodded as he shook her hand. "Detective. Did you not get issued a uniform yet?"
Charlie looked from her olive green capris and black fitted v-neck t-shirt to his pristinely ironed uniform and shook her head. "Oh, I'm a detective. That implies plain clothes. I don't wear a monkey suit, but thanks anyway."
She watched as David Hale scowled at her and the chief coughed into his hand, no doubt covering a laugh. She had that effect on most people. They either loved or hated her on sight, depending on which end of her sarcasm they fell. It seemed that the Chief was the former and his young deputy was the latter. Unser grinned and winked at her, making her like him immediately, before he turned to Hale.
"You were gonna go check out the fire from last night. Why don't you take Charlie with you? She can jump right into the work."
David cleared his throat and motioned for her to walk ahead of him out the door. When they reached the parking lot, she paused at her car as he moved toward an old Jeep. "Why don't we take mine? I have air conditioning." She grinned. "I'm a girl. I hate to sweat." When he reluctantly moved to the passenger side of her car, she grinned and unlocked the doors. Once he had told her which direction to go and they were on their way out of the town proper, she turned to look at him. "So there was a fire last night?"
David nodded. "Yeah, a birdseed company on the outskirts of town exploded last night. I'm pretty sure it was just a front for something more nefarious."
Charlie nodded as he told her to turn left at the stop sign. Soon, she was parking in the lot of something that looked a lot like a warehouse that had been bombed. She whistled as she got out of the car and looked around, seeing a sheriff's deputy and some bikers a little distance away, speaking quietly to each other.
"Certainly looks like more than birdseed was stored here. I mean, I don't think that shit explodes, does it? Cause if it does, I feel bad for Tweety."
Hale looked at her strangely before shaking his head and leading the way over to a fireman who had yelled his name. When they reached the man, he shook his head and lifted the door of what looked like a dugout cellar beneath the building. "You're gonna wanna see this, deputy."
They both looked into the hole and Hale cursed and moved back quickly as Charlie just continued to survey what seemed to be two dead bodies, charred beyond recognition. She whistled under her breath and shook her head. "Well, ya don't see that every day."
She heard someone shout Hale's name and saw the sheriff and the bikers heading in their direction. "A little out of your jurisdiction, aren't you Hale?"
Charlie looked on with interest as Hale's chest puffed up as he stood talking to the sheriff. "Well, we're close enough to be curious. An extra set of eyes doesn't hurt, does it?"
Charlie stepped forward and held a hand out to the deputy with a friendly grin. "Detective Bishop. Are we stepping on toes by being here, Hale?"
One of the bikers, a man with curly black hair, stepped forward and put a hand on her arm. "Sweetheart, why don't you let the men handle this, huh? Don't worry your pretty little head about it."
Charlie shook her head and chuckled. "I don't believe I asked you, sport."
Another man with a gray crewcut put a hand on the other's shoulder. "Steady, Tigger."
The one named Tigger shook his head and sneered at her. "I'm not letting some fucking bitch come in here and... "
Before he could finish his sentence, Charlie had reached down and grabbed his crotch through his jeans, making him cry out and drop to his knees. She shook her head. "Language, Tigger. You're offending my feminine sensibilities." She leaned in and looked into his pain-filled eyes as she squeezed a little harder. "Did you know that I could actually kill you right now, just by squeezing your balls tighter and tighter? It would cause you to have a heart attack. Now, are you going to behave?" When he nodded, she let go of him and patted him on the head before turning back to the two law officers. "Hale, can I have a word with you?"
