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Harley inventoried herself in the mirror of the women’s restroom. She ran her fingers through her hair a few times, teasing it up, giving it volume. She adjusted her black blazer, making certain her cleavage was showing. Her short black skirt was barely a skirt. Nothing to adjust there.
The police station was rife with conversation and phones ringing and officers hustling about. The scent of coffee filled the air.
It had been a long time since she’d been in a police station. She’d only been busted once, during her freshman year of college, after she’d helped graffiti a robotics lab. Had she known arson was part of the plan, she’d have remained in her dorm room, preparing for her Trig midterm. That police station had looked and smelled about the same as this one.
Harley marched down the makeshift aisle separating two long rows of desks. If she acted as though she belonged there, as though she owned the place, most people would assume she did. It was an attitude she’d adopted early in life and had found to work more often than not. But these were cops, and cops tended to notice stuff and to ask a lot of questions. She marched on nevertheless.
All eyes turned to watch.
She reached the desk of Detective Ray Ramirez and sat down on its edge.
“Detective Ramirez, I presume?”
Detective Ramirez looked at the long legs on his desk, then followed them upward. The cap of the pen he’d been chewing on remained clamped between his teeth.
“Uh-huh.”
Harley grinned. “We need to talk.”
~
Detective Ramirez placed the cup of coffee on the table before Harley. He closed the door to the private office and sat down opposite her.
Harley jumped in before the detective had an opportunity. “I understand you’re investigating the Salton Sea shuttle crash.”
“And how is it that you–”
“I have my sources, Detective. At Canary Unlimited, we take great pride in our robots. When one of them is piloting a shuttle which crashes into a large body of water, we like to know about it. To be of service, of course, in any way that we can.”
“I see.”
“I also understand there has been mention of explosives pertaining to the incident.”
“I’m really not at liberty to discuss–”
“For one of our robots to be involved in a plot concocted by one of these anti-robot groups would not look good to our shareholders.”
“I see.” Detective Ramirez sipped his coffee and did his best not to stare at the breasts very nearly exploding out of the woman’s coat. “Are you suggesting I suppress–”
“I’m suggesting that before you go any further with your investigation, you make a phone call.” Harley slid a business card across the table.
Detective Ramirez read it. “Where did you get this?”
Harley merely raised one eyebrow.
Detective Ramirez retrieved his phone from an inner coat pocket and immediately dialed the number.
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