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“No,” Julie snapped.
Frank backed away. “Just askin’.”
“What makes you think Lucas doesn’t like you?”
Her shoulders sagged. “After he kissed me, he shoved me away and puked.”
“Oh.” Damn.
Sergeant Bergman bellowed, “Quit gossiping and get to work.”
“Yes, sir.” I grabbed Julie’s hand before she could give the sarge a one-fingered salute. “Are you trying to get fired?”
Julie stormed over to her patrol car. “I made him puke. Am I that disgusting?”
“Not at all. I know Lucas likes you. I’m sure there’s a reason for him vomiting.”
Popping the trunk on her patrol car, Julie did her vehicle inspection. “Really? He looked at me in absolute horror and ran away.”
“Lucas ran?” Yikes!
Julie checked the back seat of her patrol car. “He did.”
“Hmmm. Maybe it was food poisoning. He did get sushi from Bitsie’s food truck.”
Wiping at the tears running down her face, Julie got into her car and started the engine. “I’ll run radar on Thunderbird.” She drove off.
“Damn.”
Sergeant Berman asked, “What upset Garza?”
I jumped about a foot. Geezus. I needed to put a bell on the sneaky bastard. “Lucas vomited after he kissed her.”
“So? Four deputies got sick from eating the sushi from Bitsie’s truck.”
A laugh broke from me. “Lucas must be mortified.”
“Probably. Send Julie a text, before she shoots someone.” Sergeant Bergman strolled off.
I quickly checked my patrol car for any contraband and sent Julie a text about the bad sushi.
My phone dinged.Seriously?
Yes.
Whew.
I will get the downlow.
A big smiley face emoji appeared on my screen.
Crisis averted. I hoped. I popped the trunk and checked my supplies. Good to go. I got in my patrol car and went to find some speeders.
Ten minutes later, I got my wish. A yellow, beat all to hell, truck blew through a red light, barely missing a woman in a blue minivan.
I flipped on the overheads and gave chase. Crap. The idiot wasn’t slowing down; I added the sirens. A mile down the road, the moron finally pulled over. I keyed my radio mic, “Charlie-23, show me out at 99th and Greenway with David Adam Nora four two four.”
“Copy, Charlie-23,” the dispatcher responded.