April showers bring May Murders.

Chapter 9

When Carrie got to work, her head was up in the clouds. The detective fiddled with her cuff of her sleeve and sighed, not really even sure of what to make of all of this. Why would this person (assuming that it WAS her father's killer) text her  now, after all these years?

 Why did Ryder let her in his apartment? No matter how many times Ryder had to grab something from it while on the job, Carrie was never allowed to come in. She always had to sit in the squad car and wait for him to come back with whatever he had forgotten. 

The homicide detective was snapped out of her thoughts when Elizabeth bumped into her carrying scalding hot coffee. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" The teenager apologized. Carrie's look was downright murderous as hot coffee dripped down her brand new white blouse. "Napkin, now." she said in a dangerously calm tone. Liz immediately scrambled off to find one as Carrie stood frozen. "I think that outfit looks better with hot coffee all over it." Ryder snickered as he came in right behind Carrie. 

"I think your outfit would look lovely with hot coffee on it too, thanks." She said with the curl of a lip. If only Carrie had a cup of coffee, she would definitely splash it on her smart mouthed partner.  

The red head held out her hand and a napkin was placed into her hand by a very flustered Liz. Carrie blotted herself off, silently wondering if she would even get five minutes to think without the idiots she had to deal with on a daily basis interrupting. After she had sat down at her desk and unlocked her computer, the woman looked to Ryder and fixed him with an unintentionally anxious gaze. Ryder immediately noticed the uneasy look on Carrie's face and frowned. 

"What gives, my dear?" he asked quickly. Carrie's face turned into a scowl and she blinked a couple times. "Well, lets see." she started in a tone laced with heavy sarcasm. "I got drunk at a bar with my badge still on, I woke up in your apartment with a terrible hangover, and then as soon as I get to work a stupid trainee spills coffee all over my brand new fifty dollar blouse. No, nothing's wrong at all, dear." Carrie snapped at Ryder, who raised his hands in mock defense. 

"Okay, Okay, geez." He turned back around in his desk and shook his head. Relief filled Carrie when her partner didn't question her further. Yes, there was most definitely something wrong, and it had little to do with the large brown stain down her front..

Carrie let out a dragging sigh, her eyes closing for a moment. "Do we have any leads in the Justin case?" she asked her team, then running a hand through her hair. "Nope," came Ryder's gruff reply. Carrie frowned a bit at her colleagues reply.  She was too preoccupied to work on the case herself, and she needed her friends--no, colleagues to come through for her. Carrie never called anyone her friend. She was a solitary creature, as she called herself. 

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, the four of them doing mostly desk work.