The Last Wish

03. Strangers?

"Whiskey girls are the good kind of bad news"

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"Found it," Edward said coming out of the store room, a huge pile of old worn out files balanced expertly on both his hands.

He slammed the dozen files on the hardwood desk and plopped down on the chair letting his legs rest on the table.

He heaved a sigh and widened his eyes. "Now where should we start from?"Matt and the girl who had seated herself a good two seats away from him. No one replied.

"Answer me," said Edward, his tone clipped and the fire blazing beneath his words weren't latent to Matt, but he chose to ignore it.

"You brought us here against our will. Now answer for yourself," Matt said. He stood up from his previous seat and made his way to Edward's desk.

"Very well then," Edward said rubbing his palms against each other as if to run a 100 mile marathon. "How about we start from 2007?" he said with a sardonic smile etched on his face.

Matt remained passive only infuriating Edward more.

"What are you talking about?" she inquired, deciding to be a part of the 'entertaining' conversation. She sat reluctantly beside Matt who had now seated himself infront of Edward.

"Oh allow me to explain. These"- he motioned at the scattered files on his desk- "are Matt's records of delinquency on annual basis"

Edward had a broad smile on his face, as if it was the fourth of July. Not that it would make any difference to him,

A cop is never on holiday.

"Oh," was all she said.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked when she didn't overreact like any other would have.

"Um yeah I'm fine. Just a little shocked," she said awkwardly, tucking a strand of hair that had escaped from the loose bun behind her ear. The two boys looked at her earnestly before cracking up with laughter.

"She sure is a sucker for jokes," Edward said through his bellowing laughter. The two high-fived each other while she looked at their 'act' with incredulity.

"You lied," she said pointing a finger at Edward.

"Bam! You got the answer right babe," he said grinning.

"That's plain rude," she said, sneaking glances at Matt with skepticism.

Matt snorted, "Glad you figured it out."

"You're such a schlemiel," she bursted out when she couldn't find a proper comeback.

Edward stopped laughing and looked at her in confusion. "What did you say? Was it skunk?"

Now it was her turn to laugh.

"I called you a sclemiel. Not a skunk, though you smell like one," she said when her laughter was under control.

Edward grinned, "Good one. Though I haven't any idea of what it means."

She smiled, "Now that the joke's over, will you tell me what these files are about?"

"You're not going to leave it, are you?" Edward asked.

"Nope," she said shaking her head.

The loose bun resting on top of her head fell apart cascading down her shoulders to her waist. It dangled sideways responding to the movements in her actions.