THEN IT GOT PERSONAL

Chapter One

Bisi woke up and entered the bathroom she shared with her step mother. It was barely the crank of dawn but she had to get ready before her partner, Mez woke the whole neighborhood with his car horn. He drove the squad car since he was a rank higher than her and she preferred her hands free anyway, they could wander over his thighs as he drove.

As she came out of the shower, she wore a black tank top with camouflage shorts. She took the hanger holding her pressed uniform and strapped on her hand gun before going through the process of tucking in the knife in between her socks as she laced her boots.

When she got to the kitchen, the woman she liked to call her mom was by the stove stirring. "Mom, please go to bed."

"I'm making you oats," she responded with a side hug.

"You know I don't eat that shit. Please go to bed, it's too early to be awake."

"Yet you are. And can you stop cursing?"

Bisi ignored the last plea as she responded, "That's because I have a demanding job. Trust me, when I'm your age I'll be at a beach somewhere sleeping naked on the sand."

"Oh, please. Not the retirement talk again when the idea of missing a single work day irks you." She wanted to look disappointed but instead a smile graced her lean face.

"But it's the truth."

"Since you don't need me anymore, I'll get out of your hair."

Bisi laughed then said, "I'll always need you. You've spoilt me too much not to."

"Be safe," she said as she walked to her room.

"When am I not?" Bisi jested.

She knew the fear behind that warning and didn't like to compound to it so she learnt earlier to either dismiss or make light of it.

Bisi whistled as she locked the apartment door with her set of keys. Her neighbors were used to her cheerfulness in the morning but she half expected Keys, the neighborhood cat to come glare at her as was his habit.

She jogged down the stairs and leaned on a sign post while she waiting for her partner. By five on the dot, he drove by and she hurried in.

"Morning, Bisi."

"Mez."

They remained silent as he drove to the gym. Bisi quickly dropped her uniform and gun in the locker room. She was sprinting on a treadmill when Mez came out in just shorts. She didn't like that he showed off his abs in the gym but Mez lived for the leering eyes of the sex starved women that came to him for assistance. He was too good looking and extremely nice so ladies fell like dominoes by his side. She fell too even though she knew he had a wife and two young sons.

When she first started in Lagos after being transferred from Aba, Mez took her in and showed her around. He was the best partner she could have ever hoped for. He would buy her lunch, compliment her all day long and his niceness made her feel so grounded in no time. What had started as an occasional innocent brush of a finger on her breast soon developed into a full fledged affair.

He was helping a lady get into the right form for plank and Bisi hissed as she saw his fingers lingering on her waist. She signalled him for a round of boxing and he stepped aside to readjust his stance as she pummelled into his boxing mitts.