Part 1

A new job, a new city, a new life. Sofia put on her shades, leant back and relaxed. Dayshift. No longer working at night, no longer spending the most beautiful days in bed, back to a normal life. Well, as normal as the life of a lieutenant could be. That was part of her new job, a new rank. A higher rank. Lieutenant Sofia Curtis, member of the police department in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

Yes, she lived in Los Angeles now, left Las Vegas, her old work place, her family and friends to start all over again. In the city of angels. Instead of living a few miles away from The Strip, she lived in Silver Lake, had a bedroom that overlooked the reservoir and the long nights in night clubs of Vegas were replaced by long evening on the beach. She loved Malibu Beach, loved walking there for hours, watching the sunset and recognizing more and more stars, who were around here a lot. Slowly she started to recognize them from 'ordinary rich people'.

The ocean. The main reason why she left her old home and came here. She wanted to have water in close range, wanted to be able to spend free days in the sand, have a swim in the ocean and watch all the strange people in Venice Beach or the stars all over the coast.

Getting out of her shorts and shirt, the blonde laid down and enjoyed the sunshine on her skin. Bikinis. She could wear them every day and didn't have to go to an artificial lake, these were real waves she heard. Sure she knew, in a couple of days she'd stop coming to the beach every evening, working on her complexion, there were other things to do, but at the moment she preferred the beach to her apartment. Especially because there was a lot of work waiting for her. Most boxes were still packed, only the kitchen and bed were built up, the rest of her old and new belongings were in boxes and waited for her to be build up or unpacked and placed wherever she wanted them to be.

Ignoring her cell phone Sofia turned the MP3 player louder. Her mother had called her every evening for whatever reasons, today she didn't feel like giving a full oral report to Captain Curtis. Her mother could talk to the mail box, she was off duty and wanted time for herself and her book. Like a tourist she read a guide book, but hey, you had to learn everything about your new neighborhood somehow. And when she had the first day off, she wanted to hit the clubs. Apparently L.A. was a very good place to party.

Dance club, club sound, celebrity visit frequently, jazz, rock, pop, house, rap, hip hop, live music. So many choices. Live music sounded nice. Rock music to shake her head. It had been years she'd been out for a good night of head banging. And where else could you meet new friends if not in a club? Sure, she could meet with her colleagues, some of them met for a beer after work, but that wasn't the same. She wanted somebody from out of work to spend her time with. Otherwise you were never off the clock.

"Dance to live rock music, new bands, new styles, new songs, local famous bands, a great house band and when you're lucky a jam with a celebrity. Sounds like a perfect place to go. WeHo. And wow, they have beer from two dozen different countries. Sounds like the perfect place to be." Sofia smiled. She just found her first club. A club for gays and lesbians. Why not, she hadn't been in one for...for ages. The few in Vegas weren't her cup of tea, but this one sounded great; at least the music and beer seemed to be perfect.

As far as she knew her first day off was in three days, not that far away. Enough time to darken her complexion, work out the perfect outfit and get her apartment in a state, that she could take somebody home - in case she met somebody she wanted home. A real sexy surfer or a movie star in her bed...maybe she skipped this until the next time, when her apartment was furnished and she could offer more than a coffee and the fruit of the day for breakfast.

Walking around L.A. was different from walking around Las Vegas. The hills were closer, the smog made it impossible to have a clear view over the city center and the houses were more impressive. At least here where Sofia walked. She had left her car with her colleague to walk around Hollywood. A couple of shops with expensive looking clothes, jewelries and perfume. Unfortunately her salary hadn't increased much since she moved. Window shopping was all she could do in this area of the town.

"Years ago this was a low budget area." William explained to her, shaking his head to the ridiculous amount of money a shop owner asked for a bag.

"How many years ago?" She asked amused. This area looked expensive and she doubted it had been a cheap area for a lot of years.

"When I was a rookie."

"William, when you were a rookie we had the last millennium, there were only black and white pictures on TV and instead of police cars you had horses." The blonde chuckled. When he was a rookie...she wasn't born when he was a rookie.

"Careful, Vegas." He threatened amused. "Only because I've got less than half a year until I'm retired, it doesn't mean I can't kick your ass. A little bit more respect."

"Sorry, I just tried to narrow down the time line."

"You better get us a coffee, time to watch the area."

Sofia saved herself the comment, that these words meant nothing else than he wanted to have a break, drink coffee and watch people walk by. It was fine with her, she could use a caffeine boost too.

With her two coffees to go she was about to leave the cafe when a man stormed inside, pulled a gun and started yelling. "Money! Gimme the money!" Nervously he waved the gun in front of the face of the elderly woman behind the counter. Sofia, who was the only customer, was ignored, she wore street clothes and her badge was hidden behind a bag with donuts.

"Faster! Money! I shoot you!" Before the woman could handle him a bag with money, he grabbed it, turned and was on his way out, still ignoring Sofia. By the time he was on the same height with her, she lifted her leg and let the man fall over her foot. Losing the gun and the bag with the money, the man fell hard on the ground. He hadn't really touched the ground when he found himself cuffed.

"You're under arrest for armed robbery." And destroying my coffee break, she added silently.

"What the fuck...?"

"It's not a good idea to rob a cafe when there's a cop inside and one outside, pretty stupid mistake. Get up!" She pulled on his feet. By now William was there.

"What happened?"

"This man robbed the cafe while I was inside."

"Didn't know you're a cop."

"Surprise. Are you all right, ma'am?"

"Ye-yes. I...I pressed the button for a silent alarm..."

"Good, back-up is on its way and they can take this junk to the department."

"What happened to my coffee? When you spilled my coffee for him, I make sure myself he'll get in trouble."

"On the shelf." Sofia looked at the robber. He was in his early twenties, a little bit taller than she was, but all she needed was the surprise to get him down. "Man, you stink. How much did you drink already? And what else did you take?"

"Nothing."

"Sure. When we get your blood and let tox work it, I bet we'll get a cocktail of a lot of illegal substances."

"Bitches." He tried to free himself, a lousy attempt, that only got him on the ground again.

"No good balance. Ma'am I'm sorry I need the money as evidence, you get it back as soon as possible. And if you could go to the department too, it would be very helpful. You can file a complain there."

"I need to call my husband, so he can take over."

"Do that, we'll be around, you don't need to worry."

"Thank you, officer."

"You're welcome." Sofia pushed the man out of the cafe towards the police car, that stopped in front of the building. "Got a drunk and drugged robber, can you get him to the department? We come back with the victim." She said to the officer, who stepped out of the car.

"He tried to rob a cafe while you were inside?"

"Yeah."

"Pretty stupid. Old William doesn't like it when he gets disturbed with his coffee."

"I saved his coffee, he's fine."

"Good job. Both. Come on, jerk, time for you to sober up and stay in jail for a while." He pushed the man into the car, closed the door, waved at William and left.

"Yeas ago people didn't storm into cafes, tried to rob them while the police was around. I tell you, Sofia, this place turns more and turn into a nuts house. We need the old laws back, people aren't scared of punishment anymore. The life in jail is better than on the streets, they even get their drugs there."

"You want to hang people again?"

"Sometimes I think it wasn't the worst system. Cleaned the streets." William sipped on his coffee and had a piece of donut.

"A lot of innocent people died during this time. Plus you can't hang people for everything."

"No, we let horse stealer live and concentrate on the drug addicts. I'm glad I can leave this place in a few months and go somewhere else. This city is too big for me, I need a smaller place with rules."

"Sounds like you want to go and live in the wilderness."

"Wisconsin is top on my wife's and my list. A little farm, far away from the city. Cowboy life."

"You'll be the Sheriff?"

"Sure. When you're sick of the city come around, we need a Deputy too."

"I keep that in mind." Sofia laughed. A life on a farm? In the middle of nowhere? That didn't sound like a life she wanted to live. She needed the city around, needed people and different lifestyles.

A young man with red hair entered the cafe. "Grandma, are you all right?"

"Felix, you should be at university."

"I don't have to be there. Grandpa called me, somebody tried to rob you."

"Yes...yes...fortunately the police was here. Where is your grandfather?"

"On his way to the police, he'll meet you there. I take care of the cafe."

"You're a good boy." The woman hugged the young man. "Thank you."

"No problem. Thanks for the help, lieutenants." He looked at Sofia and William, whereupon his eyes stayed a second longer on Sofia.

"It's our job. Misses...?"

"Blake."

"Misses Blake, we can take you with us to the police department to meet your husband, file a complain and your grandson might be able to take over for you, so you can have a rest afterwards." Sofia looked at the young man.

"Sure, go home grandma, I'll handle the cafe and when Esther comes in later, I tell her you had a headache. No need to scare her."

"You're an angel."

"One with little hidden horns. Let the detectives take care of you, okay?"

"Yes Love."

"Please follow me, Misses Blake, our car is only two blocks away." Sofia guided the woman out of the cafe. This should be an easy case. They had the robber, the money, she was the witness and everything should be over within a couple of hours.