Jim pulled into the parking lot of Udder Delights, their destination. Inside he inquired about one of the dancers, Ginger Cakes. Melanie chuckled to herself at the girl's name. The bartender pointed to a girl that was dancing on the stage, topless with her body wrapped around a pole as she performed various suggestive movements.

Melanie watched Jim as he glanced up at the stage. Antipathy was etched in his time worn features. He was not enjoying the show. On some level that surprised her; she realized that she had made an assumption on a stereotype, something he was not, evidently. "What… not your taste?" she quipped, sorry she had uttered the words as soon as they left her mouth.

He shot her a frosty look and groaned. "No," he replied tersely.

For some reason she found that she was pleased with this discovery. Inexplicably, she had been attracted to him from her first sighting of his compact frame in the halls at LVPD. As she learned more about him, his appeal was growing.

The detective was aware of the appraisal of him that was taking place. Honestly, he had to admit that he was somewhat pleased that she was interested. Dubious that her interest would last however, he remained guarded. Candy was finishing her dance anyway. He moved towards the stage, pulling his badge from his pocket to ensure her attention.

They were led back to an office in the back, where Candy asked what he wanted, eyeing Melanie as she spoke.

Jim went into detective mode and explained that he was investigating the death of Candy Stripes and had some questions. "I understand that you chatted with her just before she left last night."

"Yeah…."

"Talk about anything in particular?"

"Um…she was off a beat in her last dance? Oh, and she was meeting some new guy later."

Jim tilted his head in interest. "New guy? You know who or maybe where she met him?"

Candy spoke coyly, clearing trying to flirt with him. Still topless, she tried to use her upper torso to distract him, inhaling deeply and squaring her shoulders to emphasize her attributes.

Her efforts were wasted on Jim, Melanie noted. He simply stared at the girl, waiting for an answer.

Finally Candy realized that he wasn't going to respond and she decided to co operate. "Yeah, okay. His name is Frank…or maybe Fred. Anyway, she was going to meet him over at his motel, the Desert Inn."

"So, who knew about this…maybe an old boyfriend or something?"

"Boyfriend? Nah….I doubt it. She didn't stay with one guy long enough…. But Curt knew."

"Curt?"

"The club owner. He always seemed to have an eye for Ginger. Always around, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah…yeah, I do." He thanked her for the information and nodded to Melanie, signaling that they were leaving.

Back in his car, she openly scrutinized him. Her look was making him nervous and he squirmed in his seat in response. She smiled, realizing that she was the source of his discomfort. "What?" He finally asked.

"You gay or something?" Again she regretted the words as they slipped from her mouth.

"How'd you guess?" he smirked.

She snickered. "Yeah, right."

"So why the question?" His impatience was showing.

"I'm sorry…it just slipped out. But you were so obviously not interested in what Candy was offering."

"Honey, this is Vegas….it is all out there all the time. After awhile you just don't see it anymore. Besides, when it's offered that easily, it kind of kills the fun."

"So, you like the chase?"

"Hey, it's what I do…chase things. You know, a clue here, a lie there….I'm a detective."

Deciding it was probably time to change the subject, she looked out the window. "Where we going now?"

"The Desert Inn…."

Again her mouth got ahead of her thoughts, "you take all your girls to the best spots or is it just me?"

Jim shot her a deadly look and smirked. "Honey, you're not my girl, so I guess you'll never know."

"So do you have a girl?" She was in full curiosity mode.

"Isn't that a little out of the scope of your research? I mean, I thought you wanted to know how we work cases…."

"I'm sorry if it seemed too personal. But I did say I'm researching for my main character…"

"Oh right….and that's going to be based on me. Maybe you'll get lucky with the book and people will buy it for doorstops then."

"You saying you are not a good model for a protagonist?"

"Hey, I'm boring. Just an ole cop counting down til retirement."

"Hardly," she snickered. "I googled you. You have a very impressive and somewhat colorful record. Shootings, major arrests, big cases, nearly brought down the entire vice squad back in New Jersey…. A real media darling."

"Don't believe everything you read," he shrugged.

"Just one thing….how did you feel after you shot that cop?"

Jim gripped his steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. He clenched his jaw to keep from saying the first words in his head in response to her question. Once composed he replied with a question of his own, "how do you think I felt?"

"Guilty," she said simply.

He shrugged again as he turned left at an intersection. "Yeah, well…guilt doesn't begin to describe it." He really didn't want to have this conversation with her.

"But you're living with it." She said it matter of factly, having no idea of how hard living with it was for Jim at times.

"Don't have much choice."

"You could've died…just let go when you got shot. But you evidently fought to stay alive."

Jim sighed. "Is there anything you didn't find out about me?"

"Yeah…why did you leave New Jersey?"

Suddenly Jim realized something. "Wait…you said you googled me. When? I mean, you haven't been out of my sight since we met in the Sheriff's office."

"Okay, I'm busted. I didn't just pick you after seeing you in the hall. I've known about you for awhile. But you are avoiding my question; why did you come out here?"

"Well, now you've asked two different questions. But we're here, so you'll have to wait until I decide if I'm going to answer. In the meantime, I have to work." He looked across the front seat at her as he turned off the ignition. Her face was alive with curiosity, giving her an impish look. Despite her annoying questions, he was beginning to like her, which worried him.

In the office, Jim asked the clerk if there was a Fred or a Frank registered or maybe had checked out the night before. The clerk checked his computer screen and answered. "Frank Tomlinson, but he checked out a few hours ago."

"Okay, give me any information you have on him…."

The clerk wrote down the man's name, an address, and a license plate number and handed it to Jim. He frowned as he took the slip and read it. "Okay, thanks." Then he headed back for the car, not waiting to see if Melanie followed or not.

She knew her questions had bothered him, but she was just now beginning to realize how much. He simply didn't want to talk about his past. She wondered if she would ever get any straight answers from him. As she followed him back to his car, she decided to lay off the Q&A for awhile and try to stay on more neutral ground….lull him and then zing him with more questions.

As they drove back to PD, Jim keep waiting for her to begin the inquisition again. Instead, she talked about Vegas and asked a few questions about the city itself. Jim answered as best he could but really didn't know some of the answers she was looking for.

Back at the station he made a few phone calls and set the wheels in motion to find this Tomlinson guy, if he was still in the city. There were definitely questions that Jim wanted to ask him.

A few minutes later Warrick Brown stuck his head in Jim's door. "Hey Brass, I got some more info on that homicide of yours. Doc says COD was not the stabbing but that she was suffocated….hand over mouth, like he was trying to make her be quiet only it went too far."

"Oh, okay thanks. Any results back on the footprints and the skin under her nails?"

"Nah…Gris has the new girl, Ronnie, going through all the shoes tread data to see if she can find a match to the prints. And Wendy is still working on the skin. I'll let you know."

"Thanks Rick."

Brown headed on down the hall, obviously following up on more than one case.

Melanie watched as he walked down the hall and then turned back to Jim, who was behind his desk. "He one of your detectives?"

"Not exactly. He's over at CSI, one of the science guys."

"Did he work for you then?"

"Oh, here we go again," Jim said sarcastically. "Yeah, he worked for me."

Melanie was surprised by his agitation. She thought it was a simple question. Apparently nothing was simple with this man though.

Jim immediately regretted his sharp tone. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just used to asking the questions…not the other way around, you know."

"Yeah," she responded quietly.

"Hey, how about some lunch? My treat." Jim was trying to make amends.

Melanie smiled. "Okay…. But next time it'll be on me."

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Thoughts? Comments? You like...hate...don't care? The little button is down there somewhere, let me know. Besides, I like reading your suggestions on where the story should go. Does she continue to irritate him? ANd is it true irritation or is it sexual tension? Does she get Jim in the end?