Chapter Two: Crushes and Suspicions

"What do you think of the new detective so far?" Nigel asked Lily.

Lily shrugged. "I can't really say. I haven't gotten the chance to talk to her. What do you think of her?" She asked, giving him a coy smile.

Nigel ignored the look she gave him. "I think that, from the few seconds we got to talk to her, she seemed nice," he replied, carefully choosing his words.

"Pretty, too," she said, still looking at him in a coy way.

He looked at her. "What exactly are you getting at, Lily?"

She giggled. "I saw the way you were looking at her. You like her."

He shrugged. "So what if I do?" Nigel couldn't quite meet Lily's eyes.

Before she could reply, the topic of their conversation came striding in, heels clicking rhythmically.

"Howdy, ya'll," she said brightly. She pointed at Nigel. "Nigel Townsend, am I right?"

He nodded, momentarily unable to speak.

She looked at Lily. "Lily Lebowski, right?"

Lily smiled. "Yep."

Micheals smiled. "Great! I'm quite proud of myself. You see, I have a slight problem with remembering names of people I just meet."

Nigel silently marveled at the way every word she spoke sounded like music. He loved the way her eyes always sparkled. He liked the graceful way she moved.

"Nigel?" Lily's voice cut through his musings.

He jumped. "What?"

Lily gave him an amused look. "Did you just hear a word I just said?"

He grinned guiltily. "Sorry, Lil. Can't say I did."

"I asked you if you've seen Dr. Macy around."

He shook his head. "Sorry, I can't say I have."

"Wait," Micheals frowned. "Is Dr. Macy is the bald headed guy with the deep voice? The head honcho around here?"

"Yep." Lily nodded. "Have you seen him?"

Micheals nodded. "Just a couple of minutes ago. I nearly ran right into him. I believe he's in his office."

"Thanks." Lily left, supposedly to go find Dr. Macy.

"What was that about?" Micheals asked, cocking her head slightly.

Nigel, who was thinking how cute she looked when she did that, was surprised by the question. "What was what?"

"Well, she left in a hurry." A frown suddenly crossed her lovely features. "Is she going to prejudge me, too?" The question seemed more for her own sake than for his.

He felt very surprised by that. "What do mean by that?"

"Huh?" She looked at him, slightly startled. "Oh, it's just that I know from experience that when a cop is killed in the line of duty the person who replaces him or her is usually hated and prejudged until they can prove themselves."

Nigel looked in her eyes, his curiosity rising. "How do you know that?"

She met his eyes. "Because last time I was the one doing the prejudging," she replied simply.

He started to ask what she meant, but something stopped him. There was a faraway hurt look in her wonderfully blue eyes. He wondered what the story behind those eyes were. Again, he didn't ask.

Instead, Nigel said, "Well, Detective Micheals, do you have any cases that involve my assistance?"

Micheals sighed and the sad look vanished from her eyes. "Number one, no I do not. Number two, call me Corri."

Nigel smiled. "Corri."

"Yes?"

"That's a bit of a boyish name, don'tcha think?" he asked, leaning against a counter.

A smile graced her soft lips. "Well, I was practally the only woman on the squad in Alabama. Besides, I was a very tough kid growing up. By the time I was ten I was helping my aunt break in wild horses."

Nigel raised his eyebrows in shock. "Wow. No wonder you became a cop."

"Yeah. Originally, though, I wanted to become a criminalist. I even took the courses for it. The only problem is that I really suck at math."

"Ah." He was looking at her with renewed interest. A girl who looked like a supermodel, was tough, and extremely smart? That was his type of girl. He remembered the recent heartbreak with Delinda and wondered if she had a boyfriend.

Strands of dark brown hair into her face. With one movement of her willowy hand, they were back in place. Watching her, Nigel wondered how to ask her if she had a boyfriend. He decided that she seemed to the type of girl who liked the direct approach. He wondered how to word it where he didn't sound too forward.

Her cell suddenly rang. She turned away to answer. "Micheals." She listened for a few minutes, then said, "Yeah, I think I know where that is. Thanks. Be there in a few." She hung up and turned back to him. "I have to go, Nigel. I'll see you around, I guess."

"Bye," he replied glumly. Who knows when the next chance he'll get to talk to her alone?

Jordan knelt by the corpse of a man. He looked to be about six feet even, with dirty blonde hair and smoothly tanned skin. His grey green eyes were glazed over and he looked to be about twenty three or twenty four. He was apparently healthy, despite the fact that he was dead.

"There's no apparent cause of death," she told Woody over her shoulder. "Autopsy will reveal more."

"I wonder what will cause a healthy guy to keel over dead?" Woody murmered.

"Many causes," Jordan replied, getting to her feet. Suddenly, she turned to him. "What do you think of your new partner?"

Woody was a bit surprised at the question. "I don't really know. I haven't really spoken to her."

Jordan sighed. "There's something about her I don't like. I mean, she seems to be nice, but she's hiding something. I don't mean she's hiding small stuff, like her birthday or if she's an only child. I mean she's hiding something major. You know what I mean?"

Woody nodded. "I think I do. It makes you wonder, what is she hiding?"