Guys. When they're speaking in Spanish, the dialogue is italicized.
"Spencer?" Ashley stuck her head into the bathroom, "Are you ready to go yet?"
"What the hell is your problem?" Spencer's entire face flushed a deep red as she slammed the door in the brunette's face, continuing to yell through the wood, "Can't you see I'm naked?"
"It's not like you've got anything I haven't seen before, besides, I probably have a little more of it than you do." She leaned back against the wall, waiting on her partner to emerge, already envisioning the annoyed expression that would most likely be plastered onto her face. The door flew open, and she wasn't the least bit disappointed.
"You are the most rude, inconsiderate," her voice became slightly muffled as she pulled her head through the top of her Def Leopard t-shirt, "ass of a person that I have ever had the misfortune to meet!"
"Look at my face," Ashley pointed at herself, her expression completely devoid of emotion. "Tell me if it looks like I care."
I swear I'm going to kill her...I'm gonna put my hands around her neck and kill her! "I'm driving." Spencer snatched the keys from Ashley's hanging hand, stalking out the door not even waiting to see if the brunette were following. She was already inside the midnight blue Mazda RX-8, buckled, engine on, and a look on her face cold enough to freeze over the Sahara before Ashley ambled to the car, obviously moving as slow as possible to annoy her counterpart. "Took you long enough," she growled out, "my clothes are now officially out of style."
Ashley glanced over impassively, "They would've had to have been in style first."
Spencer didn't respond, just gritted her teeth speeding away from the curb and into the already thickening four o'clock San Francisco traffic. Murder is wrong. You can't kill her you can't...the thought of murder sobered her some as she thought back to the girl from last night, still unable to shake the guilt that if she had paid more attention she may have been able to save her. To keep the person who murdered her from even getting in a shot. Maybe if Super Cop over there had listened to me...to be truthful, the thought of being in a car with her commanding officer at this moment sickened her to the pit of her stomach. She couldn't understand why she wouldn't listen to her...
"Spencer! Watch where you're going!"
She looked up with barely enough time to react, slamming on brakes, the tires squealing with the struggle of trying to bring the vehicle to a halt. She could feel her heart hammering and was tempted to open her mouth, look in the rearview mirror and check to see if it had jumped into her throat as she suspected. "Sorry."
"Sorry?" Ashley waved out the window, indicating the car before them that couldn't have been more than a quarter of a millimeter away from their front bumper. "You could have killed someone!"
"Shut up!" Spencer snapped out, her eyes spitting venom, "You did kill someone!"
Ashley's face paled, her lower jaw locking in place as she turned back to face forward, "Just get us there in one piece." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke.
Spencer nearly felt bad for her, but squashed away the feeling of sympathy, shaking her head as the traffic once again began moving. It's not like it isn't true...
HLF
Neither of them spoke the rest of the way to the park where they were supposed to meet up with the person who would be the go-between for them and Chief Wallace. Spencer had noticed Ashley wiping roughly at her cheeks several times during the drive, but now that they had arrived at their destination, any emotion she'd been showing was completely gone.
Ashley jumped immediately from the car as soon as it was parked. I can't ride in there with her anymore...it's not my fault that woman died...it's not...she leaned back against the front of the Mazda, staring up into the sky. Why'd I get stuck with a rookie anyway? I'd rather be chasing people around downtown, getting shot at even! Not chasing some maniacal serial killer around when nobody has a clue about where we should begin looking. Why do I get the nasty feeling the department's using us as bait...?
"Hey chica!"
She started at the noise, bringing her gaze down, "Martinez? What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm the go-between…duh."
"Say what?" Spencer had climbed from the car, just hearing the tail-end of the short conversation the two had been having.
Ashley spared a glance her way, rolling her eyes slightly, "You come to live in California and didn't think it would be smart to take any Spanish classes? All he said was he's the go-between."
"Not that many people speak Spanish in Ohio, so excuse me for thinking it's not that important."
"Well, if you look around this isn't Ohio," Ashley pushed off from the car, her eyes narrowing as she continued to talk, "and the Latino population is considerably higher so it is important."
"Woah, woah," Martinez stepped in between them, his honey eyes wide, "You two are fighting over nothing, it can't be that bad living together." He turned to Ashley, "And you, what the hell is your problem?"
Ashley threw her hands into the air, "You already know! I can't stand her! Why would Chief make me watch after her anyway? All the collars I have and he dumps a rookie on me!"
"If this is about the damned doughnuts, you really need to let it go."
"I could care less about those freaking doughnuts!"
"Would you two please speak in English!" Spencer yelled, silencing them both.
"I could, or you could just learn Spanish."
"Ashley!" Martinez shot her a warning look, "Can we not have that argument again?"
Unable to direct her aggravation towards Spencer, she turned it instead against Cisco, "Whatev, what exactly are we supposed to be telling you?"
He pulled a tiny notebook from his back pocket, flipping through, stopping after a couple of pages, "Chief wants me to find out what happened...matter of fact, his exact words were, 'How in the shittin-hell could those two have been there and not known some shit was 'bout to go down?' end quote." He settled his brown gaze on Spencer, "You can go ahead and talk first."
"Tell him it's not like I didn't know something was wrong, because I did!"
"Um," He scratched his head with the pen, "chica, I don't know if you want to tell him that."
"Why not?"
"Because he's immediately going to go, 'If that girl knew something was wrong, how was a crime still committed?' Except he'll be in your face when he screams it, maybe even accidentally hit you with some spittle."
The blonde grimaced, making a face, "Maybe I better rephrase that...I knew something was wrong, I even told Davies but she acted like I was talking to a human brick."
"I did not, I listened to you!"
"Right," Spencer folded her arms, "what you were listening to, were a pair of fake breasts with red hair!"
"Her breasts were not fake…and they weren't covered in hair…!"
"Wait," Cisco flipped to another page in the notepad, jotting something down, "so Davies, she actually told you something was wrong but you were...?"
What am I supposed to say? I was too busy hitting on that chick? I totally could have gotten her in my bed...I'm too horny to be a cop? That's not right..."See...I was talking..." she hesitated, she'd never been a really good liar and was now starting to wish she'd taken some lessons from her mother in this regard. "We were talking...s-she...we..." She trailed off, there was no way to rationalize what she did, no way to make up for it. Her own selfishness had cost another person their life.
Spencer watched as Ashley fumbled to come up with an explanation, saw the myriad of expressions cross her partners face and began speaking without even knowing why. "She was asking the woman if she'd noticed anything that seemed off. You know, regular police work. I would have done it, but I'm not too good with strangers."
Martinez stared suspiciously from one cop to the other, "That true?"
Ashley stood there stunned, trying to think of a way to casually pick her mouth up from the floor, "Y-yeah...it's true." She finally mumbled out.
"Mmhmm..." He finished jotting down a few things, then put the pad away, "Alright then, I guess I'll leave you ladies alone, unless of course," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "you want some company."
"Yeah, but no." Spencer walked back around, the Mazda, getting behind the wheel.
"Is she telling the truth?" Cisco directed the question to Ashley, his face no longer friendly, but that of a cop seeking answers to something that didn't feel quite right.
"I gotta go." Ashley climbed into the passenger side, not answering, slamming the door shut she winked and blew a kiss to Martinez who only shook his head with a smirk before turning away. She looked over at Spencer, "Hey, Carlin...thanks."
"I didn't do it for you." At least, I don't think I did...
HLF
Ashley opened the door to the apartment and immediately felt as though something were wrong, her hand went to her waist, and she cursed under her breath at the realization that she'd left the holster and gun in the bedroom. Shit..."Carlin, stay behind me."
"What?" Spencer tried to push her way through the door.
"I said stay back!" Something in the tone of Ashley's voice made her listen, as the brunette stepped cautiously through, entering the foyer, her eyes expertly sweeping the area, looking for the slightest thing that may have been out of place. "Someone's been in here..."
"I think you're losing it." Spencer rolled her eyes, stepping into the apartment as well. "Nothing's been moved, nobody's been in here."
"You're still thinking like a rookie." Ashley swiveled her head, locking eyes with Spencer as she spoke. "Nothing has to be moved, people know not to touch your stuff, they know you'll notice that, what you have to look for, to sense, are the clues that are more subtle. It doesn't even smell the same in here."
"Are you serious?" Spencer asked, eyes wide.
Ashley nodded, "Sometimes the subtle clues can save your life. People just never pay attention. Stay here." She started off down the hall, listening for every creak of the boards, knowing without knowing that someone had been inside. She paused in front of the bathroom, slowly pushing open the door, flicking on the light, and felt her breath catch in her throat.
IN THE LIGHT OF DAY
TIME TO PLAY, TIME TO PLAY
THE LITTLE BLONDE IS WHO I WANTED
I MISSED THE FIRST TIME
I WON'T BE TEASED OR TAUNTED
IN THE BATHROOM
SHE ESCAPED THE CLUB
BUT SHE CAN'T ESCAPE THE LOVE
THAT I WILL GIVE HER WHEN SHE DIES
WHEN I TEACH HER SOUL TO FLY
RS
Ashley felt a dark anger began to simmer within her, and knew that if she ever saw the person responsible they would never make it to trial, they'd never even be read their rights, because she would be their judge, their executioner, and she would be glad of it. I live here...he's been where I live...threatening my partner...the other crimes he'd committed game back to her in a string of memory. She remembered sitting at home on the couch after work, watching the news, seeing that he'd struck again, gripped by as much fear as the rest of the city because nobody knew what he looked like, which meant he could be anyone. They seemed so much more real now, because now it had struck much closer to home. She heard the soft tread of feet coming up behind her, "Carlin, don't come in here." She reached to close the door, but made the move to late. Spencer was already standing beside her.
She gasped, choking on her fear, "He's talking about me isn't he...he wants me..."