Two days later Mac was in a meeting with one of the department heads, Jason Hodges. With him were several other detectives, all in charge of various departments of the NYPD, especially the ones in Mac's building. Mac didn't care too much for Hodges, considering the man to be more concerned about appearances than about work. But, unfortunately for him, Mac had to deal with the man so he shut up and put up.
"We have an evaluator coming in to look over the items stored in Storage Rooms One through Four. She is one of the state's foremost antique appraisers and comes from one of the most prominent appraiser companies in New York. Her name is Miranda Wilcox and I ex-" Hodges was saying when, suddenly, there was a terrific "CRASH!" from outside the room, causing everyone to jump.
"Whatever it was, I didn't touch it!" a female voice yelped. A moment later the door opened and a woman breezed in, wearing an open grey Union coat and hat, tan riding pants that hugged every sweet curve of her legs, and black heeled knee-high pull-on riding boots. She carried a tan-colored book bag. Mac thought she looked familiar but couldn't really see her face due to the hat and the way her curly black hair was arranged around the sides and tucked under the hat. He did see the large silver chandelier earrings swinging from her ears, however.
"Sorry I'm late, traffic's a pain in the rear and there was just a little spot of trouble on Bradford Avenue on the way over," the woman said to Hodges, apparently recognizing him. "Oh, and the accident outside in the hallway too."
"Not a problem, Ms. Wilcox," Hodges said, trying to appear charming as he took one of the woman's hands in his but Mac though he came across as being smarmy. He wondered what the woman thought.
The woman finally turned around and Mac felt his jaw drop. Randi? And indeed it was Randi, who was wearing a cream-colored Victorian high-neck lace blouse under the coat, complete with a silver broach at the throat. Then he grinned when he saw Randi discretely wipe the hand Hodges had just had in his on the back of her pants. Nope, Randi didn't care for the guy either. When Randi saw him, her face lit up and she smiled warmly at him.
"Tell you guys what. I'm gonna be nice and cut to the chase," Randi began.
"You know how?" Mac asked, grinning.
She glared at him playfully. "Har, har, har. If I had something to throw, I would, at you," she shot back. The rest of the officers chuckled while Hodges glared silently at Mac, something Mac proceeded to ignore. "Anyway, getting back on track here – shaddup," she said, pointing a finger at Mac as he opened his mouth to say something again, causing another chuckle from the officers.
Mac was enjoying himself simply because Randi was so easy to tease and it helped that she fought back, making things just as interesting. Besides, he wanted to see how she handled herself on what was technically his turf.
"My name is Miranda Wilcox but I answer to Randi. As you have no doubt been informed, I will be going through the artifact storage areas over the next several days. However until I actually see the contents, I won't know for sure how long I'm going to be here. As much as possible I will try and stay out of your guys' way but from time to time I may need a little help. Over-all, I only have one rule when I'm working," Randi said.
"Should we get nervous here?" one cop quipped.
Randi smiled, showing teeth. "Only if you try and treat me like a dainty little flower. Then I bust your balls and feed them to my dog." That caused another round of laughter amongst the officers.
When the meeting adjourned, Mac offered to take Randi to the storage areas on the pretense of having to go that way anyway. She graciously accepted.
"So you're an antique appraiser," Mac said as they walked towards the storage areas.
"With a four-year degree in history covering just about every topic I could lay my hands on in college and about fifteen years worth of experience in dealing with antiques, considered one of the state's foremost antique appraisers who just happens to have slightly off-the-wall taste in clothes and accessories, worth a pretty penny to do appraisals, yada, yada, yada, yup, that's me," Randi said easily. "And I'm only thirty-two."
"The numbers aren't coming up right," Mac said, doing the math in his head.
"They do if you factor in the fact that I started working in my grandma's antique shop when I was seventeen. Started there one summer when I was bored and got hooked," Randi replied.
Mac nodded. Now the numbers made sense. It also explained how Randi could afford to wear the kind of clothes she did and how she found them in the first place; her work put her in contact with a lot of them.
When Randi saw the contents of the storage rooms, she groaned. "This is gonna take me at least a month!" she yelped, moving amongst the various boxes and other assorted items.
"A month?"
"About two to three weeks to sort and catalogue everything and then a week to do the appraisals and final report," she explained. Suddenly she sneezed what Mac thought was the cutest sneeze he'd ever heard.
"Bless you," he said, grinning.
"Tink-coo," she replied, her mouth and nose in her hands. "Okay, I'm going to need a small table, chair, and power source but beyond that, I'll be okay. One question; can I bring Fabio with me sometimes? Especially if I'm working late?" she asked.
"As long as he behaves himself, doesn't go chasing after anyone, and keeps out of the labs, I don't see a problem," Mac said.
"Thanks. I promise, you won't regret this," Randi said, smiling.
Then why do I get the feeling that it's going to be a long couple of weeks? Mac thought grimly.