Blonde Bomb Tech

by Lara Santiago

  “Well, you are a kindergarten teacher after all. It probably is sinful for you in some stupid rule book.”

  “Don’t you follow the rules?” Suzanne’s eyebrows raised in amused question.

  “Let’s just say I’m very selective about the ones I choose to abide by.”

  “Could we sit down?” she asked, suddenly looking pale and shaky.

  “Sure, are you okay?”

  “Yes. I just get tired these days, and whatever you do don’t come over in the evening after eight. I turn into Linda Blair and do a terrific impression of her role in the Exorcist.”

  “So you have night sickness? How odd.”

  “Yes. Every day since about a week after I conceived I think, but at least I feel okay in the mornings. That’s handy for my job with small children.” She laughed.

  “Good. I promise not to keep you out past your expiration date.”

  They finished up their shopping and headed over to the site where their parents had lost their lives protecting their children twenty-three years ago to the day.

  The original building housed a restaurant and living quarters above. After the bomb it had remained vacant and blown-out because the insurance had been inadequate to rebuild.

  Three years later it had been sold at auction and a couple had opened a sort of Mom & Pop hardware store, which had stayed open for almost sixteen years. Then the couple closed it and retired to Florida.

  Sabrina drove around the corner to go down the usually abandoned street, but it was blocked off. It looked like a block party of some sort until she noticed all the vehicles with flashing lights on top. Then she saw the bomb squad truck. The sight chilled her.

  Sabrina asked a passing police officer what was going on. He lifted his hand to shoo her away until she showed him her badge. It didn’t put her back on the squad, but it was certainly handy for informational purposes at times like this.

  The uniformed man told her a bomb threat at the abandoned building down the street had been called in an hour before. He gave the address when she asked him for it. It was the place she and Suzanne been heading for…the Fireside Inn. The site where their parents had died twenty-three years ago.

  Sabrina found a parking place just outside the perimeter and left Suzanne in the car as she headed towards the bomb squad truck.

  “What’s going on?” Sabrina asked, startling Hennessey at the truck.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked with surprise. “Thought you were off being a bum for another week.” He looked over and saw Suzanne in her car a few yards away and gave her a quizzical look.

  “Today is a specific date I need not explain to you. Right?”

  Hennessey’s eyebrows rose, but a heartbeat later she watched as the information regarding the anniversary of her parents’ deaths as it registered on his face. He gave her a sympathetic nod, then turned to stare at the building again.

  “Suzanne and I were coming here today trying to get closure. Looks like it’s going to have to wait another twenty-three years,” she said without humor in her voice.

  “Yeah. Looks like it. I’m sorry.”

  “Who’s inside with the bomb?” Sabrina changed the subject before he could get soft and melancholy. She could do that on her own later.

  “Brown and Smith.”

  “Brown? That new guy? How does he rate?”

  “Well, my best technician had a tantrum with a certain councilman and her partner Murphy refuses to work without her. So I had to send in the second string team,” he answered tartly.

  “Where’s Murphy? He didn’t really refuse, did he?”

  “Not in so many words, but I’d already sent him out with Brian Donovan to follow a lead on the case when the call came in. They went over to get some information from the lab on the diary.”

  “This bomb threat has to be related to the investigation.”

  “Probably,” Hennessey said cryptically. Sabrina wasn’t exactly trying to pump him for information, but if he should happen to accidentally share with her she wouldn’t stop him.

  “It’s a vacant building. Who called it in?”

  “A realtor was showing the place to some rich guy looking to buy a commercial property. They discovered the bomb and called. I don’t imagine Mr. Rich will be interested in this property any longer. He ran off before he gave his statement to the police. Now we’ll have to track him down.”

  “I’ll do it,” Sabrina said.

  “You aren’t allowed on the case. Remember?”

  “How will Mr. Rich know that?”

  “Mr. Rich will somehow be connected to the mayor’s office and he’ll call Peters because that is how my life turns to crap.”

  “Captain? They’re on their way out,” said a tech standing next to the bomb truck.

  Just then the back-up bomb guys came out and placed the suitcase-sized bomb in the containment truck. The small device was detonated safely and the building was saved. Sabrina told them to check for more bombs, but after a thorough check of the premises, none were found.

  “So how bad will this look for me at your next screaming match with Peters?” Sabrina asked Hennessey. “This being the first successful bomb secure since this all started. Oh yeah, and since I was not allowed to participate in it…the bomb was naturally easy to disarm.”

  “Don’t let Peters see you here, either,” Hennessey said, looking around suddenly for cameras as if he were about to get busted. “I don’t know what you said to him but it must have been over the top. He’s out for your blood and this gives him a free strike at you. He knows you’re out on vacation, but calls and stops by for surprise inspections anyway, just to make sure.”

  “You’d think he would have better things to do than to worry about what I’m doing all the damn time.”

  “Yeah, well he’s had a boner for you since you started working on the squad. Now apparently you’ve given him a better reason to get you off the team.”

  Sabrina turned to him in shock. “He has a what for me?”

  “Come on Sabrina, you had to know why he has been so forceful about his utter hatred of you being on the squad. I think he had a crush on you when you first started. His big stupid plan to get you off the team so he could pursue you romantically failed. The fact that you ignored him early on didn’t help. So he went off to pout and generally make your life and mine a living hell from that day forward.”

  “That is not fair. I did not invite his attention and that shouldn’t keep me off the squad.”

  “Fair or not, Peters is sure to rake you over the coals for this successful bomb defuse today. You should prepare yourself for some more ugly press.”

  “But it was an easy one. I could see it from here.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Life’s a bitch. You’re screwed. So what did you say to him, anyway? He is seriously pissed off at you. He won’t broach the subject with me and that is highly unusual,” Hennessy said.

  Since the boner issue had been brought to her attention, Sabrina gave in and whispered the reader’s digest version of the conversation she’d had with Peters, culminating in her taking leave. She colored in embarrassment at his shocked face once she finished and stepped back from whispering in his ear.

  “You said what?”

  “Well, he was in my face and looking at me funny, it just came out. Given what you just told me, I guess it was true and I hit the nail on the head.”

  “Oh yeah, you hit the nail on the head all right! Then the hammer bounced back on to your head before it ricocheted and pummeled me in the head a few more times.”

  “I’m sorry, Captain.”

  “Well, it isn’t me you need to apologize to, is it?”

  “I’m not apologizing to that slimy degenerate,” she responded hotly as her voice cracked in anger.

  “Not yet anyway, but what if he makes it a condition of you returning to the squad?”

  “Then I will take acting lessons to make sure I sound totally convincing when I lie my ass off to him s
o I can have my job back.”

  Hennessey cracked a smile and couldn’t cover his laugh. “Well, let’s give it some more time and I’ll approach him if he is ever in a good mood again. Today’s event should do it. I’ll throw in something about you being so upset at your house being trashed et cetera, and maybe he’ll let it pass in a couple of years or so.”

  “Great. I’ll just file until then,” she said sarcastically.

  “Either that or you could move in with him for a few days and be his friend.”

  “No amount of acting lessons will ever convince him I want to be that kind of friend to him,” Sabrina said, closing her eyes.

  “Go home, Sabrina. Nothing you do will help today.”

  Sabrina nodded and went back to the car. She gave Suzanne a short version of the events. Suzanne laughed.

  “Gosh Sabrina, I’d never have the courage to say that, but he deserved it, if that makes you feel better.” Suzanne spoke in an awestruck voice as Sabrina pulled away from the curb, trying not to squeal her tires in anger like she wanted to.

  “Not really, but thanks. Let’s go back another day for closure, okay?”

  “Of course” Suzanne said. “I’m not trying to make this difficult, Sabrina. We don’t have to go back at all.”

  “It’s not you making this difficult. It’s a whole lot of other small things that are eating away at me.”

  “I’m here to listen if you need a shoulder to cry on.”

  “Thanks Suzanne, but I don’t think I’m ready to share yet. If I ever am, I promise to call you.”

  * * * *

  That night, Sabrina watched the news with dread as Peters did exactly what she expected and made a statement regarding the events that day. He gloated relentlessly about the fact the bomb was stopped easily without the help of the Blond Bomber. He went on and on about Brown and Smith and their ability to disarm the second most simplistic bomb ever constructed in the history of the town.

  “What a prick,” Jake said as they watched the news curled up on his sofa.

  “Yeah. Well it’s my own fault. I made an inappropriate remark.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I’d rather not tell you.”

  “Because Peters is after all my best friend,” Jake snorted.

  “No. It was just petty on my part. I let the snake goad me and now I’m paying the price. Besides, I don’t want you to know how mean I can get.”

  “You, my love, are a sweetheart. Whatever you said to him, I have no doubt he deserved it. Don’t beat yourself up.” Jake looked over at her, next to him on the sofa, “You look tired tonight. You okay?”

  “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I don’t know.” But he had an edge to his voice, which said he did know. He watched her. He watched her for symptoms. Symptoms that would not come because of the unprotected experience they’d shared. She needed to nip this in the bud.

  “It’s just all this inactivity. I’ve been lazing around your place like a worthless lump. I need to get back into action. I need to at least figure a way back on the case.” Sabrina did feel tired and after seeing what Peters had said about her today, she felt nauseated.

  “How?”

  “I called Murphy and left a message. I’m going to have him send me tidbits from the investigation that I can research independently. I’m expecting him to call anytime tonight.”

  “Will he?”

  “Yeah, he hates Peters almost as much as I do. Besides, he owes me tons of favors. It’s time for him to pay up.”

  Jake’s phone rang and he answered it. Sabrina didn’t like answering his phone. She didn’t know if the members of his family, most especially his mother, would appreciate the living arrangements. Another one of those social quandaries she had no frame of reference for deciding the best course of action.

  “Hello,” Sabrina heard him say, followed by “Hey, Murphy.”

  Murphy? What was he doing calling Jake’s home number?

  “No, not at all, she’s right here.” Jake handed her the cordless phone.

  “Hello?” Sabrina said, and got up off the sofa, moving into the kitchen.

  “Hey Sabrina, it’s me.” Murphy said.

  “Why didn’t you call me on my cell?”

  “I was trying to catch you getting to ‘know’ your fireman boyfriend in the biblical sense.”

  “Hennessy is dead meat.”

  “He didn’t talk. Come on Sabrina, I read your lips when you were talking to Peters. Remember that percussion bomb from three years back during that training exercise? You know the one that went off right next to my ear? Took me months to get my hearing back fully. I had to learn to read lips or miss all the best gossip in the office back then. Now it comes in handy for conversations I’m not supposed to be hearing at all.”

  “Okay, Murphy,” she sighed. “So you know how stupid I was. What is wrong with me?”

  “Nothing. He’s a sleaze.”

  “Hennessey said he’s had a boner for me since I started. Did you know that?”

  “Anyone with eyes can see he’s had a thing for you since you started. I can’t believe you didn’t notice until now. So do you want to talk about your love life or do you want something to do with your time?”

  “You’re going to give me something to do?” Sabrina couldn’t suppress the excitement in her voice.

  “The lab just called with some information from the diary. Would you like to investigate the name of the man your mom was afraid of?”

  “Yes. I would. Why was she afraid of him?”

  “Not sure why, but she was so afraid of him it says she had to run away and hide so he wouldn’t find her.”

  “Why aren’t you investigating this?”

  “Well, the name of the guy is John Everett Hollingsworth the Third, and guess who he is good friends with.”

  “Who?”

  “Councilman Peters. Mr. Hollingsworth and his Aunt Margaret Linden were the biggest campaign fund supporters in Councilman Peters’ last election run. Peters informed us quickly he would appreciate the opportunity to contact Mr. Hollingsworth first before we speak to him. Later on, we heard that Peters is setting up some sort of special official conference meeting. I have no doubt Mr. Hollingsworth will be present, along with about five lawyers. We’ll be lucky to get him to verify his name.”

  “Nothing like support from the councilman’s office to further our case. Okay. I’ll check old newspapers at the library and at least get some background on him. Can you send me copies of the diary pages?”

  “Yeah and I got something else for you too. You’ll see it when you get the pages. It’s a symbol or a logo of some kind. They found it repeated in the margins of several of the diary pages.”

  “Thanks Murphy. I’ll call you and let you know what I find out.”

  “Okay, and Sabrina.”

  “Yeah?”

  “The guy that destroyed your apartment would be a scary enough guy to run and hide from, in my opinion. If he’s the same guy, I want you to be careful.”

  “You know me, Murphy. Of course, I’ll be very careful, but thanks for your concern. ” Sabrina felt a warm feeling lodge in her chest. His worry reminded her that she was lucky to have him as a partner. In her humble opinion, Murphy was one of the good guys.

  “I do know you Sabrina…that’s why I mentioned it especially. Oh and one last thing…” He paused as if reluctant to say anything further.

  “What?” She prompted him.

  He cleared his throat twice before speaking as if he was going to say something meaningful and worthy of a gushy Hallmark card, “Go on back to whatever you were doing with Jake but just remember what I’ve told you about practicing safe sex.”

  “Shut up, Murphy.” She hung up on his boyish laughter over his own joke. Then again, the thought of practicing safe sex with Jake wasn’t completely out of the question.

  Sabrina wondered if Jake was in the mood for safe sex and gave him her best devious smile upon her r
eturn from the kitchen.

  She sat down on the sofa next to Jake focused on the sports show he watched and unbuttoned, then unzipped, his fly. He stopped watching the television immediately. She kissed his smiling mouth, lightly as her hand slid down to his open trousers to see if his cock was awake yet.

  Stroking her hand up and down his thickening shaft, she asked, “Are you in the mood for some massage?” She planted a kiss on his chin.

  Turning away from the television, he cleared his throat. “Always.” Threading a hand in her hair, he pulled her close for a kiss and cupped one of her breasts.

  Sabrina released his lips and kissed his face. She shifted off the sofa and onto her knees between his legs.

  He grinned and arched an eyebrow. “What…um…what are you doing?”

  “Tongue massage.” She closed her lips around the head of his penis and stuck him deeply into her mouth. Her hand gripped the base of his cock and squeezed. He made a surprised noise and hissed a breath between his teeth.

  Jake’s fingers slipped into her hair, massaging her scalp as her lips moved up and down, sucking him in and out. In and out.

  His breathing increased and became a pant. “So good…oh…so, so good…” he mumbled and gripped the tendrils of her hair in his fists.

  He moaned and bent forward slightly on the sofa, “Wait…can’t hold…Sabrina…” He growled and released. A deep, incomprehensible guttural noise came from him as she sucked the fluid from him as he climaxed.

  Jake’s hands fell away from her hair a minute later. He slumped back on the sofa breathing hard. She crawled up his body and buried her face into his throat. He hugged her tight still trying to catch his breath.

  “Don’t you love tongue massage?” she asked.

  “Oh, yeah,” he panted .

  Chapter Twelve

  Sabrina sat at her desk early the morning of her return from her vacation pouting as she waited for Captain Hennessey to arrive.

  After speaking to Murphy, Sabrina spent the final days of her vacation doing research on the name he’d given her—John Everett Hollingsworth III. She spent every minute of her time either at the library or on the new spiffy computer she’d gotten with the promised money she was still in the process of trying to extort from the insurance company.