Free Take a Chance on Me by Susan Donovan Page B

games, and lawn mowing duties. He grinned to himself with smug satisfaction—as the only unmarried member of the team, he never had to worry about someone else crimping his style, making demands on his time. Not him.
    Besides, they only had to suffer through these meetings a few times a year—before quarterly report deadlines and whenever there was a sudden spurt of new cases. September was often one of those times. It made sense, in a sick sort of way. The summer was officially over. People weren't distracted by barbecues, vacations, and weekends down at the ocean. It was a good time to start taking care of those bothersome loose ends they'd been putting off—like murdering friends and family.
    Thomas looked up as Regina Massey strolled in, the homicide detective assigned to the Scott Slick case.
    Regina was a fifty-something grandmother who didn't look—or act—her age. What she looked and acted like was the movie star Pam Grier—all sexy, street-smart, black alpha female. Reg didn't take shit from anybody. That's how she'd made it in a predominantly white-male line of work.
    That's why Thomas liked her.
    She winked at him. "Hey, hot stuff. Wild date last night? Looks like you need a nap."
    Thomas rolled his eyes. She'd been giving him a hard time for more than a decade, first when he was with the Baltimore County State 's Attorney's office and then with the task force. It was part of their routine.
    He took a steaming sip from his Styrofoam coffee cup and watched Regina get settled in the chair next to him, smoothing down her silk trousers and adjusting the belt at her trim waist. She sent him a flirty smile, her dark eyes flashing.
    Thomas shook his head. "I'm putting the finishing touches on my sexual harassment complaint against you, Reg. I should have it filed this week."
    She hooted with laughter. "Oooh, Tommy honey, you know I get all tingly when you use my name and the word sexual in the same sentence."
    He glared at her—if anyone else had called him that, they'd be in pain now.
    "Watch it, Reg." Chick Abels dropped his stack of files on the table with a thud. "He's got nothing against hitting women—remember the Amelia Pilcher case?"
    "Sure do." She was still grinning. "Three years for trying to make sure her church choir director never sang again."
    "I elbowed her in self-defense," Thomas growled. "She was going for my eyes with a paper clip."

    Regina sighed dreamily. "You've always had a way with the ladies, Tommy."
    Within minutes, all members of the Maryland Murder for Hire Task Force were gathered around the conference table, Captain Vince Stephano at the far end. The head of the Maryland State Police special operations division unceremoniously tossed a white bakery bag into the center of the table.
    "Help yourself to some bagels," he said, and the grins spread around the table like a contagion. Thomas long ago learned this was how the captain apologized for bringing everyone in on a weekend—by providing a selection of the world's worst bagels—dense, inflexible O-shaped objects not fit for human consumption.
    As Paulie often pointed out behind Stephano's back, it wasn't really the captain's fault—God never meant for Italians to shop for bagels.
    "All right, people, we've got a lot of territory to cover and it's a beautiful Indian summer day and I know we all want out of here so let's get to it."
    "You mean a Native American summer day," Manny Chaudury said.
    "My apologies to your motherland," Stephano said. "And as you can see we have the pleasure of Lieutenant Regina Massey's company this morning. The lieutenant will be updating us on the Slick homicide." Stephano abruptly swung his gaze toward Thomas and smiled. "But first I gotta know—how's your special friend this morning, Tobin?"
    Regina 's head snapped around. Everyone else began to chuckle.
    "Did she recover?" Stephano asked way too nicely. "She sure was a pretty little bald thing."
    "The thing is a he and he's fine." Thomas saw Regina