Free Detecting Desires by Elisa Archer

Chapter 1
     
    “Alessandra Sarcone?” I heard my name, or rather the name my parents had sidled me with after my father’s grandmother. We were Americans. Somewhere down the line, I had an Italian heritage, but I didn’t speak Italian. I didn’t even know the proper way to pronounce half the desserts or cheeses when I was ordering in a restaurant.
    “It’s Lexie, sir,” I corrected, blushing. I had just transferred to burglary division from vice. Being an olive-skinned brunette with a decent rack and shapely figure had immediately made the male brass at the precinct believe I would make a great decoy hooker, and there had been a lot of johns who had been fooled by the bright red lipstick and thick eyeliner.
    “Whatever, Sarcone,” the lieutenant muttered as he continued through roll call, passing out ride-along assignments.
    As I waited to figure out who my partner was going to be for today’s tour, a detective I had never seen before entered the room. My eyes immediately roamed over his body. He had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and under the fitted navy shirt he wore was the outline of washboard abs. Glancing at his face, I found piercing blue eyes, a strong jaw with a day’s worth of stubble, and short dark brown, nearly black, hair. It was longer than a crew cut. Frankly, it was just long enough to give a girl something to tug on. Shaking off my thoughts, which were traveling into the gutter, I blew out a slow, calming breath.
    It had been two years since I’d been intimately involved with anyone. My last boyfriend had decided he was too macho to date a cop, and once I was accepted into the police academy, he had been accepted into some blonde bimbo’s bed. I hope she gave him the clap. Anyway, I had better things to focus on besides men, except parading around street corners in skimpy skirts and barely there tops hadn’t done anything but attract plenty of men. Thankfully, the vast majority were seedy or sleazy enough to make me cringe and stick to being celibate. However, the detective who just entered roll call was a tall glass of water, and I ached to get wet.
    “Are you sure?” the lieutenant asked, and Detective Strong, Dark, and Ruggedly Handsome nodded. “Hawking, Kemper, and Sarcone, follow Det. Riley. He’ll brief you today.”
    Du cking my head to try to hide my embarrassment due to my x-rated thoughts, I followed the other two officers out of the room. No one said a word as we went up the stairs and into one of the conference rooms. A few of the first grade detectives were assembled at the table, sipping lattes and studying blueprints. They barely even glanced up as our posse entered the room.
    “I’m glad you brought us some gofers, Michael” Detective Holowitz whispered to Riley, just loud enough that I heard the comment. Great, we were going to be doing legwork for the detectives.
    “You said we needed help,” Riley remarked, “so I brought us help. The lieutenant gave them each five-stars. I’m sure they’ll be up for any challenge we can throw at them.” Riley noticed my gaze and winked. If only I could disappear.
    “Okay, here’s the deal people,” Holowitz said, standing up and looking at the group assembled. “There have been a string of B&Es around this neighborhood, and until we figure out who’s responsible, we gotta go knock on some doors, ask some questions, and be a pain in everyone’s ass. Since most of us got better things to do, like look into the liquor store and gas station that got robbed two nights ago, we’re going to have you,” he pointed at me and the two other officers, “go knock on some doors. It’s called canvassing. Maybe you heard about it in the academy.” Hawking, Kemper, and I had all been cops for at least two years; there was no need for Holowitz to treat us like rookies.
    “Canvassing?” I had a smart mouth. “But don’t you think we might need some gear for that? Maybe a couple of paintbrushes and some acrylics?” I turned to