Lisa had never climbed up a fire escape before. And she’d certainly never done it following a muscular woman holding a rifle nearly as long as she was tall. “So what’d you do before this?” Lisa asked. The top few rungs of the escape leading to the roof… more »

Paul slept God-awfully. Of course, that might have had something to do with spending the last year sharing his bed. Or the fact that Ken wouldn't leave the room. “I swear, I don't know how to sleep without her,” Paul said. “You'll learn,” Ken said. “B… more »

“Go home,” Detective Campbell said, setting her briefcase down on the desk all of us in gender crimes shared.   “I’m only through eight of my twelve,” I told her. “I thought you started midway through Gottfried’s shift so you could shadow him.” “Yeah… more »

Paul sighed. It was his last night on Earth, at least for the next few years. And it was going to be at least that long before he’d hold Laura again. She was sitting with him on a blanket, under stars, but tonight, so close to touching them, he couldn’t… more »

Lisa woke up coughing. “You inhaled a lot of smoke.” She tensed up. The last man she'd spoken to had patently refused to help her rescue women from a burning building, so hearing a man's voice now was the opposite of comforting. He noticed, but didn't… more »

Ken hated the Chinese. Not because he was a racist- well, okay, he was maybe also a little racist. But he hated them because he spent twice as much time on the phone with them as he did his own government. “I don’t care what nation he’s from, the consu… more »

I knocked on the door. I still couldn't fathom how one couple, with one oopsy-baby, mattered as much my new job said they did. But I figured the line from that old poem was true: it wasn't mine to reason why. I knocked again. A thin man, with thin lips… more »

“It is good to have you back,” Claudette said, squeezing Paul’s ribs so tight he felt like he was being attacked all over again. “That slimy little Russian…” Alisa shot her a look, but she wasn’t paying her any attention, “he just skeeves me so hard. He… more »

Lisa hated the night shift. She had all her windows blacked out, and wore earplugs. But the fact remained that she lived in an apartment building, and there was no keeping a building full of women quiet while she slept- not that that had anything to do… more »

Paul passed every test Ken put him through, and a few he and medical thought up just for the occasion. So Paul was understandably irritated when after three days of silence he stormed into Ken’s office and asked, “You can’t tell me if I’m back on the mi… more »

But it hadn't started there- not for me, anyway. I was a cop for four years before they let me take the detective's exam, and that's still young. I passed it the first time, because I'd been studying for it for four years. Being a uni was fine- but it… more »

On the runway at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Paul shielded his eyes from the sun coming up over the horizon. “Watching the sunrise with you is romantic and everything, but you know I’ve got a girlfriend, so I don’t understand” “Why I got you up a… more »

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In honor of March, which is women's history month, I"m posting my new project on Saturdays. Enjoy:   The air smelled strangely to Deborah. It was stale, and there was the smell of medical solvents. But there were other sm… more »

The phone rang later, and it reminded Ken of how this horrible day had started. “I’m fiddling my testicles; I wouldn’t stop if the good lord appeared in the flesh beside me for the rapture, so there’s no chance I’m stopping for you.” “Sir,” Alan said,… more »

The three medical directors were in a stalemate with him. They were in the medical section, on their turf, but not a one of them wanted to be the first to break the silence. The Administrative Director stood behind them, not hiding, just to the side, be… more »