A message from Syd about a case

“Yup!” Baines grinned, lifting up his phone for her to see. “Seems like you are having so much fun here that you forgot to keep an eye on your phone. So unprofessional! Syd’s been trying to reach you.”

Nancy gave him a frown, but she bit back a retort when she realized that he was actually right. Her phone was in the pocket of her jacket. Earlier today she had turned on the silent mode, so it wouldn’t disturb an interrogation and it seemed that she had forgotten to switch it back. Again… She felt her face flush slightly with embarrassment as she moved to pull it out.

“Looks like Detective Burnett got a hot lead on the Carillo case…” Baines explained, scrolling through the text Syd had sent him. “One of your informants came through with some information, it seems.”

“Fuck,” Nancy hissed, annoyed with herself that she had dropped the ball on this one. At the same time she felt an intense relief that she was likely getting away from wading through the flood of forms she had been fighting here.

“Yeah, that Detective Burnett…” Baines chuckled, unable to help himself but to tease her, “You’d be lost without her, huh?!”

“Pipe down, Baines. Remember that we almost doubled your arrest numbers last month? Know your place, B-team!” Nancy shot back, finally managing to pull out her phone. Her heart sank as she saw six missed calls and several messages, going from mocking her for losing the pool game at lunch to berating her for failing to respond and filling her in on the details of the case.

Baines’ mouth tightened, feeling the sting of her retort. The embarrassing numbers had been used by Syd and Nancy on a repeated basis to win their playful back-and-forths. “Fair enough, Nancy,” he grumbled, then dropped the playful rivalry for a moment, “You guys need back-up?”

“Nah, I think we’re good!” Nancy replied, quickly scanning the info that Syd provided while grabbing her jacket, “Thanks though, Baines! “Should be an easy two-women-job!”

“Alright!” he nodded, “Call if anything changes and you guys need your bacon saved!”

Rushing past him, Nancy gave him a wink. “If you want to help, there’s a bunch of paperwork for you…”

“Very funny!” Baines shouted after her, “I’ll add mine and Walker’s to the pile too, alright?”

“Well, that can’t be too much anyway!” Nancy got in a final retort before she left the room. A smile spread across her lips as she rushed down the stairs to the precinct’s garage. God, she was glad to get away from the desk!