Fast and Easy by Betty Womack

tugged the sergeant several more steps. “The EMTs are coming up.”
    “He’s alive and still screaming for his woman.”
    Carmen heard the dogs raising hell and the yowling demands from the wounded man.
    She’d never been nearer vomiting on the job than at that moment. Stress dried her mouth out and twisted her gut into knots.
    Hell and damnation. What happened to people when the weather got hot and sultry?
    Something was wrong with her. She actual felt relief when Bill Gentry came to stand beside her. His grin was a little crooked as he wrote in his notebook.
    “Damn good job of handling things, Redstone.” He dropped the notebook in his jacket pocket. “I’d ride with you anytime.”
    “Thanks, Gentry.”
    She appreciated his comment, but she still had the unquenchable yearning to be out in the night with Don Genonese.

    Chapter Ten
    Sunday night, lonelier than she’d ever been, Carmen dressed in an ankle-length red floral silk skirt topped with a scoop neck white Tee-shirt.
    She wasn’t going for glamour. September was setting records for heat, and she was only interested in comfort.
    Going to a bar where cops hung out said a lot about her life. She didn’t have one. Not really. At least no one would give her shit there, and she didn’t need some clown trying to pick her up.
    She laughed under her breath. No one wanted to mess with the girl who’d shot Genonese in the ass.
    That was probably a good thing, since she wasn’t in the mood to explain to a masher she was already taken.
    She fastened the single braid she’d made of her long hair and sighed with disgust. So much for looking entrancing for the boys. Eight o’clock and the bar should be filled with people looking for a place to unwind. She was one of them.
    Several blocks from her apartment, Carmen thought about turning her car around and going home.
    No, you have to stop holing up like a hermit
.
    She considered going to one of the downtown movie theaters, but scoffed at the idea. In her opinion, there hadn’t been a good movie made in years. She wouldn’t waste the money.
    Before she could change her mind, she reached the bar.
    As expected, The Shot was packed, and she had to park a block away.
    A wolf whistle from a passing car was lost on her. Carmen hurried, giving the pair of men leaving the establishment a wide berth. They gave her appreciative smiles, the youngest stopping to attempt conversation.
    “Hey, slim.” He pointed to his companion. “Me and Greg would love to buy you a drink.”
“No thanks.”
    He rocked back on his heels.
    “I’m meeting someone.” Carmen hurried on, glad to find the doors of The Shot standing open. The place must have lost its air conditioning for the owner to do that. Just great.
    The lights were low, and she practically had to feel her way to the end of the old-fashioned oak bar.
    “What can I get you, Redstone?” The bartenders smiling greeting gave her a sense of belonging. She’d frequented the place a lot in the beginning of her so-called career. It had been the place to go, until she’d partnered up with Genonese. After the incident, she stopped going. Damn, that man had always been a boil on her ass.
    She glanced at the bottles behind the bar, trying to think of something that wasn’t too deadly. “Vodka and orange juice with lots of ice.”
    Music from the jukebox played too loudly, and several couples moved toward the small dance floor. Carmen paid for her drink and sipped slowly, leaning against the bar to check out the crowd.
    She didn’t look up when someone moved into the space beside her. It was crazy, but the scent of a special aftershave overcame the dozen different smells drifting around her.
    There was no mistaking the voice that melted her heart.
    “Come here often, pretty lady?”
    Carmen sipped her drink, praying her legs would hold her up. “Not often.” She worked her tongue in her mouth, fearing the thing had frozen solid. “How about you?”
    Don made her weak with