Charmaine pressed her foot down hard on the brakes and the car skidded a few feet before coming to a full stop.  With the engine still running she jumped out of the car and ran over to where a crowd has already formed behind the yellow tape.  She approached the uniform officer and he held an arm out to prevent her from going further.  Without a word or glance in his direction she flashed her badge and proceeded to lift the yellow tape over her head and walked into the alley way.

“Madame Sheh,” the newbie on her team greeted somberly when she spotted Charmaine.  This was Natalie Tong, who had just been transferred from another station to assist with Charmaine’s homicide team.  She walked with Charmaine to the body and read off from the little notebook she kept handy.  “The victim is a female, approximately in her 20s.  No cuts or bruises found on her.  Her purse is still intact with all her personal IDs and money.  The guy who found her is being questioned by Bosco right now.”

Charmaine nodded and kneeled beside the victim to get a closer look.  The girl was indeed young she thought sadly.  She scanned the victim’s face inch by inch and noted some sort of liquid oozing from the corner of her lips.

“I’ve already taken a sample of that,” Ron informed when he saw the direction of Charmaine’s gaze.  Ron Ng was a forensic doctor and had been working alongside with Charmaine’s team for the past two years.  At first they had a bit of trouble learning to communicate and coordinate with each other but after a few twist and turns, their relationship had solidified.  Due to their compatibility, their team has yet to have an unsolved crime.

“How do you do that?  You can’t even see my face and you know what I’m thinking,” Charmaine asked teasingly.

Ron chuckled and answered, “It’s my intuition.  I can read minds.”

Charmaine stood up and giving him a smirk joked, “Can you read what I’m thinking now Mr. Know it All?”

Ron closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.  After a couple of seconds his eyes snapped opened and with a grin he said, “You’re thinking you would like the autopsy report by tonight.  Am I right?”

Charmaine laughed at how comical Ron could be at times.  With a friendly pat on his shoulder, she confirmed, “You know me too well.  It creeps me out.”

Ron laughed and bent to pick up his case.  “I’ll leave you to finish your work.  Swing by my office late afternoon and you just might get lucky.”

Charmaine giggled and waved goodbye.  Turning back to the victim she saw that Bosco had returned from his questioning.  Walking towards him she asked, “What do you have?”

Bosco pointed at an old man who was being led into a squad car for a formal statement back at the police station.  “He found the body this morning.  He walks through this alley every morning on his way to the park.”

Charmaine returned her gaze to the body.  She had seen countless of young bodies in this form with the familiar white line oozing from the corner of their lips.  “It’s drugs that killed her you know.”

Bosco nodded slowly.  “I sort of guessed that too.  It wasn’t robbery because all her stuff is still here.  She didn’t look as if she’s been ually assaulted so we could rule that out as well.”

“I’m going to arrest every one of those bastards,” Charmaine swore under her breath.

--------------------------------------

“Ray, can you pass me another one of those joints?” the girl cooed beside him as she leaned heavily on him rubbing the entire length of her body against him.

Raymond pushed her awkwardly away and sat up straight, “I don’t have them.  Go ask Ken.”

The girl was persistent.  She hugged his arm to her chest and said seductively, “But I want it from you.”

Flirting with women was one thing but having one coming on him this strong repulsed Raymond.  With force he firmly pushed her away, “I have a headache,” he said dispassionately.  When he was standing he pulled out his wallet and dropped a couple of hundred bucks onto her lap.  “Get those joints somewhere else.”

The girl picked up the bills and stood up angrily.  With scorching eyes, she asked, “What do you think I am?”

Raymond looked her up and down and with an insulting smile said, “I gave you more than you’re worth.  Now get out of here.”

“You!” the girl shrieked and raised her hand intending to slap him.

Raymond knew instantly what she wanted to do and quickly caught her wrist.  Applying pressure on her wrist he snarled, “Nobody hits me.  You try that one more time and you'll be very sorry.  Understand?”

It must have either been the subtle threat in his voice or perhaps the menace in his eyes for the girl quickly cowered back.  “I-I’m s-sorry,” she said in a timid voice.

Disgusted by her Raymond flung her hand away.  “Get out of here,” he ordered softly and the girl quickly scrambled to get her belongings and was out of the room in seconds.

Before the door was fully closed, Kenneth Ma walked in with a puzzled look.  “What happened here?”

Raymond dropped himself back down on the sofa and picked up a bottle of beer from its cooling bucket.  “Nothing,” he said and handed Kenneth the bottle.

Kenneth took the bottle and sat down beside him, “What?  She isn’t pretty enough for you?”

“No she isn’t,” Raymond responded as he leaned back against the sofa.

“None of them ever is,” Kenneth pointed out with annoyance.  “You’re not going to marry them.  Just have fun with them and then move on to the next one.”

“I know you’re an expert on that,” Raymond said sarcastically.  “But please spare me the lectures.  I know what I’m doing.”

Turning serious Kenneth said quietly, “The cops found a body this morning.”

Not sure why Kenneth would think he wanted to know this, Raymond shrugged, “So what?  Cops find bodies every day.”

Looking at Raymond meaningfully, Kenneth emphasized, “She was found in the alley way behind our club.  You know what that means.”

Maintaining his cool detached expression but with a tigerish glint in his eyes, Raymond said, “It’s fun time.”