Nicole scrawled a quick note.

She deftly folded the note and wrote “John Harrison” on the front of it. She motioned to the one-way glass to have someone come in. A moment later, a young rookie walked in and she handed him the note.

”It’s urgent. You need to find this detective and hand this to him personally. No exceptions. Am I clear?”

”Yes ma’am.”

The door closed behind him and Nicole tried to calm her pounding heart. The LAPD may always protect their own, but she knew that some cops hated dirty cops as much as the crooks they busted, especially when innocent lives were at risk. Harrison and Werden were always about justice from Day One; Harrison for sure. They would find the bastard and turn him over to the Rat Squad, a.k.a. the Internal Affairs Bureau.

”Okay, so you found Jessie and James. What happened?”

”Well,” Cassidy started, her tone filled with condescending amusement. “We scoped out ol’ Jessie and James…oh, I mean, Mark and Marcia’s Love Nest, located in the beautiful city of Arcadia, on California Street. Boy, what a hovel they were living in. We watched them for a week to study their patterns. Neither of us could believe that James went back to school. Granted, it’s Pasadena City College, so that doesn’t count. Anyway, we got a copy of his class schedule, then followed him to work. And wow, he’s a glamorous photographer – at Sears!” She cackled evilly at that and Nicole sat motionless, watching her. Cassidy continued, “Every time I think about that, I can’t stop laughing. They were Team Rocket’s best of the best. And now, they’re reduced to being…ugh, common do-gooders.”

”Yes, and the common do-gooders are in charge. The common do-gooders found and arrested you within two hours of finding Butch’s body. Pretty uncommon, wouldn’t you say?”

Cassidy scowled at Nicole’s rebuke.

”Now that you had their patterns down, you obviously kidnapped Jessie…when?”

”When James went to work,“ Cassidy replied, now smiling. “Boy, the look on her face when she saw us. Butch moved on her pretty fast and she never got a scream out. She didn’t put up much of a fight either. I didn’t know why at first, but when Butch turned her around, I saw why. The Little Suzy Homemaker had been knocked up.” She gave a sardonic laugh.

“And to think, I would never have believed that James was man enough to father a child.”

”You’d be amazed at what changes can happen when you’re betrayed by those you trusted and having to protect the one you love,” said Nicole.

The sneering look on Cassidy’s eyes faded and turned into a hardened, steely glare. Nicole continued.

”And just so we’re clear about this; James, despite his past, has my complete respect and admiration because he chose to do the right thing; because he chose to take responsibility for getting Jessie pregnant; because he chose to provide for his family by getting a job and going back to school. He’s more of a man than any guy who would ever give you a second glance.”

Cassidy paused a moment, then smirked at her. “And this after-school special was brought to you by the letter R.”

”That includes your boyfriend, Butch,” Nicole shot back. “Apparently, he only saw you as a piece of meat.”

”What?!” Cassidy screamed, bolting up out of her chair and pointing an accusing finger at the cop. “I should kick your bony little ass for that! He raped me repeatedly!”

”I doubt you were protesting that hard after a while,” Nicole replied coldly. “I bet you even wanted it.”

”No!” Cassidy screamed.

”If not,” Nicole yelled back, “then why did you stick around for so long? You must’ve liked it; maybe even craved it.”

The incredulous look on Cassidy’s face meant it was time to go the jugular. She lowered her voice to an almost conspiratorial tone.

”Maybe you felt you couldn’t escape. That’s why you killed Butch.”

Cassidy almost answered, but somehow caught herself. It seemed instinctive as the surprised look on her face was still there. She eventually stammered out, “I didn’t kill Butch. James did.”

Nicole could almost hear the groans behind the one-way mirror. The group of male detectives, when the interrogation was over, commended her on her tactics of suggesting that Cassidy wanted the raping. They knew that only a woman could be heartless enough to pull that off.

However, even if the gambit had paid off, Nicole’s gut was knotting itself fiercely. It went against the very fiber of how she treated rape victims. But somehow, it had become obvious that being sympathetic would not have worked. She wanted answers, so she pressed on.

”So why don’t you tell me how James killed Butch.”

Cassidy slowly sat back down. Her steely glare returned, but it was tainted now. Nicole had hit a nerve or Cassidy had made some sort of epiphany. Maybe it was both. The officer was wearing her down and the gold medal for interrogation would soon be hers to claim.

“There’s not much to tell,” Cassidy spoke more softly now. “We kidnapped Jessie, left a note where he could find her and at what time to show up.”

“And that was…” Nicole said, flipping through her notes, “seven o’clock at night at the Embassy Suites on Huntington and Second. Room 428. Not too far from their apartment.”

”Right,” Cassidy said. “But James had come earlier than expected. I can’t even believe his half-baked scheme to surprise us actually worked.”

”The fire alarm?” Nicole asked.

”Yeah,” the Rocket girl replied with some amusement. “He pulled the fire alarm and waited right outside the door. Butch opened it a crack and bam! The door was kicked in, Butch hit the floor, they scrambled for the gun Butch had, James got the gun and he shot my partner in the back.”

”And why didn’t he shoot you?”

”James was too freaked out,” Cassidy replied. “The big wuss practically screamed like a little girl and ran. I’m surprised he remembered to take Jessie with him.”

Nicole was scribbling a few notes, but as Cassidy finished her commentary about James, she wrote bullshit. Before Nicole could ask her next question, Cassidy interrupted her.

”I need to use the bathroom.”

Nicole pursed her lips, then glanced at her watch. She had been grilling her for almost three hours. If she said no, Cassidy might lawyer up, then it would be over. No gold medals for anyone.

”Alright,” she said, waving at the one-way mirror. “You get five minutes.” A male officer came in and handcuffed the Rocket girl and escorted her out to the ladies room. Once there, Cassidy held up her cuffed hands, but the officer shook his head. He pushed open the door and unceremoniously shoved her inside. Despite her tall thick heels, Cassidy managed to not fall onto the grimy and sticky tiled floor. She would have loved to go back and kick the cop senseless, but she only had five minutes.

More than enough time.

She darted into an empty stall and got to work. She reached up and pulled a titanium bobby pin out of her blonde, braided hair. Scanning the handcuffs, she found the serial number, which her training at Team Rocket Headquarters told her how to pick the lock.

Thirty seconds down, the cuffs were on the floor and the bobby pin was back in her hair. Now for the costume change.

She removed her white elbow length gloves, pulling them so they turned inside out; thus turning them from white to black. She quickly tore at the wrist seams, letting the hands fall to the floor. She then pulled off her thigh-high platform boots and slipped on the sleeves over her legs. The Lycra material stretched to accommodate her shapely, toned thighs. She pulled them up high enough to make it look like she could be wearing a pair of black cycling shorts underneath her black tube dress.

Two minutes down. Three minutes to go.

She ripped the big red ‘R’ from her chest and dropped it on the cuffs and gloves. In one smooth motion, she pulled her outfit up and over her head, effectively turning it inside out and from black to white. Standing only in her new “leggings” and white thong panties, she was about to put her dress back on, but she paused to look down at her stomach. A cold sweat flashed through her body.

What the hell am I going to do?

Her brain immediately shouted an answer.

Put your damn dress on and get the hell out! Move it, Rocket Girl!!

Cassidy snapped out of her fear and deftly put her now white outfit on, covering her bare breasts and panties again. She stepped out of the stall, right when the cop knocked on the outside door.

”Let’s hurry it up in there.”

”Almost done,” she called back, picking up her boots. The thigh-high part of the boots tore away easily, leaving only the heeled shoe. She twisted the heels off and placed them in the sink, so as to minimize any noise. She then folded one shoe where it normally bends for the foot, then unfolded it. An audible snap sounded off and she now had a flat shoe. After doing the same to the other one, she slipped them on and became four inches shorter. She pulled off her hair ties at the ends of her braids and quickly unwound them. With years of practice, she swiftly pulled her long, voluminous blonde hair into a single, massive ponytail.

Four minutes and fifteen seconds had passed when she flushed the toilet. It was five minutes flat when the cop came into the ladies room and found she had slipped through the small window.