“Goddamn, who cooked fish in the microwave?” Det. C.J. Hamilton shouted as he walked into the station’s break room.

Looking over the crossword page of her newspaper, his partner Ramona Shay shot a glance to the fridge. Desk sergeant Beck was bent over looking for something in the back of the freezer. Beck turned to face Hamilton’s glare. Beck was holding a plastic plate of river trout, couscous, and spinach in one hand and a frozen Snickers in the other.

“What you don’t want me to be heart healthy?” Beck said. “Well screw you.”

“You selfish son of—“

“Ladies, please show some decorum my baby ears are delicate,” senior Det. Antonia Curry said from the doorway. She tossed her yogurt container in the trash and began to wash out her water bottle.

Hamilton sat down at the table and opened his brown paper bag. He grimaced and pushed it away.

“Now Ceej you’re angry about those muggings over on the west sides. I get it, we all get. This sicko is targeting seniors. Nobody wants this case to go cold but biting everyone’s head off solves nothing. And Sarge only a troglodyte cooks fish in a shared microwave,” Antonia said.

Beck looked offended but offered Hamilton his frozen candy bar before sitting down.

Chuckling, Det. Shay returned from her crossword. “Now does anyone know a six letter word for ‘friend of Huck Finn’?”

“Sawyer,” Antonia said from the sink,

“Good, good then this has to be Sullivan. How about Emerald blank blank blank borer?” Shay chewed on her pen.

“Why do you bother with those crappy puzzles. My weirdo neighbor creates those and he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed,” Hamilton said.

“Ash!” Beck shouted.

“Who you calling an ass,” Shay snapped.

“No no Ramona. Ash like the tree.”

Drying her hands, the senior detective snorted.

“Okay, that means 11 down has to be Maverick. You’re right Ceej these crosswords are terrible but I feel like there is more below the surface. Something niggling in the back of my head. Wait Maverick, Ash, Sullivan, and Sawyer weren’t they the street the muggings took place?” Shay froze with her pen in her mouth.

Hamilton inhaled his frozen chocolate bar. “Nah but we never released the location of the Maverick Road mugging to the press. Poor Mrs. Chlebak was too afraid to press charges if her street name was made public. That perp broke her arm. And—“

The three detectives rushed from the break room.

Sniffing at the air, Beck ate his lunch in peace.