One year later

“Ry, you gotta see this.”

Detective Ryan Winslet turned her attention away from the police report she’d been composing, glad for the distraction. She hated writing incident reports, and this one was especially painful.

An elderly Golden Beach native, Mrs. Cecilia Rosencrantz, had been quite adamant that some lascivious spirit had, in fact, possessed her and forced her to perform an impromptu dance number outside of Sid’s Cigar Emporium. According to eye witnesses, the seventy-year-old woman had stripped down to her birthday suit and proceeded to “twerk” in the general direction of Sid’s display window. One helpful soul even managed to capture the incident on his cell phone.

When questioned by responding officers at the scene, Mrs. Rosencrantz had vehemently denied that the incident had been caused by earthly means, although a subsequent interview with the woman’s niece had revealed that the legally blind widow did have a tendency to mix up her meds on occasion.

Ryan doubted anything could top that, but she got up anyway. With any luck, whatever Pam wanted her to see would replace some of those images now permanently etched in her brain.

“Come on!” Pam encouraged excitedly, waving her hand in a beckoning gesture.

She followed the female rookie out to the front steps of the station where a small crowd had gathered.

“Are those ... crabs?” Ryan immediately took a step back. She had an intense dislike of seafood of any kind, but especially those big, clawed creatures. She blamed Billy Hernandez, her seventh-grade biology partner, who had thought it would be a hoot to put one in her lunch bag after discovering her fear of the ocean.

Pam smirked. “Not just crabs. Look closer.”

Unwilling to move nearer, Ryan squinted to get a better look at the fisherman’s net. Sure enough, a couple of the captured, crawling creatures shifted, exposing a human foot. A moving foot. And then she heard it. Choked sobs and a repeated chorus of “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Ryan’s eyes widened in horror as several officers sawed at the netting frantically in an attempt to free the man trapped within.

Having seen enough, she turned and went back into the precinct.

“Crazy, right?” Pam said, following her in. “You would think it was a full moon or something.”

“Any idea who he is or what he was babbling about?”

“Sure. So do you. That’s Jose.”

Yeah, Ryan knew Jose. He was a small-time drug dealer, dealing mostly in weed. He usually skulked around the docks. They had picked him up a few times for possession; nothing major.

“It looks like he pissed off one of the bigger fishes.”

Pam chuckled. “No doubt. Talk about getting a case of the crabs.”

Ryan shivered. “Ugh, don’t. That’s going to give me nightmares for weeks.”

“Creative, though. And convenient for them to deliver Jose right to our doorstep. Hey, do you think those are stone crabs or stoned crabs?”

Ryan groaned and sank back down into her chair. “Stop. Just stop.”

“You love my punny jokes.”

“I hate your punny jokes. They are the bane of my existence.”

Pam laughed. “All right, Miss Hater, I’ll let you get back to your geriatric porn report.”

“That’s Detective Hater to you, Officer Punny Pants. Go make the world a safer place, will you? And pick me up a bottle of eye bleach while you’re at it.”

Ryan smiled when Pam gave her a mock salute then a perfectly executed about-face. They weren’t exactly friends, but as the only two women on the Golden Beach Police Force, they had formed a sisterhood of sorts. Ryan had been afraid that might have changed once she made detective, but it hadn’t. For that, she was thankful.

It was late when she finally hit send and shut down her computer. She stood, taking a moment to stretch out the kinks.

“Looking good, Winslet,” Jerry Kowalski said from the far corner.

She looked over to find him smirking, openly focused on her ample bosom. Not even the hundred-dollar minimizer bra she’d bought could hide those, but at least it helped. Clearly, not enough.

“Wish I could say the same, Kowalski.”

He placed his hand over his heart as if her words wounded him. She knew better. Beneath the designer suit and power tie, Jeremy Kowalski was an arrogant, conceited caveman who believed women had no place on the force ... unless they were delivering coffee or cleaning up after the men.

After gathering her jacket and purse, she went out the back, her eyes focused on the lot in case one of the crabs from earlier had somehow made its way around the building and was still scuttling about. Thankfully, she made it to her car and back to her apartment unscathed.

Ryan had no sooner kicked off her shoes when her cell phone chimed with an incoming message. She checked the screen, finding a text from Betty.

We’re still on for Tuesday, right?

Ryan groaned. She had forgotten all about her promise.

Tuesday was Betty’s birthday, and rather than the quiet birthday dinner Ryan had suggested, Betty wanted to celebrate at the hot new club, Bait, that had opened near her. In a moment of BF birthday guilt and puppy-dog-eye-induced weakness, Ryan had agreed.

It’s a work night. Are you sure you don’t want to go for a nice dinner instead?

Hell yes, you’re buying me dinner, and then afterward, we’re going to shake our booties like there’s no tomorrow. It’s my birthday wish, so you can’t say no. Besides, I already bought the perfect dress.

Ryan exhaled. The things she did in the name of friendship.

All right.

Squee! And wear something sexy!

Sexy. Right. Ryan didn’t do sexy. Despite her abundant feminine assets, she was, and always had been, more of a tomboy than a girly-girl. Her closet consisted of work-appropriate business and business casual, all of which said I am a professional police detective, with a healthy sprinkling of off-the-clock comfortable. Anything else was an impractical waste of her hard-earned money.

Popping a frozen entrée in the microwave, she made herself some herbal tea and changed into loose pajama pants and an oversized police academy tee. Then she plopped down on her sofa and flipped right to the channel to watch while she ate her dinner. There was nothing like a good alien crime drama to relax and unwind.