Gangster Detective

Chapter 1

It is 10:45pm by the time Nisha walks out of the airport. Before she even starts to look for Pooja, Nisha is pulled into a tight almost air restricting hug. “Nisha! It’s been so long!” Pooja pulls away but gently holds on to Nisha as if she’s afraid if she lets go, she will lose her sister again. 

Nisha takes a good look at her sister and sees that the woman standing in front of her is not the same one who she saw eight years ago. Pooja has now has cropped black hair that goes to her chin. Very different from the long black hair with subtle red highlights she used to have in college. The biggest change is the weight loss. Pooja was never fat, but definitely leaned towards chubby, but now she was almost as skinny as Nisha.

“Wow, you look so different.”

“Well studying medicine helped me to understand my body a lot better and I was able to lose weight by adjusting what I ate and exercise.”

“You look amazing.” 

“You do too, I mean look at your hair! I remember it reaching the middle of your back, but now it goes past your butt.” Pooja let out a small giggle.

“Liam liked it long.” Nisha said barely above a whisper.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Pooja smiled brightly. “Come on, let’s go home.” Nisha smiled at that. Pooja led her to a silver Subaru Forester. “Put your stuff in the back seat.” Nisha did as she was told and sat in the front passenger seat as Pooja turned on the car. “By the way, you should know that I’m living with my boyfriend.”

“What!?” You should have told me, I wouldn’t have come.”

“I know, that’s why I didn’t tell you.” Pooja gave her a small smirk and Nisha chuckled back.

“Have you told him about me?”

“Yes. I talked to him right after you first called me. He is thrilled that he finally gets to meet my baby sister.”

“Really?”

“Yep. And don’t worry, Antonio is a good guy, you will like him a lot.” Nisha gave her a small smile and turned to look out the window. After a few minutes Pooja spoke “Is that all you have?” she asked and she took a quick look at the rearview mirror and saw one small bag.

“It’s more then I had when I left Boston. As soon as I got to New York I had to go buy clothes. I was lucky that there was a thrift store near the bus station.”

“Why didn’t you bring anything from Boston?”

“Everything that was ‘mine’ was bought with Liam’s money. So technically it all belonged to him.”

“Did Liam force you to leave Boston?”

“No.”

“Nisha, you don’t need to protect him anymore he-” Before she could finish she was cut off.

“Declan Ryan kicked me out.”

“Declan who?”

“Ryan. Liam’s soon to be father-in-law and head of the Ryan crime family. He told me he wanted to make sure I was not going to ruin his daughter’s wedding, but I could read between the lines. He didn’t want me to ruin the merger between the Murphy family and the Ryan family. He said if I didn’t leave he would kill me. Since I no longer had Liam’s protection, as soon as I could, I left Boston. Pooja, I know you think Liam is the definition of evil, but Declan Ryan is ten times worse. The Murphy family try not to hurt or kill people, they prefer to work in the shadows, you know, be unseen. But Declan Ryan enjoys causing pain. He kills people for the fun of it. The two days I was in New York I was too afraid to sleep, I kept thinking he was going to break into my room and kill me cause I was still too close to Boston.”

After Nisha was done talking Pooja remain quiet, trying to process all the information Nisha told her. For the next half hour no one spoke. I was not an awkward silence, but it also was not a comfortable one either. Pooja was trying to think of ways she could kill Liam while Nisha was desperately trying to think of anything other than Liam. The silence ends when Pooja phone suddenly rings and Antonio’s Office pops up on the caller ID. Pooja sighs and answers the phone.

“Since you are calling from the office that means you either going to tell me you are going to be home late catching up on paperwork, or a new case has popped up.”

“Sorry honey, it’s the latter.” There was a pause and Pooja could tell that he had bad news to tell her.

“Antonio, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Gretchen, they found her body about twenty minutes ago.”

“What!?” Pooja immediately pulled the car over to the side of the road and parked it. “What happened?”

“Not sure yet, but it seems to be connected to the art thefts that have been happening. I know Gretchen was your nurse, but Dr. Jackson is on vacation in Hawaii for the next two weeks. I could really use your help.”

“I’ll be there in twenty.”

“Thanks.”

Once the call was disconnected Pooja put the car back into drive and headed to Gretchen’s home. “I’m sorry Nisha I know you’re tired but looks like you might have to wait awhile.”

“It’s okay.” Nisha looks at Pooja and sees her sister trying to hide her emotions. “So Antonio is a cop?”

“Actually, he is the chief of police for Bonney Lake.”

“Interesting, is that why he’s asking for your help?”

“Since Bonney Lake is a small town it does not have a full time coroner so me and Dr. Jackson are part time medical examiners.”

“And this woman who died, she was the one who answered the phone the first time I called.”

“Yes, Gretchen Willson has been my nurse s***h assistant for last four years.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.” 20 minutes later they finally reached the crime scene. Nisha saw three police cars, one of which read chief of police. Nisha and Pooja get out of the car and before Nisha can go stand with the other onlookers Pooja grabs her arm and pulls her back towards the car. “There something else I need to tell you.”

“What?”

“Do you remember a detective from Boston, named Kevin Flynn?”

Nisha gave her a confused look. “Yes, he was a detective that tried the hardest to bring down the Murphy family, but I haven’t seen him in three years. How do you know him?”

“Funny story, Antonio and him are best friends from college, and he is a detective for Bonney Lake PD now.”

Before Nisha can respond they both hear someone calling Pooja. “Pooja! There you are!” Nisha knew that voice, it was a voice that she secretly dreamed about from time to time when Liam was with one of his mistresses. She turned around and brown eyes collided with light blue eyes. “Nisha! What the hell are you doing here!?”