Sapphire

I was sleeping peacefully on my bed when I felt a wet tongue on my face meowing in frustration. I turned to the other side and continued my sweet sleep when I heard the damned cat hiss in displeasure when I didn't give him attention. I felt him leaving, not before he scratched my face with his tiny claws and whipped my face with his furry tail. I woke up from my pleasant dream without opening my eyes and reached out to smack the daylights out of it but I missed even with my quick reflexes. I was forgetting something, don't know what, but I will remember when I wake up.

Wait! Daylights, shit! I jumped out of bed almost tumbling down with the duvet hooping round my legs. I was late for work, real late. The sun was already shining vibrantly, and the damn alarm clock didn't ring? I picked the alarm clock from its spot at my bedside and checked it over. It was displaying 1:25am, shit looks like the battery was faulty again and I would have to replace it. At least, I might still have like forty or fifty minutes to spare, I consoled myself. I looked around for my phone to check the time, when I noticed that I left my data connection on from last night and my battery percentage was low at 25%. Shit I'll charge it at work, yes time. Geez, it was already 8:57am and I was still here.

I rushed over to the bathroom to take a quick shower like my ass was on fire. Which it was, since my boss was going to chew my ass out for late coming. After bathing, I didn't even apply lotion to my body but I spritzed deodorant and perfume over my body and clothes to avert any crisis in case my four minute shower was not reliable. I wore my white sneakers to go with my white corset and blue jeans topped with my black blazer. I slipped my phone into my black hand bag and made my way to the kitchenette.

Getting there, I dropped my hand bag on the countertop and stood on my tip toes stretching up to open the cabinet where I kept Tommy's food. The devil was looking at me from the side of the kitchenette with a venomous glare. He must be very hungry by now, on a normal day I fed him by 7:30am or some minutes after. My arm muscles were already straining, Why do this cabinet have to be built so high? The better question was why was I so damn short?

"Almost got it." I stretched further.

"Gotcha." Yikes, I was already sweating under my arms. I opened the container and went to where Tommy's bowl was kept pouring everything inside. I changed his water and sat down on the chair to make cereal for myself. Damn! why didn't I just use the stool to pick the food? I face palmed myself. I wasn't thinking well this morning.

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It was already clocking 9:30am when I arrived at work. Well, it was not all my fault since finding a spot to park my small car was hard. The parking lot of the CID was filled to the brim even on less busy days. I worked as fast as I could with my small legs, I was only 5'1 tall but you wouldn't understand. I came from a family of tall people both on my mother's and father's side, so you can imagine.

I boarded the elevator and pressed floor 3, thankfully I was the only one inside and I prayed it remained that way. The elevator dinged alerting me to my destination as I power walked through I know long corridor to my table. I shared an office with eight other detectives working under the department of Homicide Investigation unit of the CID, Seattle. While it was only our boss, the IT guy the evidence specialist that have his own separate offices. Presently, there were only three of my colleagues in the office. Damn! that means the rest of them could be having a meeting with our boss Sir Martins or on a case.

"Does he know?" I asked Sandra, one of my colleagues as I dropped down in my chair facing them.

"Yep, he said we should notify him when you arrive. Wants to know the exact time." Tim answered looking at the watch on his hand.

"9:45am to be exact, you don't seem to be waking up early enough." Buck butted in. Jerk, I muttered under my breath.

"Sorry." Sandra mouthed to me. I nodded at that, she didn't need to apologise for Buck's annoying attitude. Sometimes, I felt that the females were subtly oppressed here since this was a male dominated workplace.

"Hmmn, I can smell something awful in here." I wrinkled my nose in mock disgust as I waved around. I stood up and moved towards Buck.

"Sandra, can't you perceive it?" Sandra looked around and thankfully played along with me.

"Yep, it seems to be coming from Buck's direction." She said with a straight face but her eyes were damn bursting with amusement.

I saw from my side eyes that Tim was struggling not to laugh and Buck was subtly sniffing himself. Sniff harder asshole.

"I smell shit, bullshit more like asshole actually. Anyways, thank you Sandra for pointing that out." Emphasis on asshole. I high-fived myself on that victory. Buck face turned sour, dude was probably thinking of a witty comeback.

"Boss said you should come in.' Tim looked up from his phone. Wow! that was fast. He probably emailed him.

"I would hurry if I were you Stone, don't wanna get into trouble with the boss. Do ya?" He chuckled. What an annoying sound.I rolled my eyes at the dipshit.

"Took long to come up with a comeback birdbrain?" I quipped back without looking back leaving my other colleagues in chuckles. Dude just can't keep up with me.

At the front of Sir Martins' door, I did the sign of the cross. I hoped he was only going to chew my ass out but not put me on suspension or worse probation. I knocked on the door softly. After hearing a gruff "Come in", I entered the office. The only word I can use to describe Sir Martins' office was splendid. The office was spacious and tastefully decorated leaving an expensive aftertaste behind. The air in the room even smelt expensive cause of the air conditioner that was always switched on during office hours. And sitting in the center of the room was Sir Martins himself typing away on his laptop. Behind him was a shelf that housed different awards he had accumulated over the years. There were also pictures on top of the shelf showcasing him and numerous dignitaries. But he didn't have any personal pictures of his family in his office. I sat down waiting patiently for him to finish what he was doing and acknowledge my presence. I knew he was doing this intentionally to unsettle me. Even though I knew this, I was restless inside and my palms we're sweating profusely as I was under interrogation.

And meh! you don't want to be interrogated by Sir Martins. Sir Martins was a black American with African ancestry which I was not sure of. He was a dark-skinned huge man with short black hair always shaved to his scalp and a stern expression on his face. Right now as he looked at me, that expression was sitting starkly on his face.

"Stone..." He left me in suspense as he didn't finish his statement as his phone dinged distracting him.

"Sir Martins" I held my breath in anticipation. Come on dude, just scold me already. I whined in my head.

"I called you here to formally congratulate you on your previous case. That was a job well done." He complimented me, under normal circumstances I would've been flattered and preening under his praises since he rarely gave out compliments. But I was still tight with nerves waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Thank you sir."

"You know if you continue with this good work, you might be eligible for a promotion."

"What? I sputtered in belief. I felt like a fish out of water right now. The promotion that I have been overdue for the past three years. That promotion would come handy in boosting my portfolio and earning me respect among my colleagues, especially in this male oppressed environment.

"But that won't be possible if you continue coming late to work. Will it?" The second shoe had already dropped and dude did it in a sharp way.

"No sir. It won't happen again." Anyways, it was only twice a row this week. I would have to buy those batteries on my back from work later. Nobody disliked the word sorry more than Sir Martins does. He prefers you give your word than just apologizing multiple times for a repeated mistake.

"Make sure that it does not. Your alarm clock faulty again?" He changed the subject of discussion so fast as if he didn't just scold me.

"No sir, just the batteries."

"Stone you need to pay attention to this minor things. How would you make a good detective if you don't?" I should've just gone with the faulty alarm clock to save me all this long talk.

"I will sir."

"I think I have some batteries here in my drawer. Let me check." He drew out the first one and checked around for about two seconds.

"Here you go." He handed me a pack of new batteries still sealed.

"Thank you sir." I happily took them, really grateful. Dude just saved me a trip to the grocery store.

"The "thank you"s are becoming too much. Just go, you're dismissed." I left his office with a smile on my face.