Chapter 1 - The new girl

“I’d like to introduce the new member of our squad, detective Amanda Mariano” announced Captain Tina Fields as she started the daily briefing.

Amanda looked young, maybe 25 years old, around 5’6” and very thin, she seemed overwhelmed with all the attention, her face turned red, she gave everyone a small nod, but I was sure she preferred hiding under a table.

“She will be replacing detective Kimmel until she… uh. recovers” Continued the captain “Detective Wilson, I believe you can use some help in the bacchanalia case”

After she dismissed us I went back to my desk so I could study a bit about the bacchanalia case, it was Kimmel’s case until the incident and since then I became the primary.

“Hey, I brought you some coffee” said a female voice behind me.

“Oh, hey, thanks” I said accepting the coffee the new girl handed to me “I’m going to the bacchanalia files, we can discuss it after you settle in”

“I think I’m all set, we can talk now if it’s ok for you” She replied with a smile.

“Cool. Here take this” I said giving her the file “18 months ago a new drug hit the streets, it’s called bacchanalia, it’s an improved version of ecstasy, users reported it is very subtle, you feel like you’re the happiest person in the world and, besides the addiction, the only side effect is extreme hunger.”

“Do we have a lead on who the suppliers are?” Amanda asked.

“Kimmel was after them, according to her notes it must be someone that knows how we operate, so she suspect cops are involved” I continued “I’m printing a list of suspects, we can go over them after lunch”

“ok… by the way, do you mind if I join you for lunch? I just moved here and I’m still a bit overwhelmed” she shyly asked.

“Of course, I’m meeting my girlfriend for lunch, but I’m sure she won’t mind” I replied.

At lunch we met my girlfriend Angelina at her favorite restaurant. We started dating after I left the academy and she graduated from law school, we moved in together soon after that.

“Kara! You haven’t told me you were bringing a friend! Hi, I’m Angelina” She said as we joined her at the table.

“Babe, this is the new detective of our squad… uh… Mariano?” I felt stupid for not remember her name.

“She didn’t even introduce herself, right?” Angelina asked “She went straight up to work talk, am I right?”

“Yeah, Kinda” Amanda laughed “I’m amanda, I was just transferred”
“Nice to meet you, Amanda. This is Kara, by the way” Angelina said, handing me the menu.

Angelina and Amanda got along very well, I was almost jealous, but I knew Angelina would never cheat on me and I got along very well with Amanda as well.

Back at the precinct we went through the list of suspects, we narrowed the list to three main suspects and presented it to Capitan Fields.

“That’s very good! We got green light from the Commissioner's office to launch a task force against Bacchanalia, Wilson will lead, but I want daily reports, we can meet every morning, before the briefing” the Captain said.

That was my first task force as the primary, I was stoked. On my way home I stopped at a donut shop to celebrate, Angelina kept me on a strict diet, but today I deserved some sugary treats.

I entered the store thinking about buying only one, but I ended up having a dozen, I don’t know what I was thinking, but they tasted so good. I dragged my stuffed belly to my car and drove home.

When I got there Angelina was waiting for me with a little celebration.

“Well, since today is a special day, I thought we could forget about our diet and celebrate with pizza!” She cheered.

I wasn’t going to tell her about my visit to the donut shop, so I had to pretend I was hungry. weirdly it wasn’t hard, while she ate only a slice I ate the rest, I was putting down slice after slice without even thinking.

“Easy there, this is not the last pizza in the world” she joked.

As I chewed the last bite I leaned back and rubbed my distended belly, I was full.

“Hope you saved some space” Angelina said while holding a cheesecake.

I not only had some space, but finished the whole thing. I was surprised by how much I’ve eaten, little did I know that this would become my new lifestyle...