and the fire and police chiefs.
She walked the short distance to the back entrance of the red utility brick and tinted glass monolith. Using this limestone-clad doorway always made Corinne happy that she didn’t have to go through the usual platitudes with the rank-and-file forced to funnel in through the main entrance on the other side of the building. Once inside the small glass-faced atrium, striding right past the interior door leading to the stairwell, she headed straight for the elevator. As far as Corrine was concerned this was a perk for being so invaluable.
When the door dinged open on the fourth floor she turned away from the mirrored surround of the elevator car. Giving a cursory glance down the hallway to the right making sure that it was indeed empty, she turned and started walking to the left. The hall dead-ended at a water fountain which stood guard between the two self-closing doors that kept the sexes separate.
Safely inside the women’s bathroom, and without anyone seeing her unprepared state, Corinne was surprised to find the resonate space empty. It seemed that she would, thankfully have some time alone. Marisa, her co-worker was married to Lieutenant Bob Donner of the New Warren Protective Police Force and his shift started at six a.m. Every weekday Bob would give Marisa an escort over from their Warehouse housing unit. Corrine only knew this because Marisa made sure to mention it all the time.
Shortly after the greater Detroit area was thrown into turmoil, Bob Donner at the age of ten years old was informally adopted by Troy Campbell, the current Chief of Police. On that day Bob lost his mother and two older sisters. He’d followed Troy around like a compliant puppy ever since. When the Council appointed Troy as the Chief of the newly formed Police Force, one of his first proclamations was to name Bob, barely a teen-ager at the time as one of his lieutenants.
It went without saying that anyone messing with Bob, messed with Troy. It was also often said that messing with Troy Campbell was tantamount to a death sentence. This subject was usually brought up right after a person fitting that very description had just disappeared from the face of the Earth. The rumors around town, never more than whispered, often spoke of an old house filled with instruments of torture, and a back yard filled with the bones of the lost. If he was ever questioned about where someone had gotten off to, Troy would say, in the vaguest of ways, something about escorting them out of town for some unremembered infraction.
Marisa Donner was not what Corinne would consider to be pretty, but why she had ever married a short, zit-faced weasel, especially one as universally disliked as Bob Donner, was completely beyond her. Bob was always wearing the biggest boots he could find, his attempt to look taller than five foot five, and had long, stringy black hair. Corrine had often guessed at why the two had gotten together, and the only answer was that Marisa had only wed Bob for the power that came along with him. This had always made Corrine a little leery about the power couple; the truth behind this answer was no prettier than Marisa.
Pushing these persistent thoughts away, Corinne centered herself between the sinks. She loved the modern look of the room, and had even tried to get Daniel to remodel their bathroom using the brushed nickel accoutrements of the otherwise stark white room as a template. Replacement parts, however consisted of whatever could be found inside the empty homes and businesses, and Daniel never could find suitable replicas for Corinne, despite making several attempts. Sighing deeply at her gross reflection, which stared back from inside the mirror just big enough to enclose the two shallow sinks, Corinne started pulling her beauty from the pack.
Nearly an hour later, Corinne was finished getting ready and was just killing time by tucking away errant hairs. She finished her packing with the straightening iron, which had finally cooled enough as to not melt anything that it came into contact with. Daniel had to search for a new one, apparently paying way too much for it, after tying to use her old straightening iron to seal bags of food with, leaving bits of melted plastic behind. She still missed the old one more than she should.
Pausing to give herself one more glance, Corrine was startled by Marisa bursting in through the door. Marisa looked