The one who got away

Vadgy marched back to her desk. As she passed by the other detectives she could feel their eyes burn into her. The scent of both envy and lust hung heavily in the air. “Screw them” she thought “I won’t be intimidated and I won’t back down. I owe it to Titsy to put this guy behind bars and damn it, I’m going to do it.”

Titsy had been Vadgy’s partner for 5 years and they were a formidable team. But now Titsy was on stress leave, holed up in mental institution. It was up to Vadgy to settle a couple of scores and get the bastard who put her there. She wasn’t going to let a bunch of misogynistic bastards on the force stand in her way.

She had come a long way since graduating from the Academy. Leaving Arkansas was a big step for 20 year old but Vadgy knew that a two-bit town like Hot Springs would never be enough for her. She wanted so much more from life and only a city like San Francisco could offer Vadgy everything she was looking for.

She enrolled in the San Francisco Police Academy in 1969. She was one of only three woman amongst 100 trainees. It was a tough year. There were no free rides. Vadgy knew she had to work harder than anyone else there if she was going to overcome the inevitable discrimination a woman with a 38-22-36 figure would be subjected to.

But Vadgy knew how to 'work it'. She was fitter and stronger than almost any other guy there but still, there were times when she was forced to use her feminine wiles to get another rung up the ladder. “A girl has got to use whatever resources she has at her disposal” she would think to herself. She wasn’t afraid to open an extra button on her tight trainee blouse if it meant a favour here or there.

SHE was in control and that was how she liked it. Her god-given beauty was hers to use to her advantage and no man was going to get the better of her. That was until she met, Kensington Pride.

Kensington was the youngest of the Pride family. The Prides were a well known, old-money San Franciscan family. Generation after generation had built their wealth with mango farms. When she met Kensington, everything changed and no matter how hard she tried, she would never be the same again. Nor would she ever look at a mango the same way again.....

But that was years ago and Kensington was well and truly gone. As much as it pained Vadgy to admit it, he was in the past. The future was all she could focus on now and getting Oliver behind bars where he belonged.