�I�ll go anywhere I want, and I�ll tell you who I am, ninny, when I�m damn good and ready to,� she rasped in his ear. �I pay my taxes, damn it. And that means I pay your salary, so sit down and shut up like a good civil service employee.�

Diane was at her side in half a second, reassuring the hostile woman, �Hey, I�m right here. No need for this. Go ahead and release him, and then you can come right over here and talk to me.�

With a hostile shove toward his desk, the woman released John�s wrist and sneered at him. Diane motioned for him to retreat, so John grumbled back to his desk, rubbing his hyper-extended wrist to dull the pain the queen had caused.

Fancy had seen the incident from his office, and he emerged to intervene.

�Well, Claire, you certainly do make an entrance,� Fancy said, annoyed. �I don�t go for those kind of scenes in this squad.�

�Fine. Whatever you say, boss,� the big redhead answered. She looked around the squad quickly, because she wanted to catch the looks of surprise mixed with horror on everyone�s faces as it dawned on them that she would be working there. She loved the first day on a new job. No one ever messed with her after she made an entrance like that.

�Diane,� said Fancy, �I�d like to introduce you to Claire Kelly, your new partner.�