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His lieutenant frowned. “A cop, huh?”
“That’s what Pico said.”
“You trust his word?”
“He never steered me wrong, sir.”
More staring by the LT before he sighed. “All right. I have a few calls to make. If you’re released today, go home. Rest. Come to the station tomorrow morning at 9:00. I’ll inform your partner. Both of you are officially off Pico’s murder. Don’t test me on this, Dixon. Anything happens, I want to know about it yesterday. You hear me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” After a nod at Teagan, Burnett left the exam room.
Teagan pulled out her phone and made a call. She pressed the speaker button.
“Talk to me,” a female voice said.
“You’re on speaker with Detective Seth Dixon.”
“Understood. Sit rep.”
Teagan provided a rapid-fire report to her team leader, reminiscent of what Seth had given to his lieutenant. In fact, her report sounded more like a military report. Had she been in the military before joining Fortress?
“What do you need?” the woman on the phone asked.
“Backup.”
“Done. I’ll contact the boss and set things in motion. We’ll be ready when your friend leaves the hospital. If he remains overnight, text me. One of us will secure the door.”
“Copy that. Thanks, Iona.”
“No problem. Later.” The phone call ended.
“Backup?” Seth studied Teagan’s face. “Why?”
“Someone attacked you on the trail, Seth. We don’t know who hit you or if he or she might come after you again.”
“Baby, I’m a cop. I can take care of myself.”
“Under normal circumstances, that’s true. These aren’t normal circumstances. You’re hurt.” She held up a hand when he protested he wasn’t injured that badly. “If someone made a second run at you, you’d be slower to respond because of the pain. Backup from people I trust with my life and yours makes sense.”
“My fellow cops would protect me.” He immediately saw the problem with that argument.
“Yeah? Have you vetted every single cop you work with in the past 24 hours? Do you know for sure they haven’t sold you out? I’d rather be sure you and I have backup we can trust.” She winked. “I don’t want to lose you, Seth. You’re kind of growing on me.”
He’d take that weak affirmation of her affection. He’d water it and pray the affection grew into something stronger. “I’m supposed to take care of you, not the other way around,” he muttered.
She smiled. “When you’re feeling better, you can take care of me. Deal?”
He blew out a breath. What choice did he have? At the moment, he was skating on the thin edge of control, trying to keep his stomach where it belonged. “Deal.”
“Want help with your investigation into Pico’s death?”
“You heard him. The LT won’t let me or Noah work this case.”
“Are you going to follow your lieutenant’s orders?”
“Not a chance.” Pico had been his CI and his friend. Although he knew he wasn’t responsible for the other man’s death, Seth felt an obligation to find out who killed Pico.