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He inclined his head toward Wilson. “He cornered Teagan and assaulted her. Violet recorded it.”
Face flushed, the LT glowered at Kepler. “Get your buddy off the floor and into my office.”
“But, sir….”
“Now,” he snapped.
Kepler practically carried a groaning Wilson from the office.
Burnett closed the door after the pair left. He turned his back to the office windows and door and the audience watching everything. “Teagan, you’re all right?”
“I’m fine.”
Her white face said otherwise. Man, Seth wanted five minutes alone with Wilson and Kepler. However, if he followed through on his first instinct, Noah and the women would have to go on this mission without him. No doubt in his mind that the detectives would press charges against him for assault. If he was in jail, he couldn’t protect Teagan. That wasn’t happening.
“Show me the recording,” Burnett ordered Violet. After he viewed the footage, he tapped a few keys. “I sent this to my phone.” After returning Violet’s phone, Burnett said, “Wilson and Kepler were trying to punish Seth and Noah. Doesn’t make what they did right, though. Do you want to press charges against the detectives? If you do, I’ll see that they’re prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Teagan shook her head. “No harm done.”
“This time.” Seth wrapped his arm around Teagan’s waist. “If they come after Teagan again, I will take them down.”
“I didn’t hear that threat,” Burnett said dryly. “I’ll have a hard talk with them. Since you two just quit on me, I’m down two detectives, so I can’t suspend them for as long as I’d like.” He glanced at Teagan and Violet. “Do your best to avoid Wilson and Kepler. I’d rather not have to arrest either of you before this op gets off the ground. By the way, Violet, where is the camera?”
The medic tapped her necklace. “I have an app on my phone to turn it on and off.”
“Just out of curiosity, why didn’t you help Teagan?”
A slow smile. “She didn’t need it.”
A nod from Burnett. “Time to go before I read my suspended detectives the riot act. Check in when you can, Seth and Noah.”
If they could. Seth had a feeling the check-ins would be few. “Later, sir.”
“Watch your backs,” their commander said, and stormed from the office. As soon as he returned to his own office, his muffled voice rose in anger at the other two men.
“Let’s get out of here before the temperature in this building grows even colder,” Noah muttered.
Seth threaded his fingers through Teagan’s and led the way from the office, his body a step in front of hers in case more of his colleagues tried something as they left the station.
Two more detectives stood as Seth led Teagan from the office and left the bullpen. A third man gave him a slight chin lift and a subtle hand signal.
He breathed a little easier. At least some of his friends had his back. How far that went was another question.
More cold stares from the rest of the officers and civilians working in the bullpen as Seth and his group passed by their stations. Turning his back on the people he should have been able to trust made his skin crawl.
As they walked through the lobby and exited through the front doors, Seth wondered if this was the last time he’d be in this building as an employee.
Once they were safely outside, Seth drew a deep breath and glanced at his partner. “That was brutal.”
A snort from Noah. “I expected to feel a knife in the back any moment.”
“Do you blame them? I gather Murphy did a good job.”
“I hope I would have given other coworkers the benefit of the doubt if the situation was reversed.” Noah slid his arm around Violet’s waist and stepped closer to Seth and Teagan. “What happened to Knight, Marsh, and Bowen?”
“Bowen signaled me to wait.”
Teagan turned to Seth. “Can you trust him?”