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“Are you sure? Maybe Johnson shot him to cut off any loose ends. Someone fucked with those cameras you andthe late captain set up, maybe it was Oscar. He could’ve gone back to the mill after you left.”

“Don’t you dare drag his good name through the mud, Jefferds. Mallory told you what happened when you questioned her at the hospital. It’s in the report you insisted she go down to the station and fill out. It’s in my paperwork that he tried calling me on the radio, alerting me to what was happening. Oscar Graves was a good fucking man, you shit head. Ted probably removed the memory cards from the cameras during shift change.” He raises his hands in surrender. “None of this explains the present day murders either, dumbass,” I jab.

“Where was Mallory four nights ago?”

“Don’t make me hit you,” I bite out.

“It’s part of my investigation, Captain Graves. Out of respect, I came to you first. I have every right to haul her in for questioning.”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” I grind out, clenching my teeth.

“Well, where was she?” he persists.

Apparently, at a drug house killing three people.

“At home,” I reply.

“Can anyone confirm that?”

No.

The lie slips easily from between my lips, “Me.”

“Were you with her?”

“No,” I grit, irritation mounting.

“Then how do you know?” he presses.

Jefferds is going to be a problem. He’s going to dig for evidence on her whereabouts, and I have none to prove she was at home, because she fucking wasn’t.

“Because she went to visit Victoria, basically got the door slammed in her face, then spent the rest of the night wrapped in a blanket, sobbing. Officer Smith can confirm she went there, so can Victoria.”

Jefferds nods, writing all this shit down in the annoying little notebook he keeps flipping open and closed. “She’s got security cameras on her property, right? To back up your story.” I nod, wondering if he told anyone he was coming out here to meet me.He was so insistent I stay tight lipped about it, I doubt he ran his mouth.

“Do you have texts and call logs between the two of you from that night? Maybe you two had a video call if you knew she was crying?” I nod again.His car wouldn’t be hooked up to the police station’s tracking system. Any route it takes would be stored in the onboard GPS system.

“It would be great if you could send all of that my way, so…you know…I don’t have to go ask Mallory for it.”

He winks, and all I see is red.

Jefferds turns his back, reaching for the door handle on his pristine sports car, and I pull my nightstick free from my utility belt.

I might not have been there to protect Mallory when she was taken by a serial killer, when she was being ripped apart from the inside out by emotions, or surrounded by three drug dealers looking to do god knows what to her.

But I’ll fucking protect her now.

Even if it kills me.

“Now, why would you go and say something stupid like that?” My voice has a lethal edge to it, every word dripping with venom.

“Excuse me?” He’s shocked, I can hear it in his voice. His shoulders tense beneath his uniform, and I wonder if he knows what danger he’s just put himself in by threatening Mallory.

“I was prepared to let you walk out of here in one piece, and now I can’t.”

He turns slowly, taking in my menacing form looming over him. By the time he clocks the weapon in my hand, it’s already too late for him. Jefferds’s hand darts to the holster at his side, but he’s not near quick enough. The nightstick cracks off his naked dome with a sickening thud, leaving a dent in his skull. He drops to the dirt, kicking away from me while trying to unsnap the tether on his holster. Rage blacks out the fringes of my vision as I advance upon him. A shot rings out, hitting me square in the gut. I stagger back from the force, dropping to a knee down in the dirt. I’ve been shot before, it prevented me from saving my little siren.

It will not happen again.