Page 10 of Heat of Justice (Duty #3)

Quinn parked in her usual spot at the station. She walked in via the back door, also as per her habit, and walked briskly along the corridor that lined the admin wing. Lia still had a desk in there that she used from time to time. Not today, though, and Quinn did not stop to say hello to anyone else. Not in the mood for chit-chat. She strode right past the office of the chief administrator with its open door and kept going. Or tried to, when an urgent voice sounded behind her.

“Hold it! Lieutenant Wesley.”

Quinn barely glanced over her shoulder. “Hi, Demi. Sorry, gotta go—”

“Stop right there.” Demi Adjimitrios, who compensated for her short height with lots of character and a bright personality, pinned her with a sharply assessing look from behind her wire-rimmed glasses.

“I’m due in Wilson’s office in five minutes,” Quinn advised.

“Good, then you’ve got time to chat with me first. And don’t you roll your eyes,” Demi warned even without looking, rightly anticipating her reaction. She took her wrist and pulled her into her office. There, with the door closed, her eyes flashed full of concern and a hint of indignation. “What the hell, Quinn? Is it true?”

“If you’re talking about my suspension, yes, it is.”

“No way! Has everybody lost their goddamn mind?”

Wisely, since it would cost her to disagree, Quinn just gave a silent shrug in answer.

“This is nuts!” Demi went on. “Oh, for goodness’ sake! I just had an amazing long weekend with Carole and Luke. Total bliss, but now I come back to this crap. What—”

“Are Luke and Car both well?” Quinn interrupted and was pleased to watch her friend’s face light up at the mention of her wife and young son.

“Very well, thanks.” Demi grinned as she relaxed. “We had a cracking time in the mountains. Luke learned to kayak on the lake. Carole and I tried paragliding, which was awesome once I started breathing again.”

“Oh, yeah,” Quinn nodded. “It sure helps.”

. “We went on really good hikes, enjoyed lovely food, and had a fire at the cabin every evening. Next time, you and Lia should come with us.”

“Good idea.”

“Right. Now tell me what happened before we run out of time.” Quinn did. Predictably, Demi’s reaction was outrage. “I’m out four days, and everyone goes crazy here! You said Wilson wants to see you now?”

“Yeah.”

“To lift the suspension?”

“No idea. Hopefully, yes.”

Demi did not often shift to maternal mode now that Quinn had, in her words, ‘A good, strong woman to look after you’ . But she used to in the past, and now she laced one arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek in a gesture reminiscent to the way she acted with Luke.

“Do you want me to come with you, darling?”

“To hold my hand or kick Wilson’s ass?”

“Either. Both. Whatever you need.”

“Thanks, Dem.” Quinn chuckled at her fiery resolve. “I can handle it.”

Demi delivered a brief but heartfelt hug, and then she punched her on the shoulder for good measure. “I’m here for you, don’t forget.”

“I know. Thanks.”

Quinn took a deep breath before walking into her captain’s office. Wilson was a good leader, one she respected and trusted. He had stood up for her in the past. She hoped he would do the same again this time.

“Have a seat,” he invited, turning from the window.

“Sir, have you seen the latest blog?” she prompted.

His eyes narrowed. “What? There is another one?”

“Yes.” Quinn handed him a printout. “It was posted over-night.”

She remained standing as he read, noting that his left hand went up to twirl one end of his luxuriant mustache between his fingers. This was a sign of irritation with him. The gesture was well-known among his officers, who often used it as a barometer of his mood regarding any situation. Judging from the amount of twirling in evidence now, no doubt Wilson was as pissed off by the blog as Quinn had been when she first read it. He looked up when he finished and studied her face.

“Someone sure has it in for you, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, sir,” she grunted.

He read some of it out loud. ’Lieutenant Wesley was kicked out of the army after a disastrous operation, poorly planned and conducted, which cost the lives of many soldiers under her command. A civilian journalist also lost her life.’

Quinn gritted her teeth. I retired. Honorable discharge.

Wilson went on a bit more.

‘Lewiston P.D. ignored all the red flags when they hired her. Now we, the citizens of Lewiston, are paying the price of their incompetence. If Mayor Everleigh knows what’s good for him, he’ll do the right thing by getting rid of Quen Wesley – A BAD COP!’

“Can’t even spell my name right,” she growled. Wilson did not quite smile, but she saw a tiny twinkle in his eyes. “There are no red flags,” she pointed out, “either in my military or civilian record.”

“I am fully aware of that, yes.”

“And paying what price? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Quinn fell silent, trying to remain patient while he skimmed through the article again.

“In a way, this new rant might play in your favor, Wesley,” he concluded.

“Yes.” She nodded. “It’s overly personal, badly written, and full of obvious lies. A lot less credible.”

“That’s right.”

“Then again, Everleigh might sacrifice me to save his own skin.”

“Some might say you’re the victim here.”

“I’m nobody’s victim,” Quinn grumbled.

“I mean, it might not hurt for the mayor to think so. I’ll do my best to make him see this is a load of bullshit designed to hit at him and damage his re-election campaign. You just happen to be fodder for the fire.”

“Mmm. Or maybe not ‘just’ .”

“Tell me what’s on your mind, Wesley.”

“Oh, I think it’s bullshit, alright.” Quinn spat the word out. “But if someone specifically wanted to hurt Everleigh’s political career, there are plenty of ways to do it that wouldn’t involve me. The fact that I am fully front and center in this blog cannot just be an accident.”

Wilson sat behind his desk, rested his elbows on the arms of his chair, and steepled his fingers. Better than mustache-twirling, she figured.

“Any idea who might be writing this stuff, then?” he asked. “If it is no coincidence?”

“No. Not yet.”

“Working on finding out, are you?”

Quinn decided not to share that Lia had taken charge of the matter against her best wishes. Her wife had contacted a friend of hers in Boston, a freelance writer for a tech magazine who specialized in online security. According to Lia, he was a proper geek… and proved a useful one, too. In no time at all, he had confirmed that the anonymous blogger was taking measures to hide their location—unless they really sat with a laptop on top of Mt. Blanc in the French Alps.

“You can’t expect me to be idle,” Quinn just said.

“And even if I did, you probably wouldn’t,” Wilson replied.

Since it didn’t sound like a question, Quinn remained quiet. Then, with a rush of impatience, thought better of it.

“Captain, you know this suspension hurts the department more than it does me. My team needs me around and available. We have several active cases on the go. The people of Lewiston are paying for me to do my job, not stay at home and watch Netflix all day.”

She made that last bit up. No Netflix for her; she was using her unexpected free time well, running and training more. But that image of her wasting time and tax-payers money would be good ammo for when Wilson spoke to Everleigh again on her behalf. On Lia’s instructions, Quinn did nothing to try to hide her irritation. It was good advice.

‘I think you should get in there and let ‘er rip a little, Quinn,” her wife had told her. ‘I know how much respect you have for your captain, the department, and the chain of command in general. But this is wrong. You know it. So do I. You shouldn’t make it easy for them to keep you off the job.’

“I’ll speak to Everleigh in the next hour,” Wilson promised. “Jeff Mills from Internal Affairs will also want a word with you about this stuff.”

Oh, Jesus!

“It’s like the worst case of Déjà Vu.” Quinn sneered. “Mills had a word with me and Detective James at the time when her actions came under scrutiny. He closed that file right there and then.”

“It’s procedure, Wesley.”

“A pathetic waste of all our time. Sir,” she added, catching his warning frown.

“I agree. Trust me, Lieutenant, I hate these games of politics as much as you do,” he assured her. “I will do my best to have you back on the job ASAP. In the meantime, I expect you to let me know if you discover who is behind these blogs. Not act on your own.”

“Understood.”

“Alright.”

Quinn remained in place as he made a gesture to indicate that the conversation was over.

“Sir. Permission to check on my team,” she asked.

He fixed her intently and seemed to weigh the pros and cons and potential consequences of not rigidly enforcing the terms of her suspension. Then nodded just once.

“Unofficially, Wesley. Go ahead.”

◆◆◆

Cody came off the phone with one of the last women’s shelters on her list to contact about Cassie Winters. And still no sign of the missing woman. She had widened the search to neighboring counties, including hospitals, clinics, and morgues, and come up empty-handed. It was as if Winters had totally vanished, which gave weight to the idea that she may have left of her own will and did not want to be found. What will Kim say about this? Cody was disturbingly aware that the urge to call her had less to do with this puzzling case than an urgent desire to speak with her again personally. To check on her and make sure she was okay. Just to talk, period. The beautiful lawyer had been on her mind day and night since their last, admittedly intense encounter. And what was up with that? At any rate, it was a recurring question that she struggled to find an answer to.

“Miller,” a strong female voice prompted. Cody looked up, just managing not to appear startled, as her lieutenant strode into her office. “How’s it going?”

Wesley fixed her with the kind of direct, commanding look that still had the power to make her younger partner squirm occasionally. Or snap to attention. Cody would not, but she noticed it all the same. Quinn seemed to be moving on a cloud of temper that she clearly could not be bothered to hide. Probably wouldn’t take much to light her fuse.

“Hey, Boss.” Cody greeted her with a single nod. “I heard… Are you back?”

“I’m here right now.”

“Sure. Okay. Well, if you need any help, I’m always up for a little OT,” Cody offered. And when Quinn met her eyes, silently probing, she made sure her lieutenant knew where her loyalties lay. “Anything at all, Boss.”

“Thanks.” Quinn briefly held her gaze, signifying with this that she got the message. Then she turned to her board and the few new photos Cody had tacked on there. Kim, Cassie Winters, her suspicious husband. “Who are these people? What are you working on?”

Cody told her, sharing the salient points.

“A lawyer who is also a psychic?” Quinn remarked, raising an interested eyebrow. “You sure don’t come across one of these every day.”

“No, you’re right.”

“You think she’s legit?”

“Hundred percent,” Cody confirmed.

Something in her voice must have triggered Quinn’s own well-honed intuition because she narrowed her eyes and stared. Shit, Cody reflected. She knew what would come next.

“This isn’t the type of case I expect you to be working,” the lieutenant added, right on cue. “You know we have a missing persons’ department, yes?”

“Yes, Lieutenant. But I was in between other cases, so…”

“Kim Reed, you say,” Quinn mused, lingering on her photo on the board. “Her name rings a bell. Defense lawyer?”

“Used to be, yes.”

“Right, then. I do remember her. She was a force to be reckoned with in Texas. She’s known for her diligence and thorough research, and she doesn’t cut corners. She hits hard and well and wins more cases than she loses. She tell you why she switched to family law and left Houston to move over here?”

“She said she likes to make big changes every ten years or so. It keeps her fresh and on her toes.”

“I see. Do you believe her?”

“Uh—” Cody hesitated only briefly, but it was still enough for Quinn to seize onto it.

“You don’t,” she asserted. “Why is that? She a suspect?”