Page 21 of Heat of Justice (Duty #3)

She had to know the answer to the question already, and yet she remained just as calm and open when she asked it. Once again, Lia adored her for her selflessness and generosity.

“I’d like to ask Janet if she can recommend a good place in Lewiston.” She nodded. “If Brooke went to rehab on the West Coast, I could be near her in case she needed me. Would you be okay with that?”

Quinn raised a slow, inquisitive eyebrow. “Are you asking me if I am secure enough in our love and our marriage to allow this to happen?”

“Well.” Looking deep into her blue eyes, catching a hint of fiery impatience there despite her cool demeanor, Lia flashed a tender smile. She liked to see that, too, how fierce and possessive Quinn felt about their relationship. “I am secure in our love, and trust you enough to know I don’t need to ask.”

“That’s right, you really don’t.”

“But I want to.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. You come first, babe. As my wife. Always will.”

Quinn cupped her face in both hands, and she kissed her.

“Thank you. And likewise. So, in principle, I am okay with you getting involved. If Brooke wants to do that.”

“In principle?” Lia prompted.

“She says she never stopped loving you. Don’t you think it will be a problem to have you near?”

“I don’t think she’s in love ,” Lia reflected with another sigh. “I believe she started going downhill and tried to hold on to the past as a way of not completely losing her mind. I don’t think she’s quite alright.”

“To say the least.”

“We could try… If it gets to be a problem, we’ll address it when we have to.”

“Okay.” Quinn approved. “Let’s do it, then. She should fly back with us.”

“Thanks, darling. It means a lot.” Lia hugged her tight, then frowned impatiently. “What’s taking her so long? Hey, Brooke? You okay in there?”

In the silence that ensued, they exchanged a loaded glance. Then Quinn was up, and moving fast. She didn’t knock, did not wait, but punched the bathroom door open.

“Brooke!” Lia shouted.

“Call 911,” Quinn instructed and quickly knelt next to the unconscious woman on the floor. “Got a pulse,” she announced. “Weak, but it’s there. Brooke?” She tapped her cheeks. “Brooke! Open your eyes.”

On the phone, Lia precisely relayed her location and situation to the operator. “Yes, yes, I’ll stay on the line. Ah! She’s starting to come back!”

Brooke opened her eyes and immediately jolted at the sight of Quinn leaning over her.

“No… No!”

“Take it easy,” Quinn told her. “Lia?”

“Yes.” Still on the phone, Lia knelt beside her. “It’s alright, Brooke. You fainted. Paramedics are on the way.”

“I don’t want them.”

“You need them.”

“I don’t want to end up in the hospital again. I don’t want you here!” Brooke raged even as she cried, and tried to push them away.

“You should stay down,” Quinn advised as she scrambled to her feet.

“Leave me alone. Get out of my apartment.”

“No,” Lia said gently but firmly. “Brooke, listen. We can get you some help. I know it’s horrible right now, and it has been for some time. But it stops here. You go up from here.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can!”

“Lia… I am so sorry.”

“I know. Apology accepted. Now we put that stuff behind us and just focus on getting you well again. Would you like to come home with us? We can get you the right treatment, and—"

Lia did not get to finish as Quinn suddenly lunged forward. For a wild, destabilizing second, it occurred to her that she had punched Brooke in the face. But as a loaded syringe shattered onto the floor, she realized that Quinn had just knocked it out of her hand.

“She tried to inject herself,” Quinn said flatly and promptly caught Brooke in her arms as she fainted again. “Damn, Lia! You like them stubborn and wild, don’t you!”

The comment was unexpectedly funny.

“Well,” Lia started. “I—”

“Yeah, don’t answer that. Rather go get the door, as I think I just heard a knock.”

“That’ll be the paramedics.”

“I certainly hope so. We could do with some help here.”

◆◆◆

The following week started off bright and beautiful. Over the weekend, Lia had worked a few miracles. She was able to speak to Janet, on her way home from her Italian vacation, and get her to recommend a state-of-the-art private clinic in Lewiston. One phone call was enough, with the mention of her name, to smooth out the admission process. Lia also had a long conversation with Brooke, one-to-one, and convinced her it would be for the best. She helped her to write a statement recanting every accusation she had made in her blog, which led to Quinn being re-instated on the spot. Her commander also pushed for an official apology from the mayor, which was swiftly granted.

“I wouldn’t have asked for it,” Quinn reflected as she stood in his office on Monday morning.

“No, I know,” Wilson grunted.

“But thank you for getting me one anyway.”

“Sure thing, Lieutenant.” She saw his lips twitch under his mustache.

He looked amused.

“Something funny about that, sir?” she prompted.

“Well, you might like to know that I was highly motivated. Your Ms. Kennedy made it abundantly clear that she would strip the skin off my butt if I did not push for an official apology for you.”

Quinn blinked in shock and surprise. Oh, God!

“Lia said this…? She talked to you?”

Wilson’s massive shoulders shook as he laughed.

“Well. At me, would be more accurate to say. She expressed her views about the situation and her displeasure at your unjust suspension. She called the whole thing ‘An astonishing clusterfuck of iconic proportions’ and ordered me to make it right ASAP. Or else! So, I relayed the message to Everleigh. May have leaned on him a little bit myself.”

Quinn winced inside as she imagined the scene; Lia in her captain’s office, barking orders at the man like a Drill Instructor in the throes of bootcamp frenzy... But she also struggled not to laugh at the picture. Good for you, babe. Her wife was never afraid to take matters into her own hands when a situation demanded action, as she’d just proved with a problematic former partner. She would hesitate even less, Quinn knew when her career and well-being happened to be on the line. Her smile broke through as she nodded.

“You should know my wife stands up for me, Captain.”

“I do now, and she certainly does. You found a good one, Wesley.” On that note, Wilson waved her on. “Back to the grind, Lieutenant. Get on with it.”

“Yes, sir.” Quinn saluted briefly. “With pleasure.”

◆◆◆

Cody was also pleased to welcome her lieutenant back to duty with some good news regarding the Winters case.

“I am wrapping it up,” she announced and filled her in.

The man was not talking, other than to continue to claim his innocence or yell abuse at jail officers, but it was clear from the mountain of evidence piling up that he would be convicted and spend the rest of his sorry life in a high-security prison. Cassie Winters’ medical records could be used to demonstrate that he had a habit of beating her up. Traces of mud under his boots were analyzed, and did confirm he had been under the bridge where she was found in recent times. The same brand of heavy-duty plastic bags in which the woman’s body was wrapped were discovered in his truck. And for the cherry on the cake, the final killer blow to any defense he might try to set up: the man had been stupid enough to keep hold of the murder weapon, a claw hammer that matched the ME’s description. Though Winters took great care to clean his tool, the forensics team was able to discover minute particles of his wife’s blood embedded around the base of the metal head. Such had been the violence of the blows. The stark description of ‘Hacking of the skull’ found its way into the final report. It made Cody shiver to read it. No doubt a jury would be able to picture the assault in detail and find it equally appalling. Jack Winters did not stand a chance; for sure, he was going down.

“Hello, partner. Did you miss me?”

Ellie strode in not long after Quinn left.

“Hey, welcome back! Yeah, paperwork needs doing again, can you believe?” Cody grinned as Ellie laughed. “Just kidding; it’s great to see you. How was Italy?”

She could already tell it must have been great. Ellie’s face positively glowed. She radiated sunshine and happiness.

“It was awesome,” she confirmed. “Janet and I had a blast. Here, this is for you from the both of us.”

Cody caught the t-shirt she threw to her over the desk and laughed at the quirky imprint on the front: a traditional gelato ice cream draped in green, white, and red, with the words: LICK ME, I’M ITALIAN.

“That’ll work,” she chuckled. “Thank you.”

Ellie planted a hip on the corner of her desk and eyed the board Cody had just cleared.

“Anything interesting happen when I was gone?”

“I solved a murder case. Juicy one, too.”

“Engaged in a spot of fighting as well, from the looks of it.” Ellie pointed at the bruise now going through shades of yellow and purple around her eye.

“Yeah, some of that.”

“How’s the other guy?”

“In jail,” Cody nodded. “I won.”

“Good to hear, and no surprise. Anything else?”

“Yes.” Cody hesitated only briefly. “I fell in love.”

Used to her partner’s usual ‘ loves ’, namely leftover pizza or a WNBA game on TV, Ellie answered with a distracted shrug as she moved to her own desk.

“Oh yeah? With what?”

“What do you think? A woman, of course.”

This earned her a solid double-take, Ellie’s mouth dropping open when it must have occurred to her that Cody was serious. She stared like that for a moment, then broke into a wide grin.

“Wow… No kidding?”

“None whatsoever.”

“I was only gone two weeks… In that time, you managed to solve a murder case and fall in love?”

“Don’t look so surprised. I’m the efficient type.”

“Yeah, but… You’re serious.”

“I am. Totally.”

Ellie appeared stunned and curious in equal measures, torn between hearing about the juicy murder case and her partner’s previously non-existent love life. The personal won.

“What’s her name?”

“Kim Reed. She’s a lawyer in town.”

“Huh. I don’t know that name, but I can’t wait to meet her.”

“You will.” Cody smiled, prompting Ellie to grin again as she scrutinized her face.

“You do look in love,” she decided.

“What do you mean?”

“Mushy.”

“Get out of here.”

“No, really, you do.” Ellie laughed. “I think it’s great. What a difference two weeks can make!”

“To be honest, the falling in love part only took about two minutes.”

And in the days that followed, Cody found all the rest of it equally as natural and easy. It occurred to her, with a touch of delighted wonder, that she had only slept in her own bed once in almost three weeks. And Kim was with her. The rest of the time, they usually spent at her apartment.

“It makes sense to use my place,” Kim declared easily. “It’s bigger and closer to the beach. We have a balcony, and the fully-equipped kitchen is handy since I like to cook. So.”

So… Sweetly, she insisted on feeding her, especially on the weekends when they could both be lazy. Cody started to notice every time she said ‘We’. Every time, it made her heart swell and seemed to bind them a little closer. She left a toothbrush and wash kit, then her running gear and a change of clothes, at her lover’s place. Gradually, her emotional center of gravity shifted along with the more practical stuff. One Friday evening, over homemade pizza enjoyed on the balcony, Kim surprised her by sliding a little ring-size box across the table.

“For you,” she said.