Page 51 of In Cold Blood

“What has he told you about me?”

“Only that you worked together.”

“For a while. Whatever he said, take it with a grain of salt. A few things you should know about Noah Sutherland. He’s one hell of a cop, I’ll give him that, but his OCD tends to keep him at arm’s length from those he works with. He’s incessant. Or let’s say, a pain in the ass. He needs everyone around him to have the same attention to detail as him. If you happen to be someone who works a little slower, gets paperwork out of place, or forgets to dot a few i’s, he’s all too ready to jump down your throat.”

“Is that why you transferred?”

“Among other things. I don’t thrive under criticism.”

“I hear you there.” She thought about her previous boyfriend. “So you said you had questions?”

“What can you tell me about your relationship with Luke?”

Her brow furrowed. “We worked together.”

“Was that all?”

“Excuse me?”

He stared back at her as if the question was clear.

“He was married,” she said firmly.

Parish shrugged. “Hasn’t stopped other officers in the past.”

Callie rose from the booth. “I’ll have Roberts assign someone else to work with you.”

Calmly, he replied, “Thorne. Take a seat.”

“Why? So you can accuse me of having an affair? What’s next? You think I had something to do with his death?”

“In situations like this, we have to cover all bases. I had to ask.”

“And I have to leave,” she said, scooping up her bag. “I thought we were meeting to discuss finding his killer, not to interrogate me.”

She made it a few steps away before she heard him say, “It is. But there is more to this than who shot Luke. They found a large number of drugs in his vehicle that night.”

Callie glanced back, confusion spreading. “No one mentioned that.”

“I just did.”

“And? He worked for the drug unit.”

“The narcotics were missing from the evidence room.”

She walked back and set her bag down. “What are you suggesting?”

“I’m not suggesting anything right now. I’m exploring possibilities.”

“That I helped acquire them?”

“You have access to evidence.”

“As do many others. That doesn’t mean I took them.”

“So you didn’t book them in?”

Callie turned back. “No. And I don’t appreciate you speculating that I did. Perhaps it would serve you better to speak with Cyrus Keller, Dax, Jack Grayson, or Harry, they were all people he had his eye on in the days leading up to his death, instead of wasting time pointing the finger at me.”