Page 10 of Cohesion

“He is,” Grady grunted. “Greer was given the case, not Henry.”

Quinn frowned. “I don’t understand.” They were partners. That meant they worked everything together. There had never been an instance where Grady worked a case that Quinn didn’t, and vice versa.

“Henry’s been relegated to office duties and menial shit for other cases they have. And to help us out if we need it. Riley didn’t want him anywhere near it.”

Quinn needed to talk to Riley. First, he wanted to see this interview. He slapped Grady’s shoulder and pushed off the desk. “What are we waiting for?”

Since they had time, Quinn stopped in the break room and made a coffee, Grady grumbling at him the whole time. At least until he found a chocolate bar in the fridge with no name on it. Then he was too busy eating it to talk.

The observation room was empty when they slipped inside. Grady settled against the far wall, disgruntled as he crossed his ankles. Quinn stared through the glass into the empty interrogation room.

A lot of criminals had sat at that table. Confessed, lied, even attacked them on the rare occasion. One particularly memorable time someone had launched themselves at Gideon and Riley had been the first to get in there and shut it down. That guy had ended up confessing after Riley all but made him piss himself.

Devoid of human life, it didn’t seem as menacing as when the chairs were occupied. Quinn’s preference was to always be in there, but he could admit that Grady was far more effective in that area. Especially against the more stubborn perps. Quinn’s skills lay in talking to those who needed a softer touch. Grady was a battering ram best used against the brick walls.

He tapped his finger absently against the heat of his drink, one shoulder leaning on the wall. Soon Jack Sweeney, the man who’d tried to kill him, would be sitting there. Almost within an arm’s length.

Pain burst across the side of his face. His knees buckled, and he hit the floor, shock shooting up his arms when his palms slapped on the tiling.

Dizziness swamped him when he tried to push himself to his feet, his nails scraping on the cold tiles. His temple throbbed, and blood obscured his vision. Had someone just—He grunted as he was kicked square in the chest, his ribs protesting the brutal treatment. His vision blurred and moved in and out as he found himself staring at the ceiling, flipped to his back from the momentum of the kick.

The barrel of a gun came into view first and then a blurry face that slowly came clear.

Quinn squeezed the cup in his hand too hard, and it sloshed over the side, scalding his thumb. He cursed and sucked it into his mouth, licking off the liquid and soothing the burn.

“You alright?”

“I’m fine.” He would be. He had an appointment scheduled, and he could talk about it, then move on. He had more important things to be worrying about and zero reasons for letting it follow him for long. It wasn’t the first time he’d been in a dangerous situation, and it wouldn’t be the last. He could only be grateful he’d been the one in the line of fire and not Sebastian. Not any of them. He would take a bullet, and more, to keep them all safe.

“You’ve been working on the case anyway, haven’t you?” Quinn asked. If he knew his partner at all, he was right.

“I tried, but Riley is watching me like a fucking hawk.”

The door opened, and Riley stepped inside as if summoned. “Should have known I’d find you two in here. Grady, if I have toremind you again that this isn’t your case anymore, I’ll suspend you.” Riley turned on Quinn. “You’re not even supposed to be here. You haven’t been cleared.”

“I have a vested interest in this,” Quinn countered, not faltering under Riley’s dark stare. If he was going to be intimidated by one of his oldest friends, it would have happened by now. Riley might be just as much bark as bite, but Quinn would never back down from him. The day he did, he would turn in his badge because this wasn’t a place for him.

“And if something comes up that you need to know about, I’ll tell you.”

“That doesn’t work for me,” Quinn said. This wasn’t just another case on his list. Another day at the office. People that Quinn cared about,loved, were in the crosshairs, and he wasn’t going to sit in the back and let someone else lead. Riley knew better than that.

“You were almost killed,” Riley said bluntly. “I don’t want you anywhere near it.” More than just his role as their boss filtered into his tone. “Sebastian’s involvement made you reckless, and it clouded too much. I won’t be a pallbearer and lower your body into the ground because you couldn’t think objectively.”

“We aren’t robots,” Quinn said. “To do our jobs, we have to care.”

“This is more than caring, Quinn. You were never going to be rational about any of it, and I should never have assigned it to you in the first place.”

“With all due respect,” Quinn replied, attempting to bite back the acid because Riley was genuinely coming from a place of concern as hisfriend. “You don’t get to coddle me or make choices like that for me.” He wouldn’t disagree that Sebastian clouded things. He always had. But there was no one in the precinct that would keep him safer,becausehe cared so fucking much.

“I’m your boss.”

“This ismycase,” Quinn said firmly.

“It was. Now it isn’t. Removing the fact that I don’t want you to get hurt because you’re a stubborn idiot, legally I can’t have you near this. Anything that you touch now will be like a feeding frenzy at the watering hole for the defence. I know you’re a good cop, and that you wouldn’t do anything to obstruct a case or tamper with evidence, buttheydon’t know that. Everything you do will be questioned within an inch of its life, including your own professional integrity. You can’t remove yourself from the fact it’s personal, and neither will they. You want Sweeney to walk free?”

“Of course not,” Quinn said stiffly.

“Then trust me to do my job, the way I trust you to do yours.”

---