Page 2 of Trigger

“Whoam I even partnering up with?” I said with a sigh. “Shelley? Bruce? Please,don’t tell me it’s Adam.”

“Neitherof them. Your partner is being transferred here from New Mesa. He should arrivein a few days.”

Ifrowned in confusion. “From New Mesa? What the hell did he do?”

ChiefBibb gave me a blank look.

“Whydo you assume he did anything?”

Yeah.Right.

“Thisis the LD, Chief,” I said, trying not to sound pissy about it. “We’re all herebecause we did something bad. And if he’s coming from the capital, it means hefucked up big time.”

ChiefBibb shrugged, keeping his poker face.

“Youknow… a misdemeanor here, a prank there. It just piled up after a while.”

“Yeah,no one is coming here because of a prank,” I said and stood up, knowing thistopic was closed. “Anything else?”

“Justgive this guy a chance, okay? He’s a great cop. He’s just… rough around theedges.”

“Right,”I muttered, closing the door behind me and rubbing the back of my neck. “Fuck.”

Iheaded to my desk, aware of everyone in the station staring at me, which meantthe news had spread.

“So,you heard?” Shelly said as I sat behind my desk.

“Yeah.Everyone already knows, I presume?”

Sheshrugged. “You know how it is. It’s a small town.”

Itwasn’t. Smitsville was a big, dirty town with big, dirty secrets nobody couldkeep because information here was more valuable than gold. Still, I could seethe remorse in her big, brown eyes, mixed with affection, and maybe even morethan that.

“Aftereverything that had happened, they gave you a partner,” Bruce said, rolling hiseyes. “Fucking assholes.”

He bitinto his burger, ignoring the ketchup dripping on his pants. “You should haverefused, you know? You have every right to tell them to go fuck themselves.It’s too soon for this bullshit. Everyone knows it.”

Yeah,I had every right, not that anyone cared.

“Itdoesn’t matter,” I said, feeling resigned. “There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Who’sthe guy?”

At thesound of another voice, my jaw tightened as a man with a scar on his cheekapproached my desk. Adam “The Scarface” Markland, a fellow detective and a painin everyone’s ass, joined the discussion, if only to piss me off.

“Someonefrom the capital,” I replied, trying to look indifferent. “Who cares?”

“Well,I do,” he said, sitting down on the edge of my desk. “Apparently.”

Right.Adamhated my guts, and the feeling was mutual, so I wasn’t buying it.

“Ihear your new partner is Belgian,” Adam said, crossing his arms over his chest.“Built like a brick wall, but not too bright, I’m afraid. A pain in the ass,too, so you should get along just fine.”

Ismirked, not taking the bait. “Coming from you, it must be a compliment.”

“Knockit off, Adam,” Shelly cut in. “Why do you have to be such an ass all the time?”

Adamraised his hands in surrender.

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