Page 67 of Heat of Justice

Wilson’s massive shoulders shook as he laughed.

“Well.Atme, 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. ThoughWinters 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.

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