"Detective."
"I'm going to want to talk to you alone next week."
What about?
"Yes, Detective."
"With your union rep."
"Yes, Detective." I am calm. I don’t react.
"Tuesday at ten."
"Yes, Detective."
"Good."
She closes her folder. She slides it into her bag. She stands. She nods at Val.
"Chief."
“Ms. Warren.”
"Thank you for your time."
"Thank you for yours."
Elise Warren walks out of the room.
The door clicks behind her.
The city attorney lets out a breath. Kessler lifts his coffee. The arson board flips a page. Val does not move.
I do not look at Val.
Val does not look at me.
The meeting goes another twenty minutes. Kessler walks the lower-level panel room. The arson board talks aboutelectrical origin, not yet ruled out, pending further analysis.The city attorney talks aboutthe widow.He uses the phrasewhereabouts of the widowtwice. I sit with my hands flat on my thighs under the table and I do not look up.
Val closes the meeting at ten-forty.
The room empties.
I stay.
Val sits with her hands flat on the folder.
"She's cleared her name," Val says.
"Yes, Chief."
"She was put on leave in November. She was not put on leave for what we thought she was put on leave for. The woman whoput her on leave was the woman who needed her put on leave. That woman is now under investigation in Sacramento."
"Yes, Chief."
"Elise Warren is back."
"Yes, Chief."
