Karen stood there glaring at her. Brit forced a smile, though it felt more like a snarl. “Hey, Karen.”
“I heard you’ve got no suspects, no POIs either,” Karen said. “I would have solved it by now.”
Refusing to stoop to Karen’s level, Brit pursed her lips.
“Confirm our email addresses,” Rebel said to the lab tech.
The tech read off Brit’s and Karen’s.
“Karen got taken off the case,” Rebel said before giving the tech his email address.
As they made their way toward HR, they ran into Slash. She held up her phone.
“Brit, I just texted you. I’ve been tasked with keeping tabs on Karen,” she murmured. “I saw emails she had about the Alphabet Killer case. We gotta press her for them.”
“I’ll meet you in HR,” Rebel said.
“Yo, babe, what time’s training today?” Slash asked.
“Ten. Plan on working most of the day.” Then, he peered at Brit. “I’ll talk to you later.”
The two women made their way into Slash and Karen’s office. Slash eased down in her chair, Brit sat in her guest chair.
“How’s the case going?” Slash asked.
“Slow,” Brit replied. “We’ve got very little evidence, no eye witnesses. We’ve got prints and DNA, but no matches… yet.”
Karen entered the office. “Ugh, you again.” She plopped down at her desk.
“Karen, you’ve got emails you need to forward to Brit,” Slash said.
Ignoring her, Karen kept her attention glued on her computer screen.
Slash sat on the edge of Karen’s desk. “I’m five seconds from getting Cooper and Providence. Is that how you wanna play this?”
“What are you talking about?” Karen snapped. “And why are you snooping in my emails?”
“Either you showusyour emails, or you can show them,” Slash said. “One, two?—”
Karen opened her email.
“Now, get the hell outta my way.” The brusque tone in Slash’s voice screamed, ‘Don’t fuck with me’.
Karen stood with her arms crossed while Slash sat in her chair and opened an email folder Karen had named Alphabet Killer Case. It contained twenty-four emails.
Brit gasped. “No way.”
In rapid-fire succession, Slash clicked on one after the other. Brit and Rebel hadn’t been cc’d, and Karen hadn’t forwarded any to them either.
Slash circled back to the first one, dated weeks earlier. “Brit, have you seen this one?”
Brit read it. “No, I haven’t seen any of these. Open the one that says Forensics Report.” After reading it, heat rose from her chest, and her cheeks flushed with anger.
“We got a match,” Brit said before pushing out of the chair. “Thank you, Slash. Please forward that to me and Rebel.”
“I’m forwarding all twenty-four to you, Rebel,andCooper.” Slash glowered at Karen. “Cooper needs to know you’ve been impeding an active-threat investigation.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Karen hissed.
