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“It’s to do with a historical case, chief,” said Storm.
“And would that be a cold case or a closed case?” said that this chief shrewdly.
“A closed case, sir,” said Remi quickly. “But it had nothing to do with Agent Storm. It was me. I thought it would be —”
“Agents Kane and Bronwyn were acting on my authorization, chief,” said Storm formally, interrupting Remi who had been about to martyr herself.
“Your authorization to do what, exactly?”
Storm knew that there was no point lying. He liked the chief. He had no intention of ruining the trust between them now. “I asked them to run down a lead in relation to the link between Steffane Ronin and the Devil Claw Killer.”
“And we found it!” said Remi quickly. “We questioned Officer Tamara Westmoor’s best friend, who was able to tell us that Officer Westmoor dated Steffane Ronin for a year. She dated him! The best friend met Ronin several times and was acquainted with him. She said that the relationship ended when Officer Westmoor argued with Ronin. There was a messy breakup, and subsequently Officer Westmoor began an unofficial and determined investigation into Steffane Ronin, believing that he had been involved in a number of crimes. She was relentless, and said she was getting close to finding some important evidence. And then Officer Westmoor was murdered by DCK. And we think Steffane Ronin may have known Devil Claw personally!”
Remi’s voice had risen in excitement, and even Storm was astonished to hear that Officer Tamara Westmoor had been involved in a romantic relationship with Steffane Ronin. The woman must have known him well, and that she had then gone on to become a victim of Devil Claw was compelling. But clearly the chief did not think so, because he squashed Remi’s excitement with a simple question. “And did Officer Westmoor find this important evidence?”
“No, sir,” said Remi, deflating.
“I see,” said the chief flatly.
Storm could see that Remi was about to say something to the chief, probably speculation that perhaps Westmoor had discovered an actual link between Devil Claw and Steffane Ronin. Knowing that this conjecture would not help matters, Storm gave her a look which firmly told her that it would be best to stay quiet. She bit her lip and complied.
The chief sighed heavily. “I gave this team a direct order to not pursue the Steffane Ronin case, and now that this team has admitted to disobeying a direct order, I have no alternative but to suspend all of you with immediate effect.”
“But sir—” said Remi, looking shocked. She stopped spea
king when the chief gave her a sharp look.
He continued, “The vampire council members and the Otherworld embassy representatives made it very clear to me that they would be keeping an eye on all aspects of anything to do with the Steffane Ronin case, and given that you have questioned an acquaintance of his, I can only hope that you were discreet. Because if they find out, your suspension could well turn into a termination.”
Remi’s face turned pale, and Leo’s stayed as stoic as ever even though Storm knew how important the job was to Leo. Leo was a lone werewolf. The job was Leo’s pack. And Leo would not do well without it. Leo was Storm’s second in command, relentlessly hard-working. Storm would not allow him to lose his job.
“Remi, Leo, if you could give me a moment alone with the chief please,” said Storm, and waited until Leo and Remi left his office and closed the door behind them.
The chief spoke first. “I am severely disappointed in this team. I thought you all valued your jobs more than this. I told you the gravity of this matter. You know that I might have no choice but to fire you all.”
Storm nodded. He flipped the switch that turned the glass walls of his office opaque. A bit of privacy might help matters. He returned to his chair and slumped back down into it, not bothering to hide how tired he felt.
“We’ve lost a member of our team and we want her back,” he said simply. “You know that this new lead is valid, right?”
“And you know that this new lead is highly unlikely to lead to any concrete evidence that Steffane Ronin was innocent. And concrete evidence is the only way that I could allow you to touch the Ronin case. The best I can do for you now is a suspension and hope that the embassy people do not request to take this any further. You know the battles that we have to fight constantly to maintain our authority and our jurisdiction, and Diana Bellona has casually trod on some extremely important toes. She’s a liability. She doesn’t care who she upsets.”
“She’s good at her job, and we both knew what we were getting into when we hired her,” Storm retorted.
The chief gave a huff of annoyance and sat back down in the chair opposite Storm. Storm was pretty sure that if there had been a bottle of whiskey there, the chief would have poured them both a glass. He also knew that the chief liked Diana a lot. And that the last thing the chief wanted was to fire her. The chief was still currently unaware that Diana had walked out. And Storm had no intention of telling him. Yet.
The chief massaged the back of his neck with his hand as if he had a painful kink there. He looked thoughtful, so Storm kept pushing, “Diana’s heart is in the right place. She wants to put bad guys away, and that’s why were here, isn’t it? She’s a valuable asset to this team. She’s closed on average a case per week for every single week that she has worked here. Could we say that about any other of our Agents?”
“She is a pain in the butt, is what she is,” said the chief.
“Clearly the embassy heavies thought so too,” retorted Storm.
The chief gave a grudging smile. Storm knew that there was nothing the chief liked more than to stick it to his superiors when he thought they were being unnecessarily bureaucratic.
“I’m going on holiday,” said the chief abruptly
“I’m aware of that, sir,” said Storm.
“And I don’t intend to follow your example and come back from holiday even more stressed than I was before I left,” said the chief. “I’m so busy right now, it being my last day, that I suspect I’m going to forget to do a thing or two. Like submitting your suspension paperwork.” He gave the Storm a meaningful look.
