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“I’ll be there. Appearances, you know…”
Malone nodded, and the three of them got up to attend the second meeting. While Malone and Farnsworth headed toward the chief’s suite, Sam went to her pit to watch the meeting with her team.
The Homicide squad was seated around their conference room table with the TV set to the meeting, which would begin shortly.
“Morning,” Sam said when she joined them.
“What’re you doing here, LT?” Sergeant Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales asked. “You’re on leave.”
“Curiosity got the best of me.”
“Can you give us a preview?” her partner, Detective Freddie Cruz, asked.
“Nope.”
“When do you leave on vacation?” Detective Cameron Green asked.
“High noon.”
“Ah, I’m so jealous,” Detective Gigi Dominguez said. “You’ll have the best time.”
“That’s the goal, and I’m happy to see you here. How’re you holding up?”
“We’re okay.” Gigi glanced at Cameron, her boyfriend. “Thank you for giving us your lawyer friend Andy’s number. We’re going to reach out to him soon.”
They were recently sued, along with the department, for the wrongful deaths of Cameron’s ex-girlfriend and her mother. The two had been killed after they took Gigi and Jeannie McBride hostage in separate incidents. Both were clean shots, and Sam had full confidence that the lawsuits would go nowhere. But she felt for Gigi and Cam, who were dealing with the awful stress of a looming Internal Affairs hearing and a lawsuit while managing a relatively new relationship that had been making them both very happy until his ex-girlfriend intervened.
“When’s your IAB hearing?” Sam asked her.
“Wednesday,” Gigi said.
“Shit, I wanted to be there. I’ll be sure to put in a good word ahead of the hearing.”
“I’d appreciate anything you can do.”
“Of course. Don’t lose any sleep over this stuff. You survived. That’s what matters.”
“I’ve been trying to tell her that,” Cam said.
“It’s a tough thing to take a life, even if it was done to save your own,” Sam said. “If you get so jaded you aren’t affected by that you should hang up your gold shield and call it a day around here.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Gigi said softly. “I needed to hear that.”
“Stay strong. You’re on the side of right here.”
“We’re trying,” Gigi said with a warm look for Cameron.
“The whole thing is so fucked up,” Gigi’s partner, Detective Dani Carlucci, said. “Gigi was taken hostage in her own home and fought back. How is that grounds for any of this nonsense?”
“It’s not,” Sam said, “but she has to go through the motions and see it through, unfortunately.”
“It’s bullshit,” Dani added.
“Agreed,” Sam said. “Unfortunately, it’s how our world works.”
Jeannie’s face appeared on the screen.
“Look at our pal,” Gonzo said, smiling at the sight of their close friend, who’d been recently promoted from their squad to second-in-command.
