A Beautiful Corpse

‘All right, McClain. Jesus. I get your point. Now, please. Sit down. Let’s talk this through.’

Harper stayed where she was. She was breathing heavily; her face still hot with anger. She’d held all of that in for so long, now that it had finally been said she felt unfinished.

‘Look,’ Blazer said, ‘you’ve been around here long enough to understand the rules. You go after one of ours, we all go after you. That’s the deal. You knew that going in. Didn’t you?’

All the ridicule was gone from his tone. It was the first time she could remember him speaking to her like an equal.

Some of her fury ebbed away.

‘Yes, but …’

He held up one hand.

‘But nothing, McClain. You can’t play by the rules you know are there and then ask for those rules to be changed when it suits you. The system is what it is. Cops don’t forgive easily. You have always known that. They look after their own.’

Hardly aware she was doing it, Harper lowered herself onto the chair.

‘This wasn’t a small crime, Lieutenant. Smith wasn’t pocketing the petty cash. He wasn’t shaking down the corner kids or messing with the hookers,’ she said. ‘He murdered someone. And then he shot me. What did your officers expect me to do?’

Her voice quivered, and she paused to steady herself. But, to her own surprise, she found herself telling him the truth.

‘I loved him like a father,’ she said. ‘What he did broke my heart.’

She didn’t know why she was telling him this. It just came out.

Blazer went very still. And then he said something she never would have expected.

‘He broke mine, too.’

Harper was stunned. She’d known Blazer and Smith were close friends, but it had never occurred to her that he would feel the same pain she did. The same betrayal.

But now she could see the hurt on his face.

Raking his fingers through his hair, Blazer gave a small sigh.

‘Look, McClain, it’s possible my guys have gone too far. As you say, it’s been a year. And we all have jobs to do. I can’t have this sort of thing interfering with their work.’ He picked up a pen off his desk and wrote something on a notepad open in front of him. ‘I’ll have a word with them. Ask them to ease up.’

Harper couldn’t believe it. Whatever she’d expected, it hadn’t included him agreeing with her.

‘Thank you, Lieutenant,’ she said fervently.

‘Don’t get too excited,’ he cautioned. ‘Some of my guys will still believe they can’t trust you. If you want that to change, you’re going to have to find a way to earn their trust again. I can’t help with that. But I can stop the harassment.’ His lips curled up. ‘And I’ll have a word with Kowalski.’

‘That will help,’ she told him. ‘I appreciate it.’

Her gratitude seemed to irritate him.

‘Are we done here?’ he asked, his usual brusque tone returning.