Clearly.
Only, there was no need to be worried. It was one of the cops who’d been in the group that hadn’t said anything.
“Hey! Can you spare a moment?” the man asked, as the cop shook his hand.
Corbin relaxed.
“Absolutely. What’s up?”
The detective went there.
“I’m Rodney Paz. I was partnered up with Aaron for most cases. He worked this one alone, but he was definitely focused on something. He told me shit wasn’t adding up.”
That had Corbin’s attention.
“What‘shit’?” he asked. “Did he give you something that’s not in his reports or his notes?”
The man shrugged.
“I don’t know. I was off on vacation two weeks ago, and when I ran into him in town the Friday before he died, he told me that I missed a wild one, and he’d catch me up to speed when I was back to work. That’s when we found out about him being dead.”
Corbin heard the emotion in his voice.
“I feel guilty about taking time off now. He shouldn’t have been working it alone,” Rodney said. “That’s not making me happy that I let him down.”
Corbin tried to reassure him.
“Were you friends?” he asked.
The man nodded.
“Yeah, the best of friends. You have to be when your partner is all that has your back when the shit goes down.”
Corbin patted him on the shoulder.
“Then, he knew. I doubt he’d blame you. I know with the people I call best friends, I’d never blame them if something happened to me. I can promise you that.”
The man looked miserable.
“Did he have a girl or anyone he was dating?” Corbin asked.
The man shook his head.
“No, Aaron was married to his job. Any downtime he was with me and my girl at our place. He would bring the beer, andwe’d laugh for hours. He told me that there would never be room for a relationship in his police work. I told him he was an idiot.”
Corbin understood.
Then, he took Will’s hand in his.
“My boyfriend is a lawyer. We run in the same circle. There’s always room. At some point, Aaron would have made time. When you find the right person, you want to.”
That touched Will’s heart.
Corbin was a good man, and he loved him more than anything in the whole world.
That was for damn sure.
“Just please update me,” he said, pulling a business card from behind his detective shield. “Not as a cop, but as a guy who just lost his best friend. I need to know that he didn’t suffer too much. I know that the autopsy says otherwise, but if you find out, please let me know. It’s eating me alive.”
