“What have I said about your cowboy bullshit?” Kay demanded hours later, leaning over Jericho’s desk, the tendons in her neck tight with anger.
“You aren’t a big fan,” he answered. “But, seriously, it bought us some time. The helicopter got there, you had a couple extra minutes to run the evacuation, and I don’t know—maybe it was good for them to know we were watching.”
“They would have known we were watching if you’d done as you were told and just followed them.”
“Okay, so cross that off the list. But it did buy you a bit of time. I mean, tonight was a win, right? They cruised into town, circled around a little and got everyone’s attention, and then they went the hell home. No shots fired, nobody dead. This was a good night, Kay. Why are you pissed off?”
She stared at him, then sank down into the chair across from his desk. “Do you understand what my job is?” she asked quietly. “Do you know my priorities?”
He’d been expecting bluster. “Uh . . . to serve and protect the people of Mosely County?”
“That’s one of them,” she agreed. Her voice was steel when she added, “And the other is to keep my people safe. My deputies, my under-sheriff, everyone who works in this building, they’remyresponsibility. Do you understand that?”
“I don’t think it was all that dangerous, really—”
“And with that responsibility comes the expectation that they will follow my goddamn orders. Because I refuse to be in a situation where I’m responsible for someone I have no control over. Irefuseto allow that to happen.”
He wasn’t sure what to say. “I didn’t totally ignore your orders,” he tried. “I mean, I went where you told me to go. And then I just . . . improvised. And it worked out okay! I’m fine!”
“No.” It was past five in the morning, it had been a stressful night of watching the bikers cruise around town menacing her community, and Kayla was clearly exhausted. Jericho wanted to find somewhere soft for her to lie down and get some sleep. At least, that was what he wanted until she said, “You’re suspended. Leave your badge and your keys on your desk. Your weapon is yours, so you can hang on to it, but make sure you’re aware of the gun-permit laws for private citizens.”
“What? Suspended?” Why was he so surprised? He’d never have gotten away with any of his rule-bending in LA. But this was Mosely, and Kay, and, damn it, “This was your idea. Me coming back here and helping you out. Youaskedme to do this.” He’d been tempted to use the wordbeggedbut managed to restrain himself.
“Yeah, I did. That was when I thought you’d help me keep situations calm, not go out of your way to flare them up.”
“I didn’t flare anything up, not tonight! Maybe I didn’t do much but buy some time, but maybe I calmed things down. But either way, I sure didn’t make it worse!”
“You don’t think so? You think the troopers aren’t talking to everybody? You think the whole damn sheriff’s department doesn’t know that you ignored my orders,again? I’ve got the feds challenging my authority, and there’s nothing I can do about that. But you? Damn it, Jay, I can do something about you. What you did was unnecessarily dangerousandmade it appear like I can’t control my department, and I won’t accept either of those results. So, hell yeah. You’re suspended.”
Shit. Jericho’d been happy enough to lecture Hockley about respecting Kayla’s authority, and then happy enough to defy her himself. He was a hypocrite, and the suspension was well-deserved. “Okay,” he said. “Suspended. For how long?”
“Indefinitely,” she said. “I’ll think about it, and I’ll call you in a couple days to see if we can figure out a better way for us to work together. But, Jay . . .” She just seemed sad, now. “If we can’t find something better, then this won’t be a suspension. It’ll be a termination. Do you understand that?”
He nodded, and the polyester of his collar scratched against his neck. He’d be free of the beige and brown. That would be a good thing.
“What about the feds? The link to the bikers?”
“That’s between you and the feds. If they want to continue using you, that’s up to them. But you’re not going to be doing it as my under-sheriff.”
“I’m not sure how interested the bikers are going to be in working with me if I’m not part of the department anymore.”
“That’s not my problem.”
And that was all there was to say. Jericho stood up and unclipped his badge from his belt, dug his cruiser and office keys out of his pocket, and tossed them onto the desk. It made a pretty small pile, but having the items off his body still left him feeling strangely, uncomfortably lighter. “You’ll call,” he said. “In a couple days.”
“I will. And, Jericho, look—this isn’t personal. As a friend, I can see why you did it, and I guess I—I don’t think I can go all the way to saying Iappreciateit, but whatever. I understand the instinct. But as your boss? I can’t put up with that sort of thing.”
He nodded. Maybe he could argue the details, but he understood the larger picture.
“Do you need someone to drive you home?”
He hadn’t even thought about that. “No, I’ll walk.”
“It’s been a long night, and you live across town.”
“‘Across town’ doesn’t really mean that much in Mosely. Thanks for the offer, though.”
He felt like all eyes were on him as he made his way through the central office and down the stairs. Stupid, he knew. Anyone still at the station at that hour was trying to finish up their work and get themselves home to bed. They didn’t know what had happened between him and Kay, and even if they did, they wouldn’t have cared much.
