Vaughn was fuming.
Darnell... after all the times he’d covered for his partner, Darnell had gone behind his back and mentioned Ivy.
It would have come out. Of course, it would have come out.
Zeke had attacked her, making her both a victim and a material witness in the murder of Rebecca Quinn. But Vaughn wanted to tell Daniels himself. Use the time to break it to him softly, explain the situation.
He was pissed at Delaney, too. If the man hadn’t ratted them out initially, Darnell wouldn’t have choked him.
Or maybe he would have.
Vaughn still wasn’t sure what was going through his partner’s skull. Cops fought a lot; detectives, too.
It was a high stress profession. Maybe the most stressful.
But if there was one golden rule, it was you don’t put your hands on another member of law enforcement. The moment you did that, you were cooked.
Vaughn had heard many a story about cops who had gotten into drunken fistfights after a dozen too many drinks at the local watering hole.
They eventually squashed the beef.
Or thought they did.
Then, when it came time to work together again, the animosity resurfaced. Only not in the form of a fistfight this time.
It was an accidental gun jam during a shootout.
Oops, sorry. Would have had your back, but my gun... you know how it is. This stuff happens. I feel bad that you now shit out of a bag and are stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. But hey, at least we aren’t fighting no more.
Vaughn pulled Delaney aside.
“Delaney, why the fuck did you tell the captain about Ivy that night in the field?”
The man immediately became defensive.
“I didn’t.”
“The fuck you didn’t.”
“No, I didn’t. Vaughn, I swear, I didn’t say anything.”
“Who was it then? You were the only one—” Vaughn stopped. Delaneywasn’tthe only one standing outside the barn when he’d shown up.
Horowitz had also been present.
Shit.
Vaughn backpedaled. Attempted damage control. He knew this was second-tier in the grand scheme of things, but there was nothing they could do for Dr.Moorehead now.
Nothing they could do for any of the victims.
Too late,just like the note said.
“Look, Darnell’s being going through some shit. He didn’t mean to grab you.”
Vaughn was still doing it. Still defending his degenerate partner. He just couldn’t help it.
“He’s been going through shit foryears.” Delaney’s eyes narrowed. Not the response that Vaughn had been expecting. Thought the cop would back down, nod, say something along the lines of,I understand, I get it.But the man finally seemed to have grown some balls. Now, of all times.Fuck.“He shouldn’t have grabbed me. Motherfucker grabbed mythroat.”
