“Heard about that. The woman who scammed her friends and family.”
“Yep, and left me with nearly five hundred people with motive, not to mention their families and friends. Good times.”
“I have no doubt you’ll get to the bottom of it.”
“We shall see. Please make this ordeal as short as possible.”
“Wish I could, but it’s not my meeting.” His gaze shifted to Avery Hill as he approached them. “Morning, Agent Hill.”
“Chief, Lieutenant, how are you this morning?”
“We’ll be better after this meeting,” Sam said.
Avery laughed, which made the handsome devil even more so. “Duly noted. Shall we?”
Chapter Six
Avery gestured for them to precede him into the conference room, where the other division commanders and department leadership had already gathered, along with Avery’s deputy, George Terrell.
Sam’s direct supervisor, Detective Captain Jake Malone, came rushing in, apologizing for being late, even though he wasn’t late.
Sam took a seat at the far end of the room, tucking herself into a corner so she could observe without being observed. All the cases they were here to discuss involved her in some way or another, and the last freaking thing she wanted was anyone checking her reactions.
Speaking of handsome devils, Lieutenant Archelotta, head of IT, caught her eye and lifted his chin, offering silent support that Sam appreciated from the only other officer she’d ever dated after her marriage to Peter shit the bed. Although, calling what she’d done with Archie “dating” was a stretch. Mostly, they’d had sex, but that was ancient history now that she was happily married to Nick. Archie remained a valued friend and trusted colleague.
“Thank you all for being here.” Avery stood at the head of the long table around which the MPD’s top brass had gathered. “I understand and appreciate this is an intrusive and unwelcome process. It won’t be quick or painless, but our goal is to make it as efficient as possible for all of you while providing the public with an accounting of what happened, who was involved and where we go from here. A few ground rules. First, we expect you to make yourself and your officers available to us as needed. Second, we expect you and the others on your team to be truthful with us. This will go a lot faster if we’re all on the side of getting to the truth. If we later prove that members of this department lied to us, we’ll file charges.”
Sam noticed no one was looking at Avery as he spoke. Rather, everyone focused on the table or their own hands or some other random thing. It never came naturally to police officers to be investigated, but recent events had led to this day of reckoning that was sure to impact them all in some way.
Avery went through the list of interviews they planned to conduct. Homicide was far enough down the list that she shouldn’t have to worry about the Feds for a few days, which was good. She had better things to do, with Ginny McLeod’s murder to investigate.
After reviewing the schedule, Avery asked if there were questions.
Captain Roback from Vice raised his hand. “I’d like to know why we need this when we know who the criminals are, and all of them have been charged and put into the system.”
“If I may?” the chief said.
Avery gestured for him to go ahead. “I hear what you’re saying, Captain Roback, and at first, I felt the same way. In my mind, we’ve done a good job policing our own team and weeding out the people who don’t belong here. But if there’re others, I want to know who they are, and I want them gone before they can further sully the reputation of this department. We all know there are more hardworking, dedicated officers in this department than there are criminals. I welcome this investigation and fully support it. I expect all of you to do the same.”
“Thank you, Chief,” Avery said. “Any other questions?”
When there were none, he thanked them for attending the meeting. “We’ll be in touch with each of you over the next few weeks.”
That wasn’t bad, Sam thought as she hung back, waiting for the others to leave the room before her. Fourteen minutes. She was on her way to the pit when someone called her name from the lobby. Turning, she was shocked to find Lenore Worthington, the stunning Black woman Sam had met during her first year in Patrol when she’d responded to a call