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Mark
Mark watched Darby go.
Maybe he shouldn’t have pushed her buttons so hard, but he needed her to see she was, in fact, weakened by what had happened. If she wanted to use it as an excuse to dodge the investigation, he wouldn’t have blamed her. He just needed her to admit it. He’d been solo for a while before she’d become his partner. He could go it alone for this case if it meant maintaining her sanity.
He shouldn’t have let her go away mad, but he wasn’t ready to apologize for what he’d said.
She needed to hear a hell of a lot more. That needed to happen when both of them were calm.
Maybe her beating the living hell out of a droid would be the thing.
Mark went back to the vehicle, grabbed his gear bag, and groaned when he realized Darby had some of the digi-papers which hadn’t been input into his glass yet. He headed inside without going to the locker room. Half an hour wasn’t going to kill this case.
He nearly barreled into Lieutenant Douglass coming around a corner. Coffee sloshed down her hand when she stopped short.
“Damn,” she murmured and scowled at her detective. “That’s the third time today.”
“Sorry, LT.” He snagged a couple napkins off Anderson’s desk and handed them to her. “Really.”
She nodded her acceptance. “Where’s your partner?”
“Probably beating the shit out of a droid by now.”
“You two fighting?”
He nodded. “Lately, it’s an ongoing thing.”
“How’d it go this morning?” She waved her head toward her office. They went back there and stood behind the guest chairs.
“It went...” Should he force Darby’s hand or not? “It went well. Overland Park was very happy for our assistance.”
“Any problems?”
He hesitated again.
“There were, weren’t there?”
“You need to ask her about it. We’re already on the skids.”
Lieutenant Douglass raised an eyebrow. “Was it bad?”
He raked his hand through his hair. “You should ask her, but from my perspective, yeah, it was.”
“And you won’t tell me?”
“Talk to her.”
She nodded. “I got your request for the warrant. It should be executed within the hour. They’re already in the parking lot, waiting for the documentation to come through.”
“Sure appreciate you cutting through the red tape.”
She sipped her coffee. “Now, about the other request. Obstruction may be a bit more difficult to get charges for.”
“Did you see the interviews?”
“I did. While I’d agree they stonewalled her, they do have the right not to talk to us.”
“It was plain as day they didn’t talk because it was Darby.”
“I know. I sent it on to the D.A. Maybe they’ll decide to do something about it.” She rubbed her temple. “There’s a lot of people who don’t worship the ground supers walk on. I’ll bet more than a few work at the DSHA.”
Mark scoffed. “They’re the ones who kidnapped Darby.”
“Yes.” She took another sip. “Now, back to your partner. Are you sure everything is okay?”
Mark smiled tightly. “You’re really going to have to ask her.”