Chapter 9
They didn’t have enough warm bodies in Major Crimes right now.
Dom had been pulled away for two hours from working the Kimball evidence, just to handle a low-level assault case that had heated up two years after the initial attack.
Now, he was finally back to working on what could actually make a better difference.
Miguel was back, at least, but Jarrod was still out with Haldyn. Would be for at least another week.
Dom understood it, Jarrod loved that woman—and she needed him now. Gunnar had gotten pulled up to Wyoming on another angle on his OPJ case.
With Kimball, Costovia, and Bell all having been part of Major Crimes’s lower divisions, it put a damned strain on the Major Crimes who were left.
And then that dumbass Daniel had suspended Heather. No one knew why. All Dom knew was that Heather had come in a day or two after what had happened to her sister—and she had gotten into a major argument with Daniel. And ended up suspended. Without pay.
Well, hell no. That wasn’t happening. He had made certain Daniel knew that. At least Heather would get fucking paid. What had Daniel been thinking?
He was at his desk in the bullpen when she came in.
Madison had a beyond pissed expression on her face that immediately drew his attention.
She came almost stomping over to him—he tensed.
She avoided him as much as she possibly could, both on the job and off.
That was the status quo and he aimed to keep it that way.
Leading himself not into temptation, after all.
But she was coming right at him. Dom stood.
Something had happened. Every time something happened, she came to him.
He just didn’t know if she realized she did that yet.
He had, a long time ago. Since the choir hall shooting when he had found her on a gurney covered with her own blood, and that of her closest friends.
He still relived that day in his dreams at night.
He barely kept himself from reaching for her. “What’s going on?”
“I just spent two hours dealing with Hamler, Newcomb, Stillman and that moron Winkler as they tried to go over every inch of my lab. But those assholes stopped at fourth grade science, if I’m being generous.
” She was agitated, and angry. That was when Madison lost most of her filters.
Dom knew to just stand there and listen until she made it to the end.
She was one of quieter ladies-of-the-lab, but she had a temper.
And could be ruthless when pushed far enough.
“Everyone else was out of the lab—so I was stuck with them, while Pete ran things. Not the best part of my week.”
She’d been alone. With those assholes. When they knew Stillman, at least, was probably up to his eyeballs involved in what had happened to Heather Coleson. His blood ran cold. Never had he understood that expression more perfectly than he did in that moment. “What did they ask about?”
He couldn’t be with her every damned moment. But he wanted to be. He wanted to get her as far away from this hellhole as he possibly could. Keep her safe until he knew all of Wilson’s associates were locked up in cages where the animals belonged.
She hadn’t given him that right. That didn’t mean he didn’t feel like it was his already.
That she was his to protect. And always would be.
“Everything. But…concentrated. They were asking about Wilson without asking. Probing. Like they wanted to see how well the lab was functioning now, too. Miriam told me that there are rumors going around Wichita Falls about our lab. She has friends there. She still lives there, too. She’s our temporary tech—she’s working shifts here and there. ”
“Miriam the new girl with purple and red hair?”
Madison nodded. “She said there are rumors that our lab will be shut down soon. And everything moved to Wichita Falls. And none of our people will be kept on. Supposedly, we’re either too inept or dirty.
And Haldyn covers everything up—she’s working with Daniel, apparently.
They are even saying money-laundering or embezzlement.
She says the rumors about here, about all of us, and about Heather especially, just keep growing. ”
“I see. Just rumors.”
A way to sow dissension, more likely. To cause people to turn on each other.
Erode the trust. To make it easier to destroy.
Dom’s father had taught him strategy long ago.
He’d made sure Dom understood how people like that worked.
And from what Dom had heard already, those rumors were focused on Heather Coleson.
He just couldn’t figure out why and what the ones starting them were playing at.
When she was back from her little suspension, he was going to start digging. Talk to that woman face to face.
“I then had to deal with Pete and James in an uproar, Tiff had a nervous breakdown at the possibility of losing her job, and I am now nominating Haldyn for sainthood.” She darted a look around the bullpen. It was mostly empty—everyone was out working. “We need to talk. Somewhere…without people.”
Small feminine fingers wrapped around his wrist. “Alone.”
That was when he realized she was shaking.
What in the hell was going on? “Come on.”
She just followed him. Madison was trying not to blurt out what she suspected.
She knew—Haldyn had told her—and she’d suspected herself for a while but hadn’t been able to check—someone was always listening there at the TSP.
And not just the security guards. The guards were from an outside company, now.
They were contracted to protect certain parts of the TSP.
They’d shown up the day after Kimball had nearly killed Hope and Haldyn.
Just lurking around, listening. The guards acted almost invisible at times.
But she had encountered them before. And she didn’t trust them one bit—they’d been sent by Wichita Falls.
By the commander of the entire TSP. Rhonda Hamler, herself.
Dom led the way.
She didn’t stop until he opened a door at the end of the second floor and ushered her inside.
The janitor’s closet. “In here? What? You hang out here often? I see you still use the same decorator.”
“Don’t be cute. You know what it does to me. Daniel had Rory come in during a ‘visit’ to Charlie this week to sweep this closet. Just in case we…needed it. What’s going on?”
She turned back toward him. It was a really small closet. No more than four by six or so, and crammed with cleaning supplies. And now…one Dominic Acardi.
He took up a lot of room, no denying that.
“Something doesn’t feel right.”
“How so?”
“They had two men with them, but…they wandered off. At different times. And then Newcomb or Stillman or Hamler would demand my attention. Then Winkler and those guys would show right back up. Not all at once—it was usually only one missing at a time. And it just felt odd.”
“Did you get their names?”
“I got photos. And there are the visitor logs, but…when they were gone, I went into my office…and…” She paused for a moment.
She got closer to him so close she could whisper.
“Someone had been in my desk. On my computer. I think they tried to duplicate the hard drive. And they tried to access my private server and hard drive.”
And that terrified her. The server that she used was private. Only a handful of people knew it even existed outside of her and the chief and the governor and now Hope—who wasn’t exactly in a position to talk to people. And Daniel and Dom. Maybe Gunnar and Murdoch. That was it.
“How likely is it that someone got into it? Hell, you know that I don’t know how they work most of the time.”
“It’s not…likely. Not really. Only a handful of people who even work the TSP would have the capability.
I might be wrong. Someone may have just tried.
” She hoped that was just it. But the way everything was going around here, Madison just didn’t know.
They’d had people break into the lab and steal evidence before.
A security guard had been seriously injured, and A.J.
Callum had been locked in the vault. “Someone may have been trying to hack it. I just wanted you to know.”
“Give me their names. I’m going to do some…digging…of my own. In the meantime, watch your back. We don’t have a clue what those assholes are really up to. I’m not going to risk you for this. The TSP is not taking you, I’m going to make damned sure of that.”
“I just don’t know how much longer we can all do this. I just don’t.”
Madison almost jumped back when he lifted his hand—and cupped her cheek. Dom…gentle and Dom didn’t really go hand-in-hand. At least not…here. In this building. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Will it? Because I am ready for okay right now. I think we are long past due for okay.”
He shocked the hell out of her when he just pulled her close for a long, long time. Madison just let the scent of Dom surround her. Just for a moment.
Strange enough—she almost felt safe right where she was at the moment. At least…for a little while.