Captain Malone nudged her awake when they arrived at HQ. “This is insane, Holland. You need to be in the hospital.”

Forcing herself to wake up, Sam tried to shake off the grogginess and gasped from the ricochet of pain. “Give me thirty minutes, and I’ll wrap this one up with a bow on top just for you.”

He cast a wary glance at the throng of media gathered outside the main door to HQ. “We need to go in through the morgue.”

That would mean a longer walk to the pit—a much longer walk. “That’s fine,” she said, gritting her teeth. Anything to avoid the savages looking to take another piece out of her wounded hide. “Actually, I’m glad to see them here. They’ll help my plan.” She smiled at the idea of Diandra Sinclair, in handcuffs, being marched through the scrum into HQ.

“Which you still haven’t shared with me.”

At some point during the interminable walk, Sam became aware of his hand on her arm, all but holding her up as he directed her down the long hallways.

In the pit, she was greeted with none of the usual hubbub she’d come to expect. Rather, a subdued silence had descended over her troops as they no doubt tried to process what they’d learned about her that day. Refusing to be distracted, Sam shrugged off her coat and reached for the handheld radio on her desk.

Malone lowered himself into the other chair in her office.

“Detective Gonzales, what’s your twenty?” she asked.

“Interrogation A with Mr. Sinclair.”

“Detective Cruz?”

“In the parking lot with Mrs. Sinclair.”

“Detective McBride?”

“On the way to your office, Lieutenant, with the information you requested.”

Sam put down the radio and smiled. “Excellent.”

Jeannie knocked on the door a minute later and handed Sam a file. Inside was a copy of a gun license, registered to Diandra Sinclair.

“Good work, Detective,” Sam said, trying not to worry about the fact that Jeannie couldn’t seem to make eye contact with her.

AUSA Dobson stepped into the room, followed closely by Chief Farnsworth who took one look at Sam and blanched.

“What, in the name of God, are you doing out of the hospital, Lieutenant?” he asked.

“Thank you,” Malone muttered. “She’s up to something, won’t tell me what, but I take it we’re in for a show, Chief.”

“What’ve you got, Lieutenant?” Hope asked.

Sam sensed an odd vibe coming from the assistant U.S. Attorney and wondered how long it would take to “blow over” as the captain predicted. She handed Hope the file with the license.

“The owner of the store recognized her and remembers her buying the gun,” Jeannie said. “Diandra told him she was buying it as protection against the crazies who take issue with her views. She told him she’d been repeatedly threatened. He’s willing to testify.”