She sighed. There were a ton of people she couldn’t bear to live without, many of them right here in this building.

She’d no sooner had that thought than she ran into the one person she could happily live without, and in a matter of seconds, he had her backed into a wall, his face an inch from hers.

“I bet you’re walking around feeling rather pleased with yourself after taking out my son.”

“I haven’t given that much thought, to be honest. Got a few other things going on.”

Ramsey’s beady eyes got beadier as he moved even closer to her. “I’m going to sue you and Malone and Offenbach and every other officer who was there that day and didn’t stop the murder of my son.”

“Go right ahead and waste your money. It was a clean shot, and everyone who was there knows it.”

He cocked his arm back as if he was going to hit her, and Sam lifted her chin defiantly, prepared to take the hit if it meant adding an assault charge to his record. Whatever it took to permanently rid them of him. But before he could get off the punch, someone tackled him, taking him down hard and cuffing him while Ramsey screamed and fought back against the cuffs.

Gonzo looked up at Sam. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“Go get Andrews.” Captain Andrews from Explosives was covering for Malone during his suspension.

Sam walked toward the pit, her legs feeling rubbery under her and her hip aching from the weird move she’d made to get away from him.

Freddie saw her coming and came over to her. “What’s wrong?”

“Get Andrews, will you?”

“What happened?”

“Get the captain, Freddie. Please.”

He took off toward the captain’s office and returned a minute later with the senior officer.

Sam used her thumb to point toward the opposite hallway. “By the morgue.”

Andrews took off at a jog.

“Now tell me what happened,” Freddie said.

“Ramsey got in my face about the shooting. Gonzo took him down a second before he was going to punch me. He’s got him cuffed on the floor.”

“Oh my God, Sam. Are you hurt?”

“Twinged my hip when I backed away from him, but it’s fine.”

“What did he say?”

“That he’s going to sue me, Malone, Offenbach and everyone who was there the day his son was murdered.”

“Unreal. He can waste his money suing, but that was a clean shot. Everyone knows that but him.”

“That’s what I said, too.”

They heard Ramsey before they saw him being dragged by Gonzo and Andrews, screaming about his son being murdered and suing the city, the department and everyone involved.

“We’re putting him downstairs until he cools off,” Andrews said.

“I have rights! You can’t lock me up!”

“Wanna bet?” Andrews said as he and Gonzo hauled him away.

He screamed all the way down the stairs to the city jail.

“What’s it going to take to get rid of him?” Freddie asked, hands on hips, eyes shooting fire. “Is he going to have to actually kill you or someone else?”