Page 72 of Falling For You

"I was in the office. The door was locked. I was on camera—the interview—and then I heard—" His voice broke. "I came out and they were on the floor. Both of them. And Gus was—" He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Selena's off today. It was just him out here. He was alone. I should have been out here with him."

Gus locked that door. Gus put him in that office, in front of that computer, behind a door that didn't open until it was over. The thing Terrence was blaming himself for was the reason he was still alive.

"Don't do that." I put my hands on his shoulders and held him steady. "This is not your fault, Terrence."

Outside, I could hear Jeremy's voice directing units to the perimeter, guiding paramedics to the entrance. The front door opened and Wyatt walked in.

He was in his turnout pants and a department T-shirt, medical bag over his shoulder, moving fast. He scanned the room. His eyes found the two men on the floor, then the counter, then me. Kneeling in blood beside a body he recognized.

I looked at him and shook my head.

He stopped. The bag slid off his shoulder. I'd seen them together at that counter dozens of times. I knew what Gus meant to him.

"Why is the fire crew still in here?" Elliot's voice cut through the room. He was in the doorway, eyes sweeping the scene. "This is a police crime scene. If there's no one to work on, they need to clear out."

"Can you stop being an asshole for once?" My voice came out louder than I intended. "This was their bar. He was their family. Would it kill you to show some respect?"

Elliot didn't respond. His eyes moved past me to the counter, past Gus, to Terrence. A young Black man on his knees in a room full of bodies, covered in blood.

He started walking toward him.

"On your feet. Hands where I can see them."

"Elliot, don't."

"On your feet."

I stepped between them.

"He was locked in the back office during a video interview when this happened. Have you even looked at the scene? Two shooters, two guns, and a man with no weapon trying to keep someone alive. That's what's on this floor, Elliot."

"Andy, you're letting your emotions get the better of you." He said it calmly. "I thought I would have trained you better than that."

I didn't move.

"Maybe I am emotional. But I also know you don't arrest a witness just because he's standing in the room."

Elliot stepped forward until he was so close to my face, I could feel his breath.

"Step aside, Officer Walsh. Unless you want to get written up for insubordination."

Behind me, I could hear Travis and Knox holding Wyatt back. "Easy, brother. Easy." Boots scraped against the tile. "Wyatt, don't."

Elliot didn't move. He stared straight into my eyes.

"What's it going to be, Andy?"

I stared right back and searched for the intelligent man I'd once loved. All I found was a sergeant who needed to puff his chest and pull rank to get what he wanted.

"Officer Walsh."

Zeus Alexander's voice cut through the room from the front entrance.

He walked past Elliot without looking at him. Went straight to me. Same as always.

"Walk me through it, Walsh."

I told him everything about the scene, the bodies, Terrence and his interview. Zeus looked at Terrence, still on the floor beside Gus, still shaking.