He checked his watch—he’d been waiting in the hallway for the man for nearly a half hour. Either something unexpected had come up or else this was some sort of power play to remind Joe who was in charge. As if he could forget that. He owed a lot to Chief Mark Ryland. After all, the man had made Joe’s transfer to Homicide possible. Ryland had also put tremendous trust in him by asking him to look into allegations regarding a fellow officer. Well, maybe it was trust. And maybe it was just something as simple as Ryland not wanting to make the investigation official unless he knew for certain there were improprieties. Or maybe he thought Joe would be relentless in getting to the truth. In doing so, however, Ryland had pitted him against not just Brayden but the entire O’Malley clan—including Katelyn. Yet, it hadn’t kept them apart. Of course, probably nothing short of critical injury or death could have done that. There were times, like now, when Joe felt as if he were in the path of a speeding train, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
