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"It won’t come to that," Chief Turnham said, voice sharp and firave him a polite nod "And I appreciate that Am I to assuhed, deep regret in his eyes "I think that would be for the best"

I stood and gave hi bow "Y’all have a Merry Christmas!" I turned and left, and even resisted the desire to slam the door behind me

But once I was out, the smile slid off my face as I strode quickly down the hall to my office True, it could have been worse Administrative leave was a shitload better than a suspension Basically I’d just been given a paid vacation But I still felt as if I’d been ha

No one else was around, which was a relief I didn’t feel like going into an explanation of the whole thing for anyone right now I ducked into ave a damn about, just in case this whole situation turned to even et back here for a while

On my way horoaned "Please tell hed "Not yet But I am on administrative leave Paid!"

"Woohoo! Vay-cay!"

"Yeah, under any other circumstance it would rock Anyway, I’m headed to the house The iven the lovely news, and he’s seriously gunning for n a consent-to-search forh my house"

I heard her suck her breath in "Yikes I’et stuffed?"

"Pretty onna be pressuring Chief Turnhaet a warrant"

She made an unpleasant sound We both knew that there ays to get around the strict legalities of search and seizure All they had to do was come up with a "confidential infor evidence ofto su as soon as I get ho to cart your deht, depending on which deo rent an SUV--"

"No, you won’t," she interrupted "We can put him in the back of the van"

It took me a couple of seconds to process what she meant "Wait Your cri "This is yet another reason why you’reup with her I called Ronature on a witness statement so that I could close out the Barry Landrieu case, and could he possibly reed without hesitation I breathed a sigh of relief I still figured it was a long shot, but even eliress thus far had been zilch, I’d take what I could get

Eilahn aiting for me on the porch with the cat on her lap when I pulled up I had absolutely no idea how the de to complain

Fuzzykins eyed ive her ears a scratch, and she gave me a dubious sniff Well, at least it was an improvement over the usual hiss/snarl/claw reaction

"I’m on administrative leave," I told Eilahn

"I know," she said "I listened in on your ed that Did she hide in the air ducts or soestions for delanced at the sky and scowled "In broad daylight?"

She thought for a moment "A nyssor would be the ht But a nyssor…ugh "They can assess for su like, Oh, wait, my mistake, you don’t need a nyssor after all