Another small part of AHDDS…unedited…

Bray Farkin and Sara M. Templeton sat in the office, the awkward silence bordering on outright hostility. Sara refused to meet Farkin’s eyes. Bray kept his eyes on Sara. His had managed his anger and kept it veiled from the officers, but Sara’s inability to keep her mouth shut had almost led to more mistakes.
“When I tell you to shut up, you shut up. Don’t make me tell you anymore.”
“I was trying to…”
“No one asked you to do anything, Sara. Those cops came out here looking for anything they can use to get in our compound. Did it ever occur to you that Detective Wiggins acted the way he did because they thought it would throw us off?”
“I told you that skank would bring trouble,” Sara said.
“And you dealt with it, but you also brought more trouble by ‘handling’ the situation. Now, we have to change up everything, because we don’t know what the cops know or don’t know. You trusted me over in the sandbox, I’m asking you to trust me here, Sara.”
“We’ll in my defense Bray, the other trouble wasn’t my fault. That cop came out here looking for Tasha, and when he got to close I had no choice but to do him in.”
“And now, we have more cops and more trouble because you couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
Another silence fell between the two. Both Bray and Sara locked eyes, their mouths tight lines as they glared at each other, neither speaking the insults that raced through their minds, both straining to hold onto the last remnants of their self-discipline.
She’s a liability. It’s high time for Sara to take the long dirt nap.
Bray gave her a forced smile and leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes. Sara returned his fake smile with one of her own. Come and get it, Bray. This compound isn’t big enough for both of us.

Konan and Lilly rode the lift down to the evidence locker. Prior to coming down, Lilly had filled out CF 3645 and had Janko sign it for Patty. The doors dinged open as Lilly stepped from the lift, Konan came off behind her. Patty sat at the counter, her dirty bifocals refused the glint of light as she looked up from her screen.
“What now?”
“Hi Patty,” Lilly said as she approached the counter and passed the signed form to her. “I need to take a piece of evidence from the locker.”
The old woman checked the form and then pressed the door release. It buzzed, and Konan and Lilly walked in. Lilly took lead as she walked toward the back of the room.
Patty had stacked the files 3-4 high, and Konan took a deep breath. Lilly traced the box numbers with her forefinger until she found the box.
“Here,” she said, shoving the parchment at Konan. “Hold this, while I dig in this box.”
Lilly dug around in the box and fished out the note. Konan handed her the parchment Pop-Pop had brought in, and she held both pieces toward the light.
“Hmm. I don’t know, Konan. We’ll send it to the lab to test it and verify it’s the same paper.”
“You do realize what you’re saying, right?”
Lilly turned to Konan and raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. Konan frowned, and then said, “You’re going to send it up to the lab, but if it is the same paper and the handwriting matches, we’re arresting our medical examiner’s grandfather for murder.”
“And?”
“Never mind. Let’s do it.”
Silence fell over the pair as they walked out. The tension between the two partners seemed to grow larger every day. From day one, things had gone bad, and nothing seemed to go right.