Work Text:
The rain hammered against the windows outdoors, drowning out the low hum of the radio Max loved to keep on in the background as she grabbed a seat at the kitchen island, pouring herself a glass of red.
In her other hand was the necklace, a beautiful gemstone nested among other gems, the light refracting rainbows across the counter under the lights.
It was heavy, heavier than it looked; this was no fake.
And that made it that much harder to make the switch, but Max was sure she and Ricky had this fake made so well, Miller’s wife wouldn’t even notice.
And therefore wouldn’t notice the listening device they’d planted in it.
This had to work, Max thought as she brushed her fingers through the diamonds, thinking about the consequences once their plan worked.
And just how badly it could go.
Lieutenant Miller ran a specialised tactical unit in the force. To the department, he was a hero, an officer they could rely on in every situation. Max and Ellis had crossed his unit’s path once, and Max could tell how much respect her partner had for the Lieutenant.
And yet, deep beneath that man was a man who should never have worked on the police force, let alone worked his way up to lieutenant.
Three days ago, the Integrity Unit had approached Max at home, bringing her into their investigation of Miller, whom they had recently suspected of being far more than the ideal cop. Their suspicions, they had told her, were confirmed two weeks ago, when a raid ended with three officers injured, Ellis being one of them, taking a bullet to his thigh.
A raid that, it turns out, would have given the Integrity Unit the evidence they’d been searching for.
Max closed her eyes. She could still see Ellis’ blood on the pavement, pooling underneath his leg. She could still hear Ellis gritting his teeth as she ran out of the car that he had instructed her to stay in and kept pressure on his leg as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. She could still feel Ellis’ hand tight around hers as the paramedics finally loaded him into it, giving him something for the pain.
Nobody had known at the time what was what. Just bad luck, she had heard as the official verdict.
But she knew better. And she was ready help make sure Miller faced the music for everything, including for Ellis’ injury.
Someone knocked on the door.
She shoved the necklace into her pocket, took a sip of her wine, and opened the door, facing her partner.
Cole stood there, hair and coat wet from the horrible weather outside, leaning heavily on the cane he had been relying on, keeping his weight off his healing leg. Their eyes met, and Max could instantly decipher the mixture of exhaustion and profound disappointment.
“Ellis,” Max said, forcing a smile that she didn’t feel at all, “Come in, grab a seat, you shouldn’t be on your leg, the doctor—”
“Did you take it?” Ellis interrupted her, making no move to walk into her home.
Max leaned against her doorframe, questioning him, even though she knew exactly what he was asking,
“Take what?”
“Lieutenant Miller’s wife’s necklace,” Ellis asked, pulling up a photo on his phone, showing her a fragment of a video clip from one of the cameras at the Lieutenant’s home, showing Max bumping into the wife, helping her up from her trip, a trip that was calculated.
“Miller came into the station, asked us to see if we could locate his wife’s stolen necklace, and gave us this footage. Max, please, tell me this wasn’t you. Tell me you aren’t doing what you promised you weren’t.”
Max kept her face blank as her heart slammed against her ribs, keeping silent.
Cole’s face dropped, her silence answering his question.
“He’s a lieutenant, Max,” he told her, his voice deadly quiet, “he’s a good cop, Max. And you stole from his wife at a charity event?”
Max almost laughed at his description of Miller – a good cop. If only Ellis knew. If only she could tell him that the reason he was limping and stuck to that cane was Miller.
But the Captain she spoke to had been clear: there was no telling anyone else what was going on – who knew who else in the department was involved. Worse, if anyone else started sniffing around, the consequences would be dire.
There was no way she was getting Ellis involved. He’d already been shot inadvertently by the Lieutenant’s lot.
“Ellis…”
“I told the Chief that I can’t work with you, Max, not anymore,” he ventured into her house, the rubber tip of his cane squeaking against the wet floor, “I stood up for you, Max, after I got over our… unorthodox partnership. So many told me that once a thief, always a thief. I told them you were different. I thought you really were.”
“So that’s what I am, a thief?” Max questioned, the accusation hurting more than she thought it was, for it was true.
She could brush it off if anyone else had said that to her, but having Cole throw that at her?
Maybe I can tell just him… maybe…
“You did it again, Max. You did it once, and I told myself that it was just a relapse, you know? That you were pulled back into your old life for just a little while. I thought that you were good, that our partnership was enough. But you can’t help yourself, can you?”
He looked at her with such raw hurt that Max almost broke down.
I’m doing this for you, for the department.
But she couldn’t.
Cole held out his hand, and Max reached into her pocket, pulling out the bugged necklace.
This was the plan, after all. The necklace would end up back in the Miller’s hand, a Trojan horse that would finally give the Integrity Unit enough.
“I’m going to return it; keep your name out of it.”
Max looked up, surprised.
“A parting gesture. I can’t work with someone I can’t trust, especially one who broke my trust again. Don’t cross my path again, Max,” he warned, turning around and limping away.
Max just stood transfixed at the doorway.
This was what had to be done, she told herself; this was just like all the other roles she had to play.
She locked her door and ran into the bedroom, sliding down the door until she hit the floor, pulling her knees to her chest.
This was nothing like all the other roles she had to play.
This time, she was hurting someone she never wanted to hurt, not again.
Not again.