Gemotions

The email arrived at 3:00 am. No subject line. Just a short message from Detective Miller: “Resigned. Effective immediately. Contact HR for any outstanding questions.” Maria reread the terse sentence, her heart hammering against her ribs. Miller had been her rock, the one person in the precinct who understood her, who trusted her gut instincts.

She sat bolt upright in bed, the digital clock flashing relentlessly. Sleep was impossible. She threw back the covers, her skin prickling with cold. The familiar weight of the pistol on her bedside table offered no comfort. Every case they had worked together, every solved mystery, suddenly felt incomplete, unmoored. She felt like she was standing at a cliff's edge, utterly alone.