Got to check the boxes. The voice stopped the second Alice's shadow crossed the doorway. She kept walking, jaw tight, refusing to give them the satisfaction of a reaction. She didn't need to guess where it was coming from. She'd seen Corbin and Miller huddled together too many times lately, heads bent low, voices dropping whenever she got close.
That evening, she requested a meeting with Deputy Chief Priya Osmar, hoping to get the grievances shut down before they piled up any higher. Osmar's office hadn't changed since the last time Alice sat in it years ago, being handed a transfer order like a punishment wrapped in kindness. "These complaints are baseless," Alice said, sliding the folder across the desk. "Three grievances in two weeks, all vague, all unsigned or filed by the same union representing the same two officers. This is coordinated. " Osmar flipped through the folder without much interest.
I'll look into it. That's what you said about my complaint 6 years ago, Alice said. And it disappeared. Osmar's eyes lifted sharply. That's a serious accusation.
It's a fact, Alice said. Fenwick logged my complaint. It vanished from the system within a week. Corbin and the others got a verbal warning and I got transferred across town. Things were handled the way they needed to be handled at the time, Osmar said, her voice cool and flat.
I don't appreciate you dragging up old history to score points in a new argument. I'm not scoring points, Alice said. I'm telling you there's a pattern of officers in this precinct undermining accountability and it's happening again right now aimed at me. Osmar closed the folder and pushed it back across the desk. I'll speak to the union rep.
That's all I can promise you. Alice stood there a moment searching Osmar's face for something. Some flicker of concern. Some sign she actually cared about getting to the truth. She found nothing but tired impatience, like Alice was a problem eating into her afternoon schedule.
"That's all," Alice asked. "That's all," Osmar said. "I have a department to run, Captain. I can't chase down every whisper that crosses my desk. " Alice left the office with her jaw clenched tight, the same helpless anger rising in her chest that she remembered from 6 years ago, sitting across this exact desk. While Osmar handed her a transfer order instead of justice, she walked slowly back toward her own office, replaying the conversation in her head.
Osmar hadn't asked a single follow-up question about the grievances. Hadn't seemed the least bit curious about who was really behind them. She'd brushed it off just like she'd brushed off everything 6 years ago. That wasn't carelessness. That was a choice.
Alice stopped in the hallway, staring at nothing in particular, letting the realization settle fully into place. Osmar wasn't a neutral boss caught in the middle of an old grudge. Osmar had buried Alice's original complaint herself. If that coverup ever came to light now, with Alice sitting in a captain's chair instead of a rookie's uniform, it wouldn't just hurt Corbin and the others, it would end Osmar's career, too. Which meant Osmar had every reason in the world to make sure Corbin won this fight.