TWENTYThe squad room filled up early. Chief Irwin stood stiff shouldered and looked around the room. The cops were all there, save one. Big Jim Bullock sat next to his friend Trick Delgado, and William Washington leaned back and relaxed as well as one could in the wobbly wood chair. The absence of Mackey Hogan certainly lent a more relaxed atmosphere to their surroundings. He hoped that putting the son-of-a-b***h on temporary medical leave would teach him a lesson, like learning when to keep his mouth shut. If there had been a replacement he would have s**t-canned him long ago but there was never an overload of applications of cops hungry to work in a nowhere town with little action and measly pay.
Chief Irwin made due the best he could with what he had. After that incident had caught up
