"Can I be excused?" Carmela asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Officer Johnson nodded, and she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Outside, she pulled out her phone and texted Max back. "Is this really important?" she wrote.

Almost immediately, her phone buzzed with a reply. "Yes," the message read. "It's urgent."

Carmela put her phone back in her pocket, her mind racing. She knew she shouldn't leave the station - what if Nichole called again? But at the same time, ...