That Midsummer’s Eve, I lost my sister forever. She was savagely stabbed eighteen times by a brutal assailant. When she collapsed in a pool of her own blood, her hand still clutched the emergency call that had never gone through. Meanwhile, her police officer husband, who should have been on duty at the precinct, was instead featured in a social media post by the new female intern. The photo showed him in a ‘manly’ pose, holding the intern with one arm while pinching a cockroach with the other. The caption read, “Mom no longer has to worry about scary little critters at home.” Below, a chorus of colleagues cheered and praised the post. I trembled with fury and immediately sent a screenshot to his captain. Half an hour later, his call came through, his voice thick with anger and accusation. “Just because I didn’t spend Midsummer’s Eve with you, you went running to the captain to complain, saying I was derelict in my duty?” “You jealous shrew! You’re utterly unreasonable! Even with my sister backing you up, this time, I’m divorcing you for good!” He yelled and hung up, not giving me a chance to explain. He would never know that the sister he believed would always have my back had, because of his negligence, already left this world forever. 1 Listening to the dial tone, my knuckles turned white as I clutched my phone. Just then, a doctor approached with some papers. “Ms. Caldwell, this is the deceased’s death certificate. It requires a family member’s signature to be released. Has the deceased’s brother arrived?” My gaze swept past the doctor to the body on the hospital bed, meticulously covered by a white sheet. I shook my head faintly. “Can I sign for it?” The doctor looked a little troubled. “Legally, you have no relation to the deceased. Or, you could provide us with the deceased’s brother’s household register.” No sooner had the doctor left than my phone began buzzing incessantly. This time, it was from Jason’s group chat for his colleagues. Cici Evans had specifically tagged me. [Ma’am, my social media post was just meant to show I’d like a police officer boyfriend too. I’m so sorry if I caused any misunderstanding!] Immediately, Jason’s team members all jumped in to defend her. [Hey there, ma’am, look what you’ve done to the poor girl.] [Seriously, ma’am, we’re all colleagues. Why make such a big deal out of it?] [Captain Thorne is just looking out for his trainee; it’s part of his duty. We know you get jealous, ma’am, but you can’t be so unreasonable!] These were all Jason’s officers, some of whom I had helped out more than once. They used to call me ‘Ms. Caldwell’ with respect. But ever since Cici arrived, they’d slowly become like Jason, blindly adoring her without any principles. Just like now, knowing Jason’s dereliction of duty was a fact, they still tacitly sided with Cici, accusing me of being petty. I was about to reply when the bottom of the chat displayed that I had been removed by the administrator. Undoubtedly, that administrator was Jason. I scoffed, a bitter coldness settling in my heart. Just as I was about to head home to retrieve the household register, my phone rang again. This time, it was Officer Daniels, one of the rookies who had been on duty with Jason and Cici last night. “Ma’am, last night, there was a violent assault in our jurisdiction, and a female victim died. But last night, the person responsible for answering the emergency line was Cici. She… she…” Officer Daniels stammered. I grew a little impatient. “Spit it out, or I’m hanging up.” “Cici left her post for an hour due to personal reasons, which led to her missing the victim’s emergency call. Now, the higher-ups are looking to discipline someone, and Captain Thorne’s idea is for you to take the blame for Cici.” I almost laughed. To openly spend Midsummer’s Eve with Cici, Jason had deliberately arranged for them to be on the night shift together. Now that a life-and-death situation had occurred, he wanted to push me, his wife, out to take the fall. He was willing to abandon his integrity as a police officer. And, he hadn’t even bothered to ask who the victim was last night! Thinking this, I scoffed. “If Jason can’t bear for Cici to be held accountable, then he can take the blame himself!” “Asking his wife to cover for his mistress—what kind of man is that?!” With that, I hung up. Less than ten minutes later, Jason called me himself. The moment I answered, his roar nearly shattered the eardrum. “Karly Caldwell! Cici and I are completely innocent. Stop with your filthy mind and assumptions!” “I’m the backbone of this family; I can’t lose my career. You, a woman, would be perfectly fine as a stay-at-home wife without a job!” I shot back immediately. “Isn’t Cici a woman? Or is she a transgender person! Jason, I never knew you had such unique tastes!” “What nonsense are you talking about! How old is Cici? She has a bright future ahead of her.” “Are you going to ruin Cici’s life because of your jealousy? You’re truly malicious!” 2 Malicious? If I hadn’t given Jason all the credit for dismantling a notorious crime syndicate, how could he have been promoted to squad captain within just two years? I had given him almost everything I could, only to be called ‘malicious’ in the end. Jason, seeing my silence, realized he’d gone too far and softened his tone. “Karly, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just, Cici is my first female trainee, so I naturally look out for her more.” “She just graduated from the academy. If she gets a disciplinary mark now, her career will be over.” “Please, just this once, if you agree to help her, I can transfer her to another squad.” No sooner had he finished speaking than Cici’s tearful voice chimed in. “Captain Thorne, but I don’t want to leave you.” I couldn’t help but sneer. “Captain Thorne, did you hear that? Your precious trainee says she doesn’t want to leave you!” “Then you and your officers will turn around and accuse me of being petty, forcing your innocent little trainee away.” “I think it’s best if I make room for you both sooner rather than later.” Catching the sarcasm in my voice, Jason immediately flew into a rage. “You’re utterly unreasonable!” “I’m dedicated to serving the public, yet you falsely accuse me. No wonder my team privately calls you a shrew!” He had barely finished yelling when Cici’s aggrieved voice immediately came through. “Captain Thorne, did I say something wrong again to upset Ms. Caldwell? Maybe I should just resign…” Jason immediately comforted her gently. “Don’t talk nonsense! Don’t worry, as long as I’m here, no one can bully you.” However, when he spoke to me again, all tenderness vanished. “Karly, you tell the captain immediately that you needed Cici’s help with something, which is why Cici had to leave her post.” “If you don’t help with this, I’m divorcing you, plain and simple!” With that, only the monotonous dial tone remained in the receiver. At that moment, my heart completely died. But Jason seemed to have forgotten that we had never officially registered our marriage, so there was no ‘divorce’ to speak of. After handling Sarah’s funeral, Jason and I would have no further connection. After several trips between home and the hospital, I finally managed to obtain Sarah’s death certificate. When I returned to my cold, empty home, I was utterly exhausted. My phone screen kept lighting up. Messages from Jason’s team members flooded in: [Ma’am, Cici worked hard to get into the academy. Please help her out; consider it a good deed.] [Captain Thorne said you were planning to step back anyway. This is a good chance to rest for a while. Why not?] [As husband and wife, a day’s kindness is a hundred days’ worth. Ma’am, by helping Cici this time, you’re also helping Captain Thorne!] I immediately blocked and deleted these ungrateful ingrates. I was done with Jason; their words meant nothing to me now. I numbly packed my belongings. When I saw the photo of Sarah and me on the nightstand, I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer. Like the Thorne siblings, I had lost my parents at a very young age. Sarah was the closest person I had in this world. Every time Jason and I had an argument, Sarah would side with me, criticizing her brother. Knowing I was uneasy about Cici’s presence, she had more than once gone to the precinct to assert my claim. But how could such a wonderful girl end up like this? If I hadn’t been so caught up in my anger with Jason last night, and had gone to pick Sarah up from work, would none of this have happened? I couldn’t help but blame myself, and I couldn’t help but resent Jason. Neither Jason nor I deserved happiness. 3 The next day, as soon as I arrived at the precinct, everyone turned to look at me in unison. Cici walked straight up to me and feigned concern, saying, “Ma’am, the precinct has decided to dismiss you. Don’t be sad. After a while, Captain Thorne will definitely find a way to get you back!” I scoffed. “You’ve got it wrong, haven’t you? I’m not the one who was derelict in duty.” At my words, Cici’s eyes immediately reddened. “Ma’am, you can’t twist the facts just to avoid responsibility!” “The duty roster clearly states in black and white that you were the one responsible for answering the emergency line last night.” I paused, then understood everything. It seemed they were determined to pin the blame on me, even going so far as to secretly alter the duty roster. As I took a step closer to Cici, she suddenly stumbled backward, falling heavily to the ground. “Ma’am, even if you have a problem with me, you shouldn’t intentionally push me!” Jason’s officers immediately swarmed around. They helped Cici up, then shielded her behind them, glaring at me with wary expressions. Jason, who arrived last, didn’t even bother to ask what happened before slapping me across the face. “Karly Caldwell! Take your anger out on me! What kind of person picks on a young woman?!” “Apologize to Cici right now!” Everyone was stunned. I stood there, hand covering my cheek, equally shocked. The stinging pain on my face reminded me of Jason’s ‘domestic violence.’ Yet he seemed completely oblivious to it, his attention solely on Cici. “Karly, when you make a mistake, you should take responsibility. You were on the duty roster; don’t even think about dragging Cici into this.” I looked at the man I had poured my heart and soul into for five years, and felt a bone-chilling coldness. “Captain Thorne, you’re absolutely right. When you make a mistake, you should take responsibility. So, do you dare to swear on the badge above your head that you, Jason Thorne, have spoken not a single lie, or else you meet a terrible end?” “You…” Jason glared at me fiercely, but the oath wouldn’t come out.
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