Nic rapidly flipped pages, the crease between his brows deepening.“But this case isn’t on our docket.It wasn’t even discussed in our weekly status meeting.”
Cam held his hand out to Aidan, who put a stack of photos in them.Cam spread them out in front of Nic.“Those nails you requested.Plural,” he said with a wink.“Bowers wasn’t after the case.He was after the evidence.”
The pictures showed Bowers at the evidence locker downstairs after hours, carrying out the box of evidence SFPD had sent over, including an insulated cold container on top.
“The log still shows the box and vials as there,” Cam said.“Bowers never intended to bring a case.No one would go looking for it.”
“Did he think we wouldn’t see this?”
“He tried to wipe the video,” Jamie said.“I found it.”
“It’s on a flash drive in the safe in your office,” Cam said.
Nic stacked the photos slowly and set them atop the folders on the table.
Then he sat back in his chair, thumbs tumbling, mind no doubt racing through all the scenarios that had run through Cam’s head earlier when he’d seen the video.Had Bowers actually been the one to kill Curtis?At least that was where his investigator’s brain had gone.
But Nic’s had zeroed in on the question he needed answered most.“What does Vaughn have on Bowers?Because this”—he gestured at the stack—“is almost the complete story.Someone give me the fucking hammer.”
“Witness tampering,” Mel said.
“What?”Nic exclaimed.Only Cam’s hand on his knee kept him seated.
“He was an up-and-coming AUSA.Needed to win a big case to seal his promotion.There was a witness for the defense that cast doubt on his case, on the charging officer.The witness changed their tune.”
Lauren placed a balance sheet on the table.“Right about the time Bowers made a significant outlay of cash.”
Nic recognized the entity name from the deeds they’d seized.“To Vaughn.”
Cam nodded.“That’s why we didn’t find a deposit in Bowers’s account.It was a withdrawal.”
“Vaughn’s had him by the balls ever since.”Nic propped his elbows on the table, face in his hands.Cam barely heard Nic’s curse, but Nic’s misery when he dropped his hands was impossible to miss.“I have to take this to DOJ.”Nic was nothing if not a loyal officer of the court, of justice.This was the highest betrayal.
And Aidan was asking him to wait.“Not yet, Price.”
“Talley,” he growled.
“Aidan’s right,” Cam said, and Nic’s angry gaze whipped to him.“You’ve all but proven Bowers is a carrier pigeon for Vaughn.Let’s use him to feed Vaughn the info we want him to have and also use him to confirm who the moles are in our offices.That witness tampering isn’t going to go away.You can spring it anytime—at the right time—when we need it.”
“But he could tamper with other cases in the meantime.”
“I checked the docket,” Aidan said.“Nothing of any interest to Vaughn that could be affected.And Bowers is too busy playing politics or covering his ass to even try cases right now.”
“He’s on the board,” Cam said.“But he’s our pawn now.We determine how and where to move him.”
Nic finally cracked a grin.“Didn’t know you liked chess, Boston.”
“I fucking hate it,” he admitted.“But ‘we determine where to bury the casket’ seemed a little too on the nose.”
Nic’s laugh was music to his ears as were the words that followed.“Okay, the pawn is ours.Let’s use him.But there’s still another piece on the board we can’t forget.Maybe even the queen.”
“Who’s that?”Cam asked.
“Rebecca Wright.”
Cam startled at first, surprised at hearing her name come up again.
“From the case last April?”Aidan said, likewise surprised.
