Silver visibly flinched in shock, which told me how surprised he was about the revelation. Someone with his extensive training would’ve been able to hide his emotions unless it was something that struck the very heart of him, like hearing that someone he trusted might know who killed his brother.
“Rick? You think Rick was involved in killing Nate and this Robertson guy?” he asked in disbelief.
“He at least knows more than he’s letting on,” I told Silver. “I don’t believe it’s a coincidence.”
“I don’t either,” Silver replied, but his eyes had lost focus like he was lost in thought. “Put a wire on me.”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“Put a wire on me and send me in to talk to him,” Silver repeated. “I can get him to talk.”I just bet he could.
“He’s your attorney,” Dorchester said. “There’s a close line we’re straddling if he does say something incriminating.”
“Not if we have a warrant,” I told Dorchester. “We’d need to find a judge we can trust, preferably one with a clerk that doesn’t have a big mouth.”
“Weston and Harris will know,” Dorchester replied. “This is our best bet.”
“I’ll fire him as my attorney,” Silver volunteered.
“Then he might get suspicious and refuse to speak to you,” Dorchester replied. “Let us go through the official channels and make sure our I’s are dotted, and T’s crossed. The last thing we want to do is let someone off on a technicality.”
“Okay,” Silver said, but I could hear the agitation in his voice. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to act like nothing is wrong when I meet with him to go over business tomorrow.”
“Oh, I think you can dig deep and rely on your training for that,” I told him. He didn’t bother to deny it, which was as good as a confirmation I had been right.
“Is there anything else?” he asked us.
“Not at the moment,” Dorchester said. “We’ll be in touch soon.”
We stood to leave and had almost made it to the door when Silver called out my name. “I think I was wrong about you, Detective.”
“You wouldn’t be the first person, Silver,” I tossed over my shoulder as I walked away.
On the way home two things happened; Kerry Simms returned my call and said that there had been no conversations regarding a casino in Carter County and Rylan Broadman called and said he could meet us at the bank at ten the next morning to review the contents of the vault.
“Thank you, counselor. We’ll see you there,” I told him.
“It finally seems like things are moving forward,” Dorchester said. “I worried that this would be another cold case collecting dust in an evidence locker.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it,” I replied. “I would’ve loved for Kerry Simms to confirm that the casino talk had reached the official stages, but that doesn’t change anything about our investigation.”
“True. You think the Reds stand a chance this year?” Dorchester asked, changing the subject. I was happy to have something else to discuss.
“I think it has to be an improvement over last year. Damn, we need some pitching,” I commented.
“We’ll have to catch a game this year,” he said. “We’ll bring our significant others.”
“That sounds like fun. Josh isn’t really into sports much, so we’ll make him the DD.”
“Sounds like a damn good plan to me,” Dorchester said.
We chatted about sports and mundane things for the rest of the ride home. We had put our time in, we moved our case forward, and it was time to go home and be with the people we loved. I noticed that Dorchester’s steps appeared to be lighter when I dropped him off at his car. I imagined I looked the same and it was amazing to me how quickly a case could change and the improvement it had on our moods. With any luck, we’d solve the case in the next few days and get back to our normal routines.
I didn’t enter the salon like I had the night before, even though I wanted to. I knew Josh was aware I was home thanks to Savage screeching at the top of his birdie lungs. I stopped to give him a treat and heard the crew laughing at his antics. I was too amped up over the possibility of solving the case, and it felt like the walls of our home were closing in on me. I decided to take a jog to try to burn off my excess energy.
I changed clothes and grabbed Buddy’s leash. I knew that Josh had already taken him for a run that morning, but he was young, healthy, and loved the exercise. Savage serenaded me with his filthy mouth when I walked by again.
“Dirty Bird!”
