“Hi.Noah’s still on scene, but one of his deputies is going to meet with us,” he said, giving her an assessing look.“You holding up okay?”
“Yes.”She was tired.So, so tired physically—and of all this shit.She wanted her life back, for things to go back to normal.That’s why she’d moved here, to get away from all the toxicity of her past.
He led her down the hall to an office where a young male deputy was waiting.“Thanks for coming down,” he said to them, waiting until they had shut the door and were comfortably seated before beginning.He slid a photograph toward her across his desk.“Do you recognize this man?”
He was clearly dead, his head turned to the side, eyes half-open.Late twenties, maybe early thirties.Light brown hair.Brown eyes.Several days’ worth of facial hair.
She shook her head.“No idea who he is.”
“He was found dead by a neighbor in an old cottage outside of town several hours ago.Shot in the torso at close range.No sign of forced entry, so it’s possible he knew his killer.We also found illicit drugs there, along with a bag of the same pills that were planted in your trunk.”
Okay, now she understood why they’d wanted to talk to her.“You think he’s the dealer?”
“No, we think he may have planted them.But given the timing of that and his murder, along with the highway shooting, we’re looking at all the events as if they’re connected.”
She nodded, agreeing completely.
“Any more insight into who might want to frame you?”Ryder asked.
“I’ve been thinking about it.”Nonstop since the shooting.“As a police officer I obviously arrested a lot of people—”
“Could it be someone from the Vegas PD?”Ryder asked.
She glanced at him sharply.He’d just spoken her deepest fear aloud, named the thing that had been whispering at the back of her mind.
Ryder knew about her anti-corruption case and some of what had led to it.He’d told her it was partly why they had hired her.Because he and the other managers at CPS admired her integrity.
It had been an incredibly dark time in her life.So dark, she’d done everything humanly possible to put it behind her.She’d left Vegas, everything she’d had there and everyone she’d known, and moved up here to the Pacific Northwest to get away from it all.And yet it seemed it might have followed her anyway.
Once again, things were starting to spiral out of control, but this time there wasn’t a damned thing she could do to stop it.
“Could be,” she allowed.There were definitely people who carried a grudge against her in Vegas, including the force.Thankfully the most dangerous suspects were in prison.
“Can you give us a list of names you think could be linked to any of this?”the deputy asked.
Cassie kept looking at Ryder.She didn’t want to involve the local cops.If she had to dig up her past, she would much rather do it with the team at CPS.They weren’t law enforcement and could keep any digging under wraps.“I’ll see what I can do.”
It took another ten minutes to finish the meeting.Cassie left with Ryder.“Give me a list of names, and I’ll have our people start looking into them,” he told her.“I understand why you’d hesitate to involve the cops here.”
“Okay.Thanks.And I’m sorry for all the trouble.I—”
Ryder stopped and turned to face her.“None of this is your fault.Hear me?None of it.You’ve been an exemplary employee and agent.And we take care of our own.We’ll do everything we can to find out who’s responsible, then help bring them to justice.”
“Thank you,” she whispered because her throat was suddenly tight.She swallowed hard.“I can’t figure out how they’re tracking me.”
“Let’s have a tech check your car, see if they find a tracker.And you’re using a new phone, so they shouldn’t have been able to follow you that way.”
She nodded, thinking.Had someone managed to follow her, and she hadn’t noticed?If the dead guy had been the one to plant the drugs, then he would have had to follow her and wait for her to park at the grocery store.
The pie place had a small lot.He would have been too conspicuous there, and she would have potentially been able to see him from inside the diner.But the Albertson’s lot was huge, with lots of traffic and people moving around.No one would even give him a second glance as he approached her vehicle.
Ryder studied her a moment.“You sure you’re ready to report for duty?”
“I’m sure.I need to keep going.Unless you think I’m too much of a liability now—”
“No.You and Tristan will be flying to Seattle with the client on a private jet.If someone’s targeting you, a change of scenery is the best thing.”
She nodded, relieved.“Agreed.”
