The sheriff’s office was almost empty when Jericho arrived, but Kayla was there, pacing restlessly. “They want my officers, but not my leadership,” she told him as he walked in the door. “Just like the last time they were here. I thought we were past that, but I guess they changed their minds.”
There was no need to clarify whotheywere. Damn feds. “They pushed you right out? Seriously? Out of the bikersandthe smuggling?”
“They appreciate my continued cooperation,” she said bleakly.
“Shit. Sorry. Is there anything wecando, without stepping on their toes?”
“This is a bit of a turnaround.” She gave a bitter laugh. “They’re hoping you’re going to be able to help them out with the bikers—if this was a deliberate attack, they think the bikers might contact you to help them with reprisals.” She looked at him, waited a moment, then added, “So now you’re in, and I’m out. And suddenly you’re worrying about stepping on their toes.”
“You give me the word and I will stomp with both feet, Kay, I promise. I was just thinking about you. You’ve been damn good to them, and put up with all their crap, and now they’re trying to push you out? Why?”
“They’re not being completely clear. Well, they’re not being clear at all, in terms of reasons, but they’re not shy about telling me to butt out.”
“When did this happen? They were okay with you until—they were okay with you earlier today, weren’t they?”
“I’m not sure. They didn’t freeze me right out until tonight, but I think maybe they’ve been cooling on me for a while.”
“Because of me?”
“The world doesn’t revolve around you, Jay. They could have a whole separate set of issues they’ll share when they’re good and ready.” She was quiet for a moment, then shook her head. “Fuck them. This is my town, and I know all the players. They don’t want me in the field? I can do my job from in here. I want us to talk this through. You and me, we can figure things out.” She didn’t wait for an answer. “The bikers got firebombed tonight. Is it safe to assume it was the Chicago guys, as part of this turf war?”
Jericho sighed. His life would be a lot easier if that was a safe assumption. “We’ve had another firebombing in town recently. Be a bit coincidental if they weren’t connected. And Wade says there was no insurance on his bar. Which makes it unlikely that he torched the place himself. It wasn’t insurance fraud; it was someone going after him.”
“Wade said the place wasn’t insured? You didn’t mention it when we talked about all this with the feds.” Her look wasn’t suspicious, but cautious.
“He said it tonight. He showed up at Nikki’s house when I was babysitting.”
She stared at him, and he raised his hands defensively. “I didn’t ask him to come over, and I didn’t know he was going to be there.”I didn’t ask him to stick his tongue down my throat, and I didn’t know how perfect it would be when he did.“It’s weird, obviously, but if he was telling the truth, that’s relevant information.”
“Is he trying for some sort of ‘poisoned fruit’ approach for a future trial?” she mused. “Any evidence he gives to you without Miranda warnings will be inadmissible, and so will anything we learn based on what he said.”
“For Miranda to apply, I’d have to be questioning him as part of my duties as a law enforcement officer. Right? But in this case I was babysitting and he showed up at the door. I was a long way from being on the job. So, I don’t know what he’s up to, but I don’t think Miranda is a part of it.” He gave her enough time to object to that, then continued. “Seems like somebody burned his place down to teach him a lesson or to knock him back a little.”
“We haven’t gotten a report from the Mountaineers’ crime scene yet,” she said. “No way to tell if it’s the same MO as Kelly’s.”
“Be interesting to see that.” If similar techniques were used, it would suggest that the same people were responsible for both explosions, which would suggest the Chicago gang had gone after Wade first, then the bikers. If the method was different, it might mean Wade had taken his revenge on the bikers for burning his place. “Anybody hurt or killed?”
“A few injuries so far, but nothing too serious. Apparently the bikers were having a bonfire out in the back of the property, so the building was empty. Or that’s what we’re hoping—the fire crews are still working through the wreckage.”
“No one injured at Wade’s, either.” He wasn’t sure if that was significant or not. Three dead bodies from Chicago suggested that at least one side of this war wasn’t too worried about minimizing casualties.
But Kayla’s mind was following a different track. “Wade just happened to be with you when this all went down,” she said, her gaze level on Jericho. “So he’s got a damn reliable alibi.”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “That thought occurred to me as well.” And it had made him want to punch Wade in the face, but he didn’t bother sharing that detail. “Even if he was establishing an alibi, though, it might not be about the explosion. You mentioned that the Canadian cops tracked a shipment to the border. Do we know who picked it up on our side?”
“The tip came too late; the Canadians got some long-distance photos, but not enough for a positive ID. And by the time our guys got there, whoever it was had disappeared into the forest.”
Of course they had. The border was long and porous, practically impossible to enforce. “We know who it wasn’t, though,” he said. “At least who wasn’t there in person.”
“Wasn’t Wade.” She shook her head in disgust. “So whether he’s covering his ass for the shipment or the explosion or both, he’s in good shape.” She looked down at the stack of papers she was carrying, then back up at Jericho. “The bastard could have established an alibi so many different ways. He could have gone out for dinner and been seen by the public, he could have filled up on gas at a station with a time-stamped camera. But he had to use you. It’s like he’s taunting us. He’s playing a fucking game.”
Pointless to argue. That was exactly what Wade was doing. “Nikki was planning to be out all night.” He felt like a traitor for sharing this information, but he’d be even more of a traitor if he didn’t. “She made it sound like a date, but when she left the house she wasn’t dressed up at all. I think maybe she’s working with Wade. So it might have been her who picked up the imports tonight. Might have been bikers, might have been someone from the Chicago crew, might have been someone else entirely. But, yeah. It might have been Nikki.”
She was quiet for a moment. “Why do you think she’s working for Wade?”
He told her about seeing Nikki on the bicycle on his trip back from the drop house. “I didn’t mention it because it’s so far from proof of anything. We were almost to town by the time I saw her—the timing might have been right, with me having to wait around for a while before I left the scene, and her having to pack up the place and ride her bike down the mountain. But all Iknowis that she was out for a bike ride in the same general area as the drop house the day I encountered someone there. It wasn’t enough to mean anything.”
“But you still think she’s working for him.”
