“The FBI is going after Sheriff Morgan,” Hockley said. He’d just set the phone down after ordering from room service, and made his announcement as if it were simply another detail of his day. But Jericho half stood, ready to storm out or fight or . . . something. Hockley quickly raised a hand. “RetiredSheriff Morgan. I wouldn’t be talking to you if they were suspicious of the current sheriff.”
Jericho stared at the man. “Going after him for what? He’s been retired for over a year now, hasn’t he?”
“Comfortably retired,” Hockley agreed. “And still earning some kickbacks from passing information along to various sources.”
“Information he gets from— He’s not involved in active policing anymore.” Jericho wasn’t going to mention the surveillance system he’d seen in Morgan’s basement. “You’re thinking he’s getting intel from Kayla?” Jericho didn’t want to hear the answer to that question, but made himself watch as Hockley nodded.
“It appears so.”
“She wouldn’t be part of anything corrupt. Not knowingly. Maybe she talks cases over with him, or something like that. That’s normal—he’s the ex-sheriffandher dad. It would make sense for her to bounce ideas off him and get his input, but there’s no way she’s passing information on purpose. No way.”
“I agree,” Hockley said calmly. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you about it. If this were a straightforward case of corruption, you wouldn’t be involved. And I should stress that technically, according to the FBI, youaren’tinvolved. I got an off-the-record okay to talk to you about it, but I’m only on the periphery of this myself. I’m DEA, not FBI, and they’re only letting me in because this might be part of the larger case.”
“You think Morgan is selling intel to the bikers or the Chicago crew?”
“Or Wade Granger,” Hockley said, busying himself with the motel room’s coffeemaker, clearly pretending he wasn’t waiting for a reaction to that name.
“That’s who you’re thinking? I mean, what evidence have you got? Are you sure on this, or are you all just looking for local law enforcement to blame so you can direct attention away from your own crooked guys?”
“You seem fairly protective of Mr. Morgan,” Hockley said mildly. “It was my impression that you and he didn’t get along too well?”
“I’m protective of Kayla. Not because she can’t take care of herself, but because something like this, even if she’s notdirectlyinvolved, could ruin her career. And because it would tear her apart if this turned out to be true. Morgan’s a pain in the ass, but he’s—”He’s our pain in the ass.Was Jericho ready to say that? No, not for a crooked cop. Not for a man who’d use his daughter this way. “He’s her dad. She cares about him.” He thought for a moment. “And he cares about her. He’s crazy about her, totally overprotective. He wouldn’t put her at risk like this, not just for money.”
Hockley nodded, at least giving the impression that he was considering what Jericho was saying. “What about pride?” he asked. “Or wanting to feel like he’s still part of things?”
“You think a lifelong lawman would want to be part of things by selling information to the wrong side?”
“We have strong reason to believe that he was bent while he was on the job. So continuing to be bent after he retires wouldn’t be that much of a departure, really.”
There was a knock at the door then, and Jericho was glad of the chance to take a break from the conversation as Hockley accepted various plates from the server and arranged them on the table.
When the woman was gone and Jericho and Hockley sat down, they ate in silence for a few bites. Then Jericho said, “So what do you want from me? Why do you want me involved? As I recall, you don’t have a whole lot of trust inmyethical purity, so why the hell are you bringing me in on this? Just trying to make everything a tiny bit more complicated?”
Hockley finished his bite of toast without hurrying. “You’ve been searching for ways to prove I’m dirty; I’ve been doing the same for you. Neither one of us has found anything, and I’m too confident in my own investigation abilities to believe I’ve missed incriminating evidence. I have concerns about your personal relationships, but that’s all. I need an ally, and you’re it.”
Jericho needed to find a job where things were simpler. “So let’s say you trust me. Why do you need me, when you’ve got all the resources of the mighty federal law enforcement agencies at your disposal?”
“Because the federal law enforcement agencies don’t give a damn about Kayla Morgan, and they will pursue their suspect regardless of the impact their investigation has on her life.”
“And you won’t?”
“I care about justice. I won’t tolerate a dirty cop, or a dirty ex-cop who continues to break the law. If Kayla Morgan has to go down in order to stop Donald Morgan, then Kayla Morgan has to go down. But if she doesn’t have to? If I can find a way to avoid that, I want to. She’s a good cop, and it wouldn’t serve justice for her to be punished for someone else’s crime.”
“I don’t remember you being quite this compassionate when we were trying to find the assholes who took Nikki’s kids. Seemed like you were more concerned about the case then, not so much about the kids.”
“That situation was—” Hockley frowned. “I’m not proud of how I reacted in that situation. I know you have no reason to believe me, but it was a turning point for me. I believe in my job, and I will do it to the best of my ability. But in that situation, I believe I allowed my interest in justice to overwhelm my sense of compassion. It shouldn’t have happened. And whether you believe me or not, working with Kayla Morgan has been important in letting me realize that. I admire the way she balances her priorities and responsibilities.” Another pause. “I admire her for a great many reasons. And I don’t want to see her hurt by something beyond her control.”
The bastard seemed completely sincere. Jericho took a mouthful of eggs. Was this another game, another one of Hockley’s manipulations? It was entirely possible. But Jericho couldn’t just walk away, not if there was a chance that he could help Kayla out. “Okay,” he finally said. “I agree, in principle. What are you thinking about in concrete terms?”
Hockley shrugged. “Nothing much, yet. The FBI are still building their case and recent events have distracted them a bit, so they’re putting the Morgan file on the back burner, for now. But it’s likely that they’ll be using the current sheriff to leak information they want leaked. And hard as it is, I think you and I need to let that happen. If the bikers and the Chicago crew are at war, it could spill over and impact a lot of innocents, and we need to do everything we can to stop that, even if it hurts an innocent.”
“Have you thought about just telling her what you’re doing?” Jericho asked. It was a sincere question, not a sarcastic one, and Hockley seemed to take it as intended.
“I’ve thought about it extensively. But I just— Partly, I don’t want to put her in that position. I don’t want her to have to choose between doing her job and protecting her father.”
“Understandable, but too bad. Kayla’s a grown-ass woman. If you were in that position, you’d want to know, wouldn’t you? You’d want to make that choice yourself, not have some well-meaning stranger make it for you?” Hockley didn’t answer right away, so Jericho continued. “If we’re protecting Kayla—if that’s our number-one priority—then we treat her like an adult and we tell her what’s going on, and we follow her lead.”
Hockley nodded reluctantly. “I hear what you’re saying. So, okay, protecting Kayla is not my number-one priority. Protecting public safety is number one. Enforcing the law is number two. Protecting Kayla? I suppose it’s at number three.”
