“So that’s why you can’t tell her what’s going on.” Jericho sighed. “I’m not saying your priorities are wrong. I just want us to be on the same page with all this. I want us to both have the same understanding.”
“And what are your priorities, Under-sheriff?”
“Same number one as you, I guess. Kayla losing her job isn’t as bad as someone else losing their life. Number two? That gets a bit hazier, maybe. I mean, I believe in the law. But I believe in it because I think it’s the best way to make things better for people. If a situation comes up where it’snotthe best tactic? That makes everything more complicated.”
“You’re on a slippery slope with that approach.”
“Life is a slippery damn slope. But you show me a cop who says he’s never bent the law a little, never looked the other way or let someone off with a warning when there technically should have been a charge? I’ll say that cop is either a liar or an asshole.” Jericho took a bite of his eggs, then added, “Possibly both. Because who but an asshole would lie about something like that?”
Hockley didn’t appear insulted, which was kind of nice. Jericho wouldn’t go so far as to say he was starting tolikethe guy, but Hockley at least seemed—well, he seemed like maybe he was a decent human being, underneath all the pompous fed bullshit. And if he really was looking out for Kayla, then Jericho wanted him on his side. It was a bigif, though. Still, for the time being, Jericho would give the fed the benefit of the doubt.
And Hockley was giving Jericho the same benefit, based on his cautious nod of agreement.
“So, we both agree that protecting the public is number one.” Jericho wasn’t much good at making peace and finding compromises, but for Kayla’s sake he’d try. “For number two and three, though? I could go tell Kayla about this right now. She’d know to cover her ass, and I don’t think anyone would get hurt if I did that. If the FBI has proof that he was crooked when he was sheriff, let them use that to bust him. Or if they can’t bust him, who the hell cares, as long as Kayla shuts down the information pipeline? He wouldn’t have any other sources of information, would he? Or, hell, we could let him know you guys have your eyes on him and he’ll stop doing whatever he’s doing.”
Hockley nodded slowly. “I admit, that was what I was tempted to do. There are two problems with that plan, though. The first one is, we can’t turn a blind eye to corrupt policing. We don’t simply need to stop it, we need to make an example of those involved. We need to make sure everyone out there knows what happens to crooked cops, so they don’t get tempted to go down the same path.”
Jericho shrugged. It was hard to argue with. “What’s the second problem?”
“It’s not a problem so much as an opportunity. Because if we know he’s leaking information, but he doesn’t know we know? Then we can use him. If we want to leak information—false or true—we know how to do it. That’s why I let you and Kayla sit in on the first part of the briefing this morning, because Iwanther to pass that information along to her father. Iwantthe perps in this case to think we don’t have much to go on. And then for the part where we talked actual strategy, I excluded her.”
“You kicked her out of a meeting being held in her own damn building,” Jericho corrected. “You want to preserve public safety, you need to think about the effect shit like that is going to have. If she doesn’t have people’s respect, she can’t do her job properly, and if she can’t do her job, people could get hurt.”
“So what do you suggest, Mr. Crewe?”
He sighed. “Okay. Fuck it. ‘Jericho’ is fine. And I don’t really know what we should be doing. You need to find a way to deal with her more respectfully, but I’m not sure exactly how you can do that when you have to control what information she has access to. I see what you’re saying . . . I just hate it that this is happening.”
“I understand.” Hockley sounded like he did. “And I realize I’ve sprung this on you fairly suddenly, and I haven’t had the best working relationship. But all the same, I need to know I can count on you.”
“To do what?”
“A few things. One, to pay attention to what Kayla knows, or thinks she knows. Because we have to assume anything she knows may be passed along to her father, which means it may be passed along to others. She’s persistent, and she’s not going to stop having theories or investigating them just because we’re trying to push her out. And whatever those theories are, she’ll share them with you.” He was watching Jericho closely, but Jericho was pretty sure he was too conflicted to be showing a coherent response.
“She shares theories with me—and you want me to share them with you?” Jericho asked, his voice quiet.
“Yes.” Hockley had the courtesy to not add any gloss to the confirmation.
Jericho wished he was somewhere else. Just about anywhere else, really. But he wasn’t, so he thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll probablytellher I’m telling you. But I’ll do it.”
“Good.”
“What’s two?”
“Two is more nebulous, but possibly more important.”
“I’m going to need details on that.”
“I need you to be ready to move. And I need you to trust me, so if Itell youit’s time to move, you do it.”
“Move how?”
“I don’t know yet. I may not know until the moment occurs.”
“This seems like a pretty good deal, for you. I’m your spy and your servant, and you just use me as you see fit?”
“That’s where the trust comes in.” Hockley set down his fork. “I’m not sure what I can do to persuade you to trust me. Putting myself in your shoes, I can’t imagine what I’d need to hear in order for that to happen. But it’s important that it does.”
“We could try by making the deal reciprocal,” Jericho suggested mildly. “You want me to share intel with you and be prepared to act on your instructions when needed? How about you agree to do the same for me?”
