“They say the property’s been on their radar for a while. They say it’s a drop spot for smuggling.”
“It’s three miles from the border. Drop spot is a pretty goodguess, but if they had any actual proof, they’d have moved on it by themselves, wouldn’t they?”
“You’d think so,” she agreed glumly. Then she shook her head. “But they’ve got the resources, Jay. I’d have had to hunt around and borrow a bomb squad and SWAT guys; they just made one call, and the teams were on the way. We need their help on this.”
He straightened. “Well, I’m out of here, then. Wouldn’t want to contaminate their crime scene with my corruption.” His skin felt too tight, and he shook his head, trying to clear his mind. “Fuck, Kay, this was part of my investigation. How the hell am I supposed to do my job if they jump in and take over whenever I find anything?” He frowned. “You don’t think they’re doing it on purpose, do you? Trying to cover something up? I mean, the fedsthinkthey’ve found all the corrupt agents, but they haven’t closed the case yet, right? Maybe there’s more dirt than we know about.”
“I don’t think so. I’ve asked around, and everyone seems to agree that these two are squeaky clean. And I know you’ve been digging too, hoping to find something. But there’s nothing, right? I think they’re just . . . feds. Of course whatever they’re doing is more important than whatever anyone else is doing.”
“What the fuckarethey doing? Why’d they have Wade in there this morning? What’s all this about three bodies?” He saw her expression and frowned, but didn’t bother to keep the bitterness out of his voice. “Yeah. I’m not supposed to know about any of that. Sorry.”
“I hate this, Jay.”
“Yeah?” He shrugged. Maybe later he’d get back to seeing her as an ally, but right then she was the person who’d told the feds about a break inhisdamn case. “Better get on up there, see if there’s any scraps left for you to pick up.”
“We’ll talk later,” she promised.
“But you won’t be able to say anything,” he reminded her. Then he turned and headed for his squad car, and heard her pulling away behind him.
The road back to town was just as winding as it had been on the way up. Lots of switchbacks to deal with the slope, lots of sudden twists to get around rocks or other obstacles too big to go over. Jericho took his time, falling into a sort of frustrated trance.
When the bicycle shot out in front of him he swore out loud. A startled glance from the rider, and then the bike was gone, off the road, further along whatever path it had been following.
It could have been completely innocent. Just someone taking a relaxing mountain bike ride. But the quick glimpse had been enough for Jericho to recognize the rider’s face, and he really didn’t think Nikki was much for recreational exercise, especially when her leg was still healing from the bullet wound.
No, she’d been up on the mountain for something altogether different. And Jericho was pretty sure he knew what it had been.
