“Why the fuck did you tell her?” Hockley hissed. They were standing by the station’s front door, where Jericho had caught Hockley on his way in from lunch.
“I didn’t tell her,” Jericho said after pulling Hockley out the door and into a more private spot in the parking lot. “She got a hint from Wade, and then worked it out herself. The main clue was that you all stopped giving her information, if you want to know the truth.”
“Wade Granger? Why is he involved?”
“I think you’re focusing on the wrong stuff here. Kay knows, she’s pissed at—well, pretty much everyone, but definitely you, me, and her dad. She’s looking to bust some heads. If you want to manage the situation before it explodes, this is your chance.”
“It’salwaysright to focus on Granger. He’s the source of all problems in this goddamn town.”
“You’re upset,” Jericho said with exaggerated kindness, “and it’s making you extra-specially dramatic. I understand. And, honestly, I don’t really give a shit if Kayla goes over and reams her dad out and blows the FBI’s whole case out of the water. I think it’d be good for her, and I don’t have the same jones for punishing the old guy that you do, so—okay, sure, let’s talk about Wade some more. That’ll be nice.” He smiled. “I mean, it makes sense for you and me to be friends. We have so much in common, sincebothof us seem to form inappropriate attachments to people under federal investigation.”
That rocked Hockley back for a couple of seconds, at least. Then he said lamely, “We’re investigating herfather. She’s just—”
“Collateral damage?”
“Goddamn it,” Hockley said, but he seemed to be talking about the whole situation, not Jericho’s contributions in particular. “Okay, yeah, I need to talk to her and figure out how to get in front of this. Can you—”
“Come with you and see what she wants me to do? Sure.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of staying out of it and keeping your mouth shut—” He saw Jericho’s expression and shrugged. “But, sure, coming along and helping out is good too.”
So Jericho tagged along, and it was nice to watch Kayla directing a portion of her anger in Hockley’s direction. But after that burned off, she was back to looking hurt and betrayed, and that wasnothow he wanted to see her.
“He didn’t want me to run for sheriff,” she said as she stared out the window. “Didn’t want me to be a cop at all. He said it was because he worried about my safety, but I don’t know, it kind of felt like he thought I wasn’t tough enough to do it. So if he screws my career up like this, then he ends up being right, doesn’t he? Icouldn’thandle the job.”
“You know I’m not a big fan of your dad,” Jericho said, “but I honestly don’t think he’sthatmuch of an asshole. Do you?” She didn’t answer, so he continued. “I think he’s probably just arrogant. He assumed he wouldn’t get caught. And it seems like the bikers aren’t talking, at least so far—” He cut his gaze toward Hockley, who was taking his own turn staring pointedly out the window, and groaned. “Shit. The bikersaretalking. They’d be stupid not to, if they thought they could use their testimony to make a better deal. But the feds haven’t moved in yet, haven’t busted him, so he thinks the bikers kept their mouths shut. He thinks he’s untouchable.”
“Is that true?” Kayla demanded of Hockley. “Was he selling information to the bikers? Are they going to testify against him?”
“I don’t know,” Hockley said. “I asked the FBI to take me out of the loop for this case. Montgomery’s working as liason with them, and he’s going to tell me anything I need to know.” He gave Kayla a defiant look. “Anything I need to know to helpyoustay out of trouble. Not your father. There’s nothing I can do for him, and even if there was, I wouldn’t do it.”
“What amIsupposed to do now that I know?” The question was clearly rhetorical. Kayla had turned away from the window and was pacing like a caged lion. Jericho wanted to be sure he wasn’t in mauling range when she burst out from behind the bars. “Do I seriously pretend I’m in the dark? I don’t warn him, don’t yell at him—I go on like none of this is happening? Is that what I’m expected to do?”
“It’s a difficult situation,” Hockley said unhelpfully.
Jericho tried to do better. “It’s too late to help your dad. I mean, if the feds were pretty sure they had himbeforethe bikers turned—assuming they did, which I think is a good assumption—then they’ve got an even tighter case, now. The big question is what they’re waiting for. Why haven’t they busted him yet?”
“No rush,” Kayla said bitterly. “They’ve stopped telling me anything, so none oftheirinformation is being leaked. And they don’t give a shit aboutmycases. They got a bunch of good press from busting the bikers, so they can afford to sit on this and wait until they need some positive attention. There’s really only Wade left to be buying information, anyway.”
Wade.“Are they trying to use your dad to catch Wade?” Jericho asked. Shit, it made sense. “But he knows they know about your dad. I don’t know how, but he wouldn’t have told you about this if he thought it was going to mess up a valuable source of information for himself. They’re not going to get Wade that easily.”
“Easily?” Hockley said with a raised eyebrow. “We’ve been working on the bastard for the better part of the year. One man against the DEAandFBI, but the slippery bastard hasn’t given us enough for a jaywalking ticket, let alone a federal conviction. There’s been nothing easy about it.”
Jericho wanted to suggest that maybe Wade wasn’t actually committing any crimes and the whole thing had been a big misunderstanding, but out of respect for Kayla’s state of mind, he restrained himself. “It’s bad, Kay,” he said instead. “And I know this isn’t what you need to hear right now, but we have another problem. I don’t have details yet, but I talked to a detective who worked a case similar to Lorraine’s in Ohio, where Keith Wooderson used to live. She gave me his name, no prompting, as soon as she heard the details of our case. She’s coming here, on her own dime.” He glanced over at Hockley, then back at Kayla. “We might be facing a serial killer here. And if we get any confirmation from this detective when she arrives, we need to cut Will Archer loose. There’s too much evidence suggesting he was framed.”
“Jesus Christ.” Kayla took a deep breath. “I should step down. At least temporarily. This department has important work to do, and I can’t let my personal stuff get in the way of that.”
“Kay, if you step down,I’mnext in line to take over. You honestly think that’d make things any better?”
She stared at him, then snorted and turned to Hockley. “You must think we’re a bit of a mess.”
He shook his head. “It’s a small town. I’m learning what that means. Relationships aren’t as black and white up here. In the city, cops can stay away from criminals. Up here, they might have gone to school with you, live next door to you, be related to you, whatever. It’s not a mess, it’s just different.”
Again, Jericho had to resist the urge to make a smart comment about Hockley’s own recent exploration of close small-town relationships. Hockley deserved to take some shit, but Kay needed Jericho to be solid right then, not stirring things up for his own amusement and revenge.
“Can you talk to the FBI?” he suggested to Kayla. “I mean—if you did talk to them, could you tell them what they’re going to want to hear? Can you keep your cool and not tell your dad what’s going on?”
Her eyes were wide. “He’s mydad, Jay. This is my job, and it’s important to me, but he’s mydad.”
