“I know,” he says evenly. “That’s exactly why I’m worried about telling Callum.”
“Wait. You don’t trust Callum?”
He shakes his head. “I do…did…”
It doesn’t seem as if it’s easy for Anton to say the next words. But I recall how he acted in the GhostEye offices before we left, and I shouldn’t expect Anton to trust anyone but the Mendez brothers and me until this is all over.
“We know Ingram wrote the report,” he says. “We know those omissions weren’t accidental, but we also know Callum signed off on leaving the case dormant, based on what was in there.” His gaze doesn’t leave mine. “What we don’t know is whether Ingram was acting alone—or whether he felt protected.”
A chill slides under my ribs. He’s suggesting someone else is crooked, too? “But Callum was the one who told me it was okay to keep the case open.”
“Echo Valley is a small department,” Anton insists. “If Ingram was comfortable falsifying evidence, that tells me one of three things. Either he’s covering for himself or someone else…or he wasn’t worried about who might look too closely.”
I swallow. “You think there could be someone else?”
He’s almost apologetic saying it. “The moment you take this to Callum, you lose control of it. Access tightens. Anyone who is compromised gets a warning. And they know what you know…”
I’m the one who holds the clues.
“What do you think?” he asks.
My gut says Chief isn’t in on it. “I’m not worried about Callum.”
Even if he did have his hands dirty in this somehow, and even if he didn’t think I was smart enough to find the plotholes, he knows GhostEye, Anton… I’m pretty sure he’s worked with them before and knows what they’re capable of if they get close to loose ends.
“But I do see what you mean about how easily everyone would know.” When Ingram is arrested for obstructing justice, it won’t be just another day in Echo Valley.
And if Ingram was helping someone else out, they’d have time to make a move.
I’m decided. “We’ll keep it quiet for another day or two. See what else we can find. We have new information, so we might as well clear that first.”
He nods in agreement. “And it should convince Ingram you’re still chasing Andy.”
I sigh, then look at him, the weight of it pressing in. “This case is heating up.”
“I know.” Anton tries to comfort me. “And I want it closed as badly as you do. But until we know how far this goes, I’m not comfortable involving anyone but GhostEye and us.”
I nod. He’s right.
Anton turns on the engine.
Suddenly, I’m brought back to the lottery question. “Why did you ask if the Marshalls knew how much she won or how?”
“I wanted to know if the money was clean. The money could be motive.”
That’s smart. “Do you think maybe Mace and the money are related?”
“Could be.”
I reach over and grab his hand. “You’re really good at this.”
He lifts my hand and kisses it. “Can you be good at getting a subpoena?” He stares at me with those intenseblue eyes. “Once we figure more out with GhostEye, we’ll need one of those fast.”
“They can find a lot legally, though, right?”
This is all crossing into gray territory. Instinctively, I know we need to trace cell records, bank accounts… There’s no way GhostEye has contracts they can leverage.
“They can,” Anton says, “up to a point.”
