“Yeah,” I said softly. “He’s for real.”
Outside, James was already in the car, the engine running. I slid into the passenger seat.
“You were more than generous,” I said as I buckled in. “Especially since I suspect you don’t know who the guy in the video is.”
He pulled out of the parking lot. “I didn’t need to know. Your face told me he’s someone important.” His gaze flicked to mine. “Who is he?”
“Bill Thomsen.” I paused. “A Little Rock detective in the Burglary division.”
James’s jaw tightened.
“Who are we going to take this to?” I asked. “I don’t know who to trust in the Little Rock PD.”
James was silent for several seconds. “I need you to trust me.”
My breath caught. “What does that mean?”
“I need to meet my handler,” he said. “Alone.”
“I didn’t expect to go with you,” I said. “I’m more concerned about whether we can contact someone in the Pulaski County prosecutor’s office, and if so, who we can trust. We have to be damn sure they don’t try to bury this or leak it back to Knox.”
“Agreed.” His gaze stayed on the road. “I need to think on it.” He flashed me a tight smile. “But this might be one of those situations where it’s better to ask forgiveness.”
“Do you think this, added to what we got from Natalie, is enough to fulfill your obligation to your handler?” I asked. “Because this is huge.”
His jaw tensed. “It seems like enough to me. But who knows with those fuckers.”
“Do you want to include the files my mother saved up?”
He hesitated. “I’ll let you make that call.”
I drew in a breath, trying to settle my nerves. “If you hand it over, it implicates my father.”
He didn’t respond.
“I don’t care about that,” I said, mostly meaning it. “It’s just…” I stopped to collect my thoughts, then turned to him. “My mother died for that information. I don’t want it to be wasted. And it feels like it might become an afterthought compared to the other evidence we’ve gathered.” I was surprised at the lump that formed in my throat.
“We wouldn’t have even been looking at Knox if not for your mother’s file. So, it wasn’t for nothing.” He glanced over at me. “Your mother made this possible. She helped save countless numbers of people.”
Funny, I hadn’t seen it that way.
“Include it,” I said.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
He flipped on his turn signal and turned a corner. “For now, I think we should go back to the hotel and start digging through the files we got today.” He paused. “But first, we need a couple more hard drives. I’ll have to turn this one over, so I want two copies for us. We’ll keep one close. The other we’ll stash somewhere safe. Like my office safe. Just a little insurance.”
“Yeah.” He was right. We needed our own copy, and a backup made sense. “Will you ask your contact how they plan to handle the cop? I know I keep bringing it up, but this is important.”
“I know,” he said, giving me a reassuring glance. “I won’t let it get swept under the rug.”
“Thank you.”
He gave me that same tight smile.
We stopped at an office supply store and bought two hard drives and cords, plus a stack of sticky notes and pens.
