“Onto what?” Burke asked.
Davis shook his head. “I don’t fucking know you. I’ve only seen a badge from one of you. You could all be on Jefferson’s payroll.”
Both Burke and Rogers pulled their badges.
“ATF?” Davis said. Rogers was too far away from him for Davis to read that his credentials were CIA.
“And our colleague with her FBI creds will be here momentarily,” Burke said.
“Since when do several federal agencies investigate a drug ring together?” Davis asked.
“We’re a multi-agency task force, and the reason why this one warrants our involvement is way above your pay grade,” Wilson said.
Davis’s eyes went back to Burke. “ATF. So, she wasn’t lying about you? Is that what warrants this? Your personal relationship?”
“Get back on topic, Davis,” Burke said. “What did you think the DEA agent was onto you for?”
“I thought he was a gang-banging member of the drug ring. I didn’t know he was DEA. What she didn’t see was that it was self-defense. I didn’t mean to kill him.”
“But after you did, you discarded his body in an alley behind a dumpster like a piece of trash,” Rogers said.
Davis shrugged. “He was already dead, didn’t matter to him.”
Rogers’s phone chirped. “They’re here.” He went to the door and opened it.
Saxton and Dupont came in. Davis eyed them suspiciously. “I want to see badges.”
They both drew and displayed them.
“CIA? Well, fuck me,” Davis said, reading Dupont’s. His gaze shifted to Laura Lee. “Saxton?” he said aloud while reading hers. “You’re Charlie’s kid, the one he adopted. A Fed, well, son of a bitch.”
“You knew my father?” Laura Lee asked.
Davis nodded. “Yeah. I was new to the force when he was killed.”
“Were you the one who gave his name and said he was covering for the drug ring?”
“Involved with. I never said covering,” Davis said.
“My father was not involved in anything,” Laura Lee yelled at him. “You’re lying!”
Upon hearing Laura Lee’s voice, Donna, who’d stood by her bedroom door, straining to listen to what took place in her living room, re-entered the living room. She stood several feet back, behind the men and her sister.
“I’m not lying,” Davis said. “Charlie Saxton was involved in it. That’s what got him killed. Jefferson is the one who gave me his name.”
“How? How was he involved with La Vonn Jefferson?” Laura Lee pressed.
“Jefferson said he owned him until Saxton betrayed him, and for that he offed him. But I found out the truth. Saxton was involvedin the same way I am. He was working for IA to get whoever is on La Vonn Jefferson’s payroll while carrying a badge. Jefferson’s been protected for over a decade by someone inside RPD, the DA’s office too. Charlie tried to get the person or people back then, and he got too close. Whoever they were, they outed him to Jefferson. That’s why Jefferson killed him. I’m doing the same now. That’s how I knew there was an open IAB investigation into me. My contact inside IA told me.”
“My father was working for Internal Affairs?” Donna asked.
Davis nodded. “Yes, just as I am now. I’m one of the good guys. Now cut me loose!”
“Not so fast,” Burke said. “We have more questions first. Why did you kill the DEA agent.”
“I thought he was a gangbanger working for Jefferson. I thought he’d come to kill me because they were onto me. That’s why I had to kill him.”
“So, was it or was it not self-defense?” Wilson asked.
