“TheAmanda Roseis sailing tomorrow.”
Angie stiffened. Her gaze shot to Maddocks, then the two-way mirror.
“Where’s she going?” Maddocks said, his voice suddenly clipped.
“I don’t know. Across the Pacific, I think. Something about transporting the ‘barcoded merchandise.’ Usually they don’t depart until Boxing Day, but I figure things are getting too heated with these killings linking back to the yacht. I figured that once they left port, Damián might try to ... silence me. Which is why I can’t sit out there anymore and not talk about this.”
“You’re scared.”
He nodded.
“You should have come to us earlier, Jayden,” Angie said.
He looked up and met her gaze. Pain. Remorse. Regret, twisting in his young face. Eyes shining, he said, “I’m here now.”
“Pallorino.” Holgersen pulled Angie aside as she exited the interview room. Maddocks kept moving fast down the corridor, making his way to the incident room.
“What is it?” she snapped, hot with adrenaline, hopping to keep pace with Maddocks. Then she saw the look in Holgersen’s eyes. Ice trickled into her veins.
“Holgersen?” she said, voice suddenly thick.
“It’s Winston. They’s found her in a ravine near the Gorge. Half an hour ago. Looks like fentanyl overdose.”
Blood drained from her head. She drew her hand down hard over her mouth. “How ... is she?”
“She’s dead.”
Angie stared ...
Someone broke into my home, Detective, and left crack and paraphernalia on my table and that photo of me. Read the back ...
YOU ARE DEAD
I came to you because you said that you cared. And I believed you...I’ve scheduled the exposé to release on Christmas Eve ... in case something happens to me ...
“They certain it was fentanyl?”
“I’m sorry. But yeah. Officer who responded found a folded piece of paper with her body. He opened it, and white powder poofed into his face in the wind—started feeling sick right away. Had to call in paramedics for naloxone.”
A powerful opioid antidote.
Yet another officer overdose—the stuff was an epidemic on the streets, being cut into all manner of drugs, too dangerous to touch, the reason officers were now being issued naloxone kits for vehicles.
She rubbed her mouth. “Yorick—they arresting him?”
“Yeah. As we speak. And Jacques. I already brought Raddison in.”
“Get them to check Yorick’s place. He’s a dealer as well as a pimp. Get them to see if they can match the composition of that powder. Jesus.” She turned away. “I should have brought her in.”
Holgersen reached to touch her arm, but she spun away and marched toward the stairs. Before he could see the glittering in her eyes.
I should have brought you in ... I let you down, Merry, I let you down. Fuck it ... I let you down ...
CHAPTER 70
MONDAY, DECEMBER18
Angie shifted to adjust the pinch of her bullet-suppression vest. It was just past midnight. Precipitation was holding off. Wind had lulled and ragged clouds dragged across the sky, playing peek-a-boo with a pale gibbous moon that shimmered on the water. Marina lights glowed. The parking lot was full, but quiet. She lay shoulder to shoulder with Maddocks behind a slight rise on a bank overlooking the operation, waiting for the all-clear signal from the ERT guys so that they could board theAmanda Rose.
