Page 168 of A Matter of Time

“So Brian was never supposed to kill anybody and put Roman at risk.”

“But he did.”

“Yes, he did.”

“Why?”

“’Cause Brian’s an animal, as you know.”

“Okay.” I shrugged. “I have no idea who⁠—”

“But he knows you, Jory, and now you’re the only one that can tie him to that crime scene.”

“There’s Brian.”

“There’s not.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The thing is, everybody else who was in the house that night, including Brian, is now dead.”

“Oh shit,” I breathed out. “Brian’s dead?”

“Yep. He was stabbed to death two weeks ago.”

“I thought he was in the witness protection program or whatever?”

“He was.”

“He was? So then, what? How does he get killed with people supposedly taking care of him?”

“It looks like we—as in Chicago PD, not the marshals service—have a leak.”

“You mean somebody told where Brian was.”

“Correct.”

“Who?”

“If we knew that, we wouldn’t have a leak. I’d just be able to tell you who it was.”

“That was stupid, sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

I nodded. “Okay, so what now?”

“Well, now you’re the only one who was in the house when Brian Minor shot Saul Grant that’s still breathing. Besides Roman.”

“And he wants to kill me.”

“Yes, he does.”

“Why?”

“Because you saw him there, you can put him there, and⁠—”

“But the only person who shot Saul was Brian. Everybody else just watched.”