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A cold tingle ran through my chest. Was Agent Richter injured or, worse, dead?
“Hello?” His voice was soft, detached from reality. I stated the obvious. “You’re alive.” A pause followed. “Kinda,” he finally responded. Another brief silence. “Good,” I replied and hung up.
“No, the Massachusetts Attorney General.” Low status. He would be more eager to trade favors.
She's gonna help him get his daughter back
"That's the US military for you," Heather said. "We create the best." "And the most depressed," Cowboy added. His joke was macabre but true. Kirby’s story was a damning indictment of our nation’s broken mental health system.
“These days, a soldier’s real enemy isn’t in the Middle East. It’s right here in his own fucking country.” I dropped Kirby’s file onto my desk.
Jen told my mom her only wish for Santa this year is to make Uncle Cliffy go away. Jen’s five.”
Lmao ouch
“This is the twenty-first century. Who the hell still smokes cigarettes?” I inhaled deeply. “I’m almost forty. I refuse to leave cotton candy-scented vape clouds behind at serial killer crime scenes. I’m shooting for a Detective Rust vibe here.”
Haha
Fifteen years smoke-free, yet here I was, back at it. The pressure was ripping me apart, and these brief nicotine hits gave me a fleeting illusion of calm and pleasure.
“Keep me updated if Mrs. Waver comes up with anything . . . substantial,” I said with a grin. “I’m counting on you to keep scouting the marshes.” Rose flipped me the bird as I took my leave.
Lmao
Rose understood his dilemma all too well. In the hood, being labeled a snitch was a fate worse than death. Her own brother had paid dearly for it.
“I didn’t help you because you played bad cop. I . . .” Vito paused, the emotions evident in his face. “I did it for Nario.”
“Maybe he should have protected his family instead,” Rose retorted. “He did,” Vito insisted, his gaze softening. “Just maybe not the right one.”
“By now, you should know that I am where I desire to be, not where others expect me to be.
“Stay away from him,” he advised, his gaze piercing. My eyebrows furrowed. “So, you did look into him. What did you find?” He leaned in. “Absolutely nothing.” I remained silent, prompting him to elaborate as he released my arm. “And that’s very unsettling as I always find something, no matter the subject,” he continued. “There’s been only one other instance where I failed.” “And who was that?” I knew the answer but asked anyway. His gaze swept over me from head to toe, then returned to the crowd ahead as he turned his back to me. “You.”
What your mother did with the information afterward isn’t my responsibility, Liam.” I straightened in my chair. “Wait. My mom knew about this second family since my dad passed?”
Like I thought
Memories of my first conversation with Leah, when she’d probed the clear roles of my parents as if she’d known their secrets, flooded my mind. She’d been right all along.
“I’m . . . sorry, Leah.” “Liam. Listen to—” “Kill as many as you can—” he said before hanging up.
If Richter met his end, it would be due to his own heroic foolishness. And yet . . .
the light reflected off the largest IED bomb I had ever seen.
"It's . . . too late," Kirby said, his voice weak and filled with pain. "He’s too powerful." "Who?" I pressed. "Who are you talking about?"
I glanced at my bike, then back at him, caught by the raw desperation in his eyes—an emotion that unexpectedly stirred something within me.
“There’s a chance she’s still conscious enough to remember all of this,” I said, standing motionless as the barking grew closer. “She’ll come after me, this one . . . after us. I can see it in her eyes.”
This wasn’t the first time Ida would assist me in the basement. My hobby came with physical dangers, though this was the most severe I’d suffered so far. She never asked for details. I paid her too well, and the money meant a lot to her family.
The monster deep within me was locked away tonight. Richter had awakened my humanity. He had saved me from myself.
If I went down because I’d saved a life and not because I’d taken one, I was okay with that. I was, for once, at peace.
I was Team McCourt on this one. But damn… Then McCourt took the badge off the officer’s chest. “You can go now. You’re suspended without pay.” McCourt briefly looked over at the journalist to make sure the man got it all.
I am too this time, but he only did it to save face in front of the journalist
“Do the right thing for once and smile for our daughter, or I’ll file for full custody and make you work for your money again.”
“Vanilla is the most popular flavor in the world, honey,” I said to Sarah. “Don’t ever fuck with me again.”
Lmao omg yasss preaccchhh!!
It’s . . . it’s Anna.” A chill colder than an Arctic storm seized me from within as I braced for her next words. “She was found dead in the woods.”
“I’d be mad about you forbidding me to check in on you, but I’m just too freaking grateful to you.” I tilted my head. “Josie . . . that was you, wasn’t it? The miracle of having Judge White take over my case.”
Anna was ruled a tragic accident.” Of course, she was. “It seems he has moved his operations from the tracks to the rivers, which gives him a hell of a lot larger canvas than before,”
Agent Vallery Rose stepped into the clearing. The moment she saw me, her hand moved to the gun in her chest holster. In reflex, Richter threw himself into harm’s way, drawing his own weapon. Rose paused, looking at him and his hand on his gun. Then her gaze snapped back to me. “You . . .” she said. “You’re the woman who helped kill Kirby that night!”
Well crap
“So, what happened?” she asked, her tone accusing. “I mean, to the man I thought you were. The one fighting for the people of this country against the bad guys.” For a moment, I thought Richter would cave at that—he’d probably asked himself the same question. But, instead, he looked her in the eyes and said, “He’s standing right here doing just that.”
Exactly
You’ve put us in this position by saving her life.” The words caused Richter to recoil.
She's not wrong; not to say they should've let Rose die.
People compared her to Einstein and Tesla, to Mozart and Beethoven. Rose
Why Tesla listed here like its a person and not a company? Musk would be the correct inclusion
Why the hell was she lying to him? Was she already working on the case with the “killer” squad?
for some reason, they thought I had deemed the case a suicide—” Rose straightened in her chair. “But I told them that I didn’t.” “You didn’t?” “No. I clearly stated in the paperwork that homicide was possible due to rope marks on her wrists. Also, the motive for the suicide didn’t add up to me. She’d never used drugs before, but her system was full of opiates.”
He was right that discrepancies in files were common, but this was not a minor mistake. How had this been handled so poorly? A quick search revealed why: because the file of Emma Mauser was labeled Active investigation, not to be released.
Somebody influential is puuling strings for this cover up
It was her lie detector exam from her application to the FBI. The one she’d spent weeks training for so she could successfully lie about her past—and pass. “Sir?” Rose asked, confused. “This is what Rice used to report you to me, wasn’t it?” Rose nodded. “The one where you lied about that incident in your childhood. To be precise, the question of if you’ve ever killed before.”
Karma had pulled off the unthinkable: The same police officer who had processed Rose’s statement after the shooting was the one leading the procedures training course at the academy. He instantly recognized Rose and spoke about her to Rice, saying how happy he was to see her come so far after such tragedy in her childhood. It didn’t take long before Rice uncovered Rose’s lies in her application.
“That night, with Kirby,” he began, his eyes piercing her like bullets, “was anybody else at the scene with you and Richter?” The smile vanished from Rose’s face. “Sir?” she said. “Careful, Rose. Richter might think I’m an idiot, but unless he can show me his medical degree, I can’t shake the feeling that something is amiss here.
This wasn’t just a meeting to reward the agent who’d prevented one of the potentially biggest mass murders in recent history. This was a test.
If silence was golden, maybe talking was diamonds?
Whatever McCourt wanted, I would deal with him. I had never really met the man, yet I knew everything about him. Selfish. Narcissistic. Arrogant.
My intentions of walking over and expressing my condolences were completely dashed when Anna’s uncle tossed the remains in the plastic bag into the back of a black pickup truck. “What the fuck,” I cursed, barely able to hold myself back now. This man deserved a good beating. “People are animals,” Cowboy spat.
“Good move. Will make us look sensible and caring.” Prick.
