Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 138315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Single-handedly, with no backup, no one knowing he was doing it, investigating a syndicate of dirty cops and he didn’t get life insurance.
Hell, just being a cop and he didn’t have it.
It wasn’t smart.
Everyone in that room knew that.
No one said anything.
“So … yeah,” Heidi carried on. “When my husband was murdered, it didn’t come as a big surprise. I knew something was up. Though, Lance killing Kevin and then turning the gun on himself, that is utter bullshit. Kevin was an asshole, but he always had Lance’s back. I didn’t get it. Lance said it was a guy thing. But if things went south with those two, Lance would just walk away. Or ask to be assigned a new partner. Or whatever. He wouldn’t shoot him. And he would never, not ever, kill himself. Me?” She shook her head. “Our kids? Leave us like that? He’d never do that.”
No one said anything.
Though even if there was something to be said, they couldn’t.
Heidi wasn’t done.
“And Lynn’s got all this shit happening, and she comes to me and says my husband didn’t fuck those women. She wants me to know that. My husband …My Lance …He did things … ” Suddenly, the rage just spluttered out, and in a whisper, hanging her head, “Goddamn.”
Giving Heidi a minute, and for other reasons, everyone now was looking at Lynn.
“Lynn, if you have anything on Tony’s investigation, it would help,” Hawk carefully urged.
Lynn’s gaze grazed through him before it returned to her lap.
“Lynn, we can protect you and your kids without them knowing you have protection,” Hawk stated. “And we can end this if we’ve got even something small to go on. We keep running up against dead ends. We need something to go on.”
This was true.
Sylvie and Tucker Creed had tracked down the ME on Lake Powell.
He was unsurprisingly closed-lipped, even after they put the lean on him.
His response to this was not doing the right thing.
Instead, this resulted in him cutting his vacation short, coming home, resigning and looking into relocating.
So they were forced to put pressure on and drop in the right ears his recent, large cash purchases.
Now he was under official investigation.
The bad guys also hadn’t taken the bait when the Resurrection MC entered the game. Various brothers in that club were sniffing around what really went down with those transports they got jacked for protecting in their earlier incarnation as the Bounty MC. And they weren’t being entirely legal about it.
But …
Nothing.
So now, with the ME under investigation for taking bribes, all their asses were swinging out there.
And they continued to have dick because no one had high hopes that investigation would turn up anything.
The ME contended he and his wife had been saving for years to realize their dream of eventually retiring to their houseboat on Lake Powell. They just didn’t keep this savings in a bank.
Regardless how ludicrously lame this excuse was, a man’s reputation was on the line, and after years in his position, the medical examiner had never given cause to investigate his findings or his earnings. And as such, it was taking a forensic accountant going through years of the ME and his wife’s personal accounts to prove this claim wrong.
And even when that happened, the guy would have to give it up who gave him the money.
But so far, the ME was not giving anything up.
Which could only mean one thing, and that thing was understandable considering four people were dead in this mess.
The medical examiner who falsified his reports on Lance Mueller and Kevin Bogart was more afraid of who paid him off than he was of being found guilty of taking bribes.
In other words, unless something broke, they had and would continue to have dick.
“You don’t get it. It’s never the same guy,” Heidi said.
“Please explain,” Hawk requested.
“When they’re messing with her. It’s never the same guy,” Heidi told him.
Fucking hell.
“We know this is big,” Hawk shared.
“So you know you can’t protect her from half the Denver Police Department,” Heidi returned.
“Half?” Ally asked, her voice curt, edgy.
Then again, her dad and brother were cops, and dirty ones didn’t sit well normally.
Half the force was fucked right the hell up.
Lynn spoke.
“It isn’t half.”
Again, she had the room’s attention.
“I’m sorry, Lynn, can you—?” Hawk started.
“They’d roll them in. Divert,” she said.
“Right,” Hawk replied. “And by that you mean?”
She fully lifted her head, straightened her shoulders.
And stated, “People didn’t like Tony. By people, I mean his colleagues. Fellow cops. He knew that but he didn’t care. They didn’t like him because he was by the book. He was a good man. A good man. To his core. He said he was by the book because there was a book for a reason. And it wasn’t to protect the police. It was to protect the people. And he didn’t get it. He honestly did not get it. Because, he said, you become police to protect the people. So the book should be your bible.”