Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Maybe.
“Regular investigative means,” Agent Marshall answered diplomatically.
“Right.” Shiner sifted through four large binders like he was searching for something specific, but it was all for show. I had a feeling this whole damn meeting was just for show. “What you need to know is that Richie Mueller had been an undercover officer for the past thirteen years. He’s helped rescue tens of thousands of trafficked women and children.”
“Bullshit,” I growled because I already knew how dirty this fucker was, and no amount of cover up would change those facts.
“It’s true,” Shiner said with a sympathetic smile. “I know you’re from this area, Ellison, so you only know what we wanted the world to know. Dietrich Mueller was a dirty priest with access to tons of cash, and international connections via the Catholic Church, who also didn’t know he was undercover, which made him an ideal asset for any number of criminals. The truth is he helped the Bureau and dozens of international task force agencies put away hundreds of traffickers all over the world.”
That might be the official story, but I was looking for the real story.
“I’ve met some of his victims, so with all due respect, that’s a bunch of bullshit.”
Shiner shrugged. “When you have a few more years under your belt, you’ll understand that sometimes you must break a few eggs before making the perfect omelet.” He sighed. “Undercover work is difficult and sometimes officers and agents have to do shit they don’t want to do, shit that goes against their moral code, shit that makes them sick. But if it means saving a houseful of children trafficked for sex, you might not see things so black and white.”
My future sister-in-law was proof of that, and I nodded, willing to hear the man out.
“You’ve never spoken to any of the women or children he’s rescued, and I assure you that number is far bigger than the number of victims left out on the street. The ones still being trafficked think he’s exactly who we need them to believe he is, a crooked priest and a pervert. The other ones, the ones who made it out, they know who Richie Mueller is.”
Shit. I couldn’t believe it. I literally could not fucking believe that Mueller was a good guy. More than that, he was a goddamned hero. “Fuck.”
Shiner smiled. “Thanks to good ol’ Richie, thousands of women and children have new identities. Some have received U.S. citizenship, scholarships, counseling and whatever else they needed to help them start over and forget the past they were forced into.”
“Okay, he was a great guy,” Beck said dismissively. “Why weren’t we looped in on this earlier? We’ve wasted valuable time.”
“Have you?” Shiner’s amused grin faded, and he sat back, arms folded, waiting for Beck to explain.
“It seems to me that you didn’t need any of this intel to figure out who might want Richie dead.”
He was right, of course. Even if someone had found out he was a Fed, it would only matter if they were a criminal or crooked law enforcement.
“We’ve been looking at trafficked girls as a possibility,” she tossed out half-heartedly.
“And that’s a good line of inquiry.”
“We still should have been informed,” she insisted. The woman didn’t know when to quit.
“Maybe,” Shiner said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “You know now and that means you understand why we need to find the person—or people—who did this, like yesterday. This was a decades long investigation for the Bureau, and we need to know if we’re burned completely. I’m counting on you three to figure it out as soon as possible. Take the binders with you.”
I knew a dismissal when I heard one and stood, following Marshall out of Shiner’s office with Beck staying behind, probably to try and argue her point.
She stomped out of the office, angry and full of piss and vinegar as we stepped into the empty elevator. She turned to Marshall, steam coming out of her ears. “Did you know?”
“You know I didn’t,” he said plainly. “Shiner is right, this doesn’t change anything.”
“Bullshit,” she growled and turned to me. “This gives the Ashby fucks a prime motive to kill Bonnie and Agent Mueller.”
“How do you figure? You and Marshall didn’t know he was a colleague. How the hell would Bonnie have found out?”
That wasn’t the answer Beck wanted to hear. As soon as the elevator doors opened, she marched out, her heeled boots smacking against the tile floor until she was outside lighting a cigarette.
“She gets carried away sometimes,” Marshall said with a shake of his head.
That was a gross understatement, but I kept that to myself. “I wonder if it has anything to do with her father working for the Ashby family back in the day.”
A flash of shock crossed Marshall’s face, but he gave no other indication that he hadn’t known that information before now. He shrugged it off with a quiet, “Maybe.”