Page 109 of I Will Find You

“Of course,” Mackenzie said to him, sitting a little straighter. “I want that too. He was my prisoner.”

“And your godson.”

“Well, yes. All the more reason to want him back safe and sound.”

“I can’t believe nobody picked up on that before now.”

“Picked up on what?”

“On your relationship with him. But I also don’t care. Look, we both know you helped break him out.”

Mackenzie smiled, took a deep sip of his drink. “You heard my attorney. The CCTV backs up my story. Burroughs was seen holding a gun—”

“Look, this is just us talking. I’m not recording this. It isn’t a cute trap.”

Max placed his phone on the grossly sticky table in front of them.

“Oh my,” Mackenzie said, his voice thick with sarcasm. “Your phone is on the table. Now there is no way you can possibly be recording this.”

“I’m not. I think you know that. But for the sake of anyone maybe listening, we are having a hypothetical discussion. That’s all.”

Mackenzie frowned. “Seriously?”

“Look, Phil, I want this to be nice. I don’t want to add threats. Okay? You know I’m going to nail you for aiding and abetting. You’ll go down. Your son will go down. You’ll both go to prison or if I really mess up, you’ll just lose your jobs and pensions. It’s going to be bad, and if I’m angry—forget me, if Sarah is angry—you’re going to be toast. She will crawl up your sphincter and make a home there.”

“Colorfully put.”

“But today I don’t care about any of that. Today I want to know why you did it. Why now. Hypothetically.”

Mackenzie took a swig. “Sounds like you have a theory, Special Agent Bernstein.”

“I do. Would you like to hear it?”

“Sure.”

“David Burroughs gets no visitors for years. Suddenly his sister-in-law shows up. I’ve checked. There were no letters exchanged before her visit, no phone calls, nothing. I’ve also seen the video of her first visit. He didn’t know she was coming. With me so far?”

“Sure.”

“She showed him a photo. I can’t make out what it is. That’s the thing. But when Burroughs sees it, everything changes. You can feel it right through the CCTV. When the visit is over, he contacts you—again, from what I can see, for the first time. Do you want to help me here and tell me what he wanted?”

“I already said—”

“Okay, you’re not going to help, fine. Let me go on then. You respond to his visit by going to see your old police partner, who happens to be Burroughs’s father. As soon as you come back, you help break Burroughs out. I’m not sure how the fight with Ross Sumner fits in. I’m also not sure about the correctional officer Ted Weston. He’s one of your men. You know him better than I do. Anyway, Weston lawyered up after we found out someone was bribing him. Did you know about that?”

“No.”

“Surprised?”

“That he took a bribe?”

“Yes.”

Mackenzie took another sip, shrugged.

“Okay, don’t answer. But here’s why it’s important. I don’t think Burroughs attacked Weston. I think it was the other way around. Weston went after him. So that’s weird to me. And one last thing: When Burroughs does escape, the first person he goes to is a key witness from his trial. An old woman who changed her name and moved away right after the trial ended. And that old woman? I talked to her. She’s lying about what Burroughs said to her during his visit. I think for some reason she’s protecting him.”

Max spread his hands. “So I add this all up, Phil, and you know what I come up with?”

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