Page 142 of Deep Tide

“Well, he’s not ours.”

“You’re talking about the DEA agent from Houston? The guy whose prints were on that beer can you asked me to run?”

She’d been doing her homework, apparently. Sean wasn’t surprised.

“That’s him,” Sean said, and he could see her absorbing the implications.

“You’re telling me a federal agent put that tracking device on Amelia Albright’s car.” She leaned closer. “In other words, he killed her.”

“We believe so, yeah.”

She shook her head and looked away. For the first time since he’d known her, she seemed at a loss for words.

“That’s... I can’t believe it.”

Sean could. But he’d been doing this longer than she had.

“You told Brady all this?” she asked.

“Yeah, just now.” Sean paused, hating the next part even more. “The other thing I told him is that Bentworth is dead.”

Her mouth dropped open. “He’s—”

“Someone shot him in the back of the head in an alley in Brownsville.”

“He was executed.”

Sean nodded.

“By Saledo’s people?”

“We don’t know,” Sean said. “But that would be my guess.”

Nicole closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Damn it to hell.”

“I know.”

“I can’t believe this,” she said. “So... you think he was, what, on Saledo’s payroll?”

“It looks like he was working for him in some capacity. We’re looking into it now.”

She shook her head again. Then she put her hand on her stomach and bent over.

“You okay?” Sean asked.

“No.” She straightened. “I’m... I don’t know what I am. Disgusted. Disappointed. Disillusioned, I guess you could say.”

Sean felt the same way. The feeling wasn’t new to him, but Nicole had less experience than he did. Plus, it was her first big investigation to lead, and she had no doubt been striving to get an arrest and see the case go to trial. Now she was going to have to live with an outcome that wasn’t at all what she’d hoped for. Sean knew that feeling, too.

He checked his watch. “I need to go. I’ve got a plane to catch.”

“Back to D.C.?”

“Yeah.”

She held out her hand. “Well, if I don’t see you again, thanks.”

Sean shook her hand. “For what?”

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