Page 27 of Cohesion

“Correct. They think that I gave him information, and they wanted to know what it was.”

“And what information was that?” Peyton asked.

Jericho shook his head. “We don’t know.” They were still trying to work that out. Jericho hadn’t been there nearly long enough to have discovered anything beyond the surface. He and Six were still in the thick of the investigation when it had all gone to hell in a handbasket. “When you killed Errol and Dane, that should have been the end of it. They were the ones in charge, and everyone else was either incarcerated or, in my case, in the wind. Drug organisation dismantled and finished. Job done. Next case.”

“But then Jack Sweeney entered the chat,” Hunter said. He tapped the copy of the kill list that Jericho and Six had found in the apartment he’d been using as Warren. “With a set of instructions given to him.”

“He was cleaning house,” Quinn said.

“We can’t find any other explanation. He came here to kill them all for Mulhall, who didn’t know they were already dead,” Jericho said. “We still have a few unanswered questions, like the information that I supposedly knew, and what they thought Sebastian knew because of it. Something important enough that they think it’s what I used to get off scot-free.”

“It might have just been the connection between Errol and Mulhall?” Quinn said. “He stole his stepbrother’s money and tried to disappear. Thinking someone knew that could have spooked them. Mulhall doesn’t exactly seem sane. They’d have been worried someone would tell him where they were.”

“Dane wasn’t as subtle as he thinks he was,” Jericho said. If he’d been trying to hide, he’d been doing a damn poor job of it, considering the waves he’d made in the underworld of Sydney. Not a team player, that one. “If that was the goal, he’d already failed.” He had a feeling Mulhall had known for a while just where his stepbrother was and had been planning this for some time.

“Sweeney is locked up, and Mulhall is roaming now,” Peyton said. “Have you confirmed he’s here?”

“Yes,” Hunter said.

“Sebastian was right that he had nothing else left,” Jericho added. “He’s here to finish what he started.”

“Do you think that he’d care about Sweeney being in custody?” Peyton asked.

“It’s possible,” Quinn answered. “Everyone else awaiting trial was found dead in their cells. Listed as suicides, but there were too many, too quickly, for anyone with half a brain to think that was the real cause of death. Sweeney didn’t kill them, but he was the one behind it. Which means they have ways to get messages into the prison and people who are willing to kill for them. He trusted Sweeney enough to send him here to get the job done.”

“You were on the list. So was Sebastian. But he doesn’t know who you are,” Peyton said. “You were listed as Warren.”

Jericho shared a look with Hunter. “No, he doesn’t,” he lied. It was a persona that he was having trouble shaking and one he highly doubted was secret anymore. Spencer and Kendrick would keep Sebastian safe while Jericho kept himself in the open as bait.Come into my web, said the spider to the fly.Jericho planned to draw him out and end it before anyone else could get hurt.

“The third name,” Quinn argued. “The smarmy lawyer.”

“We already said Sebastian was on it,” Hunter said.

Jericho gripped Peyton’s jacket before he could surge forward, already seeing the tension in his muscles uncoil. “Easy,” he said quietly. Hunter was good at getting a rise out of anyone. He could make the pope swear. The trick was to ignore him. “He’s talking about Alan Randall.”

“Ah. Yes.” Hunter pulled out one of the manila folders that were resting in a pocket on the corkboard. He flipped it open. “You have notes in your files about him but no interviews.” He said it as a statement, but the question was clear.

“He’s slippery,” Quinn said. “Kept moving our appointments. Greer will have to deal with it now.”

Jericho bit his cheek to stop from smiling. Greer was going to fucking love that. He’d have to send him a super-helpful and not-annoying-at-all message later. “We need to get someone to watch him. We’re at capacity.” He filtered through everyone they had available to them. “Maverick?”

“Maverick is dealing with something for me already,” Hunter said, shaking his head. “Zoe?”

“I think she got back into town a few days ago.” If Jericho remembered right. He wasn’t one for keeping up-to-date tabs on where everyone was. That was Hunter’s job, and it was why Jericho liked not being in charge.

Maverick Burke owned the funeral home they used when transporting and disposing of bodies, so he at least stayed in the city a good portion of his time. He was a giant, tatted-up guy that barely said a word, but he was reliable and loyal, and he didn’tneedto talk to scare the shit out of people. If none of them were available, and neither was Jericho, Zoe Harper was their next best bet. She was ex-military, and her current job as a freelance photographer meant she could get herself into spaces that others couldn’t. Not to mention, she was the size of a sprite, and no one who looked at her would think she could take down a guy three times her size. Jericho knew he wouldn’t want to tangle with her in the ring.

“If Randall is at risk, as part of an ongoing investigation we can get police escorts for him,” Quinn said.

“No offence, but I’d rather we have one of our people do it,” Jericho said. The police wouldn’t handpick the best to watch Randall, just blind pick any uniformed officers that were willing to take the job. Jericho didn’t have a whole lot of faith in them doing what needed to be done. That was why this teamexisted in the first place.

“Offence taken,” Quinn said. “Are ‘your people’ above board?”

“They get paid by the same people we do,” Hunter answered. That was all either of them were going to say about it. Not all of the branches of the government they worked for existed on paper. It was a need-to-know basis, and this wasn’t one of those times. Not even the others fully knew who was footing the bill. “And using our own men won’t be a strain on limited law enforcement resources. Besides, you need probable cause in order to request escorts for him. Do you have that, Detective?”

“Fine,” Quinn said. “What about Gloria?”

“We told you that she’s safe,” Hunter said. “We gave you our word. They won’t get to her where she is.”

---