Page 95 of The Liar

Adam stood with his hands in his pockets, one eyebrow raised. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that question. After all, I’m sure that no federal agent would ever communicate the details of a secret operation to anyone not cleared to know about it. Right, West?”

I stared at him flatly. Once, his tone might have made me nervous, but after the way he’d left us without support when we needed it, I wasn’t inclined to care what he thought.

Adam’s thin lips twisted into a smirk. “In fact, we’ll consider me forgetting this conversation to be the first part of my apology for not having your back, shall we?”

I blinked, startled. It was eerie how he seemed to know what was going on inside my head. “I didn’t hear an actual apology.”

He nodded. “Good point. I’m sorry, West. I hesitated, and as a result, you and Detective Lee were endangered.”

No apology would make up for the terror I’d experienced when Sewell had plunged the knife into Joanna’s shoulder, but I knew it was the best I’d get from Adam. I just had to hope he wouldn’t pursue disciplinary action after how much had gone wrong in the past couple of weeks.

“Would you like to know what the second part of the apology is?” he asked, striding farther into the room.

“What?” Honestly, I just wanted him to get to the point.

“An update.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Not to be repeated outside this room.”

Joanna pivoted her chair to face him, and I circled around so I remained at her back. “Tell us.”

Adam eyeballed her, but I couldn’t tell from his blank expression what he was thinking. “Over a dozen arrests have been made this morning, including those of Charles and Dirk Sewell, who were found in possession of a rifle with the same type of ammunition used to shoot Detectives Conti, Neal, and Hanson. I expect ballistics to confirm the connection. He will likely serve a life sentence.”

The air vacated my lungs. My vision swam as tears filled my eyes.

The man who’d killed my father had been arrested. He was going to prison.

Thank God.

I’d finally be able to look Mamma in the eye and tell her we’d found the man responsible and that he would pay for his crimes.

Joanna laid her hand over mine. “You okay?”

I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.

“Charlie Sewell isn’t talking,” Adam continued. “But your friend there is willing to testify that he was inside Portia Lowry’s apartment prior to any missing persons report being made.”

“Good riddance,” Hanson muttered.

“We also suspect that Sewell told Ortez that Neal was becoming a liability, and that’s why he was killed in such a public manner—to send a message to others to be more careful. Not that he’ll likely admit as much,” Adam added.

“Do you think the scare tactic would have worked if everything else hadn’t gone off the rails?” Joanna asked.

Adam’s smirk deepened. “I don’t know. But given that one of the arrested policemen—a homicide detective namedHamilton—is singing like a canary, it clearly isn’t working now. Hamilton claims to have been pressured into bedding a prostitute and subsequently blackmailed with the threat of losing his job and his marriage if he didn’t help.”

Joanna’s dark eyes met mine and a silent understanding passed between us. We’d have to check a photo of the detective to see if he matched the description, but it seemed likely he was the one we’d mistakenly believed might be Hanson.

“Personally, I think he was as tempted by the payoff as he was driven by the blackmail.” Adam’s upper lip curled scornfully. “But that’s for a jury to decide. The point is, he’s naming as many names as he possibly can, and he’s provided a written statement that he overheard Ortez admit to killing Sasha Sloane when he discovered that she was keeping a written record of his confidences in her.”

Joanna exhaled sharply. “I guess that’s that then. Did he know about the baby?”

Adam shrugged. “Hamilton didn’t mention it. With how early the pregnancy was, it’s possible even Sasha herself didn’t know. Nevertheless, we’re hoping we can put pressure on Ortez now and get him to cough up the names of any bad seeds remaining within our ranks.”

“Looks like you’ve got your collar,” I murmured to Joanna.

Deal or no deal, Ortez wouldn’t walk free when faced with a homicide charge. Although I wasn’t as confident as Adam seemed to be that he’d give up his police assets to protect himself. Men like him did well in prison. He probably wanted them in place so he could continue running things from behind bars.

“Is Ortez ours?” Joanna asked Adam. “Or have the feds taken him?”

He grinned. “We’ll let you lead the charge with the homicide conviction while we put together a case.”

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