Page 84 of Counter Attack

“That’s what I keep telling myself, and it can’t be undone—I’ll have to learn to live with it. Hard to do sometimes when you hear other cops calling you Wyatt Earp.”

A slow burn worked its way through Nathan’s chest. “Who would do something like that?”

“Madden and his cronies.”

Nathan hadn’t much liked the detective before this, and now he had even less use for him. “Sorry. I’ve never understood what makes some people that way. And you’d rather be commissioner over cops like that than be sheriff?”

“Maybe I could make a difference. Besides, I don’t see a lot of difference between Madden and Mark and Harvey.”

He’d walked into that one. “I’ll concede the point. Why isn’t Madden meeting us at the condo?”

“Because that would be too simple. And he likes to be in control,” she said. “I need to get Denton’s report read before we get there.”

Nathan had never been around Madden, and from what he’d learned from Alexis, he didn’t care to be. Neither of them spoke as the miles rolled away, and traffic picked up as they nearedChattanooga. Twenty minutes later, they pulled into the Chattanooga police headquarters and Alexis put away her iPad.

“You okay?” he said after glancing at her somber face. Reliving that day had to be hard.

“Sure. Let’s go see Madden.”

After they signed in and received visitor badges, the detective came downstairs and escorted them up to his office. “How do you like being sheriff?” Madden asked as they rode the elevator.

“I’m the chief deputy, not the sheriff.”

“With your grandfather out of commission, it’s the same thing.”

“It’s been interesting so far,” she replied.

“So I’ve heard. Why didn’t you ever tell us your grandfather was Sheriff Stone?”

“I don’t remember ‘us’ ever having a conversation about anything.”

Nathan didn’t know how she kept her tone light in view of Madden’s condescending air. The elevator stopped, and Madden held the open-door button until they stepped out. “You’re not going to find any answers at Denton’s condo.”

“Won’t hurt to see,” Alexis said evenly. “You did get me a search warrant?”

“Yes, and you owe me one.”

“Sure—if you ever need help from the sheriff’s department in Russell County, I’m your person.”

“You running for the office next election?”

Nathan had had enough of the detective. “You might want to hope she doesn’t.”

Madden frowned. “Why’s that?”

“I heard a rumor that if she returns, your captain is moving her into homicide—your department can use a good detective like the chief deputy here.”

The detective’s eye twitched. “We already have a good department.”Then he shrugged. “Not saying anything against you, Alex. You’d be a welcome addition.”

“Thank you.” Her flat tone indicated her skepticism. “What can you tell me about Phillip Denton that I don’t already know?”

“There’s not much to tell. You know more about him than I do, anyway—you’re the one who traced the stolen detonators to him.”

“That was a month after he was killed. The detonators had nothing to do with why I went to Denton’s condo,” she said. “The commander of the task force sent me there because one of Denton’s neighbors had reported suspicious activity after the mall bombing.”

Alexis’s phone chimed. and she stepped away from them. Nathan turned to Madden. “Weren’t you on the task force too?”

He nodded. “But we had no idea Phillip Denton was the bomber. Not until Alex investigated a burglary at the excavating company Denton worked for. She tied the missing computers and detonators to him.”

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