Page 83 of Loco

He didn’t even need to say the name, but he did anyway. “AJ Huntley.”

I stared at the screen, and my breath caught halfway up my throat.

He’d worked beside us and broken bread with us. He told stories about his kids—hiskids, damn it. We’d never suspected him and put his name on a list. Not once.

Keir swore quietly. I did, too, the sound sharp and bitter in the cold morning air.

We hadn’t seen him clearly at the scene—between the wreckage, the paramedics trying to keep him stable, and what was left of the windshield, he’d been just another injured suspect, not one ofours.

How long had he been watching us? Listening in, slipping through the cracks, feeding information to people we were trying to bring down. And worse—how much did he know about Sayla and the kids?

My heart pounded hard in my chest, a steady, brutal rhythm that I forced myself to breathe through. I kept my face still, my focus locked in tight, unwilling to let the weight of it all show—not now, not yet.

This was a lead, one of many, if we were lucky. And somewhere in the middle of all of this—AJ, the mayor, Titian—was the answer I needed. The one that would take me straight to Sayla and the kids.

All I had to do was hold onto this thread and start pulling. And I wouldn’t stop until the whole damn thing came apart.

Judd’s SUV roared into the lay by, engine growling as it skidded to a stop on the gravel. He jumped out without even bothering to shut it off, the vehicle humming behind him as he stalked toward us with a laptop tucked under one arm and a thick folder clutched in the other. His face was drawn, focused—he looked like a man who’d been breathing adrenaline for hours and wasn’t ready to stop anytime soon.

“I found something,” he said without preamble, slapping the folder onto the hood of my truck. “Kapono and Imogen are stillcombing through the rest of Topper’s files, but this is the kind of thing you don’t keep unless you plan on using it as leverage.”

He flipped the folder open to reveal a worn ledger, each page filled with neat, deliberate handwriting. There were payments in and out, scribbled notes, and addresses—some that sent a cold chill down my spine. They were all real places, all connected to real people. Most of them didn’t even know they were being watched, let alone used.

“No digital backups,” Judd said, his voice hard, “just ink and paper. You only do that if you want to blackmail someone or if you’re scared it’ll come back to bite you electronically.”

Then he opened the laptop and turned the screen to face us. “But this is worse.”

The desktop was almost empty—just one folder labeledChess. Inside, there were three audio files. Judd didn’t wait, he clicked on the first one, and the moment the audio started to play, I felt a fresh surge of fury rise in my chest.

The voice was unmistakable: the mayor of Palmerstown.

“Now that I’m here,” he said, calm and casual, like he was giving a speech at a fundraiser, “things are going to change. Small towns get overlooked. That’s an opportunity, it doesn’t have to be legal.”

I felt Kai shift beside me, tension winding through all of us.

The mayor kept talking. “I’ve been approached by someone who knows how to make that happen, but we need real estate. Quiet. Off the radar.”

Then came Topper’s voice, low and oily. “I know how to make that happen.”

“Whatever it takes,” the mayor replied. “You’ll get your cut.”

They haggled like they were discussing prices at a farmers' market. Then Topper said, “It was Nice doing business with you.”

Judd clicked on the second file.

The tone was colder this time, more direct.

“Ailee needs to be taken care of,” the mayor announced. “She’s talking to Roque and the others. She knows too much—especially about the prostitution side of things. If they pull on that thread, they’ll unravel the rest.”

“She won’t be a problem,” Topper answered flatly.

Then, they moved on to Kaden Roper.

“Smart kid and well connected. We can use him. Bribe him or pressure him—get him moving product. If he takes the fall when they get too close, that’ll keep our best men clear for bigger jobs.”

I clenched my jaw until my teeth ached. Kaden hadn’t stood a chance.

Judd played the final recording.

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