“No. Found my own accommodation.”
“Someone’s yappy.”
“It’s Axel. I said I would take him for a week.”
“You? The king of independence.” He chuckled. “How’s that working for ya?”
“Listen, did you know that Luke was renting a cabin northeast of the lake?”
“He and Kerri get away from time to time.”
“I mean just him.”
There was dead silence.
“Well, that’s a first. I gather Kerri doesn’t know?”
“No. And I’d like to keep it that way for now.”
“It might be of use to State.”
“I am State. That’s why I’m keeping it under my hat.”
He laughed. “Parish isn’t going to like that. Had him sniffing around here this morning. Asking a bunch of questions. Says you and him go way back. That you did him wrong. What’s all that about?”
“A long story. Look, Ray, what did Luke share with you in the weeks leading up to his death?” Noah was about to tell him about the crazy wall of evidence and theories but he didn’t want it to color his response. He wanted a blank slate. A straightforward question for an untainted answer.
“That he was closing the net on something big related to Operation Heat Wave. He didn’t want to tell me as he didn’t know how deep it went or who was connected, only that if things went to plan, a whole whack of people from the community would be going down for some hard time.”
“But it was drugs-related, right?”
“Drugs, murders, disappearances are part of it. But that’s not all.” Ray paused.
“What is?”
“Unsure. Luke said there was something new on the horizon that was a potential game changer.”
“But he never told you what?”
“No. You know how he was. He kept his cards close to his chest like any good investigator.”
“And he never shared it with County or local PD?”
“That would involve a conversation. You know how it is.”
“And what about Lena?”
“What about her?”
“Did he ever drop her name, Jack’s, or Doug Grayson’s?”
“No. Why would he?”
Noah mused, chewing it over. “You available this evening?”
“I could be.”
“There’s something I want to show you.”