Page 68 of Her Silver Fox Firefighters
“They were able to look into him secretly through their jobs at city hall. I never got to tell you this because I only learned about it when I was in the car with them, just minutes before the crash.”
“There’s more you haven’t told me, Chloe?”
“I needed to make sure I could trust him and your guys. I’m sorry, Olivia. You know you can never be too careful.”
I understand. It took my guys a while to get most of the truth out of me, too. “It’s okay, but you have to tell me everything, Chloe.”
“There’s not that much more to tell, but I think it could give Carlos and his IA guys some direction,” she sighs, using her fork to move a piece of baked peach around her plate. Something tells me her appetite has dwindled, given the nature of our conversation. “My mom noticed some irregularities in the financial filings that came in from the sheriff’s office. Their accounting fell under her department’s review. She didn’t think much of it in the first few years of Marcus’s mandate as sheriff, but then the discrepancies got bigger.
“She flagged them repeatedly. She even brought it up with the mayor’s assistant, but nobody wanted to talk to her about it. They told her to set it aside and threw some town budget issues at her to keep her busy,” Chloe adds. “But then my dad looked into it.”
“Your dad? I thought he was in the?—”
“The legal department, yes,” she says. “He added more flags to Marcus’s files. It looked even worse after he was done analyzing the documents. He found evidence of skimming, fraud, misappropriation of funds. He tracked every paymentdown, night after night, until he uncovered an egregious pattern.”
“Did he bring it up with the mayor?”
She gives me a hard look. “The day before the accident.”
“My God. That means?—”
“It means that the mayor of Devon, NY, is in cahoots with Marcus, Olivia. The conspiracy runs a hell of a lot deeper than you originally thought. It’s not just law enforcement anymore. It’s not just the county DA that’s knee-deep in corruption over there. It’s the mayor’s office, too, and that guy is connected.”
“Oh, I remember. He was clinking champagne glasses with the governor at the Met Gala in New York City just last year,” I say.
The implications send a river of chills down my spine. And Chloe understands precisely why I’m so overwhelmed and terrified of the repercussions if we try to take Marcus down and fail. We may be in Wyoming, but people who are as connected as Marcus is could reach out and destroy everything that we’ve built here in a matter of minutes.
A knock on the doorframe startles us both.
“You okay, ladies?” Carlos asks, holding a loaded basket.
I see the fruit, including the red plums I requested, and feel a sense of gratitude wash over me, quickly followed by genuine concern. What will happen to Carlos if he takes aim at Marcus and fails to bring him down? It could end his career.
“More or less,” I reply with a weak smile. “Is everything okay with you?”
“I just got a call from Dax. They’re on their way to another arson fire. It seems related to the other three,” he says.
Leo, Dax, and Beck have a shift at the firehouse today. They’re supposed to clock out tomorrow morning, but if this arson is anything like the others, they will get home much later, probably around noon, which is fine, because I also have tomorrow off and I can take care of Luke while his dad rests.
The thought of another arson fire doesn’t sit well with me. The last one got their station captain killed, and the guy they had in custody turned out to have an alibi for two of the events.
“Oh,” I mumble, trying not to worry too much. “Do they know what they’re dealing with yet?”
“They only know what my colleagues told them, and it speaks to the pattern. There are two deputies already at the scene. They asked me to join them for the investigation part afterward, that’s why we have to cut this visit short. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay,” Chloe says. “You two head out. Just be careful. I’ll be okay here.”
“Are you sure?” I ask her.
“Of course. I’m in the middle of nowhere with a whole lot of pie to eat and streaming services galore. I am golden!”
I chuckle softly and give Chloe another hug before Carlos and I get back into the car. He sets the fruit basket on the floor behind his seat, then gets behind the wheel. I try to settle into the passenger seat and ignore my nerves firing on all cylinders.
“They’re going to be okay, Olivia,” Carlos says as he turns the key in the ignition. The engine rumbles to life. I want to believe him, I really do.
“I know,” I tell him. “I know they’ll be careful. It’s the arsonist’s intentions that worry me, especially after what happened with their captain.”
“They know the drill,” he reminds me. “They’re prepared to get out at the first sign of explosive devices. Listen, I’ll take you home and I’ll keep you updated over the phone, okay?”
