Page 53 of Deadly Target (Rocky Mountain Courage 2)

TWENTY-TWO

He’d fought so hard to work his way into a promotion for the future, to prove himself to his boss, and yes, to his father. To his family and friends. And for what? For it all to go down the toilet now?

He’d wanted to confide in Henry, and would have, but for that conversation he’d overheard. Nathan needed to confront Henry about that as soon as he returned, but he absolutely was not giving up the lead that had been handed to him today. Someone wanted to talk.

To Nathan.

Not the Gifford PD detective who had shown up at Dad’s house—Detective Trap.

On the drive from Dad’s house to the hotel, Nathan had told Erin about his conversation with Detective Trap. The detective shared that he’d been assigned to look at his father’s past cases to see if the shooting could be some sort of reprisal or payback. He also said he hadn’t been by Dad’s house before today. Trap’s superior had suggested that Dad’s shooting was a Montana-style drive-by shooting, aka a hunting accident. Still, Dad’s case was Detective Trap’s priority. Nobody shoots a cop and gets away with it. The conversation with the detective encouraged Nathan. Still, while the Gifford PD had assured Henry they would look into his past cases with diligence, Sullivan had apparently extracted from Henry an agreement that the Grayback detectives wouldn’t dig too deeply. Things weren’t adding up for Nathan.

God, help me figure this out.

Erin pressed her hand over his and drew his attention back. He left his hand where it was and tried to savor the warmth and care pouring from her.

“I know you’re upset, but let’s eat and get out of here. You did the right thing coming here. If we hadn’t arrived today, then the intruder could have taken down the entire crime board.”

She removed her hand—and he keenly felt the disconnect—and focused on her burger.

He scratched his head, then cut into his steak. Took a bite and tried to savor what would on any other day taste amazing. But right now, it tasted like how he imagined a piece of wood might taste.

He glanced at Erin, who’d taken a bite of her burger but barely chewed. He knew that look. “What are you thinking?”

She finished chewing, then played with a french fry. “What if we’re going about this all wrong? Your father warned you. He didn’t want anyone to know he was looking into this case. We assume someone took your father out because they didn’t want him looking deeper, or they wanted to silence him for what he’d already discovered. But the shooter had to have known that shooting a cop would only ramp up the investigation.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Maybe that was the point. The goal. The shooter wanted to uncover the truth, and now no one is going to shut down a search into whatever your father was looking into.”

Or they could try to shut it down, cover it up, but they would fail. Nathan chewed on another piece of steak. Finished, he said, “I’m going to have to think on that one.”

“It’s something to consider, but I agree it seems far-fetched. Someone who wanted the truth to come out probably wouldn’t shoot someone in the process. But I want to put all possibilities on the table for consideration.” She took another bite of her burger.

“Let’s hope our lead at the cemetery will pan out.” A subtle pain ignited and shifted to a slow pounding in his head. Nathan glanced at his watch. “We have an hour and a half before the meeting to which you will not be going. I need you to stay behind and see what you can find out from the crime board.”

Because she didn’t argue, Erin was either ignoring him or hadn’t heard him as she finished off her burger. “Okay, then, let’s put the time to some good use.” She peered at Dad’s crime board on her tablet. “We can see names—Jimmy Delaney. Jason Cain. Jamie McPherson. And Cobbs and Byrne. Looks like the first names have been wiped away. The names are written around the edges with arrows to the center, which is now a big fat blank. What kind of detective is your father? Homicide?”

He nodded. “I’m RISS authorized. I can call the Regional Information Sharing System and find out more about these names. But first I want to get all the information so I can make one call. See if any of them already have a criminal record.” That was, if Henry didn’t remove his interagency access after that conversation they’d just had. “But for tonight, how about we start with the Internet? Just a plain old Google search. Let’s find out as much as we can before myclandestine meeting so I won’t be blindsided.”

“Sure. We can also search your father’s name and see what turns up in the newspaper or online articles, especially recent information.”

He squeezed his fists. This felt so low-tech. Nathan wished he could simply ask his dad what he had been working on. He’d asked Detective Trap, who simply replied that Dad’s cases had been transferred to other detectives, but none of them had stood out. Dad hadn’t wanted Nathan talking about his case or drawing attention to himself because of the danger factor, and that’s exactly what he’d done. In fact, Nathan could bring more danger to Dad if he wasn’t careful.

What about Mom? What about Erin? Nathan lifted his gaze to peer at her. She studied her iPad. Sergio approached again and poured more water for them. Nathan asked for the check.

Erin nibbled on a few fries that were left. “Everything costs a lot more here. Never thought I’d pay twenty-five dollars for a hamburger on the kids’ menu.”

“A restaurant like this, you might as well have gone for the steak.”

She lifted her tablet. “I’m sending you the crime board image.”

His cell dinged with the message. He glanced at the image of the board on his cell, lifted the names, and put them in the search engine. He assumed Erin did the same using her own search parameters.

“I found something.” She pointed at the iPad. “This article on Jimmy Delaney came up immediately. See what you think.”

He leaned closer and skimmed the article. “So, basically, it says this Jimmy ‘the Jackhammer’ Delaney was killed in retaliation. He’d allegedly accidentally ran over a guy who was riding his bike, the youngest son of a mob boss. Delaney was also murdered in front of his house—an action that violates mob rules of respect.”

Dread curdled in his gut. “So ... what? The unknown gunman now likely has a target on his back too, for breaking the rules of engagement?” Nathan read more details from the article. “Sounds like the police agree. They say he’d be safer in prison because mob gangsters in danger of reprisal are kept separately and with a high level of security. But they don’t know who was behind the hit yet.”

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