Page 40 of Enforcing the Rules

“I’m working on them.” I stood to leave. I even had my purse in my hand, but something made me sit back down. “Bill?”

He looked up. “Yeah?”

“I need to tell you something.”

“What’s that?”

“Um, Don called the other day. He had a big skip for you. One worth a lot of money.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I thought, maybe…” I shrugged. “Maybe I could take this one.”

“If he’s worth a lot of money, he must have done something big.”

“He did. Killed two people.”

“What?”

“I mean, he didn’t shoot them or anything. It was a DUI.”

Bill cocked his head, and I knew from the way he studied me he knew I was holding back. “What’s his name?”

“See. That’s the thing. I know the guy. I thought, you know…” I shrugged again. “Who better than me to find him?”

“You know him, huh? What’s his name?”

I fiddled with my purse strap. “Um, well…”

“Kate.”

I met Bill’s eyes. The man had been nothing but good to me, and I couldn’t lie. “He’s my father.”

Bill shot to his feet. “What?”

“Raymond Lee Baker.”

Bill dragged a hand through his hair. “Where’s the paperwork?”

I dug it out of my bag and handed it over.

He sat back in his chair and flipped through it.

“Let me bring him in. Please, Bill.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Okay, look, he’s your goddamn father, Kate. You’re personally involved in this. It may affect your judgment. It may make you hesitate. There’s a lot on the line here.”

“No one wants that man behind bars more than me. He’s caused havoc his entire life. Now he’s killed two people. He can’t be allowed to go free. Besides…”

“Besides what?” Bill asked, his eyes drilling into mine.

“I need that bounty money.”

He sighed and stared at the paper in his hand, but I had the feeling he wasn’t seeing the words before him. He was thinking about all the dangers of this job. “You think he’d listen to you? You think you could talk him into coming in?”

“I texted him this morning, told him I needed to see him. Told him it was urgent. He replied right before you walked in. Asked what was so urgent.”

“What did you tell him?”

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