Page 38 of Rest In Pink

“Oh, there most definitely are.” He sounded smug as hell.

“Which one are you on?”

“I’m on the side of truth,” Thacker said, which would have made me scoff, except he hadn’t posted any lies yet. He was just posting what they called ‘inconvenient truths’. And some exaggerations.

“What else did Bobby and Shelly have to say?”

“You’ll have to read my book when it goes live. However, that’s in the future. You’ve got problems in this town right now, Officer Cooper. You are in the eye of the hurricane and you don’t even know you’re in a storm.”

I remember when Liz was the vortex, the center of trouble. But I knew full well there was something deeply wrong in Burney, I didn’t need Thacker telling me that.

“And you called Bartlett brave?”

Thacker shrugged. “Journalistic license.”

“You’re not a journalist. Stop using Bartlett as a source. He couldn’t wait more than a second before following you in last night.”

“He doesn’t know anything, so not a problem.” Thacker leaned forward. “You’re new here, too, Cooper. You have little idea of all the dark secrets in Burney. You’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.”

“You just got here,” I pointed out, but I was reminded of Jill telling me the same thing not long ago. Small town secrets. “How do you know so much?”

“I’ve been digging for a while,” Thacker said. “Trying to piece this together.” As he said that, he waved his hand, indicating the town.

“Enlighten me,” I said.

“You’ll have to read the book.”

“You’re hurting people.”

Thacker shook his head. “No, Detective Cooper. I’m telling the truth. People who get hurt? It’s because they have to take responsibility for what they’ve done and what they’re doing. I’m not responsible for that.”

“Where did you learn about Vermillion Inc.? Who is responsible for it? Cash is just the point man.”

“Ah, that’s the big question, isn’t it? It’s a front, of course. A shell company that leads to another shell company and so on. Believe me, I’ve tried to find out who is really behind it to no avail. Which means it’s someone powerful. I have strong suspicions though.”

“Such as?”

“You’ll have to read the book.”

“Who is counteroffering?”

“That’s a recent and interesting development,” Thacker said. “I’m looking into it.”

“In your first post you mentioned arson,” I said. “How did you know the factory fire was arson? It was ruled accidental.”

“The factory was arson? Really?”

I frowned. “What were you referring to?”

“Oh, nothing. Poetic license.” He smiled. “Tell me, Detective Cooper, why do you care so much? What is Burney to you?”

“Home.” I was a bit surprised at my reply.

There was a rumble of mufflers outside and Thacker looked past me. “Well, your home has visitors.”

Three motorcycles rolled down main street. Big Harleys with big men on them. The few people outside stopped and stared. Not just because we hadn’t had bikers since the confrontation at JB’s months ago, but also because they had long guns slung diagonally over their backs, muzzles down. Fucking AR-15s. Ohio was an open carry state, but few around here flaunted it and no one in town.

The three stopped in front of the Red Box, turning in to face it. They stared through the window, eyes hidden behind their wraparound sunglasses.

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