Page 124 of Gone Too Far

“Violet!” Tori tore out of her mother’s arms and ran toward the other girl.

Kerri managed to keep herself upright and moving forward. All three girls were alive. The sense of relief was very nearly overpowering.

The next person Kerri spotted was the chief of police. She remembered then that the mayor had ordered Falco to call him. Cross’s accusation rang in Kerri’s ears. If Cross was right ...

Kerri searched the crowd for Cross, found her at the fringes of the ongoing activity. She looked shaken and alone—totally un-Cross-like. With a glance toward Tori to see that she was still okay, Kerri adjusted her course to intersect with where the other woman lingered.

“What’s going on?” Kerri asked when she stood next to Sadie.

“The chief is here to escort the mayor to his office,” Cross said, her voice oddly flat.

“Does this mean they believe you?” Not that Kerri didn’t, but Cross was an ex-cop with a troubled history, and Warren was the mayor with a stellar record. Even Kerri had started to consider that the mayor might be somehow involved with all this. But all she had were suspicions, no hard evidence.

Sadie shrugged and shifted her attention to Kerri. “I don’t know. Maybe. The chief didn’t say.”

“Wow. This is ...” Kerri shook her head. She was too physically and mentally exhausted to say or do more. “I’ll catch up with you later. I have to be with my daughter.”

Two ambulances arrived. One took Alice Cortez, along with a female officer. The other took Violet Redmond and another officer.The LT had already notified the Redmond family that their daughter had been found.

The chief left with the mayor.

At the moment, for Kerri, all that mattered was that her daughter was safe.

44

4:30 p.m.

Birmingham Police Department

First Avenue North

Sadie slid behind the wheel of Heck’s shitty yellow car. She’d been forced to spend the past five-plus hours at the BPD, giving her statement and being interrogated.

Some uptight asshole from the DEA had spent more than an hour questioning her about her father. She learned her father had turned himself in this morning. No one would tell her what the charges consisted of, but she understood it was about his involvement with the Osorio cartel. She had no idea what level of involvement or when this involvement had occurred.

Sadie dug for her pack of smokes and lit one. If she was really lucky, she’d get the truth about what had happened to her during all those months. Maybe Warren would want a deal for whatever part she had played in supporting the cartel. If her role was as vital as Asher had suspected of the source of power in Birmingham, the woman would know many things. Maybe the fallen Mason Cross would finally tell Sadie everything he knew. Apparently, he’d shown up at the chief ofpolice’s door early this morning, shortly after Sadie’s visit to him, and had started talking.

Sadie suspected her father or Warren, maybe both, knew a hell of a lot more than he or she had admitted so far.

Before this was over, Sadie intended to know the rest of the story.

It would be her luck the whole damned thing would be labeledneed to knowand no one would believe she had the need.

The best news was that Carlos Osorio was being interrogated in Mexico right now. The DEA in a joint op with Mexican authorities had raided his compound a few hours ago.

The Osorio family was done.

This was the extent of what Sadie had been told. She suspected her father had somehow been instrumental in the raid down south. Or maybe she just wanted to believe he had done one last good thing.

The saddest part, she decided, was not knowing who had killed Asher. He and Leo Kurtz deserved justice too.

Sadie made up her mind then and there that she wouldn’t let the case go until she had uncovered the last of the dirty secrets. Put the final pieces together. Devlin and Falco wouldn’t let it go either. She could count on those two.

She turned into the alley at her place, noting the overflowing crowd already lining up for happy hour at the pub. She planned on having her own happy hour just as soon as she’d taken a nice, long shower. Limit two beers, though. No more hard stuff. She glanced at the cigarette pack. Maybe she’d even give those up.

If she was going to get happy with staying alive, she might as well make the most of it. “One step at a time,” she mumbled.

As she braked to a stop next to her fire escape, she spotted a woman sitting on the rusty metal steps. She looked vaguely familiar.