“There was some kind of trouble,” she said, purposefully being vague. “Something he was involved in.”
Necco closed his hand over the wadded-up paper. She could tell he was seconds away from standing up and walking out—not because the conversation was making him uncomfortable but because he had no vested interest in it. She was just some random woman who had bought him lunch. He’d eaten it, he was done, and he was ten seconds away from being out of there.
Unless she could convince him to stay.
“Necco.” It was the first time she’d said his name to him. She’d asked for it, not to confirm his identity but rather to make small talk as they stood at the counter for their food, but hadn’t yet called him by name.
He eyed her, and this time she could see something in his expression.
Wariness.
“You helped my friend the other night,” she said gently. “You helped him get out of town.”
His gaze darted to the ground. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he mumbled.
“Yes, you do.” Her voice was firm. It was the tone she reserved for interviewing witnesses. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
His eyes shot back to hers. “Who the hell are you?”
“I told you. My name is Cam.” She’d given him her real name; she didn’t know why. “And I need your help.”
He snorted. “I don’t got no help to give, man.”
“Yes, you do,” she countered.
But he was on his feet, the soiled burrito wrapper clenched tight in his fist. “I’m outta here.”
“Wait.” She tried to pull in a steadying breath, tried to get her emotions under control and draw instead on her training as an officer. Yes, this was a personal mission for her, but she knew she’d fare far better if she could keep her emotions in check.
Easier said than done.
“He’s hurt. And Groupo 55 found him.”
Necco froze.
“I need your help,” Cam said quietly.
He lifted the hat off his head—a nervous gesture—then set it back down. Cam caught sight of short, dark buzzed hair, baby fine.
“I can’t, man.” His eyes were wide. “He just needs to stay gone, alright?”
“He is,” Cam said. “But they found him. And if those guys found him, La Gente won’t be far behind.” She paused. “Or the cops.”
Necco bit his lip.
“You helped him before,” Cam reminded him. “You helped him get out of town, didn’t you? Because you care about him.”
He glanced around the small seating area before giving a slight nod.
“And you saw what happened, too. With the other officers.”
He didn’t nod this time, but she could tell from his expression that he wasn’t disagreeing with her.
“You’re the key, Necco.” She held his gaze. “You can make sure nothing happens to Alex.”
He swallowed.
“Do you remember what happened that night?”
Another small nod.
Relief rushed through her.
“All you have to do is give a statement to the police—”
“What?” His eyes rounded. “No. No way.”
“Not the police here,” Cam said quickly. “My police.”
His eyebrows shot straight up, disappearing beneath the brim of his Magic hat. “Your police? What the fuck?”
She pulled a slim leather wallet from her purse and, using her thumb to cover her last name, gave him a quick look at her credentials.
“I’m from Aspen Falls,” she told him. “Our department can help. We want to help.”
The color drained from Necco’s face.
Shit. She was losing him.
“I don’t trust you, man.”
“Please,” she pleaded. “All you need to do is give a statement. I can get you out of here. Get you started on a new life, away from the poverty, the gangs. I know what it’s like to grow up in a place like this. I know because I lived through it, too. And I was able to get out.”
“I don’t trust you,” he repeated. “I don’t trust anyone.”
She stared at him. “Not even Alex?”
He was quiet for a moment.
“Not even Alex.”
38
Tuesday, September 11th
11:15 am
“Where is she?”
Alex was ready to launch himself across the desk and grab Nate by the throat, he wanted answers so badly.
Nate eyed him coolly. “I don’t think you’re in any position to be asking questions, my friend.”
A sharp retort was on the tip of his tongue, but Alex forced himself to rein it in. Being an asshole wouldn’t help things. Not with this guy.
Rage and worry still collided inside of him, but he did his best to try to calm down.
“Did she tell you where she was going?” he finally managed to ask.
But Nate was ready with a question of his own. “What happened at her house? And why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you should ask Cam.”
Nate glared at Alex. “You should probably think about talking. Sharing what you know. Otherwise I can take you in for some more formal questioning. Maybe to Bentley?”
Alex stiffened.
Nate noticed his reaction because his expression softened slightly. “Let’s work together here, alright? You tell me what you know.”
“That doesn’t sound like working together. That sounds like me giving you what you want and me ending up with jack shit.”
“I’ll tell you what you need to know.”
Alex shook his head. That was an evasive non-answer if ever he’d heard one.
“Who were the guys who showed up at her house?” Nate asked. “Anyone you know?”
“No.” It was the truth. He didn’t know Marco or his friend.
“They…associates of anyone you know?”
Alex answered grudgingly. “Yeah.”
Nate’s fist pounded the desk. “Dammit.”
Alex was instantly on alert. “She went to Bentley, didn’t she?”
Nate didn’t respond. His brow was furrowed, and Alex could tell he was running through things in his head.
“Is she in Bentley?” he asked again.
Nate picked up his phone. He waited a minute, then barked, “With what?”
A few seconds later, he tossed the phone on his desk.
“What the fuck was that?” Alex asked.
“That,” Nate said pointedly, “was Cam.”
Alex reached for the phone but Nate grabbed it.
“Call her back,” Alex demanded.
“She’s not gonna pick up.” Nate told him. “She’s in the middle of something.”
“In the middle of what?”
“I don’t know,” Nate muttered. “But she’s not in any danger.”
“How do you know?” Alex was livid. “You can tell if she’s in danger from a five-second conversation with her?”
“Yes,” Nate said simply. “I would have heard it in her voice. She would have said something that would have triggered warning bells. All she sounded was pissed off that I was interrupting her.”
But Alex wasn’t buying it. “If she’s in Bentley, she’s not safe. At least two people know what she looks like. Where she lives. They probably know her name. They definitely know what kind of car she drives.” It was his turn to pound his fist on the desk. “We have to go after her.”
“We don’t have to do anything,” Nate said.
Alex thought once again about strangling the man sitting across from him. He could probably take him.
And then he remembered his ribs.
“Did she say where she was going?” he asked instead. “When you talked to her earlier?”
Nate hesitated. “Yeah.”
Alex practically jumped across the desk. “Where?”
“She wanted the name of a former officer.”
“Travis.” Ale
x squeezed his eyes shut. Of course she would seize on that piece of information. “Shit.”
“What?” Nate’s voice was sharp. “Tell me.”
“She’s digging, “ Alex said. “She won’t stop with him.”
“What kind of information does this guy have?” A muscle in Nate’s temple pulsed. “Is he dangerous?”
Alex shook his head. The problem as he saw it was that Travis had a lot of information to give. Alex just didn’t know how much he’d be willing to share. More importantly, he didn’t know where Travis’s info would take her.
“He resigned last year. Harassment charges.” Alex looked Nate in the eye. “Trumped-up charges.”
Nate’s expression was impassive. “You sure about that?”
“Positive.”
Nate had pulled his keyboard toward him and was pounding the keys. Alex knew he was already searching on his own. “What does he have to do with you?”
“We were friends,” Alex said. “Well, as much as I could have friends in the position I was in.”
Nate shot him a look. “Undercover, you mean?”
Alex nodded.
“Go on.”
Alex didn’t want to go on. He wanted to get the fuck out of that office and go find Cam.
“The guy who set me up? He set Travis up, too.”
Nate’s fingers stilled. “Your buddy ever file a complaint?”
Alex’s laugh was harsh. “Who is there to complain to? You have a superior making allegations against you, fabricating evidence, and either other officers are willingly lying or they’re turning a blind eye so they don’t wind up in the crosshairs.”
Alex couldn’t tell whether or not Nate believed him.
He didn’t really care.
Right now, he needed to find Cam.
He braced both hands on the desk and got to his feet. “We need to go.”
“We?”
Nate really seemed to have a hang-up with that word.
“Yeah, we,” Alex retorted.
“You should stay here,” Nate said. He pulled open a desk drawer, and Alex watched as he stowed his wallet and a pair of keys in his pants pocket.
“Like hell I’m staying here,” Alex growled.
Nate gave him a pointed look. “If what you and Cam have told me is true, you going back to Bentley is a recipe for disaster. You and I both know that.”
“I don’t care.”
“Well, I do. We need you alive.”
Alex’s lips twisted into a scowl.
“Let us handle it,” Nate told him.
He stepped out from behind his desk, grabbed his jacket, and headed for the door.
Alex blocked his path. “I’m coming with you.”
Nate’s hand instinctively moved to the gun in his holster. It was strapped low to his side, hidden by the coat he’d shrugged into.
“Cam is my responsibility,” Alex said. He swallowed against the lump forming in his throat. “More than you know.”
Nate eyed him. “She’s family to me.”
Alex nodded. This was something he understood. Not because he felt the same way toward his fellow officers on the Bentley force—he didn’t—but because he knew what a surrogate family felt like. He’d had his own throughout the years. The gangs growing up, then Bev and Paul.
“We have a history,” Alex said. “I have to come. Even if it kills me.”
39
Tuesday, September 11th
2:00 pm
Cam wasn’t ready to leave Bentley.
But she felt like she didn’t have a choice.
She gripped the steering wheel a little tighter and stared at the street just in front of her. She was pulled to the side of the road, right back in front of the convenience store with the hidden taco counter. After spending the last couple of hours driving aimlessly around town, she was almost ready to give up.
She’d gotten nowhere with Necco.
That wasn’t entirely true, she reminded herself. They’d talked, obviously, and she’d begged for his help.
But he hadn’t given it.
He wouldn’t commit to doing anything.
She knew he was spooked, and she understood why. He had every right to be. It was a big ask from her, and she knew that it was unrealistic to expect him to just jump right on board with her request. Life might be hard on the streets where Necco lived, but so would ratting out his friends and upending his life.
All she’d managed to get out of him was a lukewarm promise that he’d think about it. She’d tried hard to impress upon him that time was of the essence. She appealed to what she hoped was some sort of loyalty to Alex. And she played up, over and over again, how easy it would be for him to get out of town and start a brand-new life. A life that would hold far more promise than the one he was currently living.
Once they’d parted ways, she should have gone back to Travis’s house. But she didn’t. Instead, she drove the streets of the sad little town, dismayed at the boarded-up buildings and once quaint and charming homes now in disrepair. She chafed at the group of Hispanic youth gathered at a city park, their music blaring, strutting around like they owned the place.
They probably did, she realized grimly. It was probably their territory. The metal swings moved of their own accord in the crisp fall breeze, and it was like the ghosts of children past were in those seats, pumping their feet, trying to fly away from that desolate place.
Cam didn’t know what she was looking for. She didn’t have names of anyone else to talk to, or descriptions for that matter. Even if she did, it wasn’t as though she could just march on up and introduce herself, then start lobbing questions at them. These were gang members she was dealing with. She didn’t have a full rundown on La Gente’s history, but if Alex had been embedded with them for a while, it meant one thing: they weren’t just involved in small-time drug deals. Their ties ran deep. And so did their crimes.
She was sure they’d have no problem offing a strange woman who started asking too many questions.
She glanced at the clock on her dash. It was almost two o’clock.
She’d been gone for hours.
Guilt slammed into her.
She wondered what Alex was doing. How upset he was.
She should have called him back, at least told him what she was doing. There wasn’t any harm in that, especially with him holed up at Grandma’s place. But she knew how pissed he would be, and that was the driving force behind her not answering his calls and then, later, powering down her phone.
The logical part of her knew this had been the best approach to seeking out information. Alex couldn’t come. It was too dangerous. But Cam could. Her heart reminded her—constantly, it seemed—how her leaving would affect Alex. He would be angry, yes, but he would also be hurt. Hurt that she’d left him, but mostly hurt because she’d lied to him.
Cam sighed. She would deal with that later. Right now, she needed to get back to Travis Bingman’s house and see if she could coax any more information out of him.
Especially since Necco was looking like he might be a dead end.
She pulled out onto the road and pointed the car back toward Bingman’s. He lived about fifteen minutes away, just outside of the city limits. She would stop there and then head back to Aspen Falls and deal with the fallout of leaving Alex behind.
Flashing lights in her rearview mirror caught Cam’s attention. A police cruiser was quickly gaining on her, and her first instinct was to pull to the side of the road to let it pass. But she glanced at her speedometer and noticed she was a few miles over the speed limit.
She slowed and pulled over to the shoulder, near an intersection that looked to be the last one in town. The cruiser slowed as well, and her shoulders sagged in defeat.
“Dammit,” she muttered under her breath.
Five miles. She’s been going five miles over the limit. They never pulled people over in Aspen Falls for that slight of an infraction.
The police car pulled up next to her. A lone
officer was in the car, and he rolled down the passenger window. “Let’s get off the main road here. Shoulder is narrow, and cars go barreling by.” Sunglasses shielded his eyes, so Cam couldn’t see his expression, but the frown on his face suggested he thought that was exactly what she had just done.
She nodded and shifted back into Drive. She drove through the intersection and parked along the side of the road. There was a massive, single-story building across the street, clearly out of operation. The parking lot was vacant, and the building sat dark and empty.
She turned off the engine and put both hands on the wheel. She knew the drill, knew what officers wanted to see during their traffic stops. Compliance. Non-threatening behavior. She also knew that, despite being law enforcement herself and understanding how to behave, the color of her skin could work against her.
The officer approached her car. “Afternoon,” he said briskly.
“Good afternoon.” She didn’t smile, but she didn’t frown, either.
“License and registration.”
“License is in my purse, and the registration is in the glove box,” she told him. “May I get them?”
He straightened and gave a quick nod.
She found her wallet and pulled out her license, then leaned over to the glove box and dug around for the car registration.
She handed both to the officer. “Do you want proof of insurance, too?”
He didn’t answer. He barely glanced at the two items she’d given him.
“I need you to step out of the vehicle.”
This time, Cam did frown. “Why?”
“Just step out of the vehicle, ma’am.”
“What did I do wrong?” she asked. “You’re pulling me over for a moving violation, right?”
He scowled. “Get out of the car now.”
Cam glared at him. She knew her rights. “I’m not getting out until you give me a reason why. You are legally required to tell me why you are stopping me.” Red-hot anger raged through her. “And I do not give you permission to search my vehicle.”
The officer yanked her door open. His hand closed around her arm.
“What the hell are you doing?” She tried to rip out of his grasp but he held firm, his fingers digging into her bare flesh.
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