Anna flopped into one of the chairs around the table, and Don sat more carefully in another. Megan found her own spot and shoved a stack of files aside so she could see better.
“It’s a complicated situation,” Anna began. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully. “We’ve got some issues in the community, for sure. Drug issues and the crap that comes with the drugs. But those clowns out there—” she waved her arm in the direction of the main room, “—the feds, they don’t give a good goddamn about Shadow Valley. I mean, from our perspective, the problem is the meth. And from the state level, I think we’ve got good cooperation on that. But we’ve got FBI, DEA, fucking Customs and Border Protection…everybody’s coming to the picnic. And you know what they all care about?” She paused long enough that Megan thought there might be two deputies with a future in the theater. “Weed. Just because the cannabis is coming across the border, just because it’s getting distributed down in the cities and across the other states, that’s what they think our big problem is.” She’d given up on the careful word choice at some point, and by then end of her explanation, she was pretty clearly expressing her own strongly felt opinions.
“We’re cops,” Don said. “We enforce the laws, and that includes the laws against marijuana. But in terms of priorities? We need to get a grip on the meth situation before any more kids get hooked. Oxycontin and the other pharmaceuticals, that’d be next on my personal list. Marijuana?” He shrugged. Now that he had relaxed a little, he was a lot more pleasant. When he gave Megan a quick smile, as if including her in the secret club of people who understood what was really important, she promoted him from pleasant to damn-near charming. “Marijuana is down there with jaywalking and hunting squirrels out of season. We’ll get to it when everything else is taken care of.”
Megan nodded. She was a little overwhelmed by their vehemence, but she wasn’t surprised by the content of their arguments. She’d had time to do some preparation, after all. She’d read the conflicting reports from different bodies, all ready to cast the blame on anyone but themselves. “And do you feel that the extra law enforcement in the area is actually keeping you from pursuing your own priorities?”
“Hell, yeah.” Anna glanced at Don for confirmation and he nodded. “We’re supposed to cooperate with them. Give them the inside scoop. Show them around, provide support. We’re spending half our time being fucking tour guides.”
“And we’ve had…” It was Don’s turn to look at Anna. “…three, four times in the last year when we were ordered off solid leads? Because the feds thought we were getting too close to their stuff and thought we might mess it up. Two times we’ve busted people and been forced to release them, because they were helping the feds out on the damn pot smuggling.” He leaned forward in his chair. “Trust me. They’re scum, the pot smugglers. Leeches and losers. But they’ve been pretty good at keeping things nonviolent lately, and it’s pot. From a personal level I’d like nothing better than to bust every single Cody I could find, just for being redneck pains in my ass. But as a cop it makes no sense that they’re eating up this kind of manpower.”
Megan could tell that a response was expected, and she took a moment to collect herself before offering one. “I’m sorry…did you say Cody?”
Chapter Four
Don looked genuinely confused, but Megan was pretty sure she saw a knowing smirk on Anna’s face. “Yeah, the Codys,” Don said. “They’re the big family in the pot trade around here.”
“The Codys…Joe Cody?” Megan knew she had to make a bit more sense. “He’s the one who pulled me out of the car yesterday. He saved my life. Is he one of the people you’re talking about?”
Don raised an eyebrow. “He’s not just one of them. He’s their leader. Hell, the way the Codys work, he’s practically their king.”
“Careful, now,” Anna interjected. “There’s no evidence of that. No proof of any criminal activity on Joe’s part.”
“Yeah, sure, protect your boyfriend.” Don looked disgusted.
“I’m protecting you, asshole. You can’t go around saying things that you can’t back up. He’s an alleged criminal, at this point.”
Megan wanted to ask if Joe was Anna’s alleged boyfriend, but she couldn’t find the right words. “So, what, the whole pot smuggling trade is controlled by one family? And everyone in that family is involved?”
Don rolled not just his eyes but his entire head over to look at Anna, who sighed deeply before saying, “The Codys are an old family around here. Original settlers, probably, just like the Gallineaus, and if you don’t think that pisses Don off, you’re missing an entire, psychotically competitive aspect of his history-obsessed self.”
“It’s not about history, it’s about the present day,” Don protested. “They may have been here for a long time, and maybe back in the day, they made a contribution. The world used to need clannish rednecks, maybe. But this is the twenty-first century, and the Codys are living in the past. The Gallineaus, and other families, are making real contributions to present-day Shadow Valley. The Codys are smoking up and hunting. Smoking up while hunting, some of them. You’d think Darwin would take care of that problem, but it never seems to work.”
“The Cody women are generally pretty solid,” Anna said carefully. “They mostly get the hell out of town as soon as they can. The Cody men—they’re a little wild. And, yeah, they’re the ones who handle the weed business. I’m not saying there aren’t people growing their own little patches here and there, but the large scale smuggling, that’s the Codys.”
“They’ve got a branch of the family north of the border,” Don contributed. “And they’re tight with some of the Indians, so they work through the rez, if that’s convenient for them. Which it is, because the tribal police are about as worried about pot smuggling as we are.” He pushed back in his chair. “Montana’s got six ports of entry to Canada, six places where people can legally cross and maybe smuggle something along with them. But we’ve got 550 miles of largely unprotected border, out in the wilderness, where anybody can hike across. You want to go see the border? It’s a cleared area, maybe a wire fence. That’s it. The park rangers cover some of it, but there’s nowhere near the manpower for the whole stretch.”
“And the Codys are woodsmen. They practically live out there. No one knows this territory better than they do. Once they’re in the forest, they’re gone.” Megan was pretty sure that Don picked up on the admiration in Anna’s voice, and equally sure he didn’t like it.
“It’s like fighting the Vietcong,” Don said.
“Especially since the Codys have won the hearts and minds of most community members.” Anna shook her head. “It’s mostly the feds that the town doesn’t trust, but once you get out in the country, they aren’t big fans of any law enforcement. The Codys are a local institution. And they’re mean enough that even those who don’t cover for them out of loyalty will cover for them out of fear.” She sent a quick grin in Don’s direction. “It’s driving the feds nuts, if you want the truth. They thought they were going to pop in here, round up a few dumb rednecks and be gone in a couple weeks. Instead, it’s coming up on a year for the task force, and there’s still not a single arrest on their side. They say they’re building a case, but I don’t think they’re getting too far.”
“I think the governor’s office is getting a little impatient,” Megan said cautiously. “Of course, the state has no direct control over the federal officers, but the governor has considerable influence at the federal level.”
“A little less lately, doesn’t he?” Don asked, and his sharp smile made him a lot less charming.
Megan didn’t want to respond to that, but she supposed there was no point in hiding from it forever. Everyone knew about her affair with the governor, and nobody cared that it had all ended years earlier. The world had only discovered the scandal recently, so for the world it was all st
ill fresh. But Megan couldn’t let that get in the way of her current goals. “Maybe so. But he’s still the governor. He still has a job to do, and my understanding is that he’s still dedicated to promoting the interests of all Montanans.” And she made herself go a little further, turning her head to look at Don straight on. “And I have a job to do too. I’ve spent almost five years as an Associate Policy Advisor in Helena, and I’ve worked on projects ranging from school reform to economic development to building code reviews. I have a job to do, and I will do it. I appreciate that as a citizen, you have a right to your opinion on the matter. But as a government employee, you have a responsibility to put that aside in order to do your duty.”
“Don’t preach to me about my responsibility,” Don snapped. “I’m not the one who was irresponsible here!”
“Give it a rest, Don.” Megan wasn’t sure quite what she’d done to earn Anna’s support, but she was very glad to have it. “We’ve all made mistakes. I could remind you of a few you’ve made, if you want.” Her raised eyebrow was a clear challenge to her partner, but he didn’t take her up on it. “We got lucky that our fuck-ups weren’t splashed all over the internet, that’s all.”
Don didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t pursue the matter any further, at least, and Megan was happy to settle for that. She turned to Anna and tried to get the conversation back where it was supposed to be. “So your priorities are the meth producers and traffickers. You’re not actively pursuing an investigation against the Codys?”
“We’ve got files on them. Lots of files. We collect information as we can, but in terms of the pot smuggling—it’s not a priority.”
Don leaned back in his chair. “The murder, on the other hand—we’re taking a strong interest in that.”
“Murder?” Megan wasn’t really sure she wanted to know.
“Joe Cody killed his brother-in-law about four months ago. Beat him to death, as far as we can tell.” He leaned forward with a smug expression. “He seem quite so heroic to you, now?”
Chapter Five
Megan was secretly happy when the sheriff had to cancel their lunch date; she needed some time alone to get everything clear in her head. After the meeting with the sheriff’s deputies, she’d spent almost an hour with representatives of the federal task force. They’d been much more subtle but had made it equally clear that her presence there was just another unwanted intrusion.
Agent Styler, the woman in charge of the DEA team, had seemed the most understanding. She’d shaken her head regretfully and said that her supervisors had instructed her to focus on the cross-border aspect of the drug trade, and that meant grass, not meth. “I sympathize with local law enforcement in this situation, just like I have everywhere else I’ve been assigned. But our priorities are different from theirs. That’s the whole point of having different groups involved, really. If our interests overlapped perfectly, why would we need to be here?” A gentle smile, and Styler had added, “And I’m not sure we’re not looking at the same people, anyway. The locals are fighting us on the idea, but we’ve got some persuasive leads suggesting that Joe Cody is a big part of the meth problem. It makes sense, really; he’s got the expertise and the trafficking routes already set up. The family has just expanded its range of merchandise a little.”
Megan didn’t try to argue. She was still at the information gathering stage, and anyway, she didn’t really know what her argument would be.
The other agents had said similar things. The two from Customs and Border Protection hadn’t said much, actually. They’d just pointed at the name of their agency, emblazoned on their jackets, and shrugged. Apparently their priorities were too obvious to even need words. There was only one FBI agent around that morning, although he said he had a partner somewhere. He’d expressed a little interest in the Joe Cody murder case, but had said that the FBI was letting local law enforcement handle it until it became clear that it was drug-related. None of the federal agents had directly referred to the situation with the governor, at least, but by the end of the meeting, Megan wondered whether she didn’t prefer Don’s straightforward challenge to their oily insincerity. They knew, or thought they knew, why she was up there. They knew what she’d done to deserve the assignment.
It was all her fault, of course, and that made the whole thing even more frustrating. No one to blame but herself. Well, the governor. She could definitely blame him for lying to her. But she should have known better than to have believed him. The worst part, the part that she didn’t even like to admit to herself, was that she had known better. He and his wife were separated, he was so lonely, Megan was so perfect for him and he just couldn’t hold back, not because of a stupid technicality…
Yeah, Megan had known, deep down, that this story was just another recitation of the cheater’s creed. But she’d wanted to believe. She’d let herself be drawn in by his charisma. She’d felt special, singled out from the faceless masses who worked for him, believed in him…
Damn it. She strode out of the police station and took a deep breath of the cool air. How could she expect everyone else to stop thinking about it when she couldn’t stop thinking about it?
She tried to focus on her job instead, but she wasn’t completely sure where to go with that, either. She’d graduated law school, of course. She had the basic knowledge of criminal law that was required if she ever wanted to pass the Bar, but that was it. She’d never practiced. She’d gone straight from law school to working for the governor’s office. And that looped around back to her original train of thought, because she’d gone straight from working for the governor’s office to working for the governor himself, and straight from there to the governor’s bed.
Damn it. Four months of mediocre sex and emotionally unsatisfying conversations about how they’d someday be openly together, that was all. She’d been the one to call it off, over three years ago, and their working relationship had actually improved since then. She knew him well enough to call him on his bullshit, and he had enough sense to value her for that. When he’d started looking at a run for the presidency, she’d been thrilled. He wasn’t the man she’d originally thought he was, but no one was pure enough for that level of hero worship. He wasn’t a god, but he was a good man, albeit with some definite flaws. He’d be a good president and she could be a valuable part of his team. She honestly hadn’t given their affair a second thought. She should have. She should have known. Things that had stayed submerged in the quiet backwater of Montana politics were sure to bob to the surface when transferred to the turbulent sea of national affairs.
And so Megan’s face had been splashed across every paper in the country. She’d had an affair with one of the leading candidates for the presidential nomination. The man who campaigned on honesty and decency had been lying to his constituents, his wife, lying to everyone, for years. It was a juicy story, and Megan was at the center of it.
And she’d been so involved in her career, so devoted to the political world and all its trappings, that she had no friends who weren’t somehow a part of it. Now that she was a pariah, those friends were all gone. Sure, a few had called to express their support, but Megan couldn’t inflict herself on them. She knew their ambitions well, and she knew that associating with her could be disastrous.
She pulled the diner’s glass door open with more force than was strictly necessary. She tried not to look at any of the patrons. In her current state, she’d think they were all staring at her, judging her. And maybe they were, but she’d be damned if she’d make herself see that. Instead, she headed for the counter. She could sit there, her back to everyone, and just look at the antique milk shake machine, or watch the orders come out of the little window from the kitchen. She could turn her brain off and try to relax a little.
The waitress headed toward her with a menu, but Megan didn’t think she needed it. “You have grilled cheese?” she asked as soon as the server was clo
se enough. “With fries, please. And a Coke.” Healthy eating be damned. Megan wanted some comfort food. “And a chocolate milk shake,” she added.
The matronly waitress smiled kindly. “Anything else?” She made it sound as though there would be no judgment if Megan ordered half the damn menu.
“No, I’m good, thanks.” Megan tried to smile back, and was pleased to find that the requisite muscles had not atrophied completely.
As soon as the server left, Megan wished she’d taken the menu so she’d at least have something to look at. The garage had told her they’d retrieved her car and all of her belongings, but, of course, everything was soaked. She thought wistfully of her cell phone. Ordinarily, she could have killed a lot of time playing with it. But without it…
“You’re looking better.” The voice was low and easy, and she recognized it immediately, even before she turned to see Joe Cody standing behind her. Joe Cody, the drug-smuggling murderer.
“Thank you,” she said coolly. She immediately felt guilty for the tone. The man had risked himself to save her life. But he was a killer. And a hero. Damn it, what the hell was he? “I really do appreciate your help yesterday.”
“No problem. And things went okay at the station this morning?”
She was about to answer when she realized that she had never told him what she was doing in town. She’d never mentioned anything to do with the police station. She glanced toward him and managed to keep herself from staring into his eyes for long enough to realize that he was smirking just a little. He knew why she was there, and he wanted her to know that he knew. She had no idea why, though, so she played it cool. “It went fine, thank you. Did you have a productive morning?”
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