by K. J. Emrick
Patrick turned on his heel. “Then I’ll let our FBI agent know you’re ready to go with him. Don’t worry, I hear the food is great in federal prison.”
He didn’t even make it ten steps before Graham was calling him back.
“No, wait! Wait!”
Patrick did, and this time when he turned back around Jonathon Graham didn’t seem so big, or so imposing as he had before.
“Listen,” Graham said. “Please God, listen to me, and hear what I’m saying. There’s good reasons why I can’t let myself go with that FBI agent to federal custody. But, if I tell you what those reasons are, then I’m violating federal statute and that means I can be arrested by the FBI and brought to federal custody. You see what I mean?”
“Yup. I get it now. That’s a real Catch 22 sort of situation you have there.”
“Exactly! I’m between a rock and a hard place and I’m going to get squashed no matter which way I turn.”
This was getting them nowhere. “Then I can’t see what I can do to help you. Sorry.”
He turned to leave again.
“What if I can make it worth your while?” Graham said desperately.
“Mister Graham, are you offering me a bribe? You know it’s illegal to offer a bribe to a police officer. You might want to rethink what you’re saying before I add another charge onto what you’re already facing.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to help either of us. Besides, that’s not what I meant.”
Patrick was starting to get antsy, because this was taking too long, and that FBI agent out there was bound to start getting suspicious at some point and come snooping around. “Look, if you don’t start speaking plainly then I’m just going to go out there and—”
“What if I had information on an unsolved case?” Graham interrupted.
Now that did get Patrick’s attention. “What case?”
“Uh-uh. I’m not giving up what I have just like that. You want what I know, trust me. In exchange, all I’m asking is that you keep me here, in this lovely little cell, for as long as you can.”
“As long as I can?”
“At least until the FBI loses interest in me. Yeah.”
“And how long is that going to be?”
“Listen,” Graham said, starting to get irritated himself. “Do you want to hear what I know about this unsolved case, or not?”
Patrick did. He really did. The thing of it was that he didn’t know if that was worth running afoul of the FBI. If Jerry was here, he’d know. He’d be able to say do this, or do that, and everyone else would follow him. Well. Jerry had put him in the number two spot in the department for a reason. Obviously he saw something in Patrick. He should be able to handle this situation here, now, without help from the chief.
He wasn’t sure that was true, but he felt better reminding himself that Jerry had confidence in him.
So he chose a path, and stuck to it.
“Say I do want this information,” he said to Graham. “How do I know it’s of any use to us? You’re asking a lot in return. How can I be sure I’m not getting shafted?”
“Trust me, Patrick. We’ve both lived in this town for a long time. We know each other. You can trust me.”
“You aren’t the same kid I used to play with back in the day,” Patrick pointed out. “You went off to serve in the military, and you came back changed. Your word isn’t going to be good enough.”
“Well then what do you want?” Graham asked, slamming a fist against the bars.
Patrick swallowed, but held his ground. “Why don’t you tell me which unsolved case this is that you’re offering me information on. Let’s start with that.”
With a smile, Graham gave him the name, and the date. Patrick nearly fell over backward in surprise when he heard it.
He made sure the officer was back to watch Graham before leaving him again. He went straight to the interview room where the man from the FBI had been waiting for nearly a half hour now, and he went inside, and he closed the door.
“Ah. There you are,” a short man in a black suit and tie said. He had a cup of coffee in his hand that was barely touched. Now he set it aside on the interview room’s table. “I’m Special Agent Fullerton with the FBI. I’m here to take custody of a man you’re holding. One Jonathon Graham. There’s some paperwork to sign and then I’d like to take him immediately.”
Patrick looked Fullerton straight in the eyes. “You can’t have him.”
Everything in the room seemed to stop until Fullerton scratched at one temple. “I’m sorry. It sounded like you just said I couldn’t have Graham.”
“That’s good, because that’s exactly what I did say. You can’t have him.”
“Oh really. And why not?”
“Mister Graham is helping us,” Patrick said. “He’s giving us information on a very important case. Whatever claim you have to him is just going to have to wait.”
“Important case? What case? You can’t just ignore a request from the FBI because someone says they suddenly grew a conscience.”
“This is different.”
“Why? What case is this?”
When Patrick told him, Special Agent Fullerton snapped his mouth closed. After a moment he left the room, leaving his coffee behind. “You’ll be hearing from my field office,” he said on the way out. “But just between you and me… good luck with this one.”
“Thanks,” Patrick said absently. “I think we’re going to need it.”
Well. He’d put his foot into it with this choice, to be sure. He definitely needed to get in touch with Jerry and Cookie now!
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Edited by Shawn Wells and Adam C-S
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Cover Design by Joanna Walker (Chlasta)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
K.J. Emrick
Kathrine Emrick writing as K.J. Emrick is the author of the popular Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery series and the Pine Lake Inn Cozy Mystery series.
Strongly influenced by authors like James Patterson, Dick Francis, and Nora Roberts, Kathrine Emrick dreamed of being an author for the majority of her life.
She never quite gave up on the idea of being a published author and at the age of 51, thanks to the self-publishing explosion, she finally realized her dream. Her maturity allows her to bring a variety of experiences and observations to her writing.
She lives in beautifu
l South Australia with her family, including several animals. Kathrine can always be found jotting down daily notes in a journal and like many authors, she loves to be surrounded by books and is a voracious reader. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and volunteering at the local library.
Her goal is to regularly produce entertaining and noteworthy content and engaging in a community of readers and writers.
To find out more please visit the Kathrine's website at kathrineemrick.com or her Amazon author page.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Free Book!!
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
More Info
Acknowledgments
About the Author