Page 100 of Broken Wheels

No one ever offered Girl Scout cookies anymore.

When he saw Chalmers’s name, he groaned. Fuck, now what?

He answered with a growl. “What happened?”

“How do you know something has?”

“You’re calling me at too-goddamn-early o’clock. So spill.”

Chalmers let out a sigh. “You don’t have to worry about Mordaunt coming after Josh again.”

Dix froze. “What? How? He was in solitary confinement, for fuck’s sake.”

“They delivered his dinner last night. He took a mouthful, then grasped his throat. Less than twenty seconds later, he was dead.”

Someone sure didn’t want Mordaunt talking to anyone.

“It gets worse,” Chalmers added.

Dix let out another groan. “I don’t see how it can.”

“A jogger found the body of a young man along the Oxbow trail.”

He did the math. “The real Allen Bennett.” Poor kid. Dix had seen Chalmer’s report. Bennett was too damn young to die.

“Yessir. His throat had been slit. We told Mordaunt we’d found him, and to give him his due, he did seem regretful. We had hoped it would get him to talk to us.” Chalmers huffed. “Apparently someone else worried about the same thing.”

“But how could they get to him?” Dix demanded. “You’re telling me they got through your security?”

“The meal was poisoned. Someone went to a lot of trouble to make sure Mordaunt couldn’t talk.” He cleared his throat. “There’s something else. My boss? The one who allegedly sent me after Josh? He’s disappeared.”

“What the fuck?” This situation was getting out of hand.

“Thirty years as a fed, and he just up and… vanishes.”

“What are you doing about it?”

“We’ve pulled phone and bank records. We’ve checked the footage of his security cameras. I’ve been looking at his most recent meetings.” There was a pause. “His wife is beside herself. She says this isn’t like him at all. He missed their daughter’s graduation.”

They were quiet for a moment. “You think he’s dead, don’t you?” Dix had to admit, everything pointed in that direction.

Chalmers sighed. “I don’t know. Probably. I should have been suspicious of the mails. Yeah, Carson and I did a lot of things by mail, but he’s never sent me on a mission like that. I checked with our forensics people, and the mails came from Carson, but they were… I dunno, off? I should have caught it, and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t,” Dixon said. “Don’t beat yourself up over this. Someone is playing us all, and honestly, I’m sick of it.”

Chalmers rubbed a hand over his neck. “Man, this whole thing is so fucked up. Who stands to benefit?”

Dix gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to tell Chalmers anything, but now he was embroiled in this whole mess too. Dix told him to hang on, then went into the living room where Doc was staring at his laptop. He pressed Mute so they could talk without Chalmers hearing until Dix was given the okay.

“Doc?”

He looked up, his eyes unfocused. “Yeah?”

Dix quickly went through what Chalmers had told him. “I want to fill in the gaps. All the gaps. Everything from the beginning. Are you okay with that?”

Doc smirked. “See, you two can play nice together.” The smirk morphed into a grin. “Give it some time and you’ll be besties forever.”

“Fuck off,” Dix groused, which had Doc laughing until he got a pained look. “Doc, you okay?”

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