Page 170 of The Darkest Chase

Swallowing hard to wet my dry mouth, I start the slideshow, clicking through quickly.

Nature shots. What else?

Pictures of the hills, the trees, the sky. Another shot with the sunset blazing past Redhaven seen from on high.

A fox coming out of its burrow to sniff leaves as the darkness settles.

The glade below the cliff.

The place where Brian Newcomb’s body was found.

I’m clicking so fast now it’s like I’m trying to keep up with my pulse.

A few shots clicked away, then back as headlights glow through the trees. Every shot after shows those headlights coming closer, so dim they’re ghostly, so many successive shots it’s almost like a moving film.

Then I see it.

The trucks.

That town car.

The usual swarm of people moving around, a thing I’ve seen so many times, but never anything incriminating enough for a search and seizure, except—

There.

Xavier fucking Arrendell.

Joseph Peters is behind the wheel and Xavier’s stepping out of the back, dressed to the nines like he’s heading into a business meeting.

Only, the only person he’s meeting is Eustace Jacobin.

I don’t realize I’ve stopped breathing until my head goes light.

I suck in a mad breath while Talia exhales next to me. A quick glance shows her eyes wide, transfixed, while I click away.

There it is again.

Money changing hands.

A tight green roll passing from him to her, just distinct enough to be sure that’s what it is, and then she passes a white-wrapped brick to him. Probably a product sample.

Oh, fuck.

It’s perfect.

It’s enough and even if there’s no proof that brick is pure cocaine, it’ll be plenty to convince a judge I have grounds for a full fucking raid on the Jacobins and the Arrendells. The smoking gun has arrived, all thanks to this dead hiker.

Finally.

I’m fucking finally going to put these bastards in handcuffs.

So many times I’ve wanted to go rogue, to get vengeance, damn the consequences. I’m still not sure I won’t, but for now, there’s a certain satisfaction in knowing that my patience paid off and I did this the right way.

All I need is a warrant and a SWAT team to make sure the pricks responsible for the deaths of my brother and so many others are finally arrested.

Justice at last.

The sheer excitement chokes me so hard I almost miss the significance of the next few photos.

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