Page 122 of State of Retribution

He knocked on the chief’s door and walked in, not waiting for an invitation.

Joe looked up at him and lifted his brows in inquiry.“What now?”

“Did you know that Skip covered up the fact that Alice Coyne’s son Tyler was killed by his older brother Cameron?”

Joe stared at him, unblinking.“No, I didn’t know that.How do you know?”

“A reporter called McBride, who knew because Sam had her reopen the case when Skip had pneumonia, wanting to get it settled for him if he was about to die.They found all sorts of irregularities but told Sam they’d learned nothing new in a misguided attempt to protect Skip’s reputation.Then he recovered, found out about the new investigation and hit the roof because he’d told Sam before to leave that case alone.”

“Oh my God.”

“He demanded everything they’d found during the review, which was when Sam found out that Jeannie and Tyrone had lied to her about what they’d uncovered.She suspended them.And then she did what her father told her to and forgot about what her detectives had learned.”

“No detective is perfect, but she usually plays by the rules.Now I’m wondering if that’s not the case.”

“There’re almost always extenuating circumstances when someone like her behaves out of character.We need to find out more before we jump to conclusions.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but how in the hell does a reporter have this?”

“We have no idea.Tyrone is the only other person who knew, and McBride was adamant that he’d never tell anyone.”

“I want every available officer working on this and only this.Any and all overtime is authorized.”

“Yes, sir.We’re operating on the theory that all of it—the four new murders, the kidnapping and assault of Archelotta’s girlfriend, the drones, the shooting of Agent McFarland and the resurrection of the Reese and Fitzgerald cases—are somehow related to a coordinated attempt to take Sam down.”

“I think that’s a safe bet.”

“It would help to have her input.”

The chief shook his head.“We’ve announced that she’s suspended pending an investigation into Reese’s allegations.”

“She did what he said she did.”

“We know that, but the public doesn’t need to know that yet.If we can find the people coordinating this attack, we can take the heat off her by arresting them.”

“Will she be able to come back from this?”

“We’ll make sure of it, but for right now, we’re focused on figuring out who’s doing this, and my bet is on Ramsey and Offenbach to start with.Put your focus there.I told her she couldn’t talk to anyone here, but I’ll lift that if you think her input will help.”

“Got it.”

“I want you to oversee this investigation personally, Jake.Get to the bottom of this as fast as you can.”

“Yes, sir.We’re on it.”

“Hurry.We have a matter of days to save her career and possibly ours, too.”

“Understood.”

Jake left the chief’s office and returned to the pit to see to his orders, determined to figure out who was trying to ruin Sam and why, before it was too late.

Sam answeredthe call from Jeannie McBride because Jeannie was now one of her bosses.“Hey.I’m not allowed to talk to anyone from there.”

“I know, but I wanted to give you a heads-up that a reporter called me.He asked about the Tyler Fitzgerald case.”

Once again, shock hit her like she’d been electrocuted.Sam sat when her legs threatened to give out.“What did he say?”

“He said he was a reporter but wouldn’t say from where, that he wanted to know what I’d found out about Tyler Fitzgerald’s murder and why you never did anything with the information.”

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