Page 114 of Shadow Sabotage
“Other than the fact that our best witness is on a chopper headed for Casper?”
“Oh yeah. Way worse than that.”
Her tone alarmed me. “What is it?”
She turned her head, catching my eye over her shoulder. “Katelyn’s affair wasn’t with Sheriff McGrath.”
“I figured that since she said the wife was okay with it. Do you know anyone here with a guest house and a gray pony?”
I didn’t bother pointing out the fact thatherfamily had plenty of guest housesandhorses. Walker and Naomi Hawkinsdidn’t seem like the types to have affairs. They were the real deal. Married and still so in love you could practically feel it radiating out of them when they were together.
“Yeah,” Claire answered between heavy breaths. “I do. I know who the boyfriend was. I sold him that pony myself, right after Katelyn’s Christmas visit. He said it was for when his niece came to visit.”
“Why do you sound so disappointed? I thought you’d be happy it’s not Sheriff McGrath.” My own breathing started to labor. A climb like this was bad enough on its own. But after very little sleep and insufficient calories, it was killer. The SAR team was badass. And my partner was the most badass of them all.
“Oh, I’m thrilled it’s not him. But we’re screwed.”
“Why?”
“Because she was dating Judge Barrington. And apparently, he has Trey in his pocket.”
Judge Barrington.
The pieces clicked into place. Him meeting her at the Evanses’ house when she came for Christmas. Darla Barrington not caring about his infidelity and encouraging Serena to have an affair of her own. The non-disclosure agreement. The conversation where Sergeant Collins had talked about spinning something instead of risking it coming out later—he’d been talking about the information Robin had just given us, information that could connect Katelyn to Judge Barrington.
It all fit.
“Shit,” I said between gritted teeth.
“Yep. And now you know why we’re screwed.”
I did. Judge Barrington was the only one who knew our entire playbook. I’d called him for warrants and told about the snowmobile theory, about Sheriff McGrath having coffee with Katelyn, even about the video where Serena discussed an affair.All of it. I’d held nothing back, needing to prove probable cause in order to get my warrants.
If Judge Barrington owned a snowmobile and had used it to dump Katelyn’s body, he could ditch it before we searched it. If he’d had Sergeant Collins do it with one of the SAR snowmobiles, he could have had Collins destroy the evidence during the time he’d said he needed to “think things over” before granting my warrants.
Worse, he could have used that time to plant evidence at the McGraths’, framing the suspect we’d handed him on a silver platter.
My mind began working, trying to figure out a plan to fix everything as we scrambled up the side of the ravine, racing to try to salvage our case.
We almost made it to the top.
When the edge of the ravine came into sight, a shot rang out. One bullet whizzed by my head; a second one hit the ground beside me.
Claire and I both hit the dirt.
A third bullet struck, shattering a stone beside Claire’s shoulder. Her eyes, full of fear, met mine.
We had to get under cover.
There was a boulder back behind us, to the left. One that jutted out of the side of the ravine and would provide a shield if we could get beneath it. I grabbed Claire and rolled backward, bracing my feet against anything I could find to stop our slide before we got too far. We landed just below the outcrop and scrambled underneath it.
“Are you okay?” I asked, my breath ragged as I grabbed her shoulders and looked her over. She had scratches on her face and hands, blood mingling with the dust that now coated her. But she was alive.
“Yes.” She nodded, fighting to control her breathing. “You?”
“Yep.” Anger settled hard as I looked at her pale face and wide eyes.
A torrent of rocks fell, pelting the ground around us. I pulled Claire to my chest, making us as small as possible beneath the meager protection of the outcrop.
