Maya’s stomach constricted and her shoulders tightened.Dang it, Doug. I don’t want to believe you would do something like this, but the evidence is piling up.She stopped scratching Juniper and took in the three men around her. She wanted them to tell her they were messing with her, that this was some sort of sick rookie hazing deal, but she knew that wasn’t the case. This was different. There was the cash, the letters and something Pops wasn’t telling her. Maya had to admit, if she were the investigator, she would come to the same conclusion.
“I don’t understand,” she finally said, hoping to draw more information out of the agents. Juniper nudged her hand wanting more attention, but Maya couldn’t move.
“We don’t either.” Coleman spoke up. “We know you were close with Doug, so we were hoping you could shed some light on all of this. I’m also going to need a statement from you.”
“I’ve already started working on my statement,” Maya said. “I can finish it tomorrow.”
“Good,” Coleman said. Maya didn’t appreciate the way he was staring at her. She knew from her military and law enforcement training in interrogation techniques that he was studying her for signs of lying or withholding information.
Maya let out a sigh. She had to tell them about the money and maybe the secret girlfriend. She couldn’t believe that Doug would be involved in anything bad, but DNA evidence didn’t lie. She also knew what Doug wrote about being in trouble in the letters he never sent.How could he change so much?
Her grandfather had been withholding information when she talked to him, she was sure about that. She would tell them everything that seemed important, but it felt like betraying Doug. But maybe Doug had betrayed her.
“Doug didn’t say anything to me that would make me think he was involved in something illegal,” Maya started. “But...”
“Yes?” Coleman asked.
“I don’t know if this is anything or not.”
“Spit it out, Thompson,” Todd said.
Maya had never heard him speak like that before. She wasn’t put off or offended. After living the life of a Marine, it took much more than that to rattle her, but she had never seen this side to her boss. “I went over to Doug’s house to get Juniper’s things. When I was there, I found a hidden floorboard. Underneath it was a safe. In the safe I found cash. Lots of cash. I couldn’t estimate it, but there were bundles of hundred-dollar bills. I thought it was odd Doug would have that amount of cash hidden.”
“You think?” muttered the FBI agent.
Maya gave him her best stare-down—the one people didn’t want to see from her. The men in her unit called it the battle face, and it meant get out of her way or else. “Yes, I did think it was odd, but on the other hand, don’t we all do odd things? I’m sure even you do, Agent Kessler,” Maya said.
He squirmed for a moment in his seat and Maya took satisfaction in that. She redirected her gaze back to Coleman and Todd. “I also think he had a secret serious relationship, but he never told me about it, which I also found strange since we’ve been best friends for a long time. I figure he would have told me eventually...if he was still here,” Maya said, deciding to leave out the fact that she’d removed the letters from his house. They would probably now be considered evidence, but she didn’t want to give up one of the last memories she had of her best friend. From the sounds of it, there were plenty of other things that made Doug the prime suspect, so they didn’t need the letters anyway. Maya tried to convince herself that there had to be a good explanation. If Doug was involved, why did they go to the drug lab?
“All right,” Coleman said. “We’ll get some crime scene techs to go over and process his house. I was planning on that anyway, but I’ll tell them about the cash. Maybe we can trace it.”
“What about the other person? The one who detonated the bomb?” Maya asked. “There had to be more fingerprints than just Doug’s.”
“We didn’t find any evidence of another person being there,” Coleman said. “I know what you said, but there were no other fingerprints or DNA. Maybe you hit your head when the explosion happened.”
“I know what I saw,” Maya said, annoyed that Coleman didn’t believe her. She took a deep breath. Getting angry wouldn’t help her cause. “And what about the cabin? It was converted to a drug lab. A local sheriff’s deputy told me he arrested someone the other night. It appears they were using Krokodil. Maybe we should investigate with the sheriff’s department on this one.”
Coleman shrugged. “Yeah, okay, good idea. We should have the identification of the product from the lab soon. If you think of anything else, call me.”
“Yes, sir,” Maya said, standing up as Coleman and Kessler also stood. They all shook hands again, and then Coleman and Kessler left.
Maya turned to Todd. “Sir, I really don’t know anything else. And there was another person there.”
“I believe you. Sit back down and let’s talk some more.”
Maya plopped back in the chair, exhaustion hitting her. She rubbed her forehead. The urge for a beer came on strong. Juniper stood up, pushed her head into Maya’s hand, then smacked Maya with her paw.
“Okay, girl. Lay back down,” Maya said.
Juniper sighed and then listened. Maya rewarded her by scratching her head.
“Looks like you two are getting along,” Todd said.
“Yes. She’s a great dog.”
“Good. Glad to hear that. You want to skip this trial period and plan on going to the next certification? It’s coming up soon starting in July.”
Maya hesitated. She wanted to be Juniper’s handler, but what if she wasn’t ready? What about her past mistake as a handler? Did Todd know about that?