Page 60 of What a Wolf Wants
“They must not have warned Kroner that they had hit the wrong house and were coming to his house next,” Charlene said.
“No one but I knew who we were actually targeting,” Ethan said, “because of previous botched cases. About the other cases, Renault, you could be right. I was so busy making sure our injured men were getting seen to, and that the drug dealers we caught were being hauled away, that I don’t remember what either of those men had been doing.”
“They looked like they hadn’t been in a fight at all. The rest of us were sweating, had gas-mask marks on our faces when we removed the gas masks, and I didn’t see that they’d even worn gas masks.”
“Hell.” Ethan wished he had been more observant of the two men.
“Don’t feel bad about it. I didn’t catch on until the raid on Kroner’s house. I found your informant and took tougher measures to learn how come we hit the wrong house. He said that an agent, he didn’t know which one, told him he would make it worthwhile to him if he changed the name of the street that we were supposed to hit. Nothing too noticeable, something that could be a reasonable mistake. But he also asked who the drug dealer was, and Ferret told him he didn’t know and he wouldn’t give the agent the actual address either.”
“Aww, hell. IthoughtFerret had lied to me. He was sweating and nervous, tapping his foot, avoiding eye contact, even looking up at the ceiling as if he was trying to come up with a story. But I couldn’t learn from him why he had given me the wrong street name.” Now Ethan was truly irritated about it. He sure wished the hell he knew who the agent was. “Ferret did know who the drug dealer was. I just kept who we were going after under wraps from our team until we arrived at the house.”
“I just kept thinking something wasn’t right because we had all these near-misses on capturing the perps,” Renault said.
Charlene mentioned what she had seen at the convenience store. “I mean, it might not have been anything, but Ryerson and Cohen acted suspicious to me.”
Renault shook his head. “Especially after Ryerson and Cohen followed you into the restaurant to intimidate you.”
“What are you thinking of doing to prove who the mole or moles are?” Ethan asked, hoping he wasn’t being taken for a fool because the mole was really Renault who was trying to learn if Ethan thought it was him.
“I got word that Oakley had a home in Shelby Bay, but it’s in another person’s name and so it took a lot of digging to unearth it. Oakley doesn’t know what I look like so I actually followed another guy who often buys drugs from Oakley. That’s how we learned Oakley was involved as a dealer initially. I figured this dude would be going to his source. I followed him from Portland, long drive, I know, but I didn’t realize he would lead me all the way out to Shelby Bay and to this home that is associated with Oakley.”
“That was risky.” Especially since Ethan and Noah had caught Renault at it and worried about him working with the criminals.
“Yeah, I know. But the thing of it was, I went to buy the drugs for evidence, had a microphone on, and the whole thing. But no one sold me anything. They denied having drugs there.”
“But there was nobody to back you up. What if someone was conducting surveillance and saw you going there and thought you were involved in all this?” Ethan asked.
“To tell you the truth, I would have asked you to go with me because I trust you, but you went and retired on me. I figured I could rely on Noah, but he has gone back to Florida and who knows when he’s returning to take over your old job. Plus, being new on the team, he might not want to go rogue to help me solve this.”
“I imagine he wouldn’t. Just like it’s too dangerous for you to do so. What did you find out when you went to the house?” Ethan asked. Maybe Renault saw something that would help them.
“I didn’t see Oakley. I didn’t see anyone I recognized. Just some small fish. I figured Oakley and the others might be lying low after the raid on Kroner’s place and us netting one of the guys.”
Ethan sure wished he could confide in Renault. He didn’t want Renault to go off half-cocked and get himself killed because he was determined to do this on his own, yet Ethan understood how he felt. Ethan certainly felt the same way about catching these bastards.
On the other hand, Ethan didn’t want to expose Noah and his mission to Renault who still could be the mole. They needed to look into his financial background and see if he was getting money that couldn’t be accounted for. Or buying expensive items he couldn’t afford.
“I shouldn’t involve you in all this since you’re no longer with the force, but you always gave me good advice, saved my butt a few times when I arrived in Portland, and I just thought if anyone had any sound words of wisdom it would be you.”
“Thanks. The department will get whoever the mole or moles are. I don’t like that you’re doing this on your own and putting yourself at unnecessary risk without Grainger’s approval.”
“I second that,” Charlene said, then began eating the rest of her chicken thigh.
“You know it could be someone in the police bureau, not even in our department,” Renault said, serving up some more green beans on his plate. “The meal is delicious, by the way.”
Charlene said, “I agree. Thanks for lunch, Ethan.”
“My pleasure. On the business of someone in the police bureau being involved, Grainger has talked to the bureau chief who is having someone look into that.”
“Oh, good. I was going to see if your good friends Adam or Tori might be able to check into it quietly. I was going to drop by your house to talk to you about all this, but I don’t have your address.”
That was going to be tough to explain since Ethan couldn’t give out that address to anyone in the department.
“Ethan is staying with me.” Charlene smiled brilliantly at Renault. “So if you’re looking for him, he’ll be here if he’s not running errands.”
Renault’s jaw dropped. Then he smiled. “Well, hell, who would have thought it would progress that quickly?”
Renault had no idea. “Yeah, I was going to rent a furnished place to make sure I liked it out here before I actually bought a home, but then Charlene told me to come stay with her and save on the rent. So my own household goods are still in storage in Portland. Staying with Charlene has worked like a charm.” He only mentioned the storage situation in case Renault had been checkinghimout!
