“And I told you to stop saying shit like that to me. Remember, I’m a cop.” I warned him about his loose tongue and violent temper all the time. My brother had it in him to kill; I didn’t need to be reminded of it every time his wild nature slipped the chains he had strapped on it since he fell in love with Dovie.
“Why are we here, Detective?” I hated it when he called me that in such a contemptuous tone.
I scowled at Bax and flicked a narrow-eyed look at Brysen as well. I crooked a finger and motioned for them to move closer so that I wasn’t spilling secrets all across the station. It sucked that in a place like the Point even the good guys could be bought if the price was right. I trusted no one.
“I got a call from one of the federal marshals handling all the witnesses in the Novak case. Race and Dovie’s old man was murdered last night in the secure location WITSEC found for him. Hartman was willing to give the names of major arms dealers, drug suppliers south of the border, where the money was stashed, and all kinds of other information the RICO unit was chomping at the bit to get their hands on in this case. He had a full security detail, was located out in the middle of goddamn nowhere, and someone still managed to get to him.”
Brysen made a noise of distress and bit down on her lip. “How are they handling the news?”
I answered as truthfully as I could. “Dovie is a sweetheart, so I think she’s mostly worried about Race since he hasn’t said too much. Her asshole father tried to have Novak kill her, so I think she’s just relieved that that’s one threat she’ll never have to worry about again. Race just kind of zoned out; I’ve never seen him like that before. That’s not all, though.” I rocked back on my heels and put a hand on the butt end of the pistol attached to my belt. “With Hartman being so insulated, we know the hit had to come from the inside. It had to be someone handling his move and relocation.” I didn’t want to admit that part even to myself, but it was clear there was no other explanation.
Bax swore. “A fed?”
I nodded solemnly. “Probably.”
Bax dropped every dirty word he had in his vocabulary. “Not enough we have to worry about the bad guys, now we gotta worry about the good guys too?”
“That’s about the shape of it.”
“Why was Reeve here, Titus?” It was a sharp change in subject but I knew it was coming. Bax wouldn’t be happy that Reeve was back no matter what the reasons for her sudden reappearance were.
“Because she has information I’m going to need if I have any chance of flushing out our dirty fed.”
“What kind of info?”
I had to shake my head and I rubbed my hands over my crop of short hair. I told Bax in a flat tone that left no room for any kind of argument, “That’s the line where brother and cop cross, Shane. Leave her alone, I need her so I can do my job and I will be seriously pissed if you get in my way.” I used his real name so that he knew I wasn’t fucking around.
Brysen had obviously gown tired of the two of us trying to out-badass each other and demanded, “Where is Race?”
“In my office with Dovie.” I stopped Bax with a hand on the center of his chest as he went to maneuver around me. My brother was big, but I had always been bigger, and I had no qualms about throwing around my weight when I needed to. “Look, I need this girl to stop what is happening in the Point . . . the fires, the beatings, the destruction . . . it’s all tied together. She is absolutely necessary. I told Dovie all of this and she gets it, so you need to use your brains and not go off half-cocked, because I will shut you down so fast it’ll make your head spin. You got me, Bax?”
Bax didn’t say anything, just shoved around me and stomped his way across the precinct house toward a glass door that had my rank and last name stenciled on it in black letters. Brysen went to follow him but I reached out to stop her. I felt like I had to give her a heads-up that her man was having a tough time with the news about his dad but doing his best to try and hide it.
“Race is a good man. He’s in a tough spot right now and making some really difficult choices, but he’s always been a lot softer at his center than Bax. His dad was a piece of shit, a murderer and a goddamn oily son of a bitch, but when it hits him, when it really settles, he’s gonna need a hand working through his old man being gone.”