“I don’t like it.”
“What’s not to like? I haven’t taken the job. I’m just going to listen to him.” She hesitated. “What’s going on here? Isn’t this exactly what you need? Someone on the inside? As his security consultant I’ll know his schedule, his meetings, whether he’s slipping out at night to meet with a mistress or whatever. It’s the perfect cover. But that’s assuming I even take it.”
Matt let out a long sigh and rubbed his face. “You’re right. I just—I just don’t trust him. I know him far too well, and he’s as slippery as they come.”
“I got the same impression.”
“You did?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?” She sat down across from him. “I know I screwed up last summer; I’m not going to screw this up.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Wrong was subjective when you were a spy. “I wish I’d never walked in on Tommy. If I hadn’t seen him with the girl ...” She’d thought about that, a lot. She couldn’t turn her back on what he’d done, but if she hadn’t known about it, she would have finished the investigation. Tommy trusted her. She’d crossed lines a good, straight cop would never have crossed, all to earn his trust. And then poof! Gone because he was a damn pervert. “I was close to getting something solid on Rykov with Tommy. I know the players. If Travis Hart has anything illegal going with Rykov, I will find out.”
“I don’t have to tell you this is dangerous. Last time ... I didn’t think it was dangerous and you nearly died.”
“I’m wiser now. And there is a Russian connection to Hart’s shooting.”
“You read the ballistics report?”
“What? No—I’m talking about the shooter.”
“The shooter is Russian? How do you know?”
“Freeze,” she said. “Let’s back up. There’s a ballistics report. Steve didn’t tell me what it revealed, but he slipped and said ballistics matched another crime.”
“Three years ago a Russian prostitute was killed and dumped in the Sacramento River. The bullet that killed her matches the bullets fired by the shooter at the hotel. Now, what do you know about the shooter?”
“He’s dead. Steve was just here getting files, I’d assumed he would have told you—and probably told you more than me.”
“I didn’t see him. And they have a name?”
“No—no ID, no prints in the system. I talked to Jim after I met with Hart. Hart told me the shooter was shot in Discovery Park. Possible suicide, but—I don’t know. Doesn’t feel right to me, though I don’t have my hands on the evidence. Then Jim was waiting for me outside Hart’s office. I had to practically force him to show me the shooter’s photo. I know who he is.”
“Who? Connected to Rykov?”
She nodded. “I don’t know his name, but Tommy met with him several times when I was following him. It’s all in the notes I turned over to the FBI. I called him the skinny Russian. He has that distinct look, fair skin, square jaw, wispy light brown hair. I never got close to hear him speak, but I put pictures in the file.”
“I’ll call Hooper.”
“Your office gave Steve Jefferson a list of all the cases that Hart worked on. Is there any way I can get the same list?”
“Yes, but you can’t take them. I can let you look at them here.”
“That’s fine, I’m not meeting Hart until seven.”
“Alex—”
She didn’t want to hear anymore from Matt about being careful around Hart. She knew what she needed to do. So she told him what was really bugging her. “I didn’t tell Jim I recognized the shooter,” she said. “He needs that information to do his job, and I feel like I’m withholding evidence.”
“We’ll find a way for him to get the information without exposing you.”
“It just ... makes me feel dirty.”
“What on earth for?”
“Because I kept secrets all last year!” She threw her hands up in the air, frustrated and angry, mostly at herself. She jumped up and paced. “Those secrets destroyed my relationship with Jim. Cost me my job. And I’m still keeping those damn secrets because if I told Jim I recognized the shooter as being part of the Russian mob, he’d ask me how I knew, and I’d have to tell him about Tommy’s connection to the Russians and that I not only knew about it, but was a fucking snitch for the feds until I screwed the whole thing up and shot him.”
“Stop,” Matt said quietly.