“And Hart didn’t know about your involvement,” Dean confirmed. “Nothing.”
Jim shook his head. “No one knew about me. The whore’s manager knew—only because of Hart’s screw ups. Which pissed me off, but the guy is old school, very trustworthy. So Hart set Mr. Huang up. Vlad was given the same gun that Hart use to kill Elsa, which of course Hart didn’t know anything about. I wanted to make sure he understood exactly what his role was in the organization, and how easy it would be for us to destroy him. I knew that when ballistics came out, he would panic. Which he did, by demanding that the organization kill Alexandra Morgan.”
Matt’s hands tightened on her shoulders. This was the first that they’d heard that Alex had been a target. Why would Hart have suspected her? What was his reason for wanting her dead if no one knew she was working undercover? She’d had dinner with him, had never even gotten the vibe that he wanted to kill her.
“Did Hart know that Ms. Morgan had been working undercover for the FBI while she was a Sac PD detective?”
“No, but he was suspicious about what happened between Detective Cordell and Alex. So was I—I couldn’t prove she was working undercover. I even wondered if I was wrong, because I could find nothing. She was a good liar.” He paused and stared at the one-way glass. He couldn’t see her, Alex knew, but it seemed he was looking right at her.
Jim continued.
“Through the network, Tommy Cordell was ordered to beat up a drug dealer as a test. The Alex I knew wouldn’t have let that stand—she would have gone to her lieutenant and reported it. I had bought into her turning her back on skimming, because privately, she’d indicated that it bothered her but she knew the score. It happened, it wasn’t going to stop, and she didn’t want to be a snitch. But I also knew that Alex would never let Cordell get away with abuse under the color of authority. When she didn’t report, I had her followed. Saw that she was meeting with the District Attorney. Then, I didn’t know she was covered by the FBI, but suspected she was working with the D.A.’s investigative unit—assuming that her father had hooked her up with Elliott. But once I learned that the D.A. had a sister who was a fed, I wondered if there was something more going on. But by that time, she’d moved out, and then she and Cordell had the shoot-out.”
Dean pressed. “What really happened with the shooting that left Detectives Morgan and Cordell injured.”
“That wasn’t me. Cordell was told to cool off for awhile. He wasn’t told about Alex’s possible investigation. I was working behind the scenes to get her transferred to another division. Truthfully, I didn’t want her killed. But Cordell, like most sex addicts, couldn’t stop. I wanted to castrate him myself. I don’t think he expected Alex to walk into the motel. I’m not even sure why she did it, or if her official report—that she thought her partner was in trouble—was accurate. Cordell panicked, and I think suddenly put two and two together and was expecting a sting operation. He shot her, and the only thing I regret about that day was that Alex didn’t kill him.”
Jim leaned forward. “For the record, I care about Alex Morgan. I did everything in my power to keep her out of the line of fire. When she stopped the assassination that Hart set up—to kill Eric Huang—Hart was convinced that she’d somehow known about it. He remembered her connection to Cordell, that Cordell was in prison and she was still out. He knew everything about her, her father, and resented that her father supported Matt Elliott for D.A.—and got other judges to support Elliott as well. Hart not only had a God complex—that he thought he was better than everyone else and above the law—but a persecution complex, that everyone was out to get him, particularly the D.A. Matt Elliott.
“I bugged Alex’s apartment the night Hart took her to dinner. Hart’s driver was one of my men, and was told that if Hart attempted to hurt her, he was to be stopped. I didn’t want to believe that Alex was still working for the feds, but she’d lied to me when I showed her the picture of Vlad. I knew she’d seen him, because I knew Tommy Cordell had taken her to the boat house where Vlad lived, in the apartment above the repair shop. Yet she denied it. I needed to know what she knew and who else knew it.
“I was too late.” Jim hesitated and for a split second seemed to consider something else. “Not only did Alex know too much about our operation, but she’d been talking to Selena Black, who had confided to her brother Detective John Black, and it was only a matter of time before they connected the dots. I had to cut our losses and disband the organization.”
“He’s lying,” Alex said as the truth washed over her. She was shaking.
“About what?” Matt asked.
“I didn’t talk to Selena until the morning after he bugged my apartment. I think--”
He hadn’t come over that night to kill her. Had he?