Chapter Three #3
Cooper sensed his discomfort but pushed ahead anyway.
“Given that Eckhart had a hand in approving construction projects across the city, with a flurry of residential and commercial developments under way, I’d like you to keep your eyes and ears open for anyone who may approach you—or someone else in the building business—offering or accepting bribes. ”
Zapponi sucked in a deep breath. “Look, Agent Reid, I was happy to do my part in fighting public corruption—but I never signed up for hazardous duty, as this seems to have turned into. If Horace was murdered for what he was up to on the job, I want no part of this. I have a wife who’s expecting.
I can’t afford to put my life and their future at risk.
I hope you understand where I’m coming from? ”
How can I not? Cooper thought. If the situation was reversed, wouldn’t he feel precisely the same way? He couldn’t ask the CI to take unnecessary risks to his health and well-being—so long as Horace Eckhart’s murder remained unsolved and under investigation.
“I do understand.” Cooper put the contractor’s mind at ease. “I don’t want you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”
“Thanks.” Zapponi’s rigid features relaxed. “Hope you catch whoever killed Horace. Whatever bad choices he made shouldn’t have cost him his life—if that was, in fact, the case.”
“You’re right about that,” Cooper concurred. “But some choices we make can come at a very high price. This may have been one of those.”
Zapponi considered this silently and finished off the beer, before getting to his feet. “Have to go now.”
Cooper nodded. “I’ll give you a couple of minutes’ head start,” he told him, lessening the chance they might be seen together—in case one or both of the men who were involved in Eckhart’s murder were out to get anyone thought to be swept up in the public corruption probe as a possible witness.
“Okay.” Zapponi met his eyes. “I’m out of here.”
Cooper watched as the contractor—and former CI—darted off without looking back and out the door.
Looks like I’ll have to carry on without Zapponi’s help, he told himself.
Fortunately, the Bureau had more than enough ammunition to continue the investigation and achieve solid results—with or without Zapponi feeding him inside information.
After downing the rest of the water, Cooper stood and left the bar. By then, Zapponi had disappeared from sight. Now it’s time I did the same, Cooper thought, as he headed for his vehicle in the parking lot.
He drove to the field office and conferred with the special agent in charge about the decision to drop Neal Zapponi for the right reasons as his CI, while continuing to work the case of public corruption against the backdrop of his primary suspect’s death—Horace Eckhart.
Amelia was fully supportive in giving Cooper the room he wanted in pursuing leads wherever he could find them, with backup from other special agents as needed.
Cooper was happy that he had turned his attention away from Lexi De La Garza as a person of interest in the case.
That being said, he was interested in the attractive architect on a more personal level—even if nothing was likely to ever materialize between them.
Or was he looking at the glass half empty, rather than half full of potential?
En route to home, he stopped off at Shelly’s Kitchen, a seafood restaurant on West Bell Road, for takeout of grilled shrimp and coleslaw.
Soon Cooper arrived at his condominium on East Deer Valley Drive in North Phoenix.
It was a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath penthouse that he had purchased a year ago after finding he could no longer live in the contemporary house that he’d shared with his late wife in the Ahwatukee Foothills part of the city.
The memories there were too difficult to be constantly reminded of her.
The smart-enabled condo had exposed brick walls and an open concept with a high ceiling, rustic ceiling fan, vinyl flooring and floor-to-ceiling windows with plantation shutters.
A farmhouse kitchen had a quartz island and countertops, a breakfast bar, and a large pantry.
There was a living room separate from the dining room that had rustic furnishings, and led onto a nice-sized balcony with a gas grill and wicker furnishings.
The spacious primary bedroom had an en suite bathroom and walk-in closet, while Cooper used the spare bedroom as a home office.
He made his way into the kitchen, setting the food down on the counter before washing up.
He got a bottle of red wine from the stainless-steel refrigerator, a plate, glass and silverware out, and put these and his dinner on a round wooden dining table.
Cooper sat on a ladder-back upholstered chair. He had grown accustomed to eating alone. It wasn’t his preference. Just the way things were since Melanie died, for the most part. Perhaps that would change someday.
Lexi De La Garza’s face popped into his head, for whatever reason. And in spite of the fact that he doubted their paths would cross again in the course of his investigation, as it had moved in a different direction.
Unless he could come up with another means for them to converge and connect.