Chapter 28
“Asshole Feds,” Dewey growled for what felt like the twentieth time as six of them crowded into the observation room.
The interview with Cain was being recorded, but they were still utilizing the ability to watch in person without being seen.
Krystal ignored Dewey, but shared a sideways glance with Levitz, who wasn’t as bad as she’d originally thought. Wasn’t his fault he’d gotten a shit partner. At least Dewey was retiring soon.
Then she turned her attention back to the two-way mirror because things were finally starting to get interesting.
Louis Cain sat next to his lawyer, his expression defiant while his lawyer was the picture of calm. She was almost as good as Sinead Goode—an attorney Krystal only knew by reputation and was damn thankful her sister had retained—but not quite that killer level.
“If Torres is his attorney, Cain can’t be as high up the food chain as we thought,” she murmured to Peter, who nodded.
Levitz did as well, frowning in realization. “If he was really working with one of the cartels or East Coast families, he’d have one of the big hitters representing him right now.”
“Yep. Which means…” She trailed off, not saying what they were all thinking—the Feds were going to try and cut a deal.
They wanted a bigger fish, which meant they needed someone on the inside.
Someone who would talk. Considering they had two agents in the observation room with them, she kept that to herself.
Krystal still wasn’t sure if the Feds had taken over because of the similar murders or the suspected link to drug running through North Carolina and up the East Coast. She didn’t think Cain had kidnapped her sister and dumped her at Henry’s, or even murdered Henry, but… the Feds had much broader resources.
Something had made them roll into town late last night and take over both Henry’s case and the Reed murder case.
At least they were letting Krystal and the other three detectives watch the interrogation, along with two of their own people who might as well be clones.
Dark suits, white shirts, black ties and boring as hell loafers—they looked like they were trying to mirror the Men in Black.
If they were, kudos to them, because they’d nailed the look.
“We’ve already got you on running drugs directly out of your bar. Two of your people have flipped on you,” Raine, one of the Feds said from across the interview table, looking at Cain and not his lawyer. “You’ve got quite the intricate operation.”
Neither his lawyer nor Cain said anything, just waited. Clearly they were both used to this type of situation and were not going to talk just because a Fed said some of Cain’s people had flipped.
“What we’re interested in is who’s behind these murders.” Raine, a tall woman with jet-black hair was still talking while her partner stayed silent.
But her partner, an older man named Bush, started laying out photographs.
From her vantage point she could see that the first picture was of Henry on a morgue slab.
The second was of Reed. And oh, wait, the guy wasn’t done.
In all, he laid out eight images, all clearly dead men.
Each of the victims looked to be white men in their thirties or forties, with dark hair.
It was hard to tell for sure from where she was standing, but there were clear similarities at least.
“Wait, this is a serial killer thing? And you’re just now telling us?” Dewey demanded, saying what they were all thinking. “Just like the Feds to roll in and steal the glory.”
“Quiet,” one of the Feds in the room snapped at him without turning toward the old detective.
Dewey stomped from the room, but Krystal was having the same thought.
Moving around Levitz, she slid in next to the man who’d told Dewey to shush.
Hell, she approved and wished Dewey knew how to read a room.
“Is this actually a serial killer thing?” she asked quietly, hoping he wouldn’t shut her down.
The Feds had been pretty decent, all things considered.
He was silent for a moment, but nodded as the interrogation continued on the other side of the glass. “We think so. We’ve got eight so far but we think there might be more. But it’s…complicated.”
That didn’t sound good. “How so?”
The man glanced at her, his dark eyes penetrating. “I know your sister was involved—”
“She didn’t do shit.”
“Not involved like that.” He looked away again, his jaw clenched tight as she, Peter and Levitz waited for more.
“I said we’ve got eight, but we think whoever killed Reed and Moore has killed at least ten.
The complication is that two of those cases have been solved.
Or more specifically, at least two people have been found guilty of the murders.
They have the same type of story your sister did—they woke up in a dead person’s home.
But unlike your sister, they didn’t run. They called the cops.”
“And…took the fall.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Maybe they’re guilty after all, but…” He shrugged.
“What’s the connection between the murdered people?”
“Mostly drugs or gambling adjacent. Henry Moore though…he’s a little different. We don’t have anything linking him to Cain or running drugs in general. But the M.O., the murder weapon, it’s all the same.”
“So…complicated.”
“Yep.”
She glanced back at Peter, who she swore could read her mind sometimes. No wonder the Feds had taken over.
He murmured something about grabbing a coffee but she knew he was going to try and get the file the Feds had, to find out the names of everyone who had been murdered in the same M.O. as Reed and Henry.
“You know we’ll have to bring your sister in,” the Fed said a few moments later.
Maybe she should learn his name. “Yeah, I figured.”
“If you want to pick her up for us, make it easier, it’s fine with us.”
“If you think I’ll bring her in without her lawyer—”
The man’s mouth curved up ever so slightly. “I wouldn’t dream of asking that. We think she might be able to shed some light on things. Or at least give a different perspective.”
“You want me to pick her up now?” Clearly that was where this was going. The guy was opening up to her for a reason.
“Yes.”
Holding back a sigh, she nodded. Whatever was going on, was a lot more complicated than they’d originally imagined.
She might not hate these Feds, but no way was she going to trust them with her sister’s freedom.