Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
EVERETT
I’m glued to Vivian’s side until they wheel her into a triage bay.
“You’ll have to wait !” the bossy nurse barks at me before spinning away to re-join her team.
I run my hands through my hair. There are a hundred things I want to do right now, but only one of them matters.
Being with Vivian.
But I also need to find whoever did this to her.
During the ambulance ride, I sent the sheriff updates. He released an alert for a tan Suburban, but I won’t be able to rest until we find it and whoever was behind the wheel.
Though I’m pretty sure I know who it is.
Certainly not Shawna, who is cooling her jets in Interview Room 2 right now.
It’s looking less and less like Shawna is involved in anything besides spray painting Vivian’s car.
So, if Jordy Clarke is tormenting Vivian, what I don’t have nailed down is why .
The only common denominator, if I take Shawna out of the equation, is California. And if I think about Jordy’s past crimes and the minimal sentencing… and that Rancho Palos Verdes is a suburb of L.A., is it possible he and Kent Hyek are somehow linked?
Cops often recruit criminals as confidential informants. C.I.s are especially useful for investigating systemic types of crimes like drugs, sex trafficking, or gangs. Could Jordy Clarke be some kind of informant?
Maybe one that owes Hyek a very big favor?
I have absolutely nothing to back this up. No intel. Nothing concrete. It’s thin and so far off the cuff as to be laughable.
And it would be, except that it’s been lurking in the back of my mind since that moment in Mrs. Ovenell’s living room.
“Ev!” Sepp calls out, running toward me from the E.D. entrance, his eyes dark. “What happened?”
“Someone hit her on the drive to Mom and Dad’s.”
“What?”
Linden is right on his heels, dressed in his turnouts. He was on scene, but we were too focused on getting Vivian to safety to carry on a conversation.
“What the hell were you thinking punching out her window like that?” Linden asks, so loud it draws the same nurse back over.
“What took you so long to get there?” I fire back.
“Break it up, you two,” Sepp says, his voice rising. “Is Vivian okay?”
The nurse turns us by our shoulders. “This is an emergency room, not debate club. Out!”
We walk through the ambulance bay doors to the covered turnaround outside the hospital. Beyond the bright lights, it’s still pouring. Hutch and his partner are already gone. I’ll make sure to find them later and thank them.
“What do you mean someone hit her,” Sepp says.
Linden crosses his arms. Down below us in the parking lot, his fire engine and the rest of his crew are waiting, the cloud of exhaust from the tailpipe curling upward into the night.
“That’s what she said. We’re trying to track the person down. ”
Sepp rubs his forehead. “How bad is she hurt?”
“She’s going to be okay. Some bruises. Probably a concussion, and a broken ankle.”
My phone chirps. It’s the sheriff. “I gotta take this.”
Sepp disappears inside.
Linden gives me a pointed look. “That was stupid. You both could have been hurt.”
“I had to get her out of there.”
He shakes his head. “What if the car had been unstable?”
“Then I knew you were right behind me.”
His nostrils flare, then he grabs me in a firm hug.
Emotion clots in my throat as I squeeze him back.
“Don’t fucking scare me like that again,” he says, drawing a shaky breath.
“I can make no such promises.”
He gives me a little shove backwards and shakes his head.
From the fire truck down below comes a snicker.
“Fuck.” Without saying goodbye, Linden turns on his heel and trots down the steps.
I answer my phone. On my screen is a reply from Grant’s mom, Sabrina.
No problem
I breathe a sigh of relief that Logan can stay over tonight. I’ll call him at Grant’s house as soon as I’m done with the sheriff.
“We found the Suburban,” Sheriff Olson says.
“And Jordy?”
“Him too.”
I brace off the side of the building and close my eyes.
“Rogue County Sheriff’s Department’s transferring him. He paid twelve hundred in cash for that Suburban on Friday.”
So, he’s talking? “What else have we learned? ”
“He keeps blabbering about some LAPD sting operation that went wrong.” Sheriff Olson says. “Know anything about that?”
“I have some ideas.”
“Shawna Farrell’s alibi for Tuesday checks out. Zach’s drawing up the vandalism charges for the damage to Vivian’s car. Considering Ms. Farrell confessed to the spray painting, the judge will probably give her community service.”
“I guess that’s fair.”
“I think a restraining order is a good idea,” he adds.
“Agreed.” It won’t guarantee Shawna never comes near me or the people I care about again, but it establishes a legal boundary, with consequences. Meanwhile, I will be discussing my suspicions about Shawna giving Logan’s email to Teresa with Vice Principal Cromwell.
“Vivian all right?” Sheriff Olson asks.
“Yeah.”
“That’s good to hear.”
We end the call, and I take a series of breaths, forcing air all the way into my lungs.
Jordy Clarke tried to kill Vivian tonight.
She’s going to be okay, but I won’t rest until I know she’s safe. Whatever it takes.
When I enter the waiting area, Sepp is just coming back from the triage nurse’s station.
“They’re sending her to CT, and then they’re going to X-ray her ankle, see if she needs surgery.”
“Can we be with her?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Not until they bring her to a room.”
It’s so fucking bright in here, and the smell… it’s like starch and fake pine. “Then what are we supposed to do? Just sit here?”
My voice draws a sharp look from the receptionist.
Sepp puts his hand on my shoulder and levels me with a kind gaze. “Why don’t I wait. I’ll text you as soon as I know what room they’re bringing her to. I’m guessing you have things to take care of? ”
“I want to take care of her .”
If he’s surprised by the tremor in my voice, he doesn’t let on. “I know. But the first step is to nail the fucker who did this.”
“What about Matty?” I ask.
“Mom and Dad are going to bring him in the morning. He fell asleep on the couch with Dad before we knew what was going on.”
I release a shaky breath. “Promise you’ll let me know when I can see her.”
“I promise. Now go.”
Zach picks me up outside the hospital so I can get my truck from the side of road.
“Vivian doing okay?”
“Yeah. Mild concussion. Some bumps and bruises. She’s going to be all right.”
He pauses at the exit to glance both ways, then accelerates onto the road. “Wanna clue me in on this Jordy Clarke guy Rogue County is bringing us? All I’ve heard so far is he’s an ex con forklift operator from Idaho Falls.”
“I think Jordy works for Vivian’s ex—a dirty LAPD vice squad cop named Kent Hyek.”
Zach’s brows shoot up. “Fucking seriously?”
“Yeah. Maybe Clarke is a former C.I., or maybe even some kind of enforcer.”
“What does this have to do with Vivian?” He gives me a confused glance.
Though it’s going to put me in hot water with Luke Ballard and the California FBI, fuck it. “The feds are building a case against Hyek, and I think he knows it.”
Zach shakes his head in disbelief. “Hold it. You think Hyek sent Jordy up here to find out if Vivian gave him up?”
“It would be the quickest way to squash the FBI’s case, right? Eliminate the source of the intel. ”
Zach grips the wheel. “It’s fucked up. Vivian could have been killed.”
I gaze out the rain-streaked window at the dark blur of trees lining the road. “Yeah.”
“Jordy’s living in Idaho Falls?”
“For the past four years. Before that, he was in L.A.”
“Why’s he up here and not Hyek?”
“Jordy’s a lot closer to Finn River than Hyek is. Maybe Hyek offered Jordy a deal he couldn’t refuse. Or maybe Hyek’s got some sort of hold on him. Either way, Jordy comes to Finn River to figure out how much Vivian knows; if she’s talking to anyone. Maybe the drive-by outside Glory Holes was a test. See what she’d do.”
“But she didn’t do anything,” Zach says, arching an eyebrow.
“I was right there, though.” With my hand on Mateo’s back and my eyes locked with hers. Was that the moment our lives became inextricably woven?
“Then Jordy breaks in to find whatever evidence she might have been hiding,” Zach says, pulling me back to our drive.
“When he finds nothing, Kent gets Jordy to run Vivian off the road.”
“Did he mean to kill her, or was the accident a warning?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’ll clue us in now that he’s in custody.”
Zach nods. “If this it all true, think Jordy will give up Hyek?”
Ahead, Zach’s headlights splash across the back end of my truck, pulled over as far as I could before I ran down the bank to get to Vivian. Those seconds when I didn’t know if she was alive are going to haunt me until I take my last breath.
“Even if he does, it won’t help him,” I tell Zach as he cruises to a stop behind my truck.
“But it could help bring down Kent Hyek.”
“Yep.”
“The feds aren’t going to appreciate us stepping on their toes,” he says with a grimace .
“If they didn’t move at the speed of fucking molasses, none of this would have happened. Hyek would already be behind bars, rotting his pathetic life away. So my professional courtesy only extends so far.”
Zach nods. “Don’t piss them off too much. We’re about to break open two unsolved murder cases thanks to their fancy tools.”
“You’re right,” I say with a sigh. It’s a good reminder. Jordy Clarke is only one of many cases we’re working, and as much as I’d like to build a case against Hyek, doing so would jeopardize our hard work. I only have to picture Ashley and Ted Lambert’s grief to stop me in my tracks.
“See you back at the station,” I say, and step into the rain.
During my drive, I check in with Sepp, but Vivian hasn’t even gotten into the CT scan yet. At the station, Sheriff Olson is in his office, so I peek in.
He slides his bifocals off. “Rumsey, you had coffee yet?”
“No, sir. I can wait though.”
He motions for me to sit in one of the two chairs opposite him, so I drop down, exhaustion heavy in my limbs.
“I got a call from an assistant attorney general in Los Angeles. They want us to cut Jordy a deal in exchange for working with them to bring down a couple of LAPD vice cops they’re about to bring down for corruption.”
Frustration flashes under my skin. “No fucking way.”
He arches an eyebrow.
“Sir,” I add.
“One of these vice cops is Vivian Reece’s ex. Did you know about this?”
“I only found out a little while ago. Though the intel was vague. And I didn’t know how Vivian’s ex and Jordy were linked until it was too late.”
Sheriff Olson’s lips tense in a grimace. “The feds have promised me Jordy Clarke won’t go free. He’ll still serve time for aggravated battery. ”
That the man who nearly killed Vivian is getting any kind of leniency makes me want to kick down these walls.
I scrub my face with my hands. “Do we have a choice?”
“Yes, but pursuing Jordy against the FBI’s request will come with far-reaching consequences.” Zach pretty much said the same thing.
We need cooperation if we’re going to bring in Michelle and Marin’s murderer.
Damn it.
“Okay, but here’s my line in the sand,” I say, rolling to my feet. “Vivian stays out of it. She can give a deposition here if they need an account of the crash, but that’s where her involvement ends. The feds leave her out of their equation. They don’t hound her to testify against her ex or make any kind of appearance. She’s out, and she stays out. For good.”
“Done,” Sheriff Olson says.
Though this agreement stings, it’s the right call, and we both know it.
I lock eyes with him. “Okay.”