Chapter 19 #2
“$400,000 in cash deposits. Monthly trips to Washington. Destroyed evidence dates matching some of his visits.” Holloway leaned back in his chair, scrubbing his hand across his shadowed jaw. “This is bad.”
“It gets worse. I think Shaw might still be operating. Someone in the department could be helping him.”
“You have proof of that?” Captain’s stare was intense, as if asking Carson if he was going to do this by the book or not.
“Not yet. But I will.” Carson pulled out a list. “I need warrants. Shaw’s phone records. Travel records. Access to his property in Arizona. And I need to interview Dan Morrison again. See if he knows anything about Shaw.”
Captain shook his head. “Dan’s lawyer won’t let him talk without a deal on the table.”
“Then we offer him a deal. Reduced sentence in exchange for information about Shaw’s operation.” Carson was growing desperate. Whatever it took. Shaw was guilty, dammit, and Carson was going to take him down, come hell or high water.
Holloway was quiet for a long moment. “You understand what you’re asking me to do? If we go after Shaw publicly and we’re wrong, it destroys the reputation of a man who served this department for thirty-five years. It makes us look like we’re turning on our own.”
Carson stabbed the list on the desk with a determined finger. “And if we’re right and we do nothing, we’re letting a corrupt cop continue to profit from helping criminals avoid justice. We’re failing every victim whose case he sabotaged.”
“I know.” Holloway pulled out his phone. “I’ll make some calls. Get you the warrants you need. But, Carson? This stays between us, Finn, and whoever else we absolutely need to bring in. No one else. Understood?”
Carson gave a curt nod. “Yes, sir.”
“And be prepared. If Shaw finds out we’re investigating him, he’ll either run or he’ll fight back. Either way, it’s going to get ugly.”
Carson thought about the twelve women whose cases had been sabotaged. About Nora, who’d been terrorized by Eugene while Shaw’s corruption possibly enabled it. About all the potential victims they didn’t know about yet.
“I’m ready for ugly,” Carson said.
***
That evening, Carson came home late to find Nora asleep on the couch, her laptop open with business plans on the screen.
He closed the laptop gently and started to lift her to carry her to bed, but she woke up.
“Hey,” she murmured. “What time is it?”
“Almost midnight. Sorry. The investigation took longer than expected.”
She sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Did you find anything?”
“Yeah. Too much.” He sank onto the couch next to her and told her everything—the deposits, the trips, the possibility of someone in the department still helping Shaw.
Nora listened, her expression growing more concerned. “This is dangerous. If Shaw realizes you’re investigating him—”
“I know. But I have to do this. These women deserve justice.”
“I’m not saying don’t do it. I’m saying be careful. Don’t be a hero. Don’t take unnecessary risks.” She took his hand. “I just got you. I’m not ready to lose you because you’re chasing a corrupt cop.”
“You won’t lose me.”
“You can’t promise that.” He saw the fear in her eyes, and it tore at his heartstrings.
“Yes, I can.” He pulled her close. “I’m not going after Shaw alone. Captain Holloway has my back. Finn’s helping. We’re doing this by the book. Building an airtight case before we make any moves.”
“How long will that take?”
“Weeks. Maybe months. Depends on what the warrants turn up.”
Nora was quiet for a moment. “I’m scared. Not just for you. For all of this. We just got our lives back to normal. We just started building something real. And now you’re diving into something that could blow up in your face.”
The muscle in his jaw flexed as he stared at the blank wall ahead. “I know. And I’m sorry. But I can’t walk away from this. Not when I know what Shaw did.”
“I’m not asking you to walk away. I’m asking you to be smart.
To not let this consume you the way cases usually do.
” She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him.
“I’m asking you to remember you have someone to come home to now.
Someone who needs you alive and safe and not destroyed by the job. ”
Carson cupped her face. “I remember. Every second. You’re what keeps me grounded. What reminds me there’s more to life than just the work.”
“Good. Then promise me, if this gets too dangerous, if Shaw comes after you, you’ll back off. You’ll let someone else handle it.”
Her desperate gaze locked onto his. He wanted to promise. Wanted to give her that reassurance.
But he’d spent nineteen years never backing off from a case. Never letting danger stop him from pursuing justice. It was who he was.
“I promise I’ll be as careful as I can be,” he said finally. “That’s the best I can offer.”
“I know.” The disappointment was evident in her voice, and so was the resignation. She pressed her forehead against his. “Just...come home to me. That’s all I ask. Every day, come home.”
“Always,” he promised. “Always.”
They went to bed, wrapped around each other, both trying not to think about the storm that was coming.
Because investigating Shaw wasn’t just about solving cold cases or exposing corruption.
It was about challenging a system that had let a dirty cop operate for decades.
It was about taking on powerful people who would fight to protect their own.
It was about risking everything—career, reputation, safety—for the sake of truth.
And Carson Black had never been good at walking away from a fight.
Especially when justice was on the line.
***
Over the next two weeks, the investigation into Shaw intensified.
Warrants were approved. Phone records showed Shaw had regular contact with several numbers they couldn’t yet trace. Financial records revealed not just the deposits but also large cash withdrawals—sometimes $10,000 or more at a time.
“Money laundering,” Finn said, pulling up transaction records. “He deposits cash in small amounts to avoid triggering federal reporting requirements. Then he withdraws larger sums later. Classic pattern.”
“Can we trace who he gave the money to?”
“Working on it. But if he’s smart—and it looks like he is—he’d use cash for everything. No electronic trail.”
Carson reviewed Shaw’s travel records again. Every month for the past five years, Shaw flew to Washington. Sometimes just for a day or two. Sometimes for a week.
And during several of those trips, evidence had gone missing from the Blackridge PD evidence room.
“Someone here is working with him,” Carson said. “Someone with access to evidence. Someone Shaw trusts.”
“That’s a short list,” Finn said. “Evidence room is restricted access. Only senior personnel can authorize removal or destruction of evidence.”
“Make me a list of everyone with that access. Current and former employees.”
While Finn worked on that, Carson prepared for his interview with Dan Morrison.
The DA had approved a deal—reduced sentence in exchange for full cooperation. Dan’s lawyer had agreed. Now it was just a matter of getting Dan to talk.
Carson entered the interview room where Dan sat in orange prison scrubs, looking thinner and more haggard than the last time Carson had seen him.
“Detective Black,” Dan said flatly. “Come to gloat?”
“Come to offer you a chance to reduce your sentence.” Carson sat across from him. “Your lawyer told you about the deal?”
“Twenty years instead of thirty. Some deal.”
“Better than life, which is what Eugene’s looking at.” Carson opened his folder. “I need information. About how you and Eugene operated. Specifically, how you avoided getting caught for so long.”
“Why should I help you?”
Carson stared directly into Dan’s eyes and laid out the harsh truth.
“Because helping me is the only thing standing between you and dying in prison. You’re thirty-six years old, Dan.
Thirty years means you’re sixty-six when you get out.
If you get out. Or you can give me what I need, serve twenty, and still have some life left when you’re released. ”
Dan was quiet, staring at his cuffed hands on the cold table, warring with himself.
“I need to know about Captain Shaw,” Carson said. “Did he help you? Help Eugene? Make evidence disappear?”
Dan’s eyes widened slightly. Bingo.
“I’m not talking without my lawyer,” Dan said.
“Your lawyer knows about this deal. He signed off on it. You talk, you get reduced time. You don’t talk, you serve the full thirty.”
Another long silence. Then, “Shaw didn’t help me directly. But Eugene... Eugene knew people. Had connections. He said there was a cop who could make problems go away. For a price.”
Carson’s pulse quickened. “Shaw?”
“Eugene never said the name. Just called him ‘the captain.’ Said he’d been doing this for years. That lots of people used his services.”
“How did Eugene find out about him?”
Dan huffed. “I don’t know. Eugene’s father, maybe? Robert Whitmore? He was into some shady shit before he got caught. Maybe he knew about the captain.”
“Did Eugene pay the captain to destroy evidence?”
“Probably. Eugene always had money, way more than a building security guard should have. And he’d talk about how he was untouchable. How he had insurance.”
“Insurance?”
Dan made an impatient gesture. “Protection. Someone on the inside making sure nothing stuck to him.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice.
“Look, I don’t know details. Eugene kept that shit close to the vest. But I know he paid someone.
I know he felt safe because of it. And I know that when you arrested him, he was more surprised that it worked than that you’d caught him at all. ”
Carson absorbed this. Eugene had felt untouchable because he’d been paying Shaw to protect him. Which meant Shaw had been actively enabling a stalker and potential murderer.
“Do you know how Eugene contacted the captain? Phone number? Email? Meeting locations?”
“Eugene used burner phones for that kind of thing. Bought them with cash, used them once, threw them away. He was paranoid about being tracked.”
“But he must have had a way to reach the captain when he needed something.”
Dan hesitated. “There was a coffee shop. Downtown. The Brew & View. Eugene would go there sometimes. Said he was ‘making a drop.’”
The Brew & View. Where Nora had met Lila for lunch. Where Carson had first officially taken Nora’s statement. Where—
Carson’s blood ran cold.
Maggie Reeves owned The Brew & View. Maggie, who’d been serving coffee to cops for twenty years. Who knew everyone. Who was always around, always listening.
Was Maggie the middleman?
“This coffee shop,” Carson said carefully. “Did Eugene ever mention the owner? Maggie Reeves?”
“Maybe? I don’t remember. Look, I told you what I know. Eugene paid the captain to protect him. The coffee shop was somehow involved. That’s all I’ve got.”
Carson ended the interview and immediately called Finn as soon he left the interrogation room.
“I need everything you can find on Maggie Reeves. Owner of The Brew & View coffee shop. Financial records, phone records, property records. Everything.”
“You think Maggie’s the middleman?”
“I think she’s been right under our noses this whole time.”
If Carson was right, this was bigger than he’d imagined.
Shaw wasn’t just a corrupt cop taking bribes.
He’d built an entire network. A way for criminals to buy protection from law enforcement.
And Maggie Reeves—friendly, harmless Maggie who served coffee and listened to gossip—had been at the center of it all.
Carson drove back to the station, his mind racing.
This was dangerous territory. Accusing a beloved local business owner of being part of a criminal conspiracy. Going after a former captain with powerful friends.
But the evidence was building. The pattern was clear.
And Carson Black had never backed down from pursuing the truth.
No matter how dangerous it got.
No matter who he had to take down.
Justice would be served.
Even if it destroyed reputations, ended careers, and exposed corruption at the highest levels.
The truth always came out.
And Carson was going to make sure it did.