Chapter 26
Tyler’s phone was under water. Or maybe he was under water?
No, wait, he was in bed with Chloe. The wedding came back to him, the bare light at the edge of the curtains telling him only a few hours had passed since they’d drifted off to sleep, and he pushed his brain fog aside, forcing himself to focus.
In no universe could this be good.
Slipping out of bed, Tyler found the phone under his suit pants, hitting the green circle to accept the call before it went to voicemail, but not catching the name on the caller ID. “Hello?”
“Gates. I’m sorry for the early interruption. I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important,” Capelli said, and cold fingers of dread ghosted up Tyler’s spine.
“Is Esme okay?” he asked, Chloe sitting bolt upright at the question.
“She’s fine. Her information is still secure.
We don’t see any threat to her right now,” Capelli promised, and Tyler nodded to Chloe, who sagged visibly in relief.
But it didn’t last. “There’s been a significant development in the case, though.
We’re doing a briefing in thirty minutes.
Sinclair asked for you and Chloe to come down to the precinct. ”
“Okay.” Tyler’s mind raced, staticky from lack of sleep. “Can you at least give me an idea of what’s going on, here?”
Capelli paused. “It’s a long story, and we’re still putting all the pieces together.”
“Give me the version that fits on a Post-it note.”
“We have the hacker in custody.”
Tyler almost dropped the phone. “You caught the hacker? How?”
“That part doesn’t fit on a Post-it note,” Capelli said, “although I can tell you this. She’s very, very smart.”
“She?” Tyler blinked, trying to process, and nope. He was going to need verification he’d heard that right. “The hacker is a woman?”
“She is,” Capelli confirmed. “And right now, she’s holding all the cards.”
Not wanting to waste any more time, Tyler agreed to be at the precinct in twenty-eight minutes.
He told Chloe everything he knew, which was damn little, and they went through only the most necessary hygiene before he re-dressed in last night’s clothes, and she threw on the jeans and tank top she’d packed in her overnight bag.
They flew out of the hotel, with Chloe calling Lou and Carleen to confirm that Esme was fine and they were all safe, then trying to get ahold of an Intelligence detective who hadn’t gotten married less than twenty-four hours ago while Tyler drove.
“Xander’s voicemail,” she said. “Strike four. And ugh, my phone is almost dead.”
Tyler shook his head, measuring the passing streets, still empty at such an early hour on a Sunday.
“They’re probably already there, and we will be, too, in a couple of minutes.
But this is good. This woman is in custody.
Intelligence must have something major on her and Navarro, or they wouldn’t have called us in. ”
Chloe gave up a shaky nod. “I know you’re right, but God, I just want this to be over.”
“I do, too.” He squeezed her hand, trying to channel any calm he could muster in the contact. “It will be soon.”
They pulled up to the Thirty-Third less than two minutes later, hustling through the parking lot and past the front doors.
Tyler stumbled to a stop at the sight of Addison standing at the desk sergeant’s counter, wearing a T-shirt proclaiming Look at Me, Getting All Married and Shit, a pair of sweatpants that were about three sizes too big on her and almost certainly Ryan’s, and the pair of frilly white Converse All Stars she’d had on beneath her wedding dress.
“Good, you’re here. Ryan’s getting coffee. I’ll take you guys upstairs.”
“How are you here? You guys got married last night,” Chloe said, looking at least as shocked as Tyler felt.
A few tendrils of hair escaped from the wild knot on top of Addison’s head as she nodded. “Yep, and we don’t leave for our honeymoon until Tuesday. Plus, this isn’t just any case. It’s personal. Of course, we’re here.”
Whatever this hacker knew, it must be massive.
Tyler walked beside Chloe as they made their way up to the Intelligence office, bypassing the main space to head into the wide hallway with interview rooms lining either side.
Maxwell, Garza, and Sinclair all stood in front of the second one on the right, with Tara, Xander, and Capelli talking quietly a few feet away.
Ryan came in behind them, pausing only to give Chloe a fast, hard hug and hand over cardboard cups of coffee to both her and Tyler before Chloe broke the silence.
“Okay, I can’t stand it anymore,” she said, looking from Addison to Capelli to Tara, her voice heavy with concern. “What in the world is going on?”
After a brief exchange of totally loaded glances, Sinclair took the lead.
“About ninety minutes ago, a hacker who goes by the alias Runner came in and asked to speak to someone in Intelligence. Obviously, we weren’t here, but when she said she had sensitive information pertaining to the Navarro case, the night captain called me in. This is Runner, a.k.a., Tatum Gray.”
Sinclair gestured to the woman sitting in the interview room on the other side of the one-way mirror in front of them. She was a tall, rail-thin brunette who couldn’t be older than twenty-five, wearing black winged eyeliner, torn jeans, and a two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar pair of running shoes.
“Holy shit,” Tyler said, his jaw dropping. “She’s the hacker who works for Leo Navarro?”
Capelli spoke up. “This is where things get a little complicated. Tatum—Runner—claims that she has direct access to information that will prove Navarro’s guilt, and she hinted that she’s the person who hacked into the lab’s security and containment systems to take them offline on the night of the fire.
She also claims Navarro told her to get Esme’s identity from our database. ”
“Oh, my God.” Chloe turned pale, and Tyler’s legs didn’t feel entirely steady at the news, either.
“Esme is safe,” Addison promised. “Runner didn’t access the information. We sent Officer Dade to go sit on the house with her patrol unit as an absolute precaution, but we have no reason to believe that the database was breached.”
“Runner is good,” Capelli said, “but I’m very good. If she’d gotten in, I’d know.”
“So, if you have her as Navarro’s accomplice, why are we all here?”
Addison took back over, her face locked in a frown. “Because she’s refusing to go on the record with any of it until she gets full immunity, in writing.”
“Has she lawyered up?” Tara asked, but only after she’d made a sound that suggested a deal with those terms would never happen.
“No,” Sinclair said. “Right now, she’s here voluntarily, but we have techs working on connecting her to Navarro, trying to find leverage so we can charge her.”
Tara looked at Capelli, then Garza, Maxwell, and Xander. “I’d love to make that happen before I’m done meeting with her, please. I’m going to need anything I can get.”
“We’re on it,” Maxwell said, already headed toward the Intelligence office with the other three men right behind him.
“Okay.” Tara straightened her shoulders and turned toward Sinclair. “Let’s go see what we can find out.”
Tyler’s heart pounded, his pulse pressing against his ears, and he put an arm around Chloe, although whether it was to reassure her or keep himself steady, he honestly couldn’t be sure. She leaned into him, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Soon,” he whispered, and she nodded.
Then, Tara and Sinclair were in the interview room. “Ms. Gray,” Tara said, walking into the place like she owned not just it, but the whole damn building, and sitting across from Runner. “I’m A.D.A. Kingston-Matthews, and this is Sergeant Sinclair, with the Intelligence Unit.”
Runner’s brows went up. “You all do not fuck around, do you?”
“We do not,” Tara said, “so let’s get right to it, shall we? You have information on the fire at Dynamics Lab Corporation?”
“Yup,” Runner said without even a blink. Jesus. “The fire. The Sal Brinkman murder. Like, fifty other crimes, including drug running, money laundering, other murders. The possibilities are endless. But it’s going to cost you.”
Addison let out a soft curse, and Tyler agreed. This woman had some stainless steel balls.
“Your information would have to be credible,” Sinclair said, his tone suggesting he thought she couldn’t deliver. “Enough to put Navarro away for more than a lifetime.”
“Done. I know he’s on your radar, because I track you tracking him, and trust me.
You don’t know the half of what that guy has done.
My terms are simple. I tell you everything I know, and back it up with protected testimony and hard evidence, and I walk.
You put his ass away forever, and everyone lives happily ever after.
Or”—Runner lifted a too-thin shoulder halfway before letting it drop, but in that instant, Tyler saw it.
She’s scared—“you say no and I call my attorney. You charge me, which maybe sticks and maybe doesn’t.
But then, you don’t get anything you need to put Navarro away, including the information I have to keep your witness safe. ”
Chloe gasped, turning toward Addison. “Can she do that? If Navarro finds out Esme’s identity—”
“Sinclair won’t let that happen,” Addison said, although she sounded a little like she was convincing herself.
Tyler exhaled slowly. He knew how to keep it together when shit went pear-shaped. He’d do whatever it took to keep Esme safe, and right now, that meant trusting Tara and Sinclair.
Sinclair eyed Runner, his stare subarctic. “We’ve got solid evidence against Navarro without you. I’m not inclined to let you get away with murder.”
“I never murdered anybody,” Runner said, eyes round and wide.
“I knew about a lot of stuff, yeah, but it was all after the fact.
I deal in information only, and unless you want a dead witness on your hands, you want what I know.
He's going to find a way to get to that information, with or without me. Trust me, you need to take him off the street before he gets it.”
“Please,” Chloe whispered, ripping at Tyler’s heart.
Tara sat back. Crossed her arms over her dark blue blouse. Then said, “I can talk to the D.A. about reduced charges in exchange for full cooperation. But it’s going to depend on what you give us, and you’re going to need to start talking. Now.”
Tyler would give her credit. Runner knew when she’d been matched.
“Fine. Navarro was behind the fire. I hacked into the system—pain in the ass, by the way—to take down security and containment to give him access, but the crazy fucker did the rest himself. He’s desperate to cover up that murder.
I’m not sure how he plans to deal with the dagger, but…
” She blew out a breath. “Like, two weeks ago, he told me to hack into your system to get the identity of the witness.”
“Did you try?” Sinclair asked, and Tyler heaved a sigh of relief when Runner shook her head.
“To be clear, I’m not saying I can’t. But getting information to wreck some DNA is one thing.
Getting it so he could commit murder? That’s a whole different ball game.
I know he’s a bad guy, and I’m not a paragon of the community, either, but that was a bridge too far, even for me.
” Her mouth flattened to a thin line. “Then, he threatened my mother, and I knew I was never going to be safe. So, I made up some bullshit lie about how I needed a couple of weeks to figure out how to get into your database. I used the time to weigh all my options and came up with this.”
Sinclair looked at Tara, who gave up the slightest lift of her chin. “So, Navarro doesn’t know who the witness is?”
“No, but he won’t stop until he finds out.”
“Oh, yes, he will,” Tara said. “Sergeant Sinclair, can you please go pick his sorry ass up while I get a judge on the phone to issue a new arrest warrant? We’re amending the charges against Leo Navarro to include arson and destruction of evidence in a felony. I want him in jail right now.”
“Wait,” Runner said, her shoulder blades thumping against the back of her chair as she pulled back, surprised. “You think Leo Navarro did all of this?”
Sinclair froze to his spot in the interview room. “He committed the murder.”
“Okay, well, yeah. That, he totally did,” Runner said. “But Leo’s a fucking idiot. No way could he come up with something like that fire.”
Tyler’s gut plummeted at the same time Chloe gasped, and Addison took a step back, shaking her head.
“Wait…that means…”
“Oh, shit,” Tyler breathed, getting to the same realization Addison had clearly just made. “The difference between the arson and the murder. The separate profiles Dallas did. It all makes perfect sense.”
“What makes perfect sense?” Chloe asked.
Tyler’s skin turned ice cold when Runner answered the question she hadn’t even heard.
“You’ve been after the wrong Navarro. Simon’s the one behind all of this. Not Leo.”