The Magician Murders (The Art of Murder 3)

“Are you going to tell Ethan’s father?”

“I did tell him. The last time I was here. I told him we did not have conclusive proof, would not be able to get conclusive proof, but it’s my belief Ethan’s killer is dead.”

Jason had no response. If anything, he felt more confused than at the start of their conversation.

Sam glanced at him. “If you’re thinking about Ethan because of the threat against you—”

“It’s not that.” But actually, yeah, maybe it was partly that. Jason was afraid. Not so afraid that he couldn’t function. Not so afraid that he couldn’t put his fear out of his thoughts. But yes, knowing someone wished him harm, was actively out there trying to do him harm, did weigh on him.

To distract himself—and Sam—he said, “When you retire, do you think you’ll move back to Wyoming?”

“Retire?” Sam repeated it like he’d never heard the word.

“Yeah. Eventually.”

Sam seemed to think it over. “No. Wyoming is a nice place to visit, but…”

Poor Ruby.

“I wouldn’t mind visiting again,” Jason agreed. “I still haven’t seen a buffalo.”

“I like Virginia,” Sam said. “I wouldn’t mind staying in Virginia.”

Virginia was nice. Jason liked Virginia. But it would be difficult to leave California for a lot of reasons. Of course, it wasn’t like Sam had ever asked him to leave California. Or ever would.

Into his silence, Sam said casually, “I like California too.”

Jason looked at him, and Sam’s mouth quirked. “You have a very nice smile, West,” he said and turned his attention back to the road ahead.

* * * * *

“So you’re the art expert?” SAC Reynolds greeted Jason when Sam introduced them.

“Next best thing,” Jason answered, shaking hands.

The minute Jason saw Sam with SAC Charles Reynolds he knew Reynolds was one of the old friends Ruby had referred to when they’d talked about Sam’s boyhood. He should have made the connection sooner, of course, but for some reason he just didn’t think of Sam as having friends within the Bureau.

The change in Sam wasn’t dramatic, exactly, but it was obvious from the relaxed set of his shoulders to the warmth of his gaze that he knew Reynolds well and liked him a lot.

And it was obvious from the easy, no-bullshit way Reynolds talked to the legendary Sam Kennedy, that Reynolds felt the same. In fact, it turned out that Reynolds was the one who had originally talked Sam into joining the Bureau all those years ago. He was probably a wealth of information on the topic of Sam Kennedy, but there was no time for reminiscences.

The bank robbers had been successfully captured. The Cheyenne RA was fully staffed again and a bustling hive of activity. In fact, the only person missing was Abigail Dreyfus, who had phoned in sick that morning.

Jason had received a brief call from her before they’d left for the drive to Cheyenne.

“I’m so sorry about this,” she’d apologized. “I had grocery-store sushi for dinner last night, and it turns out to have been a huge mistake.”

Sushi in Wyoming? And grocery-store sushi at that? That did sound like a mistake.

“I’m sorry to hear it. I hope you feel better,” Jason replied.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine tomorrow. I’ll see you then.”

Yeah. Maybe not.

&

nbsp; In the meantime, Sam was waiting for Jason to make his case to his old pal.