His Third Wife

Clara Lindsey sat in the waiting area with Countess beside her making phone calls to everyone she knew to get Emmit out of jail.

“Agents had been watching you since you got into office. We knew you were clean, but we needed your connections to make some footing for the bust. We knew it was only a matter of time before Cade got his hands on you.” Leaf had explained this in different ways to Jamison over cups of bad coffee in one of the interrogation rooms. His entire demeanor changed as he unveiled all of the evidence he’d collected. “When Cade showed up at the funeral this morning, I knew we had him. Now all we need is your statement. We can put him away for a long time.”

Jamison allowed the agents to record his statement about what Cade had said to him at the cemetery and everything that had gone down with Keet and Emmit. When he tried to confess his part in Dax’s murder, Leaf signaled for the officer holding the recorder to stop the tape. He thanked Jamison for his time.

“I’m free to go?” Jamison asked.

“Agents will probably contact you in the morning, but you need to go home now,” Leaf said. “Get some sleep. Call your lawyer.”

“Okay,” Jamison said. “So, what’s going to happen to the other guys? You sure you have a case against them? Got everything you need?”

“It’s a done deal,” Leaf shared. “Funny thing is we thought we’d still need to push some of them to confess to Dax’s murder, but once one broke, they all started singing.”

“Who broke first?” Jamison asked.

“You’d be surprised. The hardest one. Keet Neales,” Leaf revealed before telling Jamison that it was Keet who pulled in Governor Cade and every other name he knew in a tirade once he’d gotten into the interrogation room. Keet said if he was going down, everyone was going down with him. He told them about the five million he’d been promised to see the WorkCorps thing through, even how much money Cade claimed they’d lose if Ras and his program got a contract at the same time. He said his profits would be cut in half. That’s when he ordered the hit on Ras.

Leaf went to open the door to let Jamison out of the tiny room.

“I can’t believe all of this,” Jamison said. “Who would’ve thought politics could be so ugly. So criminal.”

“This isn’t the worst case,” Leaf said solemnly. “This isn’t the last case.”

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“And you,” Jamison went on, “I never would’ve thought you were an undercover agent.”

“I’m good at what I do,” Leaf joked.

“You were a good assistant, too,” Jamison said. “A good friend.”

Leaf and Jamison shared a laugh.

“Let me know if you ever want to switch careers,” Jamison said as Leaf opened the door.

“I sure will.”

Jamison found Kerry stepping in worried circles in the hallway. She jumped into his arms like someone who’d feared the worst.

“Oh my God!” she said. “I thought you were going to get yourself killed. You okay? Everything okay?”

“Yes, woman, I’m fine,” Jamison said, embracing her.

“I was just thinking about Tyrian and your mother—this would’ve been too much for him.” Kerry started crying and Jamison rubbed her back to reassure her.

“I’m fine. I’m right here,” he said. “Not going anywhere.”

“I know. I know.”

“And what about you?” Jamison looked into Kerry’s eyes. “You knew about this the whole time? How could you keep this from me?”

“I found out about Leaf early on so he had to tell me what was going on and he said it was best if you didn’t know. Then he could protect you,” Kerry explained. “You understand? I wasn’t trying to betray you. I would never do that. I just wanted to protect you.”

“I know,” Jamison said.

One of the agents who’d been assigned to drive Jamison home stood at the end of the hallway.

“You need a ride?” Jamison asked Kerry.