Love by Association

“He threatened and blackmailed them,” she said.

“He thought he was protecting his son from the horrible consequences of a date gone very wrong.”

“It was a party. Not a date.”

“Julie was David’s date for the party.”

She might have known that. She couldn’t remember at the moment. Couldn’t think. And it didn’t really matter if she’d been his date or not. Or even if they’d been at a party. What mattered was justice for Julie.

“James Morrison has already agreed to let this go,” Reagan said next. “It’s best for Leslie’s recovery if they just move forward.”

“The commissioner’s a good guy, Chantel,” Wayne said. “Something like this...it would ruin his life. And Patricia’s, too.”

But what about the lives that were ruined because he’d believed a friend and turned a blind eye to all of this? Someone had allowed those charges to not just be dropped, but to disappear out of the system as though they’d never been filed.

Someone had destroyed the medical report sent over by Dr. Albertson—who’d left the hospital soon after that.

And a cop was on a fishing boat in Florida, too.

“Someone went to a lot of work to conceal tracks for something that no one thought was more than a date gone bad,” she said aloud.

“Think about what you’re doing, Chantel.”

She was thinking. But she didn’t need to. Her gut had already made her decision for her.

“I’m not a person who can benefit my own skin at the cost of others,” she said. “We don’t even know how many victims Smyth has. Nor do we know who they are or what they want. We have no idea the extent of damage that was done, the lives that were irrevocably changed, because the commissioner didn’t do his job.”

“Think of all your fellow officers, Chantel. The ones who come to work every day and give everything to the job. You try to make a stink here, it’s going to make every one of us smell.”

Wayne was clearly going to sign. Morrison was on board. Colin and Julie had already agreed, ten years before, to remain silent.

Chantel didn’t have a chance in hell of accomplishing anything here but getting herself fired.

“I’m sorry,” she said, standing. “I took an oath. I watched my friend die for that oath. I’ve been willing every single day to die for that oath. I am not going to tarnish that by agreeing to this. I’m sorry.”

They’d find a reason to get rid of her. She didn’t doubt that. Just as she knew that she’d move on. Just as she’d moved out of New York. She couldn’t work for a corrupt leader, nor could she let this go.

She’d do everything in her power to expose what had happened in Santa Raquel without hurting the victims any more than was necessary. Because if the corruption didn’t stop, nor would the number of its victims stop growing.

And if she failed?

There were police departments everywhere.

She cared about the job.

So someplace she’d get it done.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“SO YOU SEE, Colin, all we need is an assurance of your continued cooperation and this should all be behind us.”

“Morrison’s already signed on?” Colin had ordered a bourbon straight but hadn’t taken a sip of it.

“You’re getting what you wanted. David Smyth Jr. will be behind bars for a very long time. Julie won’t have to testify. She’s back in society with no one knowing what happened to her. Smyth’s wife and kids are protected...”

“Your job is protected,” Colin added. “And Patricia is saved from humiliation and a possible change in fortune.”

The man’s brow furrowed. “I’m not proud of turning a blind eye to what happened ten years ago, Colin. You have to know I truly believed it was a date gone bad.”

“But you didn’t look at the facts, Paul, did you? And let me save you from a lie here. Because if you’d even looked at the doctor’s emergency room report, you’d have known it was more than that.”

He stopped short of describing Julie’s injuries to the other man. But only to protect his sister.

“Julie would want you to let this go.” Paul hit him where it counted most, as men of power usually did. “She’s got her life back. Let her have it.”

He’d like to think he’d learned a thing or two in ten years. But Colin was tempted to swallow the bile in his throat and do as the commissioner asked.

“You have my word that anything you want, or need, anytime—I’m your man.”

He’d be one of the most powerful men in the area. Powerful men could get a lot of good done.