It was five in the morning and Matt watched as both LAPD and FBI crime scene teams went through Colton Fox’s house. The shooters had left quickly, but were inside long enough to toss the small house.
He had a headache. Tony, Matt’s boss, was livid that Matt hadn’t brought Michael with him.
“That’s why Michael is on the team! He’s a tactical expert, and you left him in the fucking hotel?”
Tony Greer rarely swore, so Matt knew he was truly angry.
“Michael was monitoring the situation. We didn’t know what we’d face, and—”
“You didn’t know what you would face so you should have had him with you, Costa! You know better than this.”
“You’re right.”
“Of course I’m right!”
Matt told Tony everything he knew, and Tony said he was calling the chief of police and to expect a full debrief as soon as he and Michael arrived at the police station.
“Maybe the LA office has a reason they don’t trust LAPD if the department is pulling bullshit like this,” Tony said.
“The witness indicated that one of the individuals Craig may have been investigating is the son of an FBI agent.”
“Who?”
“Last name Avila. Ryder is on it.”
“I’ll follow up with Ryder, and I want this Colton Fox in a room answering questions.”
“Yes, sir.”
“This is bullshit, Matt.”
“Yes it is.”
“Is Detective Quinn ours or theirs?” Tony asked.
Matt knew exactly what he meant. He hoped he was right when he replied, “Ours.”
Lieutenant Elena Gomez showed up just after five while Matt stood to one side watching the scene. Michael was his eyes and ears now, working with the teams.
“You took over my crime scene?” Elena said.
He stared at her. “I need a face-to-face with Colton Fox. Now.”
She didn’t say anything, but he gave her credit for not denying the truth.
“Where’s Kara?” she asked.
“Not here.”
“Dammit, Costa, we’re on the same team.”
“Are we? You have been lying to her for months. She mourned his death. She still struggles because she blames herself—that she wasn’t here to have her partner’s back.”
“There was a threat on her life and she wouldn’t leave if she knew Colton was in deep cover. I have more considerations than Kara’s feelings. I have a corrupt cop on my staff,” she said, her voice very low, “and I don’t know who the fuck it is.”
“You don’t?”
“No!”
He didn’t believe her. He was about to confront her when she said, “No one knows Colton is alive except me, Lex and my commander. I need him to stay deep as long as possible.”
“Dyson didn’t?”
“In LAPD we kept it from our own people, but Dyson helped put together the investigation.”
“So other people did know.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Did you know that Violet was here?”
“No.”
“So you didn’t even know that your own detective had a key witness staying in his house?”
She hesitated.
“Do not lie to me, Gomez.”
“I didn’t know she was here, but yes, Lattimer told me yesterday afternoon that she was safe.”
“Kara has been busting her butt trying to find her!”
“I didn’t even tell my boss.”
“You don’t trust your boss? This is a mess, Gomez.”
“I trust him, but Violet identified a cop as Chen’s killer. A cop! We’ve been trying to figure out how to work this, because everything has gotten out of control.”
“A cop by the name of Steve Colangelo.”
She blanched.
“You lied to me. Yesterday, then just now, not two minutes ago. This is when you should have brought the case to the FBI,” Matt said. “The FBI investigates public corruption.”
She laughed. “Trust me, they would have fucked everything up. You know how Thornton went after Kara. She wasn’t the only detective on the FBI hot seat. Half the men and women I know have had to deal with asshole feds who fucked with their cases, treated them like shit on their shoes. And don’t pretend you don’t know there are feds just like that. It’s the culture here. LA FBI pisses all over us and tells us to be grateful for the rain.”
She was on a roll, and Matt didn’t interrupt. When Elena was done ranting, he said, “Colton Fox. He has evidence that an FBI agent may be compromised. Violet Halliday gave it to him.”
“So Kara has Violet?”
Matt didn’t want to trust this woman—she had lied to him, lied to Kara, but she was his access to Colton.
“She has her someplace safe. Don’t ask me where, I don’t know.”
Elena relaxed. “That’s okay. Kara will keep her safe.”
Michael approached, looked at Elena, then said to Matt, “Not many prints, likely the ones here aren’t the suspects’. Don’t know if they found anything. Documents in the desk show a Harley-Davidson motorcycle registered to Colton Fox. It’s not in the garage—the lock was broken.”
“Kara took it. I heard it, but didn’t see her.” He turned back to Elena. “I need to talk to Fox now. Not tonight, not tomorrow, but as soon as you can bring him in.”
Quietly, she said, “I don’t want to break his cover, not now.”
“Don’t you think that people are going to know he’s alive by now?”
“No. Even if they suspected, they’d never know where to look for him.”
“I don’t want to pull seniority, but I need to know everything you know, everything Dyson suspected, and I need the fucking evidence Violet Halliday gave to your detective.”
She looked at her watch longer than necessary, then said, “Okay. Three hours. I’ll try to find him.”
“Where?”
“First Contact office.”
Matt motioned for Michael and they left.
Elena waited until the feds were gone, then she called Will Lattimer. “Bring Colton in, 8 a.m., your office.”
“What happened?”
“Clusterfuck. Just do it, and if he balks, tell him Code Three.” Cover may have been blown, mandatory debrief, don’t come into the station.
Colton Fox played by his own rules, but so far, he had never ignored a direct order.
Then she called Lex. “Kara knows everything.”
Matt and Michael went to the hotel and Matt took a shower. It was only five minutes, but when he got out he had four missed calls and a text from Tony to call him immediately.
Still dripping, Matt called his boss first. “What?”
“Bryce Thornton was found dead,” Tony said bluntly. “Shot in his vehicle. LA FBI put a BOLO out on Quinn.”
“What the hell happened?”
“Thornton drove to a dog park in South Pasadena. A cell phone was found a hundred yards from his body, smashed, but Kara’s prints were on it.”
“Which proves nothing.”
“They know she’s driving the motorcycle that’s registered to her allegedly dead partner Colton Fox. A text came in from an unknown number to Thornton to meet at 4 a.m. at the park for proof that Kara orchestrated the hit on David Chen. The text claims that her personal gun was used to kill Chen. Thornton contacted his boss Chavez, and she told him to wait for backup. He didn’t. Their theory is that Kara killed him because she believes he outed her and Fox, getting her partner killed.”
“That’s all bullshit,” Matt said.
“I know,” Tony concurred, but Matt barely heard him.
“Not least of which she has known since late last night that Fox is alive and well,” Matt said. “I was with her until two this morning. She called me at two thirty and said she was destroying her phone because Violet Halliday believed someone had tracked her on it. She’s taking Halliday to a safe location, and she was nowhere near South Pasadena at four.”
“You don’t know that for a fact.”
“I know that Kara would never ambush anyone, even that bastard Thornton. You can’t possibly believe she’s guilty.”
“I don’t. But Kara has to come in for questioning.”
“How was he killed?”
“Shot point-blank from the passenger seat while he was sitting in his car. It appears that he met someone there, they got into his vehicle, shot him, got out. No prints on the door. No witnesses. There are some security cameras in the area, but none in the lot. The FBI is going through them, and Sloane is going to verify everything they find.”
“This is no coincidence.”
“What?”
“We just learned that an FBI agent may be compromised and now they’re going after Kara. Which puts my investigation in jeopardy.”
“Remember what I said—get Kara to come in on her own, before this blows up.”
“She hasn’t called me yet.” It might be one of the missed calls, but Matt didn’t tell Tony that. “As soon as I talk to her, I’ll tell her what’s going on. I’m pulling the plug on this undercover LAPD investigation. Lieutenant Gomez is bringing Fox in to talk to me.”
“To you and Michael. Where you go, he goes. Too many people are dropping dead out there.”
The missed calls were from Granderson, Sloane and an unknown number, who didn’t leave a message. He called Granderson, who was cordial but not forthcoming. He insisted they wanted to interview Kara about what Thornton claimed his informant said, and verify her alibi because her phone was found at the scene of Thornton’s murder. Matt said he was working on it, but she was on assignment protecting a witness and not reachable for a couple of hours. “Brian, please don’t put a BOLO out on her. She’ll come in and talk, but if it leaks that she’s suspected of killing an FBI agent, it puts a target on her back.”
“That ship has sailed, but it’s just a BOLO for information. Nothing about Thornton’s murder.”
“She didn’t kill him. I stake my reputation on it.”
“I hope for your sake that you’re right.” He ended the call.
Matt called Sloane. She sent the call directly to voice mail, and five minutes later, after Matt was dressed, she called back.
“I had to find an empty office,” she said quietly.
“I talked to Tony and Brian. What do you know?”
“Brian is upset. He’s inclined to think that Kara is involved in some way, but I think that’s based on his guilt over investigating Thornton. But that’s not why I needed to talk to you. I read your report about Jonathan Avila—he’s Rebecca Chavez’s son.”
Matt froze. “From a previous marriage?”
“No—she’s been married for thirty years. She has always used her maiden name. The only reason I even know this—she never talks about her family, never brings anyone by—is from the research I did on Chavez and Thornton when I first got here. Rebecca’s husband is Paul Avila, and I documented that she had two adult children, a son and daughter. She has one photo of the four of them in her office on her desk. After some research this morning, I learned that Jonathan Avila works for the city. I don’t know in what capacity, but I can find out.”
“According to Halliday, he’s on the housing commission responsible for approving grant money. Can you verify that, find out how much he’s paid and how much money he’s responsible for allocating? Anything else you think is important. And anything about Avila’s wife. I’m hoping to get actionable information in an hour. I’ll let you know what I learn.”
Five minutes later, his phone rang. Unknown caller.
“Costa,” he answered.
“Hey, Matt, I’m alive and well,” Kara said.
Relief flooded through him. “Where are you?”
“Colton’s uncle has a cabin in Big Bear. There’s a gas station a mile down the road, and I’m using their phone.”
“Is it safe?”
“Yep. Violet is tucked in. I even slept for two hours. Honestly, I haven’t ridden a bike in months and I’m feeling the pain in my thighs, needed a couple Tylenol. I’m getting her some supplies, then heading back. I’ll call on my way out with my ETA.”
“Stay put.”
He hoped Tony didn’t fire him.
“Explain.”
“Bryce Thornton was killed. Your phone was found at the scene, there’s a BOLO. They know you’re on Fox’s bike.”
Silence.
“Kara? You there?”
“What time?”
“At 4 a.m. He received a text from an unknown number who claimed to have evidence that you orchestrated the hit on Chen—that your personal gun was used.”
“If my gun was used, someone took it from my condo. I have a lockbox in my closet with three handguns—a .45 Colt, a .40 Glock, and a .38 revolver. I have my .45 SIG on me. The box is basic, someone with minimal skills could pick the lock, or with minimal tools, break the seal on the box. Four a.m.?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I have a gas receipt time-stamped 3:56 a.m. from a twenty-four-hour gas station in Big Bear. I also bought Tylenol, beer, water and junk food inside the mini-mart. The clerk would remember me because he was admiring my Harley. Not many girls ride Harleys.”
“Send a copy of that receipt, and I’ll get them to drop the BOLO.”
“You didn’t think—”
“Of course not! I don’t want the cops to get itchy fingers thinking you killed a fed.”
“I’m coming back, Matt. Someone is setting me up. Two hours, tops. I don’t have a phone, they didn’t sell any at the mini-mart, and nothing else is open right now.”
Matt looked at his watch. It was seven.
“Hold off on sending the receipt,” he said. Tony was definitely not going to like this. “I don’t want anyone knowing where Violet is. Do you think she’s safe there?”
“Yes. But I don’t want to leave her alone for long. Where are you going to be?”
“First Contact.”