Trial By Fire

“I could make it worth your while,” Kelly said with an ingratiating smile.

Ali was not impressed.

“Is that how it worked with Devon?” she asked. “You slipped him a little something now and then as a bribe in exchange for his feeding you information that allowed you to scoop everyone else?”

Green’s smile faded. “That wasn’t what I meant,” he said.

It was exactly what he meant, and they both knew it.

“With Devon off on administrative leave, who’s your source inside the department these days?” Ali asked.

“I don’t have one,” Green said quickly. “The stuff about McGregor came from the media relations folks over at the ATF.”

“No,” Ali said, “it didn’t. No information on this afternoon’s incident has been released to anyone, not officially at any rate, and if it leaks out before Agent Do

Green looked shocked. “If you do that, I’ll be locked out of the loop. I won’t be able to do my research-”

“Exactly,” Ali said. “So who told you about Sister Anselm and Thomas McGregor?”

“I never reveal my confidential sources,” he declared.

“Maybe so,” Ali returned, “but if you don’t tell me, I’ll see to it that you don’t have any sources left, confidential or otherwise. As for that book you’re supposedly working on? It won’t be much of a blockbuster if you no longer have access to any of the official information coming from inside the various investigative organizations.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” he said.

“Try me,” she said, pulling out her phone. “I happen to have Agent Robson’s phone number right here. If I let him know you’re leaking information about what went on this afternoon, you’ll be history.”

“But I didn’t,” he whined. “I haven’t told anybody.”

“You told me,” she said. “That counts as telling.”

For several long moments she waited while Kelly Green shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. Once, when Chris was four, Ali had caught her son telling fibs. She remembered his doing the same thing, shifting guiltily back and forth from one foot to the other under his mother’s unflinching gaze. Eventually Chris had told the truth, and so did Kelly.

“ Devon,” he said finally. “Even though he’s been on leave, he’s still been helping me.”

“How?” Ali asked. “Who’s giving him information?”

“I don’t know,” Kelly said. “I never ask. It’s none of my business.”

“It happens that it is my business,” Ali returned. “I’m currently in charge of media relations at the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Department, and I want to know. Someone is feeding Devon the information he’s giving you, and I want to know who that person is.”

“I don’t know how to find out…” Kelly began.

“You’re an investigative journalist,” Ali said. “Figure it out, and then let me know. If I don’t have the person’s name by nine tomorrow morning, I’m going straight to Do

She handed him a business card with her phone number printed on it. “Call me,” she added. “Before nine.”

With that she turned and walked away. She heard him mutter the B-word in her direction as she moved out of earshot, but that didn’t bother her. She had been called worse on occasion.

And will be again, she thought.

CHAPTER 19

Driving out of the garage, Ali wondered how long Devon Ryan had been using his position as media relations officer as his own private moneymaking concession. Even though he was supposedly off on leave, clearly he still had access to enough information that he was able to maintain a stream of income. So who was helping him? It seemed apparent to Ali that it wasn’t Sally Laird Harrison. She may have had an affair with the guy, but right this minute, she too was off work on administrative leave, so she wasn’t a logical source of information.

By offering Ali money, Kelly Green showed that he was only too willing to pay to play. She wondered if threatening him with exposure would be enough to force him to name names. Ali hoped so. She knew that if the information on Thomas McGregor got out prematurely, Agent in Chief Do

Then, of course, there was the other side of the coin-Bishop Gillespie. He, too, had been made privy to what should have been confidential details of the investigation. Who were his sources?

Ali drove up to the hotel entrance, parked, and handed her key over to the attendant. As she started toward the door, she almost collided with Hal Cooper. He was walking back into the lobby with a dog on a leash-a tiny white dog not much bigger than a bag of coffee.

“Maggie?” Ali asked.

Hal nodded absently. For a moment Ali wondered if he even recognized her.

“She needed to go out, and so did I,” he explained. From the aroma of cigarette smoke lingering on his clothing, Ali knew he’d gone out for a smoke. “I haven’t had a cigarette in years,” he added. “Tonight I needed one.”

“I’m so sorry about your wife,” Ali said.

He looked at her and nodded sadly. “Thank you,” he said. “I’m sorry, I don’t believe I know you.”

The red wig was still working, even in its absence.

“I was doing some work with Sister Anselm,” she said. “Up on the burn unit.”

“I see,” he sighed. “I kept hoping she’d make it-that she’d pull through somehow. I can’t imagine what I’m going to do without her. What we’re going to do without her,” he added despairingly, looking down at the tiny dog. “When I go off on my next trip and have to be gone for three or four days, who’ll take care of Maggie?”

Those were the first questions people always asked when someone died-how would the survivors cope? How would they go on in a world suddenly bereft? Who would do all the things the missing loved one used to do?

It occurred to Ali that if Hal Cooper had been the kind of no-good fortune hunter Serenity thought he was, he would have already stopped thinking about having to go to work. If the missing Klee was insured for anything near what Serenity had said, Ali suspected that Hal Cooper could now afford to give up flying for a living. It also occurred to her that he was lost and needed to talk to someone.

“Would you care to stop off for a drink?” Ali asked.

“That would be nice,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “I doubt I’ll be able to sleep.”

Ali ushered him into the lobby, which was almost deserted. He sat down at a corner table and lifted Maggie into his lap. “What would you like?” Ali asked.

“Scotch,” he said. “Single malt. Neat.”

“Have you had anything to eat?”

Hal shook his head.

“You should eat,” Ali said. She went into the bar and placed an order for chicken wings and fries along with the drinks-Scotch for him and straight tonic for her. While she waited for the bartender to pour the drinks, she realized that DNA was what had brought her here. That’s what her mother always did for grieving people-she fed them. Wings and fries weren’t exactly Edie’s signature tuna casserole, but they would fill the bill.

After all, wasn’t that exactly what she had done for Athena the night before-taken her food?

For the first time, Ali realized that her parents hadn’t mentioned anything about an expected great-grandchild, and that when she had spoken to Chris and Athena earlier, neither of them had mentioned it, either.

It shamed Ali to think that she had been so caught up in her own concerns that she hadn’t brought up the subject. What had happened when Athena had told Chris she was pregnant? Had she somehow managed to convince him that the two of them wouldn’t be able to handle caring for a baby? Ali was half sick when she came back to the table with the drinks. But seeing Hal sitting there, grieving, Ali forced herself to switch gears.