Jude said nothing, but she’d had plenty of time on the flight back to think this through. She knew exactly whose life she should be sifting through.
“The sheriff’s department doesn’t have a Giglio list. At least as far as I know. Maybe I should look back through Dad’s things.”
“There won’t be a list because Dad would’ve forced out any bad cops before they could get a warning.” Jude sounded confident, but she had no way of knowing. “When you’re put on aGiglio, you get a formal letter. Some call it a Brady Notice. Most cops call it—”
“A Death Letter,” Emmy finished. “Either the prosecutor or your boss informs you in writing that your word can’t be trusted, which means the prosecutor can’t call you to testify, which means no matter how airtight your investigation is, they won’t file charges. Your career as a cop is basically over.”
“Not if the list stays private,” Jude said. “It sounds like Allison was sitting on information that could take down a lot of cops.”
“You think Reggie murdered Allison because she was going to hand him over to the feds.” Emmy wasn’t asking a question. “If you asked me to list ten dirty cops on the Clayville police force, I would tell you that Allison’s old drug squad has nine cops on it, and Reggie makes ten.”
“What’s the reputation of the Clayville PD?”
“Allison was the only cop on the entire force that I trusted. She was always incredibly straight with me, even when it made her look bad. I saw her piss off Reggie more than once when she refused to bring a case she thought was shaky. She did her best to do the right thing around the wrong people.”
“And the others?”
“They’re a bunch of lying assholes.” Emmy was too stressed for diplomacy. “Lots of use-of-force violations. Lawsuits. Most of the drug squad volunteers for the SWAT team. They’re all testosterone monkeys. Shoot first, don’t ask questions later, hope nobody else does, either.”
“Forces that small shouldn’t have SWAT teams in the first place. They turn into militarized soldiers looking for reasons to go to war on civilians.”
Emmy looked over at her sister. It was the most non-cop thing she had ever heard another cop say.
“What about the prosecutor’s office? They would know who the dirty cops are.”
“Dexter Gilchrist is the district attorney. He’s a tight-ass, but he’s always done right by me. Dad hated him. Said he played politics too much.”
“It’s an elected position. That’s what prosecutors do.” Judedrummed her fingers on the console. “He would know who the Giglio cops are.”
“My own deputy chief’s been ratting me out to Reggie. There’s no telling what Dexter would do.”
“You think he’s in on it?”
“I think it’s exactly what Dad said. He plays politics. I’m running for election. Dexter will want to keep Brett onside in case he wins.”
“You could always talk to Jonah, see if the arrest even happened.”
“He’s not stupid enough to talk to me as a cop, and he’s smart enough to not tell his ex-wife he did something illegal.” Emmy couldn’t think about Jonah right now. “I literally don’t have enough people I trust to look into all of this.”
“Sweetheart.” The softness in Jude’s voice wasn’t as grating this time. “Stop spinning. Remember what Dad always said. Lean horse, long ride.”
“Dad never said that to me.” She looked at Jude. “What does it mean?”
“Lighten the load or the weight will drag you down before you can get out of the gate.”
Emmy stared back at the interstate.Go smaller, was what Gerald had told her. Stop trying to make everything complicated. Most crimes were poorly executed because they were committed by stupid people. Find the mistakes, find the bad guy.
Jude asked, “What was your plan before Reggie threw a hand grenade into the middle of your case?”
Emmy had to think back. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she’d been standing in the bathroom at the station, head down, forcing herself to plan out next steps.
“Woody was at the top of my list. Two different witnesses put him at Allison’s house alone with Mandy over the last two weeks. Talia Wilkinson said that Mandy was seeing an older man recently. She didn’t know any details beyond that. She told me the older guy wasn’t Woody, but I’m not sure.”
“Keep going.”
“The most recent Woody and Mandy sighting was two days ago. Coach Bell told Allison she saw them both at the house.Allison confronted Woody at the Dew Drop Inn. Rumor is that Woody laughed in her face. She was lucky that’s all he did. You don’t do that kind of crazy shit with somebody from the Rawleys. That could be why Allison missed the check-in with Reid Foley in Atlanta. No way I’d leave town if I thought Woody was hanging around my kid.”
“Allison didn’t trust Foley. She followed him downtown and photographed him. She wanted proof that she had established a whistleblower relationship with someone from the FBI.”
