The woman nodded.
“I’m Agent Jane Cannon. This is Detective Ryan. Could you please come downstairs with us? All of you?”
“Perp got away,” Ray murmured before moving closer to the children. “It’s safe now. I promise.”
One of the little boys looked up at Ray in awe.
Jane smiled. “I know. He’s a giant, but he’s a good giant. A real policeman.”
“Really?” the boy asked. His brother joined him, and they each took one of Ray’s hands as he walked them down the stairs.
Mrs. Harte followed Jane, not speaking while she wiped her eyes, crying harder once she reached her husband, who stood in the living area like a statue. Right where Ray had left him.
Ray, she noted, had taken the children elsewhere. She heard his voice and Sabrina’s coming from farther down the hall.
Mrs. Harte walked to her husband and let him hug her while she sobbed his name. Then she pulled back and slapped him across the face.
“You fix this, Stephen. Right now. Or we’re done.” She turned on her heel and breezed by Jane without another word.
Jane waited.
Ray rejoined them without the kids. “What did I miss?” In a lower voice, he said to her, “Mrs. Harte looked pissed. Oh, backup’s on the way.”
Jane nodded, still silent.
She and Ray watched Stephen Harte’s internal battle.
Then the man sighed and wiped a tired hand over his face. “What do you want to know?”
Chapter 24
“They call him Rook.He tells us what to do, and we do it.”
“By we, you mean…?” Jane leaned forward, wanting to pull the words out of the shaken man.
Ray sat across from her with his notebook, allowing Jane to take the lead in their interrogation. No more good cop, innocent bystander.
Now it was stern agent, guilty-as-sin coconspirator.
“The Collective. I know you know all about it,” Harte added in a waspish tone. “You got Dave Duvall killed.”
Jane refused to take the blame. “No,yougot him killed. You and the other conspirators buying policies and votes.”
Stephen blinked. “Huh? Conspirators? The Collective is an investment group, Agent Cannon. What exactly do you think we do?”
“Really? You’re sticking with that even though Rook sent someone to kill you and your family?”
“If he wanted us dead, we would be,” Stephen snapped.
“If he didn’t want you dead, what did he want?” Ray asked.
“And why do you think he won’t want you dead now? He knows we’re here. And that I saw his face,” Jane added with satisfaction.
Ray grunted. “Can’t wait to see that BOLO coming.”
She nodded.
Stephen swore. “Look, we’re just a group of concerned citizens. We’re trying to make the world a better place.”
