Page 96 of Forever Dead

Selena wondered if she had pushed too hard. The teenage Connor had been angry, impulsive, and always half an unwise decision away from trouble. The man beside her had built his life around a badge and a county that exhausted him daily.

Not every change had been easy. She understood that better than most.

Trees thinned as the road climbed. Selena let the silence remain for a while.

Then she asked, “How do you know the Cutlers?”

Connor’s expression hardened almost imperceptibly.

“Ray Cutler’s in bed with Morimer,” he said.

Selena straightened. “Business?”

“Whatever word you want to use. Ray owns land, storage buildings, a trucking outfit, and a couple of small companies that make money without doing much business. Morimer’s people use some of them.”

“You can prove that?” Selena asked.

“If I could, Ray would’ve had a worse morning than the one we’re about to give him.”

“What have you got?”

“Rumors,” Connor said. “Vehicles registered to Cutler companies turning up around Morimer properties. Men I know work for Morimer using Ray’s warehouses. Nothing that survives five minutes with a defense attorney.”

Selena watched him. “Have you had any more contact with Morimer?”

Connor’s head turned.

For one second, something opened in his expression. Fear or the beginning of an admission.

His mouth parted.

“Connor?” Selena said.

His attention snapped back to the windshield.

The SUV swerved hard left.

Selena caught the door handle as her bad knee shifted painfully. Connor corrected, tires humming across the center line before he brought the vehicle back into its lane.

A pumpkin rolled past the passenger side.

Selena stared after it.

“Damned kids are going to get someone killed around here,” Connor said.

“It was just a pumpkin.”

“It was in the middle of the road.”

“Yes,” Selena said. “Pumpkins are notorious for that.”

Connor did not smile.

Selena’s own amusement faded.

He had almost answered her.

She settled back into the seat. “We’ll come back to Morimer when you’re ready.”