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I stood. “Where are we going?”
He didn’t say anything as I offered my wrists for cuffs and the cell was opened.
He led me down the hall and out of the cell block, past the visitation room, and down to another hallway. He used his badge to open a locked door where the linoleum turned to carpeting and then suddenly, we were in a conference room.
Three suits were inside; one stood when we entered.
“Adam Bishop?” he said. “I’m District Attorney Brian McNolty. Pleasure to meet you.” He waited while Mateo uncuffed me, then offered me his hand.
“Hello.”
He nodded and introduced his assistant and a court reporter with him before we all sat. “I understand you’ve been of great service to Chief Beckett,” he said with a smile.
I shot Mateo a look, but he was focused on a folder on the table. “Just trying to help.”
“Well...” McNolty turned to his own paperwork. “We’re here to get your official statement for the record and to make sure you’re willing to testify.”
“Testify?”
He glanced up at me. “Yes. At Cyrus Pittman’s murder trial.”
“Murder?” I echoed again, sounding like a parrot. I knew this was a possibility, but I felt way out of the loop.
McNolty sat back and he and Mateo exchanged a glance.
“Sorry, Adam,” Mateo said. “You’ve been in a cell for hours and we haven’t had a chance to talk.” He slid me his folder. “I wouldn’t normally share case data with anyone outside of law enforcement or the DA’s office, but we’re here because of your help. You’ve willingly put your life on the line in more ways than one, so I think I can make an exception.”
I opened the file as he kept talking.
“We have all the evidence we need to put Cyrus away for several years on the drug charges alone, thanks to you,” he said as my fingers landed on the undercover surveillance photos. “Agent Goforth’s arrest warrant was signed this morning as well.” I kept flipping pages. “But more importantly, ballistics came back about an hour ago on that Glock you spotted in Pittman’s collection.”
I looked up, my heart thrumming a strange beat.
“It was Chief Wyatt LaVeaux’s service weapon. It was also used to kill him.”
A trophy of sorts...
My stomach dropped. “Damn.”
It was a quiet moment as the somberness of that reality filled the room. A good man, an officer of the law, with a family, had not only been murdered in cold blood, but the sick asshole had kept the weapon as a trophy.
“That’s not all,” Mateo said, his voice dark. Angry.
I flicked a glance to the DA, who was looking down as if in respect.
“I’d had my suspicions,” Mateo said. “But the autopsy report came back on Chief Darden as well. It wasn’t a heart attack. He was poisoned with strychnine; they just didn’t think to run the toxicology back then.”
“And let me guess,” I said. “You found some in Pittman’s garage.”
“His shed, actually.” This from McNolty.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.” I closed the folder and slid it back. I’d seen and heard enough. “Just tell me what you need from me, and it’s done.”
McNolty smiled. “That’s what we were hoping you’d say.”
I gave mydeposition, filled out statements, and swore on everything that was holy that I would testify against Cyrus Pittman.
Both Mateo and DA McNolty felt confident they had all the evidence they needed, even without my testimony, to lock him up for the rest of his natural life. Still, I was more than willing to go the extra mile to put that deranged bastard away so he couldn’t do any more harm to the people of Redemption. Especially the McMasters sisters.
