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Chapter 33
“You know him?” Gideon asked, incredulous.
“Yeah,” Jacobs said, glancing at Kramer again. “He walked into my office this morning and flashed his FBI badge and ID. Wanted to know where the Blackhawk Security safe house was. I wouldn’t tell him, and he stormed out. Said someone higher on the food chain would call me.”
Gideon glanced at Kramer, moaning on the floor, and shook his head. “The FBI badge and ID were legit, but he’s in bed with the Bratva. He’s done a lot of damage to our investigation of them.”
“Good thing you were ready for him,” Jacobs said.
Gideon shook his head. “Made the rookie mistake of not locking the door, since we were only going to grab our stuff and leave. But Alex and I managed to take him down.” He frowned. “You here because Mel or Dev called you?”
“Yeah,” Jacobs replied. “I flew up here with sirens and lights until I was about a mile away. Turned the siren off, so that scumbag wouldn’t hear it.” Pete Jacobs’ gaze flicked from Gideon to Alex to the man on the floor, and he shook his head. “My God. You two have been busy today.”
“Busier than we’d like to be,” Gideon said, staring at the man bleeding onto the floor. He thought he’d feel triumphant when he brought Kramer down. He’d expected vindication. Satisfaction. But he felt nothing but revulsion for Kramer and his betrayal. For all the deaths he’d been responsible for.
Gideon held up Alex’s phone. “He did a lot of bragging, and Alex recorded most of it.”
Jacobs reached for it, and Gideon handed it back to Alex. “We’ll keep it safe until we can make a transcript of what she recorded. Have it notarized.”
“That’s evidence you’ve got there,” Jacobs said, but made no effort to take the phone.
“I’m a former FBI agent.” He nodded at Kramer. “Former because he fired me when I got too close to the truth. Trust me, nothing’s going to happen to the recording on that phone.”
Jacobs nodded slowly. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Melbourne and Smith. I trust them to handle the chain of possession correctly.”
“They will. Mel and Dev know how things work.” He nodded at Alex. “She’s an attorney, well-versed in the rules of evidence. She’ll oversee the whole thing.”
Jacobs turned to drill his gaze into Alex. “You going to be acting as the compound’s attorney in this?”
“I can’t do that, because I’m a witness,” she said. “But I’ll be discussing the situation with them. I assume they have a local attorney.”
“Good enough.” Jacobs’ gaze turned to the cabin. Scoured the whole space. Came to rest on Kramer’s gun in the middle of the living room, where it had slid after Gideon kicked it. The sheriff sighed. “Between this place and the other cabin, we’ve got more crime scenes in one day than we’ve had in two weeks.”
“Not by choice,” Gideon said. He reached for Alex and drew her close. Checked her cast again. Ignoring Jacobs, he said, “How does your arm feel? Do we need to go back to the hospital, sweetheart? Get that cast replaced?”
Alex swallowed. Shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said. “It hurt like hell to hit him with it, but I don’t think it broke the cast.”
He stroked his hand down her hair. “We’ll have one of the paramedics look at it when the ambulance arrives. I don’t care if that piece of shit has to wait.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “I’ll feel better if someone checks it.”
Gideon guided Alex to the couch and kept his arm around her as the sheriff asked them some questions. Finally, when he heard the wail announcing the ambulance’s arrival, Jacobs stood up. Nodded to Gideon. “I’d like both of you to come to my office tomorrow to give me a more thorough statement.”
Gideon held his gaze. “Depends on how Alex is doing. She took a couple hard blows to her cast.”
“Call me if you can’t make it.” Jacobs sighed. “I’ll come out to the compound.”
“I’ll do that,” Gideon said. He curled his arm around Alex’s waist and helped her stand up. As they headed for the door, he said to the sheriff, “I’ll get our suitcases out of here as soon as the paramedics look at Alex’s arm. Then the place is all yours. Just make sure it’s locked when you leave.” He fumbled in his pocket, found the key and handed it to Jacobs.
“Will do,” the sheriff said. “I’ll return it tomorrow.”
Nodding, Gideon led Alex toward the ambulance that was pulling to a stop behind their Suburban. When the paramedics swung out, he explained what had happened to Alex’s arm. “Think you could make sure the cast is intact? That she didn’t damage her arm more? I don’t want to take her back to the hospital if it’s not necessary.”
“Sure thing,” the young woman closest to them said. She turned to her partner. “Can you get the gurney into the house? I’ll be with you in a minute.”
“Will do.” The serious-looking young man nodded, then turned to wheel the gurney toward the cabin.
“Tell me what happened,” the woman asked Alex as she slid her casted arm out of the sling.”
