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Her heels clicked back the same way they’d come.
Lisa returned from what I assumed was a nonexistent phone call. “Wow, she’s a real piece of work. Nice shoes though.”
*
Tanner
“I’m going toplace Carson under twenty-four-hour surveillance. It’s time to find out all his dirty secrets. I’ve heard the whispers around town about how he’s got nearly everyone in his pocket one way or another. I was elected with a promise to clean up corruption and this is my opportunity to do it. I’ll need you to give me as much information on whonotto trust when it comes to your father.”
The district attorney was appalled at their account of what had gone down at Pine Hill. The fact that Carson had shown up a half hour behind them meant someone had tipped him off. Tanner now had a good idea of who that might be, and it disappointed him to think that his trust had been so misplaced.
“Yes, he’s a nasty piece of work, I’m sorry to say. Mostly he keeps people loyal by finding their Achilles’ heels, whether it be a dirty personal secret or that of a family member. It seems everybody has something they don’t want found out. Carson is master at figuring out what makes people tick.” Tanner felt like he had to explain his lack of affinity for his father. “I realize it’s hard to understand our lack of family loyalty, but he was as terrible a father as he is a human.”
“I know. We’ve known each other for a long time, remember? I’ve paid attention.” Alan nodded, his expression showing a depth of sympathy. “I’m sorry to say that he’s even worse than I’d believed.”
“Can we do a wiretap of his phone and office?”
Alan nodded. “I can get the cell phone intercept since we’ve already gotten compelling evidence regarding Marie Trichel and his collusion with Dr. Miller and Judge Keller. There are documents and witnesses to substantiate this. I’ll need to figure out how to get someone in his office to place listening devices without his knowing.”
“I’ve got an idea, but I’ll need to have a conversation with someone first.” Tanner now decided that Imogene might be his best solution to this situation, but he would need to find out exactly where her loyalties lay.
He didn’t want to mention her name to anyone else until he was sure she was his mole. Giving her the benefit of the doubt felt like the right thing to do even though so far she appeared guilty as hell.
“Okay. But today, or we give Carson time to regroup and destroy evidence.” Tanner understood the man’s motivation to keep his political promises, and finally they had an ally in the town’s government who was willing to go boldly against Carson with a full-barreled offense. This had never happened before.
“I’ll handle it when I leave your office.”
“All right, I’ll get warrants assigned quietly to Judge Watkins. It’s fortunate he’s the duty judge this rotation, so I don’t have to explain bypassing Keller.” The two district judges rotated taking cases depending on when they were scheduled to be the signing judge.
When he left the DA’s office, it was around five thirty, so Tanner decided to stop by his office to see if he could catch Imogene before she left for the day. How he handled this situation would be important for their case against Carson and Judge Keller moving forward.
Imogene’s car was in its parking space when he arrived. Tanner entered quietly through the back door, not wanting to alert Imogene to his presence until he got a feel for what she was up to.
He saw that she was sitting at her desk working at the computer. Nothing strange about that. “Hi, Imogene.”
She startled and put a hand to her heart. “Oh, I didn’t hear you arrive. How did everything go today? I’ve been worried sick.”
“You’ve never been late, Imogene. Where did you go?” Best to ask her about this directly and see if she would come clean. “There’s still no coffee, so I’m thinking you’ve got something to tell me.”
Imogene’s expression told the story. She was dead busted. “Well, I-I went to Carson’s office. My behavior has been awful.” She hung her head. “I’m so ashamed. I told him about Marie. About y’all going to Pine Hill. Fact is, Tanner, that I’ve been filling him in about your activities since I came to work here.” She stared at him with tears in her eyes.
“I know. I figured it out a few days ago.”
“I’m so sorry. He’s been threatening me, and I haven’t had the courage to stand up to him.”
“Imogene, what you’ve done is inexcusable. We trusted you and you’ve let us down, but you know that. I’m going to give you an opportunity to redeem yourself.”
“But how?”
“Carson is under investigation. We’re gathering loads of evidence on him, which he doubtlessly knows. But he doesn’t know that we are having this conversation, does he?”
“I haven’t bugged the office if that’s what you mean. I refused when he asked me to. I said I would let him know what was happening, but I wouldn’t put bugs here.”
“Okay, well, I want you to put bugs in his office and pretend you’re still doing his bidding. You can feed him information about us still but you’re going to work for the district attorney to bring him down. We’ll have him arrested and he can’t threaten you anymore.”
“Y-you would trust me to do this?”
“If you give us your word that you’re on our side. You’ll need to testify against him in court once his case goes to trial. Can you do that?”
