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Hannah agreed. “Have you contacted Bruce?”
“I have. He’s on his way. Bruce will handle the immunity deal, but would like for you to join us when we question Simon.” Claire cast an apologetic look toward Ryker. “You’ll have to stay here. Simon claimed police brutality. Internal Affairs has to do an investigation, which means you’re on the sidelines until they clear you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fantastic.”
Bruce strolled into the waiting room. Despite the early-morning hour, he wore a three-piece suit complete with a tie. His hair was damp, as if he’d recently showered, and his jaw was clean-shaven. Bags created deep grooves in the area under his eyes. He looked annoyed at being dragged out of bed, but Hannah knew he wouldn’t let anyone else handle this immunity deal. Not with the stakes being this high.
“We’d better go.” Claire waved at Bruce and then turned back to Hannah. “Word of warning, Simon’s attorney is Jose Ortiz.”
Ryker’s jaw clenched. “Isn’t that convenient?”
Claire shrugged. “I agree it’s suspicious, but Jose has represented Simon many times over the years. We don’t have any evidence linking this crime to Thomas Anderson, so there’s no obvious conflict of interest. Simon is entitled to representation. There’s nothing to prevent him from choosing Jose.”
She moved away to snag Gavin from his conversation with Lieutenant Rodriguez. Hannah took a step toward Bruce, but Ryker grabbed her hand, halting her forward momentum.
“Be careful, Hannah. I don’t like the idea of Bruce and Jose being involved in whatever statement Simon is about to make.” He leaned forward. “Stay close to Claire and Gavin. Don’t leave their sight.”
A shiver of dread coursed down her spine. Her gaze skipped over the waiting room, snagging on Charlotte, who was held by Ryker’s dad. Her little head rested on Jack’s chest. Zoe had wrapped a blanket around the baby to keep her warm. The diaper bag rested at her feet.
At any other time, the sight would have brought a smile to Hannah’s face. The Montgomerys looked like a set of doting grandparents. But Ryker’s warning stole her breath. She met his gaze. “You think Dusty might attack again?”
“Not immediately, but we also don’t know who we can trust. Simon is working with Dusty. Dusty is working with Thomas. Bruce and Jose are both friends with Thomas, and right now, we can’t eliminate them as suspects.” He trailed a hand over her hair, the touch tender and loving. “Just… be careful, okay?”
“I will.”
Ryker was probably being overly cautious. It was his nature to be suspicious of everyone, but Hannah still wasn’t convinced that anyone else was involved in Thomas’s drug scheme. Hopefully, whatever Simon had to say would lead them to Dusty and this entire nightmare could be over.
She followed Claire and Gavin into the emergency room and down the hall. Simon, his nose bandaged and face swollen, sat in a bed with a dark look on his face. Jose greeted Hannah with a slick smile that twisted her insides. She didn’t know if Ryker’s warning was coloring her thoughts, but the attorney resembled a cat with the mouse before he went in for the kill.
The next few minutes were spent dealing with paperwork and clarifying the terms of the immunity deal. Bruce clarified that nothing would officially happen until they heard what Simon had to say. If the criminal offered them useful information that led to the capture of Dusty, then they would reduce the charges to a misdemeanor trespassing.
Hannah wasn’t thrilled about letting Simon go with a slap on the wrist. But sometimes deals had to be made. Dusty was a danger to the public. He’d murdered a fellow prosecutor. They needed to get him off the streets.
Once the paperwork was signed, Bruce turned a steely gaze on Simon. “Where is Dusty Stillman?”
“I don’t know exactly where he is. Dusty moves around a lot.” Simon gestured for Jose to give him paper and a pen. His voice was muffled thanks to his broken nose. “I’ll write the hideouts I know about. If you search, you’ll find him. I can also give you the names of some people he deals with. Just make sure you catch him, otherwise he’ll come after me, and believe me, you don’t want to be on Dusty’s bad side.”
“Tell them about what Dusty told you yesterday,” Jose urged.
“He contacted me last night and said he had a job for me. We met up at this dive bar across town. Dusty’s given me work before. Robberies and drug deals. That kind of thing. Anyway, he said we were gonna make a fortune together by robbing a ranch owned by wealthy people. Everyone would be gone. Easy money.”
Hannah frowned. That made little sense. Why would Dusty hire two men to break onto the Montgomery ranch?
Gavin must’ve thought the same thing because he interjected. “Hold on. You were just supposed to rob the place. Nothing else?”
Simon nodded. “Yeah, man. I’m not a saint, but there are some things I don’t get involved in. Dusty lied to me about who owned the ranch. He never mentioned it belonged to a Texas Ranger. And I sure wouldn’t have involved Larry in this mess had I known the truth.” He swallowed hard. “He was just a kid.”
His remorse and grief seemed genuine. Hannah couldn’t make sense of this new information. She had the feeling there was some kind of ulterior motive. That suspicion was confirmed when Jose leaned forward and said, “Explain what else Dusty told you at the bar last night?”
“Oh yeah. The TV was on, and the news was talking about that attorney who’d been killed. The prosecutor.”
“Kristin Michaels.” Bruce pursed his lips. “Go on.”
“Yeah, that one.” Simon handed Claire the pad on which he’d scribbled down the information about Dusty. She quietly slipped from the room. “Dusty said he was the one that killed her. He was laughing about it, saying the police didn’t know who was behind it all. Then he told me he murdered that doctor’s wife last year.”
“Julie Anderson?” Bruce asked.
“Yeah, I think that was her name. Apparently she and Dusty were in the drug business together, but she double-crossed him. Dusty killed her for it. He even showed me the knife he used.”
