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“I’ll get it,” Kerri told her daughter as she moved back into the living room. She didn’t want Tori answering the door, in case it was a rogue reporter.
Thankfully it was only the pizza delivery. A few minutes later the pizza and drinks were spread on the coffee table, and Tori was picking at a slice. Kerri forced herself to eat in hopes of encouraging her daughter to do the same. But the idea that Mayor Warren had taken such a drastic step wouldn’t let go.What the hell?
Kerri’s cell vibrated against the table. Falco’s face showed on the screen. She answered. He needed to know about this as well. “Hey.”
“How’s our girl?”
Kerri pushed to her feet and walked into the kitchen. “She’s okay. We’re muddling through. Anything new on your end?”
“Cross was able to get some bank statements belonging to McGill.”
Before Kerri could respond, he said, “Don’t ask how. Just know that she got them, and there are very large monthly deposits to a sweet little overseas account McGill set up two years ago—about the same time she started working for Kurtz. The deposits are far healthier than her monthly salary. Looks like Kurtz was right, and McGill was the source inside his business.”
Definitely an interesting turn of events. “Is there a chance what she was doing might have been something less complicated, like skimming profits at the tobacco shop?”
“With the income he took in weekly, it’s not impossible,” Falco said.
“If that’s the case, maybe Kurtz discovered her sticky fingers and confronted her?” Which could mean his murder wasn’t related to drugs or the cartel, ultimately blowing all to hell their theory that he and Walsh were working together.
Falco said, “We’re talking a sizable chunk of change. She would’ve done some serious time if he’d pressed charges. Previous employers could potentially have started coming forward if McGill has done thisbefore. But,” he allowed, “this could also be about the distribution of drugs. Cross believes McGill was the source Kurtz and Walsh intended to confront. This could be the first piece of tangible evidence.”
True.“But there’s a big difference between taking money or even low-level drug distribution,” Kerri reminded him, “and killing someone—especially two someones.”
“No question,” Falco agreed. “But what do we really know about McGill? She may have a history of violence we haven’t uncovered yet. Maybe they confronted her, and she killed them. In fact, Walsh being there actually worked in her favor by drawing suspicion farther from her. She doesn’t know the guy and had no connection to him.”
Kerri wasn’t ready to buy into the scenario. “Maybe someone else figured out what she was up to and used it to blackmail her into providing the opportunity to take them both out.”
“Only one way to find out,” Falco said. “I’ll drop by the shop and interview her again.”
Worry gnawed at Kerri. “I don’t like you doing this alone. We don’t know what McGill is capable of.” Right now was not a good time for her to leave Tori.
“I’ll take Cross with me. She seems to know a lot more about McGill than we do.”
“Be careful and keep me up to speed,” Kerri ordered. “I don’t want to hear from someone else about you getting into trouble.”
“I’ll call you, don’t worry. Just take care of Tori. She needs you more than I do.”
“Look, I learned something from Sykes that doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m listening.”
“He and Peterson were instructed to back off where Alice Cortez and her family are concerned. The girl is in the mayor’s mentoring program, and Warren wants the family left alone. The order came straight from the chief.”
“That means just one thing to me,” Falco said. “We need to turn over some rocks from the mayor’s past. See what crawls out.”
“I was thinking the same. I’ll do what research I can from home tonight. You be careful.”
He laughed softly. “I’m beginning to think you’re attached to me, Devlin.”
“I just don’t want to have to break in a new partner.”
Kerri ended the call rather than risk saying something else that would incriminate her. The truth was she didn’t want to lose him. Tori wasn’t the only one who needed him.
With a deep breath, Kerri pasted on a smile and went back to the living room.
The mayor’s connection was curious. She grabbed her phone from the side table.
Now to learn just how curious.
