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“Do not even think to talk to her, you bastard,” Kimball kicked out. The move sent Steve falling face forward on the ground. “You don’t have the right to even breathe the same air as she does after what you did to her and her sister. You know that. You fucking know that.”
“Don’t do anything rash, Sol. Trust me, Steve isn’t worth the cost,” Heather said. Joy was just too exposed right now. She shifted. Toward her sister. She could see Dr. Lake, the big blond man that Samia mentioned occasionally. Murdoch’s twin brother. He had Samia and Cashlyn out of the line of fire now. Behind the back of Cashlyn’s car. She could just see him, where he stood watching. Blocking them, when he didn’t have to. Her nieces were as protected as they were going to get.
But Joy…Joy was right there in the middle of everything. Everyone who fired a weapon would risk hitting Joy right now. They all knew that, too.
“No. I don’t suppose he is. He told me…you need to understand…all of you. Someone in his family is involved, too. In the organization, doing all this. Higher up, I think. Someone got him involved. Ties, connections. Find them—you’ll be able to topple that empire, I think. And follow the money. Wilson has some put back. Track it. It’ll lead you where you want to go.”
That’s when she got it. Kimball wasn’t just confessing. He was making a statement. Giving them everything he knew. Right now. Tonight. Because he knew, as soon as word got out what he had done, they would come for him next.
Sol Kimball was the most valuable witness Major Crimes had.
“We’ll do that.”
She took another step. Toward Joy.
Kimball—she could see he was getting tired. Weary. Soul-deep hurt. It was in his eyes, really. Heather understood that hurt. That tiredness from just life, and all the pain.
He’d made bad decisions. His daughter had paid the cost.
She hurt for that girl who had died far too young. Just Crispin’s age. That girl had deserved better, too. The innocent were the ones that got hurt the most. That was a lesson she had learned a long time ago.
“What do you want to happen now, Detective Kimball?” Jarrod asked. “Can you let Haldyn go? We can all go inside, get her taken care of. While Jake and Lake and Dom go find Madison and Hope. Lake can take his brother. He can make sure Hope is okay.”
“That’s something I was planning. I was planning to give Hallie here to Holden-Deane or Jacobson, probably. Even that little Dr. Alvaro, if she was here. I know that doc is friends with their sisters. I just saw Heather’s sister in the parking lot first. And figured I’d just…tell her what I was intending to tell those doctors instead.”
Kimball didn’t intend to hurt Haldyn. Heather would lay odds on that, but as long as he had that weapon, pointed at people like that, even though it was really just pointed at…
Steve.
Kimball kept his weapon trained on Steve.
Heather just stayed where she was, and tried to figure out what to do next.
But she knew the truth—as long as Kimball had that gun pointed at an unarmed man, no matter what kind of man scum he was, everyone out there was in danger.
But Haldyn and Joy were the ones most trapped in the middle.
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Haldyn just stayed as still and unthreatening as she possibly could. This wasn’t really about her now. She wasn’t a fool. This was about what was happening between Sol Kimball and Wilson. And somehow Kimball making his amends—through Heather.
The last thing Haldyn wanted to do was get caught in the middle.
Her head hurt. She probably had a concussion. It was making her slow, sluggish. If Kimball hadn’t been holding her so tightly, she probably would have fallen to the ground already. Right next to Steve Wilson.
“Haldyn, are you doing okay?” Heather asked her.
Jarrod was right there. Moving closer to her. Haldyn knew what he was planning to do. If needed, Jarrod was going to knock her out of the way. Protect her.
She knew that. He always would. He would come for her—no matter what. He would.
Haldyn just looked at him, standing there. She could see Daniel just behind him. And Dom and Jake and Lake. Jarrod and his posse. She’d known they’d come looking for her.
She had trusted them. Believed in them.
She had known she mattered to them enough for them to come for her. Just like they had come for her before. And come for Shelby all those months ago, rescuing her from Victor Scott’s house that day. “Who…Sol, who was the fifth man that day? At Victor Scott’s…I can’t remember…”
“Never knew him either. He sounded real familiar, but I never heard his name, honey. You just stay still. I know your head hurts, baby girl. Foster will get you inside in a minute. He’ll get you taken care of real soon.”
