Executive Protection(75)

With growing uneasiness, Wade returned to his desk. Without sitting down, he opened the folder. He picked up the photographs of the sniper rifle and Mike’s closet door.

After a few moments, Wade looked up. “What is this?”

He knew damn well what it was, but Thad indulged him. “They’re from Mike’s apartment.”

Wade fell into a long, grave contemplation. “I still don’t understand why you’re in my office giving me a song and dance about threats and involvement in Kate’s shooting. Cut to the chase, Winston.”

Thad sat down on the opposite side of the desk and steepled his fingers. “You knew about Sophie. You knew about Jaden. And you knew about Mike. You’re involved. Do you think I can’t prove it?”

At last, Wade reacted. He sat down on his office chair. The seriousness of his predicament finally began to sink in. His smugness faded. Mounting fear took its place...or was it resignation?

“What will I find when I look at your phone records?” Thad had no mercy for this man. He’d helped Mike try to kill his mother. He turned to face the desk. “Will I find proof that you talked to Jaden and Mike?”

Wade leaned back against his chair. He was caught.

“Why haven’t you told me about the phone records in Sophie’s kidnapping case?” Thad pressed.

Wade didn’t reply.

“Darcy obtained them for me,” Thad said. “Lindeman was talking to Layne, and now Lindeman is missing. Isn’t that interesting?”


Still, Wade didn’t respond, only his grim stare met Thad’s.

“Why did you do it?” Thad asked.

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, Winston. You should have listened to me.”

“Why did you do it?” he repeated. He had to know, not only for himself, but for the investigation.

“This is way over your head. Hell, it’s over mine. You’d be smart to stop now. Get out while you still can.”

“Get out of what?”

“It’s too late for me,” he said as though he hadn’t heard Thad.

Thad lowered his hands, beginning to worry about how bleak the chief sounded. “If you won’t tell me why Mike Harris tried to kill my mother, there are others who can.”

“Like who? Layne Bridger?” Wade put his hands on the arms of his chair. “He doesn’t know anything.”

The police had questioned him and he hadn’t revealed anything. Thad had wondered if he was afraid to talk or if he truly didn’t know anything.

“Did you pay him or did someone else?” Thad asked.

“It wasn’t me.”

“Was it Andrew Lindeman?” Thad asked calmly.

That tripped the chief up for a second. “They don’t tell me that.”

“‘They’? Who’s ‘they’?” Thad willed him to talk, meeting Chief Thomas’s grim eyes.

Seconds passed and then Wade stared down at his desk. The degree of his gravity began to alarm Thad. Whatever haunted him, whatever trouble he’d gotten himself into, he saw no way out.

“My mother isn’t the only political figure targeted for assassination,” Thad said. “You can stop them.”

Slowly, Wade’s despondent eyes lifted. Thad didn’t think Wade was actually seeing him, his thoughts were that heavy.

“It’s bigger than you can imagine,” Wade finally said, not sounding like the chief of police Thad knew.

“Is it some kind of extremist political organization?” Thad asked.

The desperation emanating from Wade slid behind a blank stare that chilled Thad. The chief opened one of the desk drawers. When he lifted a gun, Thad lost his breath. Would he shoot him?

He pulled his own gun from its holster. But Wade put the gun to his own head and, looking at Thad, fired.





Chapter 19


The chief had left Thad and Darcy with more unanswered questions than they’d had going into this. Wearing gloves, Thad carefully went through Wade’s desk. His body had been removed and the police station cleared of unessential personnel. A place of law enforcement had become a crime scene.

“Something weird is going on,” Darcy said from over at the two four-drawer file cabinets against the wall nearest to the desk.

He could say that again.

“Why are all these people involved in killing political figures? Why Mike Harris?”

Why Jaden? Why Andrew Lindeman? Why anyone? He’d talked to Sam already. His brother didn’t know anything about Mike’s plan to assassinate their mother. He was in deep shock over it. He couldn’t believe his friend had done something so extreme. He hadn’t seen the signs, hadn’t recognized his friend had lost his mind.

Jaden had tried to leave the window and the side entrance door unlocked for Mike. He’d been helping both Cam and Mike. And now that Thad looked back on the night Lucy was kidnapped, he now realized why Mike had waited so long to call the police. Lucy’s kidnapping had interrupted his attempt to get into the estate. If Thad hadn’t seen Jaden unlock the door and disable the security system, he may have gotten in and killed Kate.

But he’d gone after Lucy instead. He had liked Lucy when he’d met her and had chosen to save her from Jaden rather than go to the side entrance door. That suggested he still had something of a heart, and whatever had driven him to try and kill Kate must have been bigger than he could manage.