Fatal Reckoning (Fatal #14)(100)
“You could retire early even without those dollars. Your husband would be more than happy to support you while you attend tea parties and have facials. Just tossing that out there in case you’re tempted.”
Sam laughed. “Can you see me working the tea party and facial circuit?”
“I can totally picture it. You’d be awesome at it.”
“You’re just saying that because you want me to quit being a cop.”
“I’d only want that so people would stop shooting at you and running you off the road and hitting you with their cars and—”
Sam hooked her hand around his neck and drew him into a kiss. “Thanks for offering to keep me, but I’d go mad without the job.”
He leaned his forehead against hers. “I know.”
A short time later, the car came to a stop outside Alice’s modest home.
Sam glanced at the house. “She’s not going to know what’s going on with the motorcade stopping here.”
“You want me to come with you?”
“Do you mind?” She didn’t want to leave him, even for the fifteen minutes she would need to explain the unexplainable to Alice.
“Not at all. Happy to be wherever my beautiful wife is.”
“You’re the best.”
They walked hand in hand up the sidewalk to the door, where Alice stood waiting for them, her eyes wide at the sight of Nick and the motorcade. She opened the storm door for them. “What is all this?”
Sam dropped Nick’s hand and put her arm around Alice. “I have news. Let’s go sit so we can talk.”
“Okay…”
The two women sat together on a sofa while Nick took one of the chairs.
“I know what happened to Steven—and my dad. Their two shootings were related after all.”
Alice gasped. “How do you know that?”
Sam took her through the whole thing, connecting Gallagher, Ryan, Santoro and Conklin to the shootings of Steven and Skip.
“Paul Conklin knew this and never said anything?”
“Yes.” Sam sighed. She understood how Alice felt. “He claims he only found out that Steven’s shooting was connected to Gallagher and the others a year before my dad was shot, but he knew all along that they were behind my dad’s shooting. He’s the one who tipped Gallagher off that my dad was looking into Steven’s shooting, hoping to finally solve that case before he retired.”
Alice wrapped her arms around herself, her body trembling violently. “Brings it all back,” she whispered. “Like it just happened.”
“I know, and I’m so sorry to do that to you.”
Alice’s eyes flashed with anger. “Don’t you apologize to me. You’re as much a victim of their evil as I am, as Steven and Skip were.” She began to cry. “Two of the best men I ever knew.”
Sam wrapped her arms around Alice and held her as she sobbed. Her own emotions were all over the place, pinging from rage to sadness to despair and then, when she noticed Nick watching her intently, to hope. As long as she had him and Scotty, the twins and the rest of her family and friends, she would survive this. She could survive anything with them on her side.
“How could Paul have done this?” Alice asked.
“I don’t know, but without him coming clean, we might never have gotten Gallagher and the others.”
“Roy was Steven’s friend.” She hiccuped on a sob. “Steven trusted him, looked up to him, even.”
“We may never understand this, Alice, but they’re going to pay for what they did to Steven, my dad, Frank Davis, Kevin Viera and who knows who else. As we speak, the FBI is raiding their offices, their homes, their businesses. The Feds will build an airtight case against them. They’ll never see the light of day again.”
“Doesn’t bring Steven or Skip back, though, does it?”
“No, but at least we’ll get justice for them. Finally.”
The back door slammed shut, startling Alice. She sat up straighter, wiped her face and made a visible effort to pull herself together. “That’ll be Jimmy, home from work.”
“Alice?”
“In here.”
“What’re all those cars in the street for?” Jimmy came into the room, stopping short at the sight of Sam and Nick. “What the…”
“Jimmy, this is Sam Holland, Skip’s daughter, and her husband—”
“I know who they are. What’s going on?”
“They’ve arrested the men behind Steven’s murder. And Skip’s.”
“Oh. Well. That’s good news, isn’t it?”
Alice nodded and dabbed at the tears that continued to spill down her cheeks.
“I, um, I’m sorry about your dad,” Jimmy said. “Alice… She said he was a good man.”
“Thank you. He was.”
“I’ll, ah, I’ll give you a minute. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me, Alice.”
After he walked away, Alice wiped her face and seemed to shake off the despair. “It’s hard for him to see me upset about Steven. He’s always felt second best, like the runner-up or something. I tell him that’s not true, but Steven… He was…” Alice grimaced.