Risking it All (Crossing the Line, #1)(64)

Sitting down and searching through the device wasn’t an option. Thinking quickly, she snatched a letter opener off the desk and used it to pry the cover off the underside of the laptop and remove the hard drive. With one more nervous glance at her watch, she shoved it into her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone.

A terse voice answered midway through the first ring.

“This is Officer Seraphina Newsom requesting my pickup. I’m—”

The line went dead before she could relate her exact location.

Ignoring an odd foreboding in her stomach, Sera made sure nothing appeared out of order on Hogan’s desk.

She tucked the ledger book under her arm and turned to leave. Okay. She simply needed to walk up the stairs, through the kitchen and out into the alley.

They’d hung up because they already knew where she was. That had to be it.

Someone would be there within minutes for her in an unmarked vehicle. An officer who would take her to police headquarters

and

out

of

this

neighborhood. Forever.

Her steps faltered when relief didn’t come flooding in as expected. Not an ounce of triumph or pride came with finally having secured Hogan’s list of financial transactions. Names, dates, locations that she’d now seen with her own eyes. It had the potential to crumble not only Hogan’s enterprise from the inside, but other Brooklyn operations as well. Her uncle would finally be proud.

The injustice of watching Hogan profit of others’ loss would be over.

Bowen’s face appeared in her mind, bringing with it stinging pain where the relief should have been. No, that couldn’t be it. She wouldn’t allow him to be the reason this accomplishment felt so hollow. So…nothing. This was her brother’s murderer, and she had the tool with which to bring him down.

At the base of the stairs, she came to a dead stop. Using the dim bulb above her for light, she flipped open to the page where she’d seen her brother’s name, the notations that indicated he’d been taking payouts. Taking a deep breath, she sat down on the bottom step and stared hard at the numbers, something she hadn’t had the opportunity to do before. Colin had taken three thousand dollars a week for six months. A lot of money to a rookie cop. She could imagine him being tempted, but not actually taking it. But he had, for six whole months. Sera squinted down at the messy handwriting. At six months, the payments had stopped, indicated by a series of zeroes. She checked the dates. He’d stopped taking the payouts two months before he’d been killed.

Hope fluttered to life in her chest. Had he seen the error of his ways and changed course? It appeared so.

Furthermore, it gave Hogan the motive to take out her brother. It wasn’t much, but it gave her a jumping-off point.

Finally, she felt something akin to victory come to life inside her, but not as strongly as it should have. Bowen sat at the bar, right above her head. Now that the moment had arrived to walk away from him, she had no choice but to admit it felt horribly, painfully wrong. As if she would be leaving a piece of herself behind when she walked into that alley.

The same alley where they’d listened to Mrs. Petricelli sing opera that first night.

Right before he’d kissed her.

Digging deep, she found the will to secure the ledger book into the waistband of her skirt, tucking her shirt in over it. As she dragged herself up the stairs, her legs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. She spotted the car as soon as she walked outside, down at the end of the alley, out of view of the residential buildings. As she made her way over at a quick jog, the tall, familiar figure huddled beside it brought her up short.

“Uncle?”

“Sera.” His smile was brisk, but his eyes warmed. “Did you get what you were looking for?”

She nodded once, still reeling that he was the one to come get her. As a highly recognizable figure, he’d taken a huge, unnecessary risk. Why? A shiver moved up her spine as she continued toward the black sedan. “Yes, I got it.”

“Good. Let me have it.”

The ledger disappeared into the inside pocket of his overcoat the second she handed it over. For some odd reason she couldn’t explain, she held on to the hard drive in her back pocket, some inner warning telling her not to give it up just yet.

He indicated the passenger side door.

“Let’s go home.”

“Home?” Sera shook her head. “Don’t you mean the precinct? It’s protocol to debrief me immediately after—”

“It can wait until the morning.” He shot a look down the alley. “Sera, it’s very important you don’t mention this book to anyone. Not until I’ve had a chance to look at it.”

No, this was all wrong. They had to do this by the book or none of the evidence would be admissible in court.

Not to mention, his edgy behavior was so unlike him. He shouldn’t have come on his own when his niece had been involved in the investigation. How could he be objective? Nothing about this felt right.

The answer hit her with the force of a battering ram.

“You knew.” Her voice rang in her ears. “About Colin. Are you trying to cover it up?” She sucked in a breath. “Is that why you refused to reopen the official investigation? You didn’t want anyone to find out?”

He started to deny it, but whatever he read on her face prevented him. “We will talk about this later when I get you somewhere safe.”