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“Oh, yeah… that.”

“Well, what did you mean?”

“I meant that you know from personal experience how that feels.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Hang on,” Justin sighed. Reaching under his seat, he pulled out a large manila envelope and dropped it on the stack of filefolders in Matthew’s lap. The front of the envelope had more of Justin’s handwriting on it.

Vehicular Fatalities—Julia Brandon & Grant Adams

“How much do you know?” Matthew demanded, ripping the seal open before Justin could stop him from pulling out the documents inside.

“How much doyouknow? That’s the real question,” Justin said. “I don’t wanna put too much more on the pile.”

“Too late.” Matthew sneered, pushing away Justin’s hand. “Too late for you to put too much on me and too late because I already know all about Julia and her boyfriend.”

Justin’s eyes bugged out.

Then Matthew sighed, knowing he would have to tell Justin everything he’d already told Katie. He didn’t relish the idea of confessing what he was about to, but knew he needed to. In the end, when his confessions were over, Matthew felt better than when he’d unloaded the burden of Julia’s secrets the first time.

“Dang, man, I am truly sorry. I wasn’t sure how much you knew, but I knew you probably suspected at least somethin’ was going on.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, because every time someone said Julia’s name or asked about her, your whole demeanor would change. Like you’d been hurt somehow. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was just your run-of-mill marital problems or somethin’ more. Then, when the accident happened, a lot of questions got answered that night.”

“Does the Chief know about Julia and Grant?”

“Yep.”

“Damn.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. No one else does. And since there was drinkin’ involved and neither of them was wearin’ a seat belt, there was no reason to put the details of the affair in the station file for now. We’re all good if it makes it into the file oneday. I’ll just slip the rest of it in there after everything else is scanned and put into the digital record.”

“So then no one will ever see it?”

“Not unless the case gets reopened. But why would it?”

“Thank you,” Matthew said.

“No problem, man. Just doin’ my job.”

As they drove along, Matthew started to wonder about this partner of his. On the outside, he seemed like a small-town guy with a heart of gold. But there was more to Justin Macomb than meets the eye.

“You got anything else hiding in here I should know about? CIA Secrets? The truth about Bigfoot?”

“Nope, that’s it.”

“No hidden gadgets? Rocket launchers in the headlights? Flame thrower in the tailpipe?”

“Maybe…” Justin smirked.

“Small-town secret agent, huh?”

“It pays the bills.”

Chapter 22