Page 115 of In Cold Blood

“You don’t get it, do you?” Dax said, going over to the window and looking out. “This thing. This thing here in town is bigger than you and me. It’s bigger than a few bricks of coke. If people get in the way, they get hurt, they go missing, they die.”

“Like Luke, Erikson, and Parish?”

Dax jabbed his finger at him. “I didn’t kill Luke.”

“But you were involved?”

“Yes. No.” He ran a hand over his head.

“Well, which is it, Dax? Did you kill him or not?”

“No. God no. You should know me better than that, Noah. I might have fucked up. Made some wrong choices. Headed down a path I shouldn’t have. But I’m no killer. That was Cyrus. It was all Cyrus.”

“What about Parish?” Noah asked.

“By that point, I was in too deep. I had to help. Parish was sticking his nose in where it wasn’t wanted. Asking questions. They had too much on me. I had no choice.”

“We always have a choice.”

He shook the gun hard. “Maybe you, Noah. Not me. They would have killed me.”

“That investigator is in a coma, Dax.”

“Better that than dead.”

Noah sighed as he eased his way around the kitchen. “So the rental?”

“Cyrus. I borrowed Alicia’s truck to run some errands. I ran into him. He said he had some business to take care of. He didn’ttell me what. But I knew it wasn’t good. I tried to stop him from taking it but…”

“That’s how you got the shiner.”

Dax nodded. “He wrecked your truck, not me.”

It was starting to fall into place.

“Figured as much. And Erikson… why didn’t you just say something?”

Dax got emotional. Tears welled in his eyes. He sniffed hard, running a hand across his face. “Because.”

“Because what?”

“Because I’m on video. One of Cyrus’ guys recorded the whole thing that night. That’s how they keep people in line. Blackmail. Incriminating evidence. If people talk. They go down. I was there when Erikson was killed. There was no way I was going back to jail. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.”

“So you said nothing.”

Dax nodded.

“What happened?”

“Your brother and Erikson were trying to bring down a drug ring that they believed went farther than Operation Heat Wave. Do you remember I told you Luke had me get names and set up drug deals? It was getting scary out there. Luke thought he could draw them out. Using me as bait. I told him countless times that I couldn’t do it anymore. That they’d eventually figure it out. Most of the time Luke or Erikson would sweep in if there were big players, and make it look like they were busting us all. I’d be released later. The others would go down. The night Erikson died, I managed to arrange a meeting for something big, a new product hitting the market that was meant to change things. Luke was out of town. Erikson said he would handle it and find out what it was. I didn’t know Cyrus was going to show up. It was like he knew Erikson was going to be there. It didn’t make sense. They were always careful.”

He shook his head, his eyes closed for but a second. Then he continued, “Erikson didn’t stand a chance. Cyrus strangled him to death in front of us. Left his body to rot. If I’d said anything he would have released that video or put me in the grave. Your brother had his heart in the right place, Noah, but he was playing with fire and what he was doing was not approved by the higher-ups. Of that I’m convinced. Incriminating evidence would have jeopardized all the work Erikson and Luke had put in. No. That wasn’t happening. Especially not after that night.”

“Luke knew about Erikson but didn’t tell anyone else?”

“Yeah. He arrested Cyrus. Luke tried to get him to confess to the murder and tell him what the product was they were planning to sell that night. But he didn’t have enough evidence. Cyrus knew that. That’s why the case got thrown out.”

“But he had you. A witness.”