Page 42 of It's One of Us

“Yes.”

“Concealed permit?”

“No. Just a regular home protection piece.”

She shrugs.No big deal, dude. Don’t be so fidgety. “Good. If it shows up in a pawn shop or on the streets, we’ll be able to track it down.”

“Do you think this is a coincidence?” Bender sounds worried.

“Do you?”

He flushes and chews a nail. When he speaks again, his voice is hard and flat. “Listen. You two keep showing up, dropping bombs that end my life as I know it. Reporters are bugging us. Now I find someone’s broken into my office and emptied my safe, and earlier, I felt like someone was watching me from the woods. No, I don’t.”

“Okay. Any cameras to your security system?”

“We have a monitoring system on the front door. Nothing back here, though. Since it’s locked inside the fence and has an alarm....”

She doesn’t bother stating the obvious—people jump fences all the time—just nods.

“You might want to give it a look, just see if it caught anything out of place overnight. Any more media calls?”

“That woman from Channel Four. She came by the house after you left.”

“And you talked to her?”

Bender gives her a look of extreme loathing. “No. Though I can’t say I appreciate you telling her about my connection to this case.”

Joey holds up a hand. “I haven’t talked to any reporters. Not my favorite, you know? And the PIO hasn’t made any statements. But they have their ways, their sources. What did she ask you?”

“Just to talk. Like she did when she called. I declined.”

“It’s going to get out eventually, Mr. Bender. The media listen to our radio calls. They know when something happens that will be of interest. The Cooke case is high profile. We’ve been here three times now. Add in your ties to the case, and the fact that someone’s been digging around in your personal things? As far as the media is concerned, where there’s smoke, there’s fire, you know what I mean?”

“There is no smoke, nor fire. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Bender is clearly rattled. Interesting. “Right. But a tip can come from anywhere. Neighbors. Work. What did you say you do back here, sir? Something contractually private? Is that something that can be used against you?”

“No, it couldn’t.” He thinks for a moment, shakes his head again. “No. It’s...”

“You’re going to have to tell us at some point, sir. Why don’t you let me be the judge of whether your occupation has anything to do with this.”

“I can’t. I’d have to get permission.”

“Then I suggest you do that. It could be relevant.”

Will appears in the door. “Got some footprints in the mud back here. We’ll get the place dusted and take some casts, see what pops.” A car door slams. “Oh, team’s here. I’ll go get ’em.”

Joey looks toward the street; though she can’t see in front of the house from Bender’s office, she does have a view down the road. A derelict-looking white van with a ladder on top cruises by and disappears around the corner. She can hear Osley jawing with the team.

Joey stashes her notebook in her back pocket. “Good. Well, Mr. Bender, if you have no idea why you might be targeted, we will add this to our investigation. You get in touch when you’ve securedpermission, okay?”

She is coming across like a bitch, she knows it, but come on, what in the world could a suburban English professor be doing in his back yard that needs this level of privacy and security? And if he does, why in the world would he keep the safe in an outbuilding instead of inside the house where the security system’s cameras would cover it? It makes all her radars go on alert.

He’s hiding something, her subconscious remarks.You know it, and he knows you know it.

Bender is fidgeting again, like a little boy who needs to use the restroom. She waits him out.

“Okay, you can’t tell anyone.”