Page 22 of Noble Hops

“You have news,” Aidan said, drawing Cam’s attention back to Nic.

“Two pieces.”Nic closed the door and moved to the head of the table.“Any syringes found in the searches?”

“None at the house,” Moore said from the opposite end of the long oval table.

“None at HQ either,” Aidan said.

“And none on the plane,” Cam added.“The coroner found an injection site?”

“Puncture marks inside Curtis’s mouth.”Nic yanked his jaw aside, indicating the inside of his right cheek.He let it go and wiped his hand on his shirtsleeve.

“Knock out or poison killed him?”Moore asked.

“The latter.It was a heart attack brought on by whatever he was injected with.Toxicology is still processing.”

“Do we need to go back and search the sites again?”Lauren asked.“Now that we know what we’re looking for.”

Cam shook his head.“Vaughn wasn’t the one who did it.He was on a plane.”

“We need warrants on his associates,” Aidan said.

“Next on my to-do list.We have more complete bank records now?”Nic asked Lauren.

“Vaughn’s hard drives are still decrypting.”She slid into her chair behind her computer.“But I assume so, as soon as they’re up.”

“Let’s see what lines up with recent payoffs and purchases.Segment anyone with connections to pharmaceuticals.Doctors, nurses, vets, users, dealers, law enforcement.”

Her blue eyes widened.“Law enforcement?”

“Access to evidence,” Cam surmised, reminded of their case in Boston where a leveraged cop was asked to destroy evidence for a local crime boss.“Once the coroner confirms the drugs, we can narrow the segments further.”

“On it.”Her glittery purple nails flew across her keyboard.

Cam shifted his focus back to Nic.“You said two pieces of news.”

Nic’s gaze shot to Moore at the other end of the table.“El, you might want to step out for this.”

The AD rolled up his shirtsleeves, the pristine white a sharp contrast against his dark skin.“I’m in the shit now.I want to know all of it.”

Cam could commiserate.“We all need to be fully up to speed.”

Nic’s gaze bounced back to him, a silent apology in his icy blues.Cam tilted his head in thanks, and Nic straightened, addressing the room.“I’m fairly certain Bowers is Vaughn’s mole in my office.”

“That’s a serious accusation, Price.”Moore braced both hands on the table edge.“How certain isfairly?”

“Ninety-nine percent if I had to put a number on it.”He rested his forearms against the back of the nearest chair, thumbs drumming an idle rhythm in the air.

Glancing down, Cam realized he was doing the same and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“I ran a test this morning,” Nic said.“Told Bowers about my father’s autopsy.Vaughn mentioned it as soon as he stepped off the plane.”

“You think he radioed ahead?”Moore asked.

“It could have been someone at the morgue,” Aidan suggested.

“Hence the one percent doubt,” Nic replied.“But I trust Jong, and just now Bowers was all over me about the raids today.”

“Wanting details?”Cam asked, unsurprised.