Page 111 of The Sister's Curse

I told him what I’d found, and about Jasper. And what Sims had been doing to his daughter and the other girls.

He listened, stony faced, until I lapsed into silence.

“I need for you to leave the office. I do not want to see your face around here.”

My shoulders slumped. “Yes, sir.”

“Tell Monica to keep looking for Viv. And you go get some ironclad evidence to bring these motherfuckers down.”

I blinked at him. “But you told the sheriff—”

“I told him you were suspended. I’m telling you privately to get this case handled and nail those bastards to the wall. Take anything you find to Monica. She can file with Judge Chamberlain for warrants—she’s the only judge in the county who will sign one against those fuckers. Both you girls need to keep a low profile and stay the fuck out of the sheriff’s way.”

I nodded sharply. “Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

I exited the chief’s office, stomach churning. I hated to have caused trouble for Chief and the Vice guys, never mind what it meant for my own career. It was very likely that I’d be out of a job entirely. If I was found to be at fault for harassing Sumner, or worse, for Sims’s death, then my police career would effectively be over and I would be in disgrace. Hopefully I wouldn’t be charged with a crime, but with the judges around here under Sumner’s thumb, that was a crapshoot.

Chief’s secretary passed another piece of chocolate to me.

“Thanks, Judy.”

She nodded, stood, and took the entire bag of candy into Chief’s office.

—

I slipped out to the parking lot, with Gibby trotting quietly behind me. I put on my sunglasses and jammed my hands into my pockets.I didn’t know if I wanted to scream or cry. Those fucking assholes. They were trying to destroy everyone around this case, anyway they could.

I could be a good cop and play by the rules. Go home and wait for my punishment. Accept it and go sit in a jail cell or an unemployment office.

Fuck that.

I took an Uber to the only car rental place in town and scored a silver four-door sedan smelling like air freshener. I removed the clip-on air freshener before Gibby gulped it down.

I texted Monica on my personal cell.I got suspended.

Monica called me on her personal cell. “I heard. How are you holding up?”

“Fucking bastards,” I said through clenched teeth. “I’m pissed.”

“Good girl. We’ll get through this. I swear.”

I took a deep breath. “Highway patrol said Jasper was hit by another vehicle. I’m betting EPA isn’t going to send anyone else if there’s a hazard to their investigators, which I get.”

“That’s what Sumner wants, to scare everyone off.”

“Well, it’s working.”

“Listen, I talked with Forensics this morning. They’re still going through evidence from Sims’s car, but they found some stuff.”

“Tell me.”

“Working theory is that there was an electrical system malfunction. There was a recall on that vehicle about fifteen years ago, and the vehicle hadn’t been to the dealership to get the fix. The malfunction could cause electrical surges in the system, and disrupt the cruise control. It’s possible that there was a sudden increase in speed that the driver couldn’t control, but we can’t say that conclusively yet. It’s more likely that the driver just lostcontrol out of human error, or he may have committed suicide. But that would be weird, given the luggage in the back.”

“Right.” I was liking this line of thought better than the idea that Sims got so rattled by my questioning that he committed suicide.

“But this is where things get really weird. They found some hair in the trunk, near one of the wheel wells. It’s long, black hair that doesn’t fit with the subject. We also found bloodstains in the upholstery seams.”