Page 25 of The Truth You Told

He guffawed, clearly pleased she remembered. “Being in Texas will help. Pierce is running the show down there—he’ll offer Kilkenny some cover.”

“Any tea on him?” Raisa asked, since she was already on the phone.

“Ambitious,” Nurse said. “I’ve found with people like that, it can go one of two ways.”

“What do you mean?”

“Either they follow every rule to the point of driving everyone crazy,” Nurse said. “Or they slime their way to the top.”

Nurse, who worked in politics, would know plenty about the latter. “Any thoughts on which one he is?”

“Eh, there are some rumors about him,” Nurse said. “Nothing major, just enough for me to lean toward the slime.”

Raisa perked up at that. “What kind of rumors?”

“The biggest one is that he uses questionable assets, sometimes off the record,” Nurse said. “If someone can help him close a case, he’s not exactly a stickler for policing the crime that helps them do it.”

That wouldn’t be great for his career if it came out, but it wasn’t exactly the worst thing Nurse could have spilled about him. “Maybe five years chasing a serial killer wore down his ethics.”

“Wouldn’t blame him,” Nurse agreed. “You go long enough with everyone thinking you’ve got your thumb up your ass, and buying off a few junkies to bump that closed-case ratio starts to look more appealing.”

“Maybe he’s all about the greater good,” Raisa offered, the lights from the airport bright against the dark night.

“Never painted you for an optimist,” Nurse said.

“I’ve turned over a new leaf,” she lied.

Nurse laughed again. “Right. Come visit me inside the Beltway and I’ll cure you.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” she said, and he hummed, seeming pleasantly surprised. She’d forgotten how much she enjoyed talking with him. “Did you ever meet her? Shay Kilkenny.”

“No,” Nurse said. “Agent Kilkenny and I rarely overlapped. He was so busy with that case, he ended up in Houston more often than not.” He paused. “He kept a picture of his wife on his desk, though. That doesn’t mean much, but it doesn’t mean nothing.”

He still wore his wedding ring, too.

“An internal investigation means a lot more than that,” Raisa pointed out, and Nurse laughed again.

“There’s the realist I know and love,” he said. “I was worried there for a second. I’ll make some calls to get a head start on damage control.”

“Thank you,” she said, and he grunted in acknowledgment.

“You owe me a drink,” he said.

“And dinner,” she promised before hanging up.

She left her rental car in long-term parking—she’d deal with any potential fees when she got back.

The shuttle was empty except for the driver.

“Late night or early morning?” he asked in a way that didn’t demand a response if she had no interest in giving one.

But she laughed, a little hysterically. “Both.”

He nodded like he understood, and Raisa checked Kilkenny’s latest text for the airline information.

They would land in Texas in time to meet with Conrad not long after visiting hours started.

Raisa wasn’t sure what strategy they would take with him, but she figured she’d leave that to Kilkenny. After all, out of everyone in the world, it was Kilkenny who knew Conrad best.