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Man, was Ethan shocked. Ethan texted Grainger, hoping he could get to the truth of the matter. Maybe Renault had talked to Ferret before he was put into Witness Protection.

Grainger got back to Ethan: I just checked with the U.S.

Marshal s office, and one of them spoke to Ferret.

Ferret said that he saw the breaking news on the arrests you made at the warehouse, but he had no idea that s where Kroner had been.

He said the only agent he ever gave information to was you, Ethan.

Ethan glanced at Renault.

Anything wrong? Renault asked him.

No. Ethan texted Charlene: Confirmed Ferret didn t give the location of the warehouse to Renault.

Charlene texted him: We see Renault s car parking at the great-aunt s house. We re close by, keeping out of his sight.

Is that Charlene? Renault asked.

Yeah. She s talking about wedding plans, Ethan told Renault.

Renault laughed. I wouldn t mind having a girlfriend, but the idea of marrying anyone is too scary to think about. Are you ready to speak with Mrs. Osburn?

Yeah, just a minute. Ethan texted Ty Richardson with the local police department: Can you send backup to Mrs. Osburn s home?

Ethan gave him the address.

Ty texted: I ve got a couple of people near there. I ll send them now.

Ethan was glad that he didn t have to explain the situation.

What are we waiting for? Renault asked, sounding anxious, smelling worried. He was starting to perspire. Can t texting Charlene about the wedding wait?

Yeah, just texting her that I love her one last time. You never know when you might not have that chance again. Ethan texted Charlene: Ty s sending a couple of men as backup.

She texted: Good. Love you.

Ethan smiled for Renault s benefit and texted: Love you right back.

Then Ethan opened the car door and said, Okay, Renault, let s do this.

Renault looked relieved and hurried to leave the car.

Since I m retiring, I m going to let you go first and talk to Mrs. Osburn, Ethan said.

But this is your case, Renault said, looking a little panicked.

Which was true, but since Renault wanted Ethan to be the lead on this, he figured he just might have a dark reason for it. Right, but you know what? You could be the one in charge of it if I retire. I m certainly not going to spend years trying to track Kroner down.

Renault finally knocked on the door and Mrs. Osburn answered it. She smiled at Renault. You re here. We thought you weren t coming. Come in. Come in.

We. Ethan had his gun out but concealed. He heard someone coming up behind him and he suspected it was Kroner, but when he looked over his shoulder, he was relieved to see it was Noah, hurrying to join him before he went into the house.

Then their favorite patrolman, Jenkins, and another officer pulled up and hurried to join them.

Renault was so intent on getting through the door that he didn t see the reinforcements Ethan had called on. Ethan quickly grabbed Mrs. Osburn s arm and pulled her out of the house to get her out of harm s way.

One of the officers took Mrs. Osburn back to his patrol car for her safety.

Ethan was using Renault as a shield, figuring if he was involved with Kroner, he could take the risk of getting shot first. All hell broke out then as Kroner started shooting, and despite figuring Renault was in cahoots with him, Ethan dove for him, slamming him to the floor behind a sofa to protect him.

Noah was shooting back at Kroner and so was Officer Jenkins.

Sirens alerted them that Ty had sent more patrol units to help them with their case. Ethan was grateful to him.

Kroner cried out and Ethan was certain he had gotten shot. Ethan motioned for Noah to stay with Renault, who looked surprised that he wasn t allowed to help out further. I ve got this, Renault said.

You just stay here with me, Noah said.

Then Ethan and the patrolman moved to take Kroner into custody. He was gasping for air, and it appeared he d taken a bullet in a lung. Ethan called for an ambulance while the patrolman secured Kroner s weapons.

Renault is just as dirty as the rest of your friends, Kroner said to Ethan, his voice coming out in gasps. He was so angry that his face was chili-pepper red.

Hell, that s not so, Renault shouted from where he was standing with Noah.

As soon as Ethan read Kroner his rights, the EMTs arrived, and the patrolman and his partner provided security as they took him to the hospital.

What they were unprepared for was to hear someone in a back room, and Ethan hurried back there to learn who was in the room. What surprised him was to find Clara Snyder hiding in a bedroom closet.

You can come out now, Ethan said. She hadn t been tied up or beaten. She looked like she was there of her own free will. He suspected she was just as guilty as everyone else they had arrested. We re taking you in for questioning.

They were also taking Mrs. Osburn. But when he hauled Clara outside, he found a tearful Mrs. Osburn. And his beautiful mate, Charlene, was speaking with her. Since Charlene had been a homicide detective, she knew how to interview a person.

She was Kroner s hostage, Charlene said to Ethan.

But you knew Renault, Ethan said to Mrs. Osburn.

Yes. He has seen Kroner any number of times.

I know my grandnephew was involved in some shady business dealings, but he was always good to me.

Oakley took me to church sometimes and he would take me out to have a nice lunch afterward.

Kroner was a bad influence on Oakley. He always has been.

I tried to get Oakley to make new friends, but Kroner is…

just persuasive in an evil way. Mrs. Osburn wiped away tears.

She saw Clara coming out of the house and Mrs. Osburn pointed to her.

She s the one in charge. She ll pretend like she s a sweet old lady, but she s the mastermind behind it all.

How do you know this? Ethan asked, surprised.

I ve got recordings of lots of their meetings.

Ethan couldn t believe it. Here he d thought Mrs. Osburn was either a sweet old lady or involved in a cover-up with her grandnephew. But in retrospect, she had been gathering intel for them just when they needed it.

It shows Kroner threatening me if Oakley didn t do what he said, so it s all yours now that you ve caught the bastard.

Just don t let him go again. And that woman?

Mrs. Osburn said, pointing at Clara Snyder.

She pulled all the strings. Look at her now, pretending to be so innocent.

She was never a schoolteacher. She has been involved in all this for years.

Her husband used to run things, and when he was shot, she took over the business.

Renault was the sneaky one though. The other bad cops and DEA agents never knew he was working for Kroner.

When I was participating in sewing circles or bingo nights with my friends, Oakley would have his meetings with Kroner, Renault, and Clara.

That s when I began recording them to see what they were up to.

Ty ended up at the scene and Ethan said to him, Agent Renault Green and Clara Snyder are under arrest. Kroner is on his way to the hospital. Mrs. Osburn has some information to help us with the investigation.

But Ty was glancing at Renault like he couldn t believe it.

Yeah, apparently Renault wanted a piece of the criminal action like Agents Ryerson and Cohen, Ethan said.

With all the bad guys and the woman in charge in custody, Ethan needed to interrogate everyone at the police station. He said to Ty, Can you have a couple of guys watch Charlene and her place until I can return after interrogating everyone?

Yeah, I sure will.

Thanks. Ethan called his boss then and filled him in on the details.

Hell, finally. Renault was dirty. Damn.

Yeah, I know. I ll let you know more once I ve done the interrogations.

I ll be waiting to hear the news.

Then Grainger and Ethan ended the call and Ethan hugged and kissed Charlene while Mrs. Osburn went inside her house with Noah to get all the information for them.

When they came back out, Noah said, Renault s car needs to be towed and investigated.

Yeah, I need you to drive us home and drop Charlene off. Then you and I can go in and question everyone, Ethan said.

What about me? Mrs. Osburn asked.

You ll come with us. You can fill us in on anything we ve missed, Ethan said.

***

When Ethan spoke to Renault, he still couldn t believe his partner, though he hadn t been one for all that long, had worked with notorious drug dealers. Did you work with Agents Ryerson and Cohen with Kroner and Clara Snyder?

Hell, they were on the take. Not me. I can t believe you still think I m involved, Renault said.

Why would you be? Money? That s all? You wanted me to follow you to protect you from Thor.

You knew I would offer, but you figured Thor would take me out.

You thought I was retired and probably didn t have a gun or badge on me.

I know it was a shock to you when you learned I was still on the force and Thor was taken into custody.

Renault didn t say anything.

The only reason you sent roses to Charlene was to learn where I was.

It was the only way you could set me up so that Thor could take me down.

You would have been in the clear but would have done what Kroner wanted you to do.

You knew Kroner would be at the warehouse, and I suspect you thought that was going to go down a lot differently than it did.

Thanks to Noah, he learned you had lied about Ferret telling you that Kroner was at the warehouse.

As if you can believe everything a snitch says, Renault said.

You had no access to him. You didn t realize he was in protective custody.

You ve wanted to be with me every step of the way to put me in Kroner s or one of his henchmen s line of sight.

Except for the one time when Agent Cohen came for me at the house.

But you couldn t kill me yourself because you were afraid you would be found out.