Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE BADGE
By noon, Ethan was home.
Two unmarked police vehicles watched the street.
Federal agents had offered a safe house.
Mia refused until she knew which federal agents were safe.
Serena March had not been formally accused of anything.
That made her more dangerous.
Internal Affairs quietly pulled access logs.
Noah stayed with Rex in the Carter living room.
Daniel sat beside Ethan on the floor building a plastic dinosaur set.
Mia watched them from the kitchen.
Normal had become something she could see but not touch.
Ethan laughed.
She almost cried.
Her phone rang.
Jonah Ellis.
“I found your dinosaur report.”
Mia stepped outside.
“And?”
“It didn’t exist.”
Her stomach tightened.
“No written briefing mentioned it?”
“Not before Agent March said it in the hospital.”
“How could she know?”
“Radio traffic?”
“Noah says nobody radioed it.”
“Then somebody told her directly.”
“Pierce?”
“Possible.”
“Cross?”
“Possible.”
“Dade?”
“Possible.”
Every possible answer meant the same thing.
Serena was connected.
Jonah continued.
“There’s more. March accessed the Franklin Furniture case file fourteen times in the last six months.”
“Because Noah asked to reopen it?”
“She wasn’t assigned to the review.”
Mia looked through the window.
Noah sat with Rex’s head on his knee.
“Does Noah know?”
“Not yet.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“Don’t confront March.”
Mia almost laughed.
“I’m learning everyone says that right before someone confronts somebody.”
“Mia.”
“I won’t.”
She ended the call.
Noah listened without interrupting.
Then he went upstairs.
Mia followed.
He opened a box in the guest-room closet.
Inside were old case notebooks.
“You kept these?”
“Copies of my personal notes.”
“That’s allowed?”
“Depends who asks.”
He found Franklin.
Pages of diagrams.
Times.
Names.
At 10:42 p.m. two years earlier, Noah entered the warehouse with Rex.
10:46 — rear signal lost.
10:47 — shots.
10:48 — Officer Mendes down.
10:49 — Noah hit.
10:51 — Serena March reports suspect fleeing east.
Noah stared.
“What?”
“Serena said she chased a suspect out the east exit.”
“So?”
“Rex went west.”
Mia waited.
“Why does that matter?”
“Rex was on blood scent.”
“Okay.”
“The blood belonged to the shooter. We found a drop near the stairs.”
“So the shooter went west.”
“Exactly.”
“Serena sent everyone east.”
Noah’s face went pale.
“She pulled the perimeter away from whoever shot me.”
Mia whispered, “Maybe she made a mistake.”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I told her over radio that Rex was moving west.”
“Could she not hear?”
“She answered me.”
Noah sat on the edge of the bed with the old notebook open between his hands.
“Serena used to be the person I called when I didn’t trust anybody else.”
Mia leaned against the dresser.
“Were you close?”
“Very.”
“How close?”
He gave her a look.
“Not like that.”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You were about to.”
She almost smiled.
Then Noah’s expression grew serious again.
“When Dad died, Serena drove three hours after shift and sat on the porch with me until sunrise. When my knee got wrecked, she visited every week.”
“That’s why you missed it.”
“Maybe.”
“Or maybe she changed.”
“That would be easier.”
“Why?”
“Because if she was always involved, then half the memories I trusted were built next to a lie.”
Mia understood that better than she wanted to. Daniel had not joined a criminal network, but five days of secrecy had been enough to make her revisit ordinary conversations and wonder which words had been true.
Noah tapped the Franklin notes.
“Good investigators love patterns. Bad investigators love the patterns they already believe.”
“What did you believe?”
“That Serena was on my side.”
He looked at Rex.
“The dog didn’t have that problem.”
Rex lifted his head at the sound of his name.
Noah scratched behind his ear.
“Humans explain things away. Dogs just remember what happened.”
He found a notation.
MARCH ACKNOWLEDGED WEST TRACK 10:50.
Then, one minute later, Serena reported east.
Noah closed the notebook.
“I wrote it off as chaos.”
“Because she was your friend.”
He nodded.
More than friend, Mia realized.
“You trusted her.”
“She saved my life once.”
“When?”
“Years ago. Domestic warrant. Guy came through a closet with a knife. Serena put him down before I even saw him.”
“That doesn’t mean she didn’t betray you later.”
“No.”
It hurt him to say it.
Downstairs, Rex barked.
One sharp alarm.
Mia and Noah ran.
Daniel stood in the foyer holding an envelope.
“Courier left this.”
“Who?”
“Kid on a bike. Maybe sixteen.”
Inside was a photograph.
Noah and Serena.
Years younger.
Standing beside Rex during K9 training.
On the back:
ASK HIM WHO CHOSE THE CARTER BOY.
Mia turned to Noah.
His face drained.
“I didn’t.”
“Then what does it mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel said, “Pierce said Ethan was chosen because Noah reopened Franklin.”
“Maybe someone wants us to think that.”
Noah’s phone rang.
Serena.
He put it on speaker.
“Noah.”
“Yeah?”
“We have a problem.”
He looked at Mia.
“What?”
“Pierce is dead.”
Silence.
“How?”
“Transport accident.”
Noah laughed once.
“Try again.”
Serena’s voice hardened.
“Prisoner transport was hit at an intersection. Vehicle rolled. Pierce died at the hospital.”
“Convenient.”
“Don’t.”
“Were you there?”
“No.”
“Where’s Dade?”
“In federal custody.”
“Cross?”
“County detention under federal hold.”
“So the one guy who said your name is dead.”
“Careful.”
There it was again.
Not concern.
A warning.
Noah said, “I need to see you.”
Mia grabbed his arm.
He covered her hand.
Serena replied, “Where?”
“Franklin Furniture.”
A long pause.
“That building is sealed.”
“I know.”
“Why there?”
“Because I found something in my old notes.”
“What?”
“Come and I’ll show you.”
Serena said nothing for three seconds.
Then: “One hour.”
She hung up.
Mia stared at Noah.
“You’re baiting her.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Jonah can wire me.”
“You are retired.”
“I noticed.”
“You have a damaged knee.”
“Also noticed.”
“You have a family.”
Noah looked at Ethan in the other room.
“That’s why.”
Daniel stood.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“The ledger came from my job.”
“Exactly why you stay with Ethan.”
Mia said, “I’m going.”
Both men said no simultaneously.
She folded her arms.
Noah sighed.
“Fine.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Mia.”
“She walked into our son’s hospital room and knew details she shouldn’t know.”
“What about Ethan?”
Noah said, “Mrs. Alvarez, two officers, and Daniel. Nobody knows we leave.”
Mia looked at her husband.
His expression was frightened.
She kissed him.
“Keep him inside.”
Daniel caught her hand.
“Come back.”
“I will.”
Then he handed Noah a flash drive.
“What’s this?”
“Copy of the ledger.”
Noah frowned.
“Why?”
“If she wants proof you found something.”
“Good.”
Daniel looked at Mia.
“The original folder stays in the office safe.”
“Okay.”
At 3:05 p.m., Mia and Noah entered Franklin Furniture through the front.
Rex came too.
Jonah’s team watched from several blocks away.
No federal agents.
Not yet.
The building smelled like dust and rotten wood.
Noah wore a wire.
Mia waited on the mezzanine above the basement stairs, hidden behind old office partitions.
Serena arrived at 3:17.
Alone.
“Noah?”
“Down here.”
She descended.
Rex stood beside Noah.
Serena stopped at the sight of him.
“You brought the dog.”
“He likes reunions.”
“What did you find?”
Noah held up the flash drive.
“Something Daniel missed.”
Serena looked at it.
“What?”
“Why did you send the Franklin perimeter east?”
Her face changed.
Tiny.
But undeniable.
“Noah.”
“The shooter went west.”
“You dragged me here for a two-year-old tactical argument?”
“Pierce said your name.”
“He was manipulating you.”
“You knew about Ethan’s dinosaur.”
“A report.”
“There was no report.”
Silence.
Rex growled.
Serena looked down.
“Control him.”
Noah’s voice broke slightly.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
She looked at him.
For several seconds, they were not investigator and suspect.
They were old partners.
Friends.
People who had trusted each other with guns and blood and life.
Then Serena whispered, “You should have left Franklin buried.”
Noah closed his eyes.
Mia felt the answer like a physical blow.
Noah opened them again.
“Why?”
Serena took out her gun.
Rex barked.
Noah did not move.
“Don’t,” he said.
“I never wanted Ethan hurt.”
“Great comfort.”
“He was leverage.”
“He is six.”
“I know.”
“You ordered them to watch him.”
“I authorized surveillance.”
“You authorized the yard?”
“No.”
“Pierce?”
“Dade escalated.”
“Cross?”
“Cross panicked when Daniel found the ledger.”
Noah’s hands trembled.
“You were the one behind all of them.”
Serena shook her head.
“You still think there’s one person behind this.”
“Put the gun down.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because you brought a wire.”
Mia’s heart stopped.
Serena looked directly toward the ceiling.
Toward where Mia was hidden.
“And because your sister is upstairs.”
Noah went pale.
“Mia, run!”
Serena fired into the light.
Darkness swallowed the basement.
Rex attacked.
Mia heard screaming.
A gunshot.
Then another.
She ran toward the stairs.
Someone grabbed her from behind.
A cloth covered her mouth.
Chemical.
Sharp.
She fought.
An arm locked around her throat.
Before the room disappeared, she heard Serena shout:
“Take her, not Noah!”
May you like
Then blackness.
Somewhere beyond the walls, Rex kept barking for her.
