would say he hadn’t shown the pictures to anyone. She was holding out hope that maybe the judge and the cop were talking about someone else, although her logic told her that was highly unlikely.
“That’s not possible. I only showed the pictures to Rylie. There’s no way he’s on the take. He’s one of the most respected guys on the force, and he was a good friend of Stan’s. He wouldn’t get involved with anything that put them in danger. Are you sure you heard all this right?” Bobby asked in disbelief.
The next piece of information would be more of a blow than finding out someone respected was not worthy of it, and Piper was not looking forward to delivering the news. “The judge called the man Red. I don’t know if that means anything to you, but I can assure you, it was clear to me that this man knew you. It was also clear he knew Stan very well too.”
“Yes, that’s Rylie’s nickname. I can’t believe he’d be mixed up in all this. Maybe it’s because he’s so close to retirement. They’re messing with pensions so much, maybe he needed the money.” Bobby shook his head as he searched for any plausible reason why a cop like Rylie would go against the badge like this.
“Bobby, Rylie is going to come to you and try to convince you to back off this. It’s going to be your last out before they take more drastic measures. You need to go along with that. Tell him you’ve been thinking about it, and you don’t need another mark against you like Manton. Give him the pictures and tell him you trust him to do whatever he thinks is best with them. That’s the only way to keep everyone safe.” She was praying he’d agree and make this easy.
“I will, because there’s no way I’m putting the girls at risk over this. He was there for Manton so he’ll understand why I wouldn’t want any more attention on me right now,” Bobby said, trying to convince himself this was the right thing to do.
“There’s more to the story here, Bobby. Rylie was there for the takedown on Manton because he was part of it. The Donavans were supposed to be there that day. Rylie set you up to protect them. He made sure Manton got off the hook so he wouldn’t flip on them. I hate to say this and I haven’t really thought of the right way yet, but there is something else I need to tell you. Something worse.” Piper bit at her fingernail as she tried to find the right words. She was about to stomp on Bobby’s chest, crushing him in a way he probably didn’t believe possible. As much as she wanted him to know the truth, she wished she could protect him from it.
“Tell me,” he said, reaching across and taking her hand, stopping her from ravaging her fingernails. “I don’t see how it can get much worse.”
“I need to know that you’ll handle this right. This corruption is not limited to the judge and Rylie, it runs deep, and we have no idea who we can trust. So when I tell you this I need you to think through all the consequences of any action you take and realize at the end of the day you need to protect the people you care about first and foremost.” Piper paused waiting for him to agree to her terms. He nodded his head impatiently. “The reason they want to target Jules and Betty rather than just take you out is because killing a police officer isn’t as easy as it was ten years ago. Ten years ago the judge and Rylie had more people on the inside willing to help in the cover-up. There wasn’t as much technology, times have changed. So ten years ago they were able to lure a police officer into an abandoned building and shoot him, passing it off as a random robbery gone wrong. They got away with it ten years ago when they killed Stan for digging around in their business and getting too close to the truth. Bobby, Rylie and Judge Lions killed Stan. I don’t know which one of them pulled the trigger, but I know they orchestrated it and covered it up.”
Piper was crying again though she wasn’t sure why. She had never met Stan, but she felt like she had gotten to know him through his family, and