am not wrong.”
Cross plunked the mug down on the counter. “Trust me, Devlin. You do not want to go down this path. You have a daughter. She needs you.”
The words took Kerri aback as nothing else the woman could have said or done would have, but she rallied. “Don’t use my daughter as an excuse to avoid the truth. You know we’re investigating this case. Why leave us in the dark?”
“I thought you said dear old Dad took it from you.”
Kerri held her stare until, remarkably, the other woman flinched.
“Fine. Just remember that you asked for this.” Cross looked from Kerri to Falco and back. “Walsh believed that someone in a powerful position in Birmingham helped the Osorio family forge a path through Birmingham as their major channel of distribution. He wanted to find that link no matter the cost. You happy now?” Cross waved an arm at the dozens of sticky notes on her wall. “This isn’t going to help you solve your case, but if you start asking questions on the subject, it will get you dead.”
“He’s been here only a few months,” Falco argued before Kerri could respond. “He came to this conclusion that quickly when no one else had?”
“Maybe the link is in the DA’s office,” Kerri offered, barely keeping her voice level as anticipation pounded through her veins.
Cross held up her hands. “I don’t know who he suspected; he wouldn’t say. All I know is he wanted my help. I made the mistake of agreeing, and now he’s dead.”
“He got too close to the truth,” Falco said.
Kerri turned to him. Her partner was right. It was the only reason to bother eliminating such a high-profile target. “Your father said Walsh’s murder was because he’d stumbled into an ongoing DEA operation. If that’s what happened, why wasn’t Walsh working with him instead of behind his back?”
Cross thought about the question for a bit before answering. Kerri wondered if she was putting a story together or collecting her thoughts.
“The DEA and every other law enforcement agency you can name has wanted to stop the Osorio cartel for years,” she said finally. “Walsh wanted to stop the people in positions of power who support the cartel, starting here. Those two goals aren’t the same.”
“Why do you say that?” Kerri asked.
Cross stared at her. “The ones Walsh wanted to stop are people the world around them believes in, respects. Except they have no idea that some of those icons of trust and justice wear masks that conceal the worst kind of evil.”
11
2:30 p.m.
Brighton Academy
Seventh Avenue
Birmingham
Tori kept her head turned down as if reading while she surveyed the other tables in the library.
They were watching her.
All of them.
“I’m terrified for you,” Alice whispered.
Fear slid icy cold through Tori’s body. She turned her head just enough to look her friend in the eye. Alice was the only person who had sat down at Tori’s table.
No one else was speaking to her . . . just watching her. They were all watching her. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Alice pretended to read her book, but, like Tori, she wasn’t. Enough. Tori had done nothing wrong. She lifted her gaze and scanned the tables. Faces instantly turned away, heads tilted downward. Tori gritted her teeth. She had gone to school with most of the kids since kindergarten. How could they believe she had done something so terrible?
She lowered her gaze to the printed pages. “I didn’t do anything.”
This was the truth. She’d never laid a hand on Brendal. She’d argued with her, sure. The girl was mean. She loved to hurt people. Tori’s mom had taught her to stand up for herself and her friends. She wasn’t going to stand by and allow some bully to just say whatever she wanted without speaking up.
“Maybe you just need to tell the truth.”
Tori’s gaze jerked toward Alice once more. From the day Alice started at Brighton, Tori had been in awe of her. She was so beautiful. Her long dark hair and intense dark eyes were like exotic or something. She had those lips celebrities paid big money for and extralong, thick lashes. Tori’s stomach cramped. She didn’t remember a lot about her grandmother. She’d died like seven years ago. But she did remember this funny rule she’d always recited. Pretty is as pretty does.
Alice wasn’t as pretty as Tori had thought.
“What do you mean?” Tori said this louder than she’d intended. She lowered her voice. “I did tell the truth.”
“Did you?” Alice’s dark