Brian waited till they’d paid and were in the car before saying, “Why do you think the sheriff didn’t charge Sam with anything? You were a witness.”
“Maybe she didn’t believe me. Maybe she didn’t want to waste time on petty stuff. Maybe she’s giving Sam a long rope to hang himself. Maybe she’s using him to figure out who else is involved. I hope it’s that one.”
“You don’t think he’s the guy who’s been doing all the damage?”
“Not likely. He’s low-level pond scum, either following orders or having a bit of fun on the side. A couple of those incidents needed more than one person, or decent planning. It’s not some single moron like him.”
“And you don’t think it’s kids?”
“Nope. Look at the pattern. They’ve hit the bigger places, ones with money. They cause expensive damages, but no lives lost.”
“Yet. A fire could kill people.”
“True, but so far, it’s all about damages, and spread around the county. No tagging or graffiti, no signature, like teens might do, and it’s a mix of things besides fires, so it’s not just a firebug out for kicks either.”
“What then?”
“Insurance, threats, protection.” Nick glanced at him, then started the car. Once they were on the road, he said, “It makes the sheriff look bad. People lose confidence in the law. That might help local crooks of various kinds.”
“That seems like a stretch.”
“More likely about money.”
“How?”
“Insurance fraud? Not Yasmin’s, but she might’ve been cover for one of the others. Your claim looks better if five other people had shit happen too. Extortion? ‘Pay us and you don’t get damaged.’ Or even something lower key, like asking property owners to pay for this Neighborhood Watch thing. Get enough people chipping in and it could add up to big bucks.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Huh? Nothing.”
Brian stayed silent, because he knew his Nick, and the groove between those dark eyebrows said he was thinking about something more than getting home with the beer.
After a bit, Nick said, “I could check in with Gannet. Pass along what Reggie said, to keep her in the loop.”
“You should do that.” I knew Nick liked her.
“Reggie said there were a couple of ex-deputies in his group. From what I’ve heard, she has no reason to trust those guys. Especially if it’s someone who quit when Bachmann lost or one of the guys she fired.”
Brian looked over at Nick. In the faint light from the dashboard, Nick looked alert and animated and somehow there. Hands firm on the wheel, head cocked as he thought hard. Present and engaged like he hadn’t been for a while. Brian hadn’t noticed how much Nick was coasting through his days, until now. Like that night he went after Sam. He seemed really alive then. “A pity she doesn’t have you working for her, huh?”
Nick’s jolt was stronger than Brian expected. “You’d be okay if I wanted to join the local cops?”
“Why not? If she’s short of good people?” He didn’t want Nick in danger again, but he did want that light back in his eyes.
“I might’ve burned that bridge in Minneapolis.”
“You weren’t fired.”
“No, but if she calls Olson for a reference, you think she’ll get a glowing recommendation to hire me?”
“Maybe not glowing. But maybe good enough?”
Nick bit his lip, staring at the road.
Brian hoped Nick was wrong about Olson, even if she’d sounded still peeved with him over the phone.
One of the things Dr. Murphy said was that love should make you a better person, not a worse one. He knew Nick did that for him. He was braver, smarter, more capable, for loving Nick, but he worried that it wasn’t working the other way around.
He mulled it over, through an evening of brushing Luger and making dinner and chilling with a cold drink in front of the TV. Nick was as easy and fun as ever, teasing him about choosing a nature show over hot guys wrestling, then showing him some supposed wrestling holds to make the point. No way those were real wrestling holds, though, or the channel would have to be labeled porn. They went to bed contentedly wrung out, and in the morning, he got on his bike to go to work, while Nick got ready to remove the old caulk from around the bathtub. An ordinary, almost New Year’s day.
But as he pedaled along the side of the road toward Yasmin’s place, his headlamp picking out the ruts in the gravel, he was still thinking