Page 141 of Brutal

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Not random. Just what the bartender said. My mind races. Halstead wasn’t supposed to be there alone.

Or…

He wasn’t supposed to be there at all.

The thought hits hard.

Too hard.

Too close to something I don’t want to touch yet.

“Was he—” My voice catches. I push through it. “Was Halstead meeting someone?”

“You’re asking like you knew him,” he says.

I gulp, my nerves on edge, but I push through. “I’m investigating his death.”

Not a lie.

Just not the whole truth.

He nods. “Yeah, he was meeting someone.”

My pulse pounds. “Who?”

He shrugs. “Didn’t see his face.”

“Was he already here?”

“No.”

“Then where was he?”

The man jerks his chin toward the far end of the dock. “He came in from the other side.”

That doesn’t make sense.

This is the private access point.

This is where?—

Shit.

“There’s another way in,” I say.

Samson goes rigid.

The man nods again. “Hidden if you don’t know where to look.”

He studies me for one more second and then shifts his gaze to Samson.

Something changes in his posture.

I feel it before I see it.

Samson moves at the same time. “Someone’s here,” he says quietly.

I turn.

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