Page 13 of Cash’s Trouble

“And Doran?”

“He tried to take you. It’s King’s unfinished business and it’s not who we are now.”

Lilly-Rose looks at my knuckles once more, then meets my eyes. “I don’t need you to pretend you talked him into a confession over coffee.”

The tightness in my chest eases, though I don’t deserve relief for giving her the truth. “Good, because the coffee at the Switchback is terrible.”

Her mouth twitches. She steps close enough to touch the clean edge of my shirt near the blood. “Did he confirm Wade ordered it?”

“Yeah. He also told me that King kept records, which means I need to look harder for them.”

That sends us into the old office behind church, a room Kane has been emptying since he took the gavel. King’s old desk is gone, but two metal cabinets remain against the wall, along with boxes of receipts, contracts and private records that never belonged in legitimate accounting. Kane trusted me to separate Kingdom Come’s current business from the traps his father left behind when he asked me to look after the finances.

Doran’s name changes the search. King didn’t file bought officials under their own names; he indexed them through the men who carried payments and favors between them. After digging for a while, I find a blue folder marked DORAN in the bottom drawer of a cabinet with no label. Inside are copied case numbers, dates, payment amounts and photographs of Doran meeting Corbin behind a motel outside town. There are printouts of messages discussing raids before they happened, witness names and evidence that later disappeared. One note in King’s handwriting records a payment made after the sheriff’s department dropped an investigation into a club shipment. King was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. If he paid a dirty cop, he kept proof.

Judge reads over my shoulder. “This stuff puts Wade Corbin on King’s leash for years.”

“It puts Doran between them too,” I say. “Enough to explain why Wade sent him after Lilly-Rose. He’s as much in this shit as Wade is.”

Kane takes the folder and glances through it. “The sheriff gets Corbin’s file and only Corbin’s file. Nothing else leaves this room. This is still them and us.”

Nobody argues. Kingdom Come isn’t opening its history to law enforcement because one deputy crossed the wrong line. Kane is settling a debt his father created, no more. The sheriff arrives after dark. Rain shines on his uniform shoulders when he enters church, and his first glance goes to Lilly-Rose. She sits beside me at the table, close enough that our arms touch. He notices, then notices the bruising on my knuckles.

“I know what that look means,” he says.

“Then you know I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“That’s not the part I’m worried about.”

Lilly-Rose exhales. “Dad, seriously?”

He holds up one hand, ending the exchange before it becomes the lecture she expects. “Corbin found a judge willing to consider the statements. I’ve challenged the affidavit through the outside investigator, but if it’s signed, I can’t stand at your gate and declare it invalid because I know Wade is lying.”

Kane rests his hand on the blue folder but doesn’t push it across the table.

“We found proof my father paid Wade Corbin. Enough to tie him to Doran and the cases he buried.”

Sam’s eyes settle on the folder. “Then give it to me.”

“Not yet.”

His expression hardens. “He sent men after my daughter.”

“And if he keeps coming, you’ll have everything you need to bury him.” Kane’s fingers remain on the folder. “But I’m not handing over my father’s records unless I have to.”

“You expect me to take your word that it’s there?”

“I’m telling you it’s there. If Corbin brings that warrant through my gates, the folder goes to your investigator. This is our insurance.”

Sam holds his stare for a long moment. “And if he doesn’t?”

“Then your daughter stays safe, and Kingdom Come’s business stays Kingdom Come’s business.”

The sheriff looks from Kane to me. “Corbin wants the warrant to name Cash for unlawful restraint. It’ll also authorize the department to remove Lilly-Rose for a private interview.”

Kane leans back in his chair. “You expect me to let him through the gates?”

“If a judge signs it, the deputies with him will believe they’re carrying out a lawful warrant. You refuse entry, Corbin gets the armed standoff he wants. You won’t have a choice.”