Page 90 of Rekindle My Heart

Fight, fight, fightscreamed in her head, but she didn’t move a muscle as her eyes locked on the weapon.

She was going to die. Hell, she’d barely lived. If she could get out of this, and do all the things she never let herself do, she’d start by telling Ryan she loved him and always had. She didn’t know if they would have a future, but she could at least own up to the past.

Regrets swam in her mind. Sarah was dead. She wasn’t. Not yet.

Erica would come around. She had to. He’d just gotten her back.

He’d give her time. Not thirteen years, but an hour or two. Yeah, he’d let Erica think about what he said before he went to her. Because he would go to her. Now that she was back in his life, he wasn’t letting her slip away again. The plan of attack formed in his mind as he pulled into the station. He’d fight for her, even if he had to battle the memory of her sister.

Detective Malone was at his desk as Ryan walked by. “Hey, Tanner. What’s got you here so late?”

“Had an armed robbery at the E-cig shop over on Seventh Street. I just finished processing the guy.”

“Since you’re here, I was wondering if you remembered anything else about Kealy?”

He shook his head. “Man, that was so long ago. Besides, I only worked with him for a short time.”

“Thanks, I just thought I’d ask.” Info on the victim seemed to lead him nowhere. The guy had a clean record and none of his coworkers had anything bad to say about him. Green in narcotics emailed back. He sent over the files, but Ryan didn’t see anything that would help his case.

Kealy might not be the mole, but he had info on who was. He’d just have to keep digging.

“What did Johnson have to say about him?”

“Sarge?” Ryan leaned on the edge of the cubicle wall.

“Yeah, he was Kealy’s supervisor before he transferred to our station.”

“Sergeant Johnson?” Strange, he hadn’t mentioned anything about knowing Kealy. Ryan rubbed at a twitch at the back of his neck.

“Yeah, Sarge was tight with Kealy as far as I remember.” Malone shoved his laptop in his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Gotta go. I’m late for supper.”

“Thanks, Malone.” At his desk, Ryan pulled up the schedule. He wanted to talk to Sarge before he made any accusations.

“Shoot, he’s off today.” He thought back to the day of the fire. Sarge and Brannon had responded to the call. No, he couldn’t be his guy.

Still, something didn’t sit right with Ryan. He tapped Sarge’s name into the system. He scratched his jaw while the computer worked. A minute later, Sergeant Alfred Johnson’s employment file popped up. He couldn’t access any of the confidential information without a warrant or some creative hacking, so he would start with the public files.

Five years in Blaine, then seven in Bloomington, then he moved to the Ashwood Department. He read down the list of Johnson’s training and certifications. Firearm instructor, negotiations training, team management training, and the list went on. Sarge had an impressive list of certifications and training as well as accommodations.

“Damn, Sarge, you have the kind of career most officers dream of.” The more he learned about his old commanding officer, the deeper his stomach sank. Sergeant Johnson was a stellar officer. Everyone could depend on him. He put his life on the line for his officers daily.

Ryan pushed back the sinking feelings and continued reading down Johnson’s list of schooling. BS in political science and a minor in computer sciences before joining the academy.

“Not computer savvy, my ass.” Ryan needed more than a knowledge of computers and a knowing tingle to go after someone as solid as Sarge. He needed the connection.

Gunter Lindstrom had been the one to send them in the direction of the website. Ryan plugged in Lindstrom and Johnson into the search engine and hot shit, he got a hit. No matter how many times they tried to tie Lindstrom to the corruption they couldn’t. He hadn’t thought about someone else in the police department being dirty. That’s why none of the connections to Lindstrom had stuck.

The twelve-year-old article had a photo of a smiling Johnson with Lindstrom. They apparently worked together on a joint computer programming internship sponsored by Lindgames and the Ashwood PD. There was a third man in the photo. A college-age kid with long hair and glasses.

Ryan enlarged the image. The hair on his arm jumped. “No way.”

Travis Stevens? The article didn’t mention the tech billionaire, but at the time, he would have been an unknown genius.

Ryan saved the article. He’d reach out and find who was the recipient of the internship. He doubted it was Stevens. Nowhere in his bio mentioned it, but he could have been helping with the program.

“One more link in the chain.” Now that he knew where to look, the pieces were coming together, and they all pointed to Johnson being part of the corruption. But was he the boss?

Ryan typed up his thoughts and sent them off to Trey and Amy before grabbing his keys and heading to Erica’s. Not only did they need to talk about this thing between them, but he wanted to see if he could tie Johnson to any of the fire scenes that had tampered reports.