Page 127 of Fatal Pattern

When he lifted his good arm, she ducked under it and let him hold her despite his injuries. Let herself lean against his chest while the Florida night pressed close around them.

She felt Blade’s phone buzzing in his sling, and he released her to fish it out. Garrison’s name lit up the screen.

“Take it,” she said, wiping a tear with her index finger. “Put it on speaker.”

Blade swiped to answer. “Garrison.”

“I’ve been trying to reach you for an hour. I’ve got updates. Big ones.” Garrison’s voice carried the exhaustion of someone who’d been working nonstop. “Where are you?”

“Hospital. Tori and Harlee are with me. You’re on speaker.”

“Good. You all need to hear this.” Papers rustled in the background. “First, Hoult confessed everything. And I mean everything.”

Tori straightened, pulling away from Blade’s chest. “What did he say?”

“Barclay’s people approached him in prison. He had been obsessed with you ever since that competency hearing years ago. Barclay manipulated him. Fed him every detail from the fake file.”

“So he never thought he was my brother?” The words tasted bitter.

“I’m sorry, no. He was playing a role. Barclay needed a distraction to keep you from listening to Damien, so he activated his patsy,” Garrison said. “Hoult admitted to the stalking and the attacks on you and Blade. He said Barclay promised him protection, maybe even a way to be reunited with you for good if he played his part.”

Blade’s jaw tightened. “Reunited how?”

“We’re not going there. The important thing is Hoult’s talking. He’s giving us names, dates, everything we need to dig deeper into this conspiracy.”

“What about Barclay?”

“Singing like a canary, trying to cut a deal. But we have Damien’s blackmail book, so we may not need to make one.” The satisfaction in Garrison’s voice was unmistakable. “Barclay says he can lay out the entire command structure of the Nexus Initiative, which is what he calls his organ trafficking ring.”

“What about the other victims?” Blade asked. “Kaufman. Kagay. We never closed the loop on how they connected.”

“Looks like Scott Kaufman was on the payroll of a shell company that is connected to the Chiron BioInnovation Center. It’s buried deep, but it’s there. He knew enough about the technology and the money to be dangerous, and eventually Wells decided he was more dangerous alive than dead.”

Blade asked, “Judge Kagay and the records clerk?”

“That’s a little simpler. Small county, one criminal court judge. For thirty years, every case that touched Barclay’s operation went through Kagay’s desk, and every single one went his way.”

Tori thought about Sasha Robie, the murdered records clerk, and how easily that could have become Kiara.

“I can’t believe it,” Tori said. “Wells and Barclay destroyed anyone in their paths.”

“Yes, and the investigation isn’t over either. Barclay mentioned a medical examiner and at least one other officer,” Garrison said. “I’m sure more names will rise to the surface. We also have names of the shell companies used to launder money. We’re executing federal warrants in six states as I speak.”

“Six states? How big was this thing?”

“Bigger than we thought. We found encrypted communications on Sebastian Wells’s laptop proving he used a federal backchannel to contract the hit on Dr. Forest while in custody. He even scrubbed his own DNA profile, though I haven’t heard how he pulled it off. We’re still sorting through the data, but it’s over. The ring is finished.”

The tightness in Tori’s chest loosened, but her focus shot to the next danger waiting in line. “What about Kiara Kerns?”

Blade looked at her with something that might have been gratitude.

“The frame Barclay threatened? That one’s going to take some time,” Garrison said. “She’s in the clear, but the digital forensics are complex. We’re trying to locate whoever hacked into the records department and who programmed the dead-man’s switch.”

Harlee nudged Blade and pointed to herself.

“I know tech experts who can help,” Blade said. “ATF Agent Harlee Bay here with me, and you might know Jett Nu.”

“Nu? The one who creates the intelligence software?” Interest sparked in Garrison’s voice. “Are they available?”