Page 29 of Forever Dead

“I don’t know what he did.”

“You know enough.”

Connor did know enough. He had spent years hearing the same stories told in different versions, favors disappearing into paperwork, charges softened, warnings passed along before raids. Nobody ever seemed able to point to the first compromise. By the time anyone noticed the pattern, the man wearing the badge was already trapped inside it.

Morimer sounded almost proud of the method.

“This is how it works. You find leverage. Then you squeeze.”

Connor could hear movement at the other end of the call, the faint click of glass against a hard surface.

“And you’re being squeezed.”

Connor breathed slowly through his nose. “What do you want?”

“There’s a bar in Eagleton. Opened several days ago.”

“Malone’s,” Connor said.

“So, you’ve heard of it?”

“I know of it.”

“Good. Saves time.”

Connor leaned back against the seat. “What about it?”

“The owner was advised not to open.”

“Advised by who?”

“Me.”

Connor gave a humorless laugh. “Of course.”

“I warned him if he opened up and took business away from my bars, he’d regret it.”

“And he opened anyway.”

“He did.”

Connor stared toward the edge of the parking lot. A woman came out of a pharmacy across the street carrying a paper bag, got into her car and drove away. Ordinary life continued a few yards from him while Morimer explained how he intended to corrupt Connor’s.

“I want nothing to do with it.”

“You don’t have a say.”

“I’m sheriff, not your collection agency.”

“No. You’re a sheriff on video handing six thousand dollars in cash to a man everybody in Harlan County knows is involved in organized crime.”

“For information.”

“You keep saying that as though the recording can hear you.”

Connor lowered his voice. “If you send that to the FBI, I’ll explain exactly what happened.”

“Will you?”