Lucy hadn’t worked with Tia on a case in more than a year, but they’d become friends. Tia was a sex crimes detective and had been helpful in several of Lucy’s investigations.
When Tia didn’t immediately say anything, Lucy said, “Tia—just tell me. Straight-out.”
“Fuck,” Tia muttered. “There’s no easy way to say this, Lucy. I was asked to come down here because my boss knows we’re friends. And because we’re friends, I can’t be involved in the investigation at all.” She hesitated, then said, “Sean has been arrested. I just received confirmation that he’s in custody.”
It took Lucy a second to process arrested. “Sean?”
“Houston PD arrested him for murder.”
“Murder.” She was repeating the words but they weren’t registering.
“I don’t have all the details, because like I said, this isn’t my case. It’s a Houston case and we loaned out four SAPD officers to transport him. He’s on his way to Houston right now for booking. I’m sure he’ll call a lawyer, but of course if you want to start the process, go right ahead. This is a courtesy conversation, but dammit, I know you’ll pull out all the stops. And you should.”
“Wait wait wait,” Lucy said, putting her hand up. “Sean. What the hell, Tia? Murder?” She couldn’t imagine … Sean … cold-blooded murder? Never.
Was this related to what happened in Mexico, when he’d rescued Jesse from the cartels? People had died and Sean had likely killed one or more people. Lucy didn’t ask questions, didn’t want to know the details. But why would Houston cops arrest him? Then there was the situation when she’d been held captive as bait for Kane, and Kane and Sean had gone down to Guadalajara and taken care of the situation. But that was all south of the border. Certainly they would have heard something about that before SAPD. Before Houston PD. And if it was an international situation, they’d have the FBI or another federal agency take him into custody.
There was the situation down in Hidalgo with Kane, but they’d been told no charges would be filed. Everything Sean did had been out of self-defense. He’d been kidnapped, dammit!
Why Houston? What the hell was going on?
Lucy couldn’t think of anything that would place Sean under suspicion of murder.
Not suspicion. They arrested him. They have evidence. Something solid …
“This is wrong,” Lucy said.
“I’ll tell you what I know, which isn’t a lot. Mona Hill was shot and killed Monday night in her apartment. Sean’s fingerprints were found at the scene and there was a witness who heard Sean and Mona arguing. No murder weapon but they are in the process of getting a search warrant for your house, his vehicle, and his plane. They have evidence he flew in his private plane from San Antonio to Houston on Monday and flew back the same night.”
“Mona Hill?” She sounded like a damn parrot.
“I know that you’ve used her as a CI. I helped facilitate that, and she’s always been straight with me. I don’t know if that’s all going to come out, but you need to be aware that it might, in case there’s a pending investigation.”
“I didn’t use her as a CI, not officially. I talked to her once last year when we were looking for the trafficked girls in San Antonio. The other time you and I interviewed her together as part of our investigation into Harper Worthington’s murder. That’s it.” But Lucy knew that Sean had tapped Mona for information several times. She just never asked the details because she didn’t want to know.
Lucy turned to Abigail, worried that this might come down on one of her cases. “I put Mona’s name in the report, I talked to her last February when we were looking for Bella Caruso and the girls who were trafficked from Phoenix—”
Abigail nodded. “I remember the case, you’re not in trouble here, Lucy.”
She was. Because if Sean was arrested for murder, she was in deep trouble.
“Sean’s prints, his plane,” Lucy said to Tia. “What else?”
“He was on camera going into the building and leaving more than an hour later. I don’t know the time, just that it was evening. Again, this isn’t my case, this is only what I was told by the detective in charge. John Banner. He seems like a good cop, Lucy.”
“Not if he arrested Sean,” she snapped, and wished she hadn’t. She itched to call Rick Stockton and find out what the hell was going on.
Why had Sean gone to see Mona Hill?
Lucy despised the woman, but she’d helped when Lucy needed it.
Why hadn’t Sean told her he went to Houston?
Monday … she had worked late. She and Nate had been called in to provide security for a member of Congress who was hosting a series of town halls in his district. It had been an uneventful day that went long into the evening. She and Nate then grabbed a late dinner and she got home just after eleven. Sean was there. He didn’t say anything about going to Houston. It was about an hour flight, then twenty minutes from the small airport he used to their house. So he would have had to have left Houston no later than nine thirty P.M. to be home before her.
She didn’t tell any of that to Tia. She might be a friend, but she was also a cop, and Lucy had to figure out what was going on before she knew who she could trust with the information she had.
Sean wasn’t going to do well in jail. There were many concerns—the fact that she was in law enforcement. The fact that his brother was an enemy of the drug cartels.
That this might be a setup to assassinate him.
Her stomach twisted, but she kept her cool.
She had to, for Sean.
“Abigail—” Lucy began.
Abigail put up her hand. “We can’t interfere in this investigation, Lucy. You know that. But I can give you a leave of absence.”
“I appreciate that, but Sean is in danger in jail. I need someone with authority to explain that to the Houston police. They’re not going to listen to me.”
“He’s not a cop,” Abigail said.
“No, but considering his involvement in several high-profile investigations and his work with RCK, the fact that Sean and his brother Kane both had bounties on their head by the drug cartels, one bounty because of work Sean was doing for the FBI—I shouldn’t have to explain this, you know what RCK does.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry, I should have considered that. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.” But Lucy couldn’t trust that Abigail would protect him. She trusted her—to a point. She liked and respected her and she was one of the most diligent and smartest agents Lucy knew. Still … this was a prickly situation and Abigail didn’t know just how much trouble the Rogan family had caused certain criminal organizations. If any of those groups knew that Sean was behind bars it would just take one call to put the bounty back on his head, in a place where he was defenseless.
Lucy had to talk to Rick Stockton. He was an assistant director of the FBI and had more clout than anyone else. Plus, he would do anything in his power to protect Sean. He couldn’t get him out of legitimate charges, but he could make sure that he was safe while in custody.
“While you’re on leave, Lucy, I need to remind you that you can’t insert yourself in this investigation. Let the police do their job. You’re Sean’s wife, but you’re also a sworn agent and I expect you to conduct yourself as such.”