“Had they?”
“Probably.” Rudi shrugged. “I wouldn’t put petty crime past either Mac or Tonya. But it’s not my business to police them now. The BSI prefers we leave discipline to them. I have been informed that what I thought was thirty years of peacekeeping between migrating packs has actually been me being a ‘nuisance’ and a ‘fire-starter.’ You think you all can do better? Fine. Have at it. Now I just serve the beer.”
Cooper grimaced. Goddamn sanctions. He hoped Jefferson was listening. “Was Whittaker involved in this argument between Gould and the Worcester packs?”
“No. I told him to stay inside.” She gave Park a defiant look. Daring him to criticize her. “That idiot gets Sammy in enough trouble as it is. And it’s not like Mac or Tonya were going to hurt Gould.”
“No?” Cooper said. “Then what happened?”
“I don’t know. The packs calmed down, came back inside. I saw Gould hanging out by his bike and he was fine. When I looked back out, he and the bike were gone.”
“It was over? Just like that?”
“That’s right.”
“And you weren’t surprised by that?”
“I assumed they gave him the gas back and he took off.”
“No,” Cooper said more to himself than Rudi. “Gould’s bike was empty.” So how had he and his bike gotten to Baker’s? “Can you find out what happened? What stopped them from fighting? Please?” he added.
Rudi raised an eyebrow. She glanced at Park and said slowly, “I could make a couple calls to Mac and Tonya.”
“Great.” Cooper reached into his pocket and pulled out his card. “If you could call me here, I would really appreciate it. Anytime. Don’t worry if it’s late or early or whatever. As soon as you know.” He stepped around Park, who was still defensively blocking him, and held out his card. Rudi eyed it suspiciously and then picked it out of his fingers like a bag of dog shit. The look she gave him was unreadable, but going by the fact that the whites of her eyes were almost totally absent, Cooper guessed she wasn’t thinking sunshine and rainbows.
He quickly backed out of her space. “One more thing—did you talk to Chief Melissa Brown about Whittaker working on Saturday?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You mean did I ask her to lie for him? No. I don’t ask people to keep my secrets for me.”
She looked pointedly at Park and her tone spoke of a long, complicated history between them. Perhaps Sam wasn’t the first outcast she’d taken under her wing. Park’s eyes flickered. Not with anger but an almost childlike hurt that made Cooper want to be the one to step in front this time and shield him. He hurriedly buried the urge.
Rudi clearly saw the same thing. She sighed. “Look, Ollie,” she murmured, so low Cooper could barely hear. “I know you owe Cola but—”
“Enough,” Park cut her off sharply. A tense silence hung over them.
Cooper blinked. Owe Cola? Margaret Cola? Head of the Trust? He tried to catch Park’s eye, but he was still staring at Rudi, communicating something with her. Something she disapproved of by the faint lines that had appeared around her mouth.
After a long, awkward moment Cooper said, “Well. Ms. Abouesse, thank you for your help. Please only deal with Agent Park or myself for the rest of this case. If anyone else approaches, you tell them you’ve been ordered to only deal with us.”
“Yeah? Whose orders?” she snapped.
“For fuck’s sake, Rudi.” Park growled, almost a snarl. “Just do what Dayton asked. This is bigger than us.”
Cooper frowned. It could be a coincidence, but it was the same thing Santiago said to him before leaving D.C. Did Park know something he didn’t?
Rudi’s upper lip twitched a bit, revealing glinting, too-sharp teeth. Park bared his teeth right back and his eyes widened, the irises expanding and changing colors so his whole eye was once again a deep burnished gold.
“Fine,” she bit out, turning her back on them. “Are we done here?”
“We’re done.”
Rudi kept her head down all the way out of the station, avoiding eye contact with more than just him and Park. Cooper wondered if she would call him. He doubted it.
“Well, that was certainly interesting,” Jefferson said, joining them as they followed Rudi at a distance into the parking lot. His tone was tense and disapproving, and he seemed to be talking directly to Park.
Park noticed as well and twitched an eyebrow. “Is there something you want to add, Agent Jefferson?”
“Are you telling me if Agent Dayton hadn’t been there that wouldn’t have devolved into a full-fledged fight?” Jefferson hissed. “You’ve got a temper, don’t you, Agent Park? And you bullied and intimidated Abouesse. You dominated her.” He said it like a dirty word, and Cooper flinched. The intensity between Park and Rudi had been suffocating, but was it bad?
Cooper thought of all the flashes of teeth and growling. The inhuman stare of Rudi when he leaned too close. Park and Rudi had both been mad as hell, but they’d also both been in complete control of themselves. Hadn’t they? Less than a week ago he would have drawn his weapon at the first flash of gold in Park’s eyes. But now? He hadn’t once felt threatened in that room. Nervous, yes. Absolutely. But in danger of the sort of physical violence Jefferson was talking about? It hadn’t even crossed his mind. His guts had been cool and quiet, too. Right up until Rudi mentioned Park—Ollie—owing Cola...
Park was shaking his head. He looked tired and maybe a little disgusted. “That was—”
“What?” Jefferson interrupted. “Normal? Not for us it’s not. That’s not how we treat witnesses. Tell me, Agent Park, is that how you normally are with people who don’t follow your rules? Is that what happened to Jacob Symer?”
Park blinked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Jefferson,” Cooper warned.
Jefferson ignored him. “Symer moved here to Florence. He gave your friend Jenny Eagler trouble. She said your family took care of him for her.”
Park glanced at Cooper in confusion and Cooper just shook his head and kept his mouth shut. If Jefferson wanted to clear up the Symer matter, that was his right. It would be better to get it all out in the open so they could just move on, the three of them working together like they were supposed to, like Cooper wanted to. Jefferson was a good partner, had always had his back, and Cooper wanted him to see he was wrong about Park. Just like Cooper had been wrong. They could trust him.
Jefferson continued, “Symer hasn’t been seen since. Maybe that’s a coincidence. But from the way you came at Rudi Abouesse for, what was it, Whittaker disobeying your orders? I wonder what you or one of your family would do with a criminal like Symer.”
Park’s gaze was cold. “If you—if anyone honestly thinks I’m involved in a crime, now is the time to say it.”
“Of course not,” Cooper objected firmly. “That’s not what he’s saying. He just wants to know...” About Symer. Cooper found suddenly, humiliatingly, he couldn’t say the name. He pinched himself viciously. “Wants to—”
“Know what?” Park interrupted. “If I’m covering up a murder?” His voice was hard and cold, and he didn’t look away from Jefferson when he said it. Cooper blinked in surprise. Was Park still upset about before?
“Who said anything about murder?” Jefferson said, noting the awkwardness between Cooper and Park with a raised brow. “All I’m saying is your family seems to consider itself the law around here. I think Symer felt the weight of their enforcement, and from what I just saw in there I bet it wasn’t the first or last time.”
Cooper started to protest this wasn’t relevant to the case, but Park interrupted him again. “If you’re saying my family had something to do with what’s going on here, you’re wrong. They’ve all been out of the country for over a month. I can get you proof that—”
Jefferson held up his hand. “Not necessa
ry. I confirmed it myself before coming up here. The estate on Cape Breton, isn’t that right?” Park frowned. “Your family might consider themselves Florence’s own law, but I’ll tell you one difference—you all certainly live in nicer houses than any LEOs I’ve ever known.” Jefferson laughed, but there was no humor in his eyes, and no one joined him.
Cooper was beginning to feel deeply uncomfortable. This was all part of Jefferson’s process. He knew that. Spin a story with some intrusive facts to make it look like they knew more than they did, until the suspect got so fed up he or she let slip the truth out of aggravation. He just wasn’t sure why he was using it on Park.
Or worse, why Park wasn’t just explaining what he knew, or didn’t know, about Symer so they could move on. Instead he was dodging the question and stopping Cooper from speaking.
Cooper remembered the way the wolves had been frightened of Park in the Pumphouse.
I have a large, close-knit family. That carries a lot of weight around here, amongst certain people...
“If you aren’t saying they had anything to do with this, what are you saying, Agent Jefferson?”
“I asked around and found out you specifically requested to be put on this case. Why?”
Park’s face went completely blank. His voice monotone. “I believe in this new Trust and BSI partner project.”
Jefferson was wrong, Cooper thought, feeling suddenly sick. Not all wolves were excellent liars. A small noise of confusion and hurt escaped his chest, and Park’s gaze darted to him. After all this, why was he lying? What was he hiding?
I know you owe Cola...
Cooper opened his mouth, then closed it, pressing his lips together, as if all the things he didn’t know about the Trust flooding his mind at that moment would escape. The way Park knew his way around a crime scene when the Trust was just supposed to be policy makers. The way no one had told Cooper Park’s family ran this town.
He shook his head, and something like disappointment flickered behind Park’s eyes. Why? Park was the one lying. What did he expect Cooper to say?
I don’t ask people to keep my secrets for me...
Park stiffly added, “I know the local wolves. I thought I would be a better help.”
“Better help? Or better able to bully wolves like the bar owner to say what you want?”
Cooper looked instinctively in the direction Rudi had walked. To his surprise, she was still in the parking lot. He could make out the dim outline of her as dusk turned to night, standing by her car, arguing with a figure in uniform. He swallowed.
“Do you know where Whittaker is?”
“No. Of course not.”
Cooper left Park and Jefferson to argue and trotted across the poorly lit lot, thankful for the excuse to get away for a moment. He needed space to think.
Ranger Christie was standing right in Rudi’s space, demanding something, his voice urgent and furious.
Now this confrontation Cooper could see getting violent. Whatever Christie was upset about had his hands shaking as he pointed them in Rudi’s face.
“Hey! That’s enough,” Cooper said, and grabbed Christie’s arm to tug him away.
Rudi glanced at him coolly and, without a word or another look at Christie, got into her car, quickly reversed and drove out of the parking lot. Cooper kept a firm hold of Christie’s wiry arm until she was gone.
“What the hell,” Christie said, shaking him off. “You’re just going to let her go?”
“What are you doing here?” Cooper said.
“She knows something. Can’t you see there’s something weird going on here?”
“Besides the multiple homicides and abductions, you mean?”
Christie slapped his hand loudly against the closest parked car in frustration. “There’s something strange going on with Sam and Abouesse. She has some kind of hold over him. I can’t explain it. But I know she’s hiding something. I know it.”
“Just forget it, Ranger,” Cooper said tiredly.
He wasn’t in the mood to deal with someone’s burgeoning awareness. The constant swing between suspicion and self-doubt could drive a person mad. He’d seen it before. He’d been there before. It was better, better for everyone, if Christie just dropped it now. Forgot what he knew, or whatever he thought he knew, and tried to get on with his life.
Jefferson was much better at soothing civilians than he was. But Jefferson, Cooper thought, looking over at his partner—both his partners—arguing across the parking lot, was not in a good place to soothe anyone at the moment.
Christie was saying, “They’re all hiding something. Abouesse, Harris, the chief, Sam. Each one of them has lied since this case began.”
Park looked over at Cooper suddenly, as if his name had been called, and caught him watching. He tilted his head, asking Cooper some question.
What? What did Park want him to say? Cooper wished he could communicate like the wolves did. With bodies and glances and...energy. That was why he’d never been afraid during the interrogation. It hadn’t been a fight, it had been a conversation. One where nothing could be misunderstood and no one struggled for the right words to say.
Like Cooper was struggling now. What do you want from me? Why did you request to be put on this case? Why did you lie about it?
He tore his gaze away from Park back to Christie. “Are you going to include yourself on this list, Ranger? You lied to us, too. You obviously know Whittaker. Knew that he and Gould were close.”
Christie’s already icy blue eyes sharpened to sub-zero temps. “All right, yes. I do know Sam. He used to visit Gould at work and we would...talk, sometimes. But I’m telling you he would never have hurt Gould.”
“And yet he ran.” It didn’t feel quite as convincing proof of guilt as before.
“Because he’s scared,” Christie erupted. “Because there’s something else going on here.”
“Why did you lie about knowing Whittaker?”
“What does the why matter?” Christie hedged, clearly uncomfortable. “I’m telling you now I lied and I’m not the only one. Rudi Abouesse is lying to you, too. She’s hiding something.”
“According to you, everyone’s hiding something. The why is the only part that does matter.”
Cooper looked back at Park, who was no longer looking at him but was listening to whatever Jefferson was saying. Park was hiding something, too. Why? Because he was involved?
No. Cooper wasn’t sure what the deal was with Park’s family, but Oliver wasn’t part of it. He could see that in the flashes of loneliness that slipped out from behind the mask. He was an outsider. Same as Cooper.
Christie ranted on and on, but Park never looked back at Cooper, and before Cooper could extricate himself Park had walked across the parking lot, started the car and driven past, blinding him with passing headlights.
Cooper hurried over to Jefferson, leaving a furious Christie behind. “Where’s Park going?”
“We’re calling it a night. How about you and I get something to eat and you can tell me why Ranger Rick over there is looking at you like you’re Maine’s latest invasive species.”
Chapter Thirteen
They ate at Bear’s. It seemed almost morbid to be back at the scene of Jenny Eagler’s attack, but the bar was open and Cooper didn’t know where else to go. He didn’t want to take Jefferson to the Ancient Mariner. It was ridiculous to feel so defensive of a place that could have been modeled off a Scooby-Doo villain’s lair, but he associated it too strongly with Park. Park, who was acting strangely, coldly. Because Cooper hadn’t tried harder to defend him? Not that the man needed defending exactly. But a simple “I don’t think you’re part of a Trust conspiracy to undermine the BSI” probably wouldn’t have gone amiss.
That was, Jefferson informed him over beers and burgers, the part of the conversation he had missed. What Jefferson had been
leading up to in the parking lot.
“Don’t you think it’s all too convenient? The ruling packs here—Park’s family and Rudi Abouesse—are both recently sanctioned by us for playing wolf Mafia,” Jefferson explained his theory while adding extra ketchup to his burger. “Soon afterwards men in the community start to be killed off. Protector types of men. Hunters, athletes, police. Victims chosen to ensure panic.”
Cooper thought calling Bornestein a protector type was stretching it distinctly thin, but he could see where Jefferson was going.
“And this is the case Park insists to be put on. Claiming he’ll be a help because he knows the locals and yet nothing is accomplished. In fact, more attacks occur. One on our own BSI agent.”
“Park didn’t attack me,” Cooper insisted firmly. “He saved me.”
“Maybe he attacked you so he could save you,” Jefferson retorted. “Another excuse for the wolves to try and prove how useful they are. You said yourself the Trust is playing politics. What other reason would anyone have to untie that rope? Do you honestly believe someone else was there on the property watching and waiting without being detected by you, Park, Christie or Harris?”
No, Cooper didn’t think that. But nor was he ready to believe Park was part of an elaborate plot to demonstrate the need for pack enforcement. “I don’t know,” he said instead, feeling vaguely guilty. He didn’t quite have the energy or the evidence backing him up to say otherwise to Jefferson, but the whole thing seemed too elaborate, too Machiavellian. He just couldn’t see it.
Frankly, he was struggling to see anything but that last look of Park’s. The twist of disappointment around his mouth. The stiffness of his shoulders as he walked away from Cooper without looking back.
He thought about it all through dinner and the drive back to the motel. He thought about it when he noted Park’s car in the lot and when he bid Jefferson a distracted goodnight as they headed in separate directions on the outside walkway. He was still thinking about it when he found himself standing, hesitant, in front of Park’s door.
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