“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Northstar was shut down six years ago.”
Lewis leaned back.
“Apparently not.”
Naomi stared at the word.
Northstar.
She had spent years trying to understand why certain records disappeared from Baltimore.
Why certain contractors changed names.
Why several officers retired suddenly.
Why Daniel had always refused to talk about the six months before their marriage.
Why Atlas reacted violently to certain scents.
Why she had nightmares she could never fully remember.
Why she had once awakened from a hospital bed and asked a doctor where her memory had gone.
And now Northstar had appeared again.
Inside the phone of a police officer who had tried to plant drugs on her.
Naomi stood.
“Where's Mercer?”
“Processing.”
“I want to see him.”
Lewis frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I want to ask him one question.”
“What question?”
Naomi looked at the screen.
“Who told him my name?”
Mercer sat alone in an interview room.
The cuffs had been removed.
Not because he was free.
Because the investigators wanted him comfortable enough to talk.
He sat beneath fluorescent lights with a paper cup of water.
His uniform jacket was gone.
His badge had been secured in an evidence envelope.
For the first time in twelve years, Daniel Mercer sat in a room where nobody cared that he was a police officer.
The door opened.
Naomi entered.
Mercer looked up.
“You.”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn't be here.”
“Why?”
“Conflict of interest.”
“You don't get to define my conflicts.”
He stared.
Chapter 9
She sat across from him.
“You know why you're here.”
“I made a mistake.”
“No.”
Mercer swallowed.
“I made a mistake.”
“You assaulted an investigator.”
“I didn't know.”
“You planted evidence.”
“I didn't plant it.”
“You attempted to arrest me without probable cause.”
“I had reasonable suspicion.”
“You kicked my property into the street.”
He said nothing.
“You lied on your body camera.”
Mercer's eyes moved.
Naomi leaned forward.
“And you were contacted before the traffic stop.”
Mercer looked at her.
“I wasn't.”
“Yes, you were.”
“No.”
“We recovered your deleted contact.”
His face changed.
Northstar.
She watched him recognize the word.
There it was.
The fear.
“You know what it means.”
Mercer looked down.
“I don't know anything.”
“You know enough.”
“No.”
“Who gave you the powder?”
“I found it.”
“Who gave it to you?”
“Nobody.”
“Who told you to stop my vehicle?”
“Nobody.”
“Who told you my name?”
He remained silent.
Naomi waited.
The silence lasted thirty seconds.
Then one minute.
Mercer finally whispered.
“I'm not the one you should be talking to.”
“Who should I talk to?”
He looked toward the closed door.
Then back at her.
“The person who signs the checks.”
Naomi's expression hardened.
“Whose checks?”
Mercer didn't answer.
“Mercer.”
He looked at her.
“You want to know who owns the department?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if I tell you, they'll kill my family.”
Naomi leaned back.
“Who?”
He stared at her.
“You already know the name.”
She said nothing.
“Northstar.”
Naomi's pulse quickened.
“Tell me.”
Mercer closed his eyes.
“Victor Harlan isn't the boss.”
Naomi waited.
Mercer opened his eyes.
“He's the cleanup man.”
“Then who is above him?”
Mercer shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“You just said I already know.”
“I know what they told me.”
“What did they tell you?”
“That the woman investigating the department had to be discredited.”
Naomi's eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
“Who contacted you?”
“Text.”
“From whom?”
“Unknown number.”
“Show me.”
“They took my phone.”
“We have it.”
He swallowed.
“Then you already know.”
“We recovered only the messages.”
Mercer stared.
“What messages?”
“Deleted.”
His face became pale.
“You can recover those?”
Chapter 10
“Yes.”
He whispered something.
“What?”
“They said the phone would be clean.”
Naomi leaned forward.
“Who told you that?”
Mercer looked at her.
“Your husband.”
The room went silent.
Naomi did not move.
Lewis stood behind the one-way glass.
Mercer watched her face.
“Daniel Ellison.”
Naomi's expression became unreadable.
“Say it again.”
“Daniel Ellison.”
“Why?”
“He was the intermediary.”
Naomi's breathing became slow.
“Between whom?”
“Northstar and the department.”
She stood.
Mercer looked frightened.
“I didn't know what they were planning.”
Naomi walked to the door.
“Naomi.”
She stopped.
Mercer looked at her.
“I didn't know they were going to use you.”
She turned.
“What did you think they were going to do?”
He looked down.
“Make you look corrupt.”
“Why?”
“So nobody would believe you.”
She stared at him.
“And Daniel?”
Mercer swallowed.
“He said it would be enough to ruin your credibility.”
Naomi left the room.
The hallway seemed longer than before.
Lewis waited.
“You heard him.”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe him?”
Naomi stopped.
“I don't know.”
“Daniel is your husband.”
“I know.”
“Do you think he betrayed you?”
Naomi looked through the window into the interview room.
“I think I have spent six years believing I knew my husband.”
She looked away.
“And now I don't know what I knew at all.”
At 11:40 a.m., Naomi left the sheriff's headquarters.
She didn't call Daniel.
She didn't text him.
She didn't tell him what Mercer had said.
Instead, she drove to a small federal operations office on the other side of the county.
Atlas was waiting there.
The German Shepherd stood as soon as she entered.
He walked directly toward her.
Naomi knelt.
“Hey.”
Atlas pressed his head against her shoulder.
She closed her eyes.
For several seconds, she simply held him.
Then Atlas suddenly lifted his head.
His ears went forward.
He looked toward the hallway.
Naomi followed his gaze.
A man stood near the doorway.
Daniel.