Echo Falls by Jaime McDougall Page B

drank and when he did, he had a damn good reason. At Bad Karma, a bar in the next largest city away from Echo Falls, they didn’t know he was a cop and left him alone with his thoughts and solace on the rocks. This night seemed more in need of solace than any other he’d ever been through.
    His hand squeezed the cold glass until he thought the better of it and released it. He needed both hands if he wanted to solve this case. This case that now had his friend’s name written all over it.
    Why Thomas? If the killer wanted to start somewhere in the pack, why not kill their leader? The killer had to know that they didn’t have much going on solving the case, so he’d probably be able to walk away. Or she. Thomas had been working on the thought someone in the pack had betrayed them and they had plenty of females. But could any of them do something like this? Get caught up in the arms of someone who killed their own kind?
    He scowled down at the drink. Something told him Thomas had been onto something and that he’d been killed for it. He’d told someone or been overheard telling someone, and his line of thinking had reached the wrong ears. But whose?
    At this rate, they’d all be dead before they could find out.
    The bell above the front door jingled as the door opened and closed. Heavy footsteps made Aidan close his eyes and rub his temples, not wanting to think that he knew who’d just walked in.
    “I thought I might find you here.”
    Chief Inspector Graham, looking for all the world like just another late-night bar goer in his jeans, t-shirt and leather jacket, sat down next to Aidan and ordered a scotch and Coke. Aidan nodded to him but couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t smack of anger. Graham had discovered Aidan’s little hideout by accident the night after he’d taken away Aidan’s badge.
    Graham stared forward, taking a small sip of his drink before letting out an explosive breath. “Damn it. Just damn it all.”
    Aidan looked over and arched an eyebrow.
    “The only reason we put ice in this crap is to stop ourselves from drinking it as fast as we want to,” he said, holding his glass up to the light. “A self-control mechanism that we don’t even think about most of the time.”
    Graham put down his drink and then placed his hand with something underneath it on the bar. He then slid it over in front of Aidan. When he lifted his hand away, the shine of gold caught Aidan’s eye and he nodded at his badge.
    “What does this mean?”
    “This means you start finishing all your questions with ‘sir’ starting when you get back to work tomorrow.”
    Aidan stared at the badge, unwilling to touch it lest it melt away in an instant. He took a deep breath and then looked at Graham.
    Graham placed his hand on Aidan’s shoulder. “Thomas makes it personal. I want you back out there so long as you keep your head in check. Don’t come in the office. If having you out there in plain clothes is an advantage, then I want to take it. Now drink your whiskey and get on with it because I want you starting bright and early in the morning.”
    With that, Graham stood up and tossed a twenty on the bar before leaving. Aidan looked down at his badge and ran his thumb over it before putting it in his pocket.
    Now he would start getting answers.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

    Phoebe woke up to a throbbing headache stomping around with great enthusiasm in her head. She groaned and rubbed her temples, wondering if she could force herself back to sleep.
    She rolled onto her opposite side hoping the change of position would be the magical switch to put her back into dreamland. But the move only made her wake up completely when she painfully discovered that she’d left her phone in her pocket.
    She took out the phone and saw she had two messages. She didn’t recognize either number, but then why would she? She’d bought it so she could take calls for her business – much easier to set up and get rid of than a landline