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“Yeah. What he said. Only there was no five K. He came in with a couple hundred in his wallet. That was all. He said it was in his backpack. An envelope. But there wasn’t one there. We just found floral wire, hammer, screwdriver, ammunition, camera. That was it.”

  “He said he was getting out of town. He probably emptied his bank account. But I didn’t see any cash at the takedown set.” Neville looked at the others in the room. “Anybody remember an envelope of money in Simms’s backpack or anywhere at the scene? Five K?”

  Sonja and Benji shook their heads.

  “Nobody saw it. You call Crime Scene?”

  “Yeah, they didn’t either.”

  “Sorry, Lou.”

  They disconnected and Neville sighed.

  “What, Detective?” Benji asked.

  “That money’s gone missing. And I know what happened to it.”

  Sonja Parker clicked her tongue. “When we were cuffing Simms and securing his weapon Michael was right beside the backpack.”

  Benji said, “He dipped it. He’s a goddamn pickpocket, remember?”

  Sonja: “Means he broke the get-out-of-jail deal.”

  “He sure did. The release document says he commits any crime during the remaining time on his sentence, he goes back and serves the entire sentence out, on top of the time for the new offense.” Neville shook his head and said, half to himself, “Michael, what the hell were you thinking?”

  Benji said, “You want me to go over to his place with Tac and bring him in?”

  Neville’s face filled with disappointment. “I do not like that man one iota. He’s despicable. But he put his life on the line for us.”

  Still, the law was the law. Oh, hell. “Just you and me, Benji,” he said. “Not Tac.”

  Sonja offered, “I’m sorry, Ernie.”

  Neville nodded and, with Benji beside him, walked to the coatrack. As he passed the coffee setup he glanced down and stopped.

  He was looking at the children’s hospital wing charity jar, sitting beside the Keurig. At the bottom was a mass of crumpled bills, small denominations. On top was a thick stack of crisp $100s.

  “Hold on.” Neville unscrewed the lid and pulled the big bills out.

  Sonja and Benji joined him.

  Neville counted the money.

  “Five K?” she asked.

  “On the nose . . . Michael got a coffee when he was here, didn’t he?”

  She confirmed that he had.

  Benji said, “You mean, he stuffed the money in there? Jesus. Why?”

  Sonja suggested, “Maybe he’s turned a new leaf. After helping us out the world’s looking at a new Michael Stendhal.”

  Neville gave a laugh. “No way. That’s never going to happen. I’m pretty sure he just wanted to screw over Jared Simms one last time. A parting shot.”

  Benji pointed out, “It’s still grand larceny.”

  True.

  Neville was silent for a moment. “Tough case to make, though. I’m sure Michael’s prints aren’t on any of those bills. No witnesses.”

  “Detective . . . ,” Benji began. “It’s just wrong.”

  “You’ve got to admit it’d sure be fun to see the face of the fire chief when he turns in his nine hundred and twelve dollars to the hospital. And we plop down five Gs.” He smiled.

  Benji grimaced. He persisted, “Detective . . .”

  Neville thought for a moment. “Benji. Got a hypothetical for you.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Say some drug dealers’re cutting up the Evansville River in one of those cigarette boats of theirs.”

  The young officer laughed. “They call it a river but you know it’s but two feet deep most places.”

  “Humor me. Big shiny cigarette boat. Loads of drugs and cash. When we bust ’em—”

  Sonja said, “I’d like a piece of that takedown.”

  “—what happens to the boat and the money?”

  “County confiscates it.”

  “And where does most of it go?”

  “Into our budget, Sheriff’s Office.”

  “So you could look at it that Michael just, sort of, bypassed the red tape and got us the killer’s money directly. And we decided not to buy a tactical helicopter but to give it to a charity.”

  Sonja asked, “We ever going to get a tac chopper?”

  “No,” Neville told her, then turned once more to Benji. “We have less of a crime than a . . .” It took him a minute to come up with a phrase and it was one he liked. “Procedural anomaly. So, I suppose, sure, we could light up a case file on Michael Stendhal. But you know what I’m thinking? RDK derailed us.” Neville pointed at the manila folders covering his desk. “We have meth, we have opioids, we have spouses playing Whac-A-Mole on each other, we got drivers who climb behind the wheel with a Slurpee’s worth of Absolut in their veins. RDK’s rolled up. So I say let’s get back to work.”

  Benji gave a shrug. “Aw, too cold to go outside anyway.”

  Ernest Neville put the bills back in the charity jar and screwed the lid back on. He got another Dr Pepper from the fridge and cracked it open. Sipped long. He returned to his cubicle, sat down in his well-worn chair and pulled a file toward him.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © Gunner Publications

  Jeffery Deaver is a former journalist, folk singer, and attorney whose novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the New York Times, the Times of London, Italy’s Corriere della Sera, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Los Angeles Times. His books are sold in 150 countries and have been translated into twenty-five languages.

  The author of more than forty novels, three collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book, as well as the lyricist of a country-western album, he’s received or been short-listed for dozens of awards.

  Deaver’s book The Bodies Left Behind was named best novel of the year by the International Thriller Writers association. His Lincoln Rhyme thriller The Broken Window and stand-alone novel Edge were also nominated for that prize, as was his short story The Victims’ Club. He has been awarded the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and the Short Story Dagger from the British Crime Writers’ Association, and he is a winner of the British Thumping Good Read Award and the Nero Award. The Cold Moon was named the book of the year by the Mystery Writers of Japan. In addition, the Japan Adventure Fiction Association gave The Cold Moon and Carte Blanche its annual Grand Prix award. Deaver’s book The Kill Room was awarded the Political Thriller of the Year award by Killer Nashville. And his collection of short stories, Trouble in Mind, was nominated for best anthology by that organization as well.

  Deaver has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention and the Raymond Chandler Award for lifetime achievement in Italy. Strand Magazine also presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

  Deaver has been nominated for eight Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, as well as an Anthony, a Shamus, and a Gumshoe. He served two terms as president of the Mystery Writers of America.

  His audiobook The Starling Project, starring Alfred Molina and produced by Audible, won the Audie Award for best original audiobook of the year in 2016. Deaver contributed to the anthologies In the Company of Sherlock Holmes and Books to Die For, which won the Anthony. Books to Die For recently won the Agatha as well.

  Deaver’s most recent novels are The Goodbye Man and The Never Game in his Colter Shaw series; the Lincoln Rhyme novels The Cutting Edge, The Burial Hour, and The Steel Kiss; Solitude Creek, a Kathryn Dance thriller; and The October List, a thriller told in reverse. For the Dance novel XO, Deaver wrote an album of country-western songs, available on iTunes and as a CD; before that, he wrote Carte Blanche, a James Bond continuation novel and a number one international bestseller. Deaver’s most recent short fiction includes Verona, Captivated, which introduced Colter Shaw, Ninth & Nowhere, The Victims’ Club, and The Debriefing.

  Deaver’s book A Maiden’s Grave was made into an HBO movie st
arring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, and his novel The Bone Collector was a feature release from Universal Pictures starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme / Amelia Sachs novels were the basis for the nine-episode NBC TV show Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. Lifetime aired an adaptation of his book The Devil’s Teardrop. And yes, the rumors are true: he did appear as a corrupt reporter on his favorite soap opera, As the World Turns. He was born outside Chicago and has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University.

  Readers can visit his website at www.jefferydeaver.com.