Chapter 4 - The Room Had a Leak TooKeene collected every phone.
Graham’s.
Simone’s.
Her own.
“All devices off.”
Simone frowned.
“That won’t solve—”
“I know.”
Keene unplugged the conference-room smart display.
Then looked at ceiling.
No obvious microphone.
No camera beyond standard security.
Graham said:
“Could be human.”
“Who knew we were here?”
“Half the floor.”
“Not what we were discussing.”
Simone opened her laptop offline.
“We need to assume task-force systems are compromised.”
Keene nodded.
“Separate network.”
“External hardware.”
“No internal case-management notes.”
Graham looked through glass.
“Veda may already know more than we think.”
Keene’s expression tightened.
“Interview her.”
Veda sat with public defender Leslie Grant.
She looked calmer now.
Too calm.
Graham entered.
Keene remained outside observation.
Leslie said:
“My client is willing to discuss general circumstances. No admissions to unrelated conduct without agreement.”
Graham sat.
“Fine.”
Veda looked at him.
“You’re still wearing the same jacket.”
“So?”
“You hide your badge badly.”
“You didn’t notice.”
“I wasn’t looking for one.”
“Exactly.”
She smiled faintly.
“Who is Shepherd?”
“No idea.”
“Who assigns your jobs?”
“You know the answer.”
“A screen name.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Eight months.”
“How did Shepherd find you?”
“Through Kendrick.”
“Kendrick says through you.”
She laughed.
“Then Kendrick is smarter than he looks.”
Graham leaned forward.
“Who recruited you?”
Veda stopped smiling.
“Why do you care?”
“Because Shepherd wanted my phone.”
Her expression shifted slightly.
So she didn’t know.
Good.
“Did you think tonight was about the motorcycle?”
“Yes.”
“Toby says you told him the bike mattered because we needed to be scared.”
“Toby talks too much.”
“Is he wrong?”
Veda looked away.
Graham continued.
“Target message named me.”
Her eyes came back.
“What?”
“You were sent my surname.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
She stared.
“I never saw that.”
That mattered.
“Who receives full job packets?”
“Kendrick.”
“Kendrick told us you did.”
“He’s lying.”
“Maybe.”
Graham watched her.
“Your app had the packet.”
“Not when I checked.”
“You’re saying the message changed.”
“I’m saying I got location and bike.”
“Nothing about me?”
“No.”
“Phone?”
“No.”
She looked genuinely rattled.
Someone had altered or updated information after delivery.
Or Kendrick had hidden it.
“Where did you get the fake belly?”
Veda almost laughed.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Storage unit.”
“Whose?”
“Crew.”
“Where?”
Leslie touched Veda’s arm.
“Careful.”
Veda ignored her.
“New Britain.”
Graham nodded.
“How many setups?”
She hesitated.
“Three.”
“Not nine?”
“I didn’t do nine.”
“Other crews?”
Silence.
“Veda.”
She looked at him.
“I don’t know names.”
“Routes?”
“No.”
“Pickup locations?”
“Sometimes.”
“How do bikes leave?”
“Van.”
“Then?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never asked?”
“The less I know, the less I can tell cops.”
“Worked well.”
She glared.
Graham shifted.
“Why do this?”
Leslie frowned.
“Detective.”
“Not legally. Personally.”
Veda laughed bitterly.
“You think there’s a tragic story?”
“There usually is.”
“That make you feel better?”
“No.”
She looked at table.
“My brother owed people money.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“Who?”
“People connected to Shepherd.”
“What happened?”
“They said I could work it off.”
“Your brother?”
“Gone.”
“Dead?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer felt real.
“What’s his name?”
“Micah.”
Last name Marlowe.
Graham filed it mentally.
“Why didn’t you go to police?”
She looked directly at him.
“Because the people collecting knew when police reports were filed.”
Silence.
There.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
“No.”
“They threatened you with police information.”
Veda’s jaw tightened.
“Once I went to a precinct.”
“Which?”
“South district.”
“What happened?”
“I asked about filing anonymously.”
“Then?”
“Left.”
“Why?”
“A message hit my phone before I reached my car.”
Graham leaned closer.
“What message?”
Veda whispered:
NICE TRY.
Keene shifted behind the glass.
Graham asked:
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“Who did you speak to?”
“A desk sergeant.”
“Name?”
“Didn’t look.”
“Male? Female?”
“Male.”
“Age?”
“Forties.”
“What did he say?”
“Asked my name.”
“Did you give it?”
“No.”
“Then how did Shepherd know you were there?”
Veda looked at him.
“That’s why I stopped believing badges meant anything.”
Graham let that sit.
Then:
“Tonight, you saw mine and panicked.”
“Because I thought Shepherd had sent us to rob a cop.”
“Why would that scare you more?”
“Because cops don’t get picked by accident.”
Exactly.
Graham asked:
“Did Shepherd ever mention Nolan Price?”
Veda’s face went blank.
Too blank.
“What?”
“Price.”
“No.”
“Lie.”
Leslie intervened.
“My client—”
Veda cut her off.
“I heard the name once.”
Graham stayed still.
“Where?”
“Kendrick was on a call.”
“With Shepherd?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
“Something about ‘Price is clean tonight.’”
Graham’s pulse jumped.
“Exact words?”
“‘Price says it’s clean tonight.’”
The room chilled.
That sounded incriminating.
Maybe too incriminating.
“When?”
“Three robberies ago.”
“Which date?”
She gave one.
Graham knew the case.
A Ducati stolen from a surgeon.
The victim had been searched in law-enforcement databases thirty-six hours earlier.
Using Lieutenant Nolan Price’s credentials.
Now Veda had heard his name connected to that robbery.
Keene stepped into the room.
“Interview pauses.”
Veda looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because your lawyer needs to discuss cooperation.”
Leslie frowned.
“We haven’t agreed—”
Keene said:
“No problem.”
She looked at Veda.
“But if Shepherd is inside police systems, you are in more danger than you think.”
Veda laughed once.
“You think I don’t know that?”
Graham stood.
She stopped him.
“Detective.”
He looked back.
“If you arrest Price…”
Pause.
“…you’ll be doing Shepherd a favor.”
Graham stared.
“How do you know?”
“Because three weeks ago Kendrick said Shepherd was trying to make everyone think the cop was Price.”
Keene went still.
Veda continued:
“I didn’t know who Price was.”
Then she looked at Graham.
“But apparently you do.”
The evidence pointing toward Nolan Price was not accidental.
Someone had been planting it.
May you like
And now Graham had to figure out whether Price was corrupt—
or being prepared as the fall guy.
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