Until now.

“You see, that’s the problem, Devlin,” he said, leaning forward to brace his forearms on his desk. “What you told me was a ‘story.’ Hearsay from the librarian at the school where a tragedy occurred. If your friend had proof of what she said, why not go to the police? Why allow this dangerous girl to go to another school, unfazed, and hurt someone else? What kind of person was this friend?”

Fury erupted inside Kerri, but she held it back. Now he was just trying to make her angry. “She was afraid for the other girl. The girl begged her not to tell.”

“The girl that might be missing now?” he tossed back.

“She disappeared shortly after I shared the information.” Kerri held his gaze. “With you.”

Her boss took a breath. “This is what I can tell you, Detective. I shared this information with exactly three people. Sykes and Peterson because they are working the Myers case. I also briefed the chief in a private meeting. Are you prepared to accuse one of those three people of leaking this information?” He held up his hands. “Better yet, which of the three do you believe would have wanted to harm Sue Grimes and this missing child, Violet Redmond?”

No matter that she knew in her gut she was right, his words made Kerri’s face burn with something besides anger. “I am not accusing anyone, sir. What I am suggesting is that someone along this loop may have unknowingly shared the information with someone else who allowed a leak—either accidentally or on purpose.”

Brooks hit the intercom on his desk phone. His assistant responded immediately with a “Yes, sir.”

“Get Sykes and Peterson in my office ASAP.”

Another “Yes, sir” echoed in the room.

The LT gestured to a chair in front of his desk. “Sit, Devlin. We may have to wait a bit.”

Kerri lowered into the nearest chair. He was the one angry now. She refused to regret this confrontation. It had to be done. Today. Now. Should have been done yesterday. “I tried to talk to you yesterday.”

“I’m aware,” he said. “For your information, I had a funeral to attend. Does that excuse my not getting back to you before this morning?”

Now she felt like a total shit—at least on that point. Before she could apologize, he went on, “Should I call the chief and request his presence as well?” His glare warned that he wasn’t entirely joking.

Neither was she. She met his glare without flinching. “I’ll leave that to your discretion, sir.”

He looked away.

A knock on the door had Brooks announcing, “Come in.”

Sykes and Peterson swaggered into the room. “You wanted to see us,” Sykes said.

The two glanced at Kerri and audibly exhaled.

Perfect. Now they were all pissed at her.

“Take a seat, Detectives.”

The two did as they were told, making no attempt to conceal their dark glances at Kerri.

“Let’s talk about the Myers case,” Brooks said. “Have you looked into the Walker Academy connection as we discussed yesterday morning?”

Surprise lanced through Kerri. He hadn’t told Sykes and Peterson until yesterday morning? Sue was murdered yesterday morning. These two wouldn’t have had time to pass along the info to anyone who may have had something to do with her death.

Well, hell.

“No, sir. After what happened with Sarah Talley, we were a little busy.”

“So you haven’t discussed Sue Grimes or Walker Academy with any of your sources? With anyone, for that matter?”

Sykes shook his head. “We haven’t talked to anyone about it.”

“We did hear she’d been murdered,” Peterson chimed in. “Which pretty much put trying to talk to her on the back burner.”

What an ass. Kerri turned to the man. “Really? You’re going to joke about a woman’s murder?”

“At least I ain’t hiding my kid from a homicide investigation.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Kerri demanded.

“We went to the school to talk to Tori, and she wasn’t there,” Peterson said.

“You went to talk to her without calling me first?”

“We were going to call,” Sykes interjected. “We hadn’t gotten that far.”

“Just as far as the school and asking for her,” Kerri shot back.

“You don’t get it,” Peterson growled. “The Talley girl didn’t just try and off herself; she left a note.”

Sykes glared at him. Peterson shrugged.

“What does that mean, Peterson?” Kerri demanded.

“Sarah Talley left a note confessing to pushing Brendal Myers down those stairs. She said Tori was the one who came up with the idea to get rid of Brendal. Alice Cortez tried to talk them out of it, but . . .” Sykes turned his hands up. “You know how it turned out.”

“I have no idea why,” Kerri argued, her voice quavering, “but Sarah lied. Tori would never do that.” The sting of betrayal was sharp. Why in the world would Sarah have made up such an awful lie? Following that hollow burn of betrayal was a stab of outright fear that she refused to acknowledge. Tori would not hurt anyone or urge a friend to do so. Not possible.

It was like Tori said . . . everything was wrong . . . upside down.

“You can’t be sure, Devlin,” Peterson argued. “Kids do stupid shit sometimes.”

“You see,” she shouted at him, tears way too damned close to the surface, “that very attitude is why this investigation is so screwed up. You two are only looking for the easiest and fastest way out of this.”

“I know you’re upset,” Sykes allowed, “but that’s going too far, Devlin.”

“Is it?” she roared.

“Stop. Now,” Brooks commanded. “This discussion is over.”

“Sir,” Kerri began.

“Enough,” Brooks ordered.

When the room was silent, he turned to Sykes and Peterson. “You two will follow through with the information provided to Devlin by Grimes, and you will follow up on the Redmond girl’s disappearance. Talk to her parents. Talk to the head of Walker Academy. Check in with the detective assigned to both cases. If these events are in any way linked to the Myers case, I want to know. Are we understood?”

Yes, sirs sang out.