“Matthieu, meet Detective Clayton Reeves with the Billings PD,” Ink said.
“Detective,” Matthieu said with a nod. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I’m not normally late but there were extenuating circumstances.”
Ink shot him a look. But he ignored him. For some reason, he didn’t want to tell him about the girl. He had no idea why.
“He works for you too?” Detective Reeves asked Ink, nodding at Matthieu.
“From time to time,” Ink replied vaguely.
Detective Reeves leaned forward, giving Ink an angry look. “Do I need to remind you that I’m putting my neck out here. I need to know that everyone in this room is trustworthy.”
“And might I remind you thatyoucame to me,” Ink replied sharply. “Not the other way round.”
Even Brody looked up at that exchange, glancing around in shock as though he couldn’t work out how he’d come to be there.
“Matthieu, hi,” he said cheerfully. “How are you?”
“I’m good, Brody. And you?”
“Same old, same old,” Brody replied, adjusting his glasses as he stared at the other man. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
Ink sighed. “Brody, I introduced you before. This is Detective Clayton Reeves.”
“I don’t know if this was a smart idea.” Detective Reeves got to his feet. “Clearly, I should go elsewhere.”
“Good luck,” Ink told him casually. “If you want a recommendation for another security firm, I can give you some but none of them are located in Billings.”
Reeves scowled, but Matthieu could see that he wasn’t stupid. Instead of leaving, he sat. Matthieu expected him to remain angry, but he surprised him. Instead, Reeves ran his hand down his face tiredly. “Fuck. Look, I’m sorry I’m acting like an asshole. I’m just under some pressure.”
“So tell us how we can help you,” Ink said.
Reeves glanced around at them all again.
“I promise you that everyone here knows how to keep their mouth shut,” Ink added.
“Yeah?” Reeves gave Brody a skeptical look.
“Yes,” Ink replied firmly.
“All right. Look, what I’m here to say . . . I shouldn’t be telling anyone this, right? But there’s shit going down with the Billings PD that isn’t right and it’s downright scary and illegal.”
“So why come to us?” Stone asked with a frown. “Shouldn’t you be going to the Chief of Police with this?”
Surely the Chief knew what was going on in his force?
“Or IA,” Ink added.
“Hard to go to the Chief when you’re pretty sure that all of the problems stem from him.”
Well.
That wasn’t good.
But it also wasn’t surprising. Either the Chief had to be turning a blind eye to everything going on, was blind, or he was the problem.
Seemed like it was the latter.
Stone glanced over at Ink, then at him. “And is there a reason you don’t want to go to Internal Affairs?”
