Deception with Murder (A Rilynne Evans Mystery, Book Two) Read Free Page A

sitting on the table in front of him for a few moments before answering. “Jane didn’t want him to take the undercover assignment, and they did have a pretty big blow up about it the night before he went in. She didn’t even wait for me to leave before starting in on him,” he explained. “They seemed to have worked it out, though. I know she made regular visits to the station to check on his status, and he tried to arrange for them to meet up a couple times a week. I’m sure it put a little strain on the relationship, but it wasn’t anything serious.”
    “Is there anyone that you could think of who would have wanted Shane dead?” Matthews asked.
    “As far as his personal life went, no. You knew him,” he said to Matthews. “Shane was one of the greatest guys you could ever meet. Everyone liked him. And from everything he told me, his cover was still intact and he was in good standing with the crime ring. If they had found out who he was, though, I wouldn’t put it past them to take him out. They’ve been growing increasingly aggressive with the home invasions, and over the last few months have started only hitting homes that were occupied, violently beating the owners,” he said. “Other than that, he was a good cop who helped to secure a lot of convictions. I’m sure he made several enemies in doing so.”
    Matthews seemed to be struggling to get his next question out. Rilynne was on the verge of jumping in when he finally spit it out. “Is there any reason that Shane would have had cocaine on him at the time of his death?”
    “No,” Clark said abruptly, shaking his head and looking intently at Matthews. “Shane is the last person in the world who would ever get involved in any kind of drug activity.” He sounded very confident with his answer.
    “Were drugs involved in the case in any way?” Rilynne asked.
    “Not that he told me,” he answered. “But if they were, he would have put it in his reports or his journal.”
    Matthews closed his notebook and stood up. “Thank you for coming in, Clark. I think that’s all we need for right now,” he said kindly. “Oh, wait. Is there any reason you know of why Shane would have been at this house?” He slid a photograph of the vacant house he was found in across the table.
    Officer Clark picked up the picture and examined it carefully. “Is this where they found him?” he asked. Rilynne nodded, watching his face for any sign of recollection, but she didn’t see one. “No, I’ve never seen it before. And he never mentioned anything about a house to me.”
    After walking Officer Clark out, Rilynne dropped back down in her desk chair. Matthews, whose desk had been moved to face hers, also took his seat.
    “So, explain this to me,” she said, leaning forward. “Stolen property gets delivered to Villarreal and he sells it for them. How exactly does that work? I know he can’t actually have been selling stolen goods.”
    Matthews chuckled. “Actually, I remember hearing some officers talking about it a few months back. Apparently we were able to seize the funds in the crew’s bank account when we turned the first guy. In exchange for the property, Shane was giving them that money back. Of course it will all be seized again when the ring is brought down. The property has all been returned to the victims, of course, with the understanding that it not be advertised they got everything back.”
    “Smart,” Rilynne nodded impressively. “Wouldn’t they run out of money, though?”
    Matthews’ chuckle progressed to a full bout of laughter. “Well, according to the officers, they had been tracing the bills and grabbed the member of the crew who had been depositing everything into their new account. They put him in lock up out of the county and emptied the account again,” he explained. “So what it looked like to the remaining members of the crew was their guy just split with all of the money. Now they’re filtering it back to them again