Exposed by Dena Crawford-Nibler

Author:Dena Crawford-Nibler [Crawford-Nibler, Dena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

Xavier’s reasoning for dressing in unidentifiable clothing became clear when they drove to West Salem.

“Nothing’s been posted since my emails,” Callie said. They were parked two blocks down from Detective Gale Norton’s home. She lived in West Salem, the suburbs separated from the capital by the Willamette River. Gale lived deep into the evergreen woods that made much of Oregon so green, in a small, modest neighborhood. “Maybe it’s over and we should drop it.”

“I don’t think it’s over,” Xavier said.

“Who else could possibly need punishment for this? I can’t think of any other targets for this case.”

“I don’t think our esteemed detective has any intention of stopping with just one case. I spent some time messing around looking into shit last night, and I found no prior connection between her and Olivia Preston. That means that she took it upon herself to punish people involved in a case where she had no personal stake.”

“You think, what, that she’s gone rogue?”

“Happens to the best of us,” Xavier said, shooting her a quick smile. “Case in point. I’m not supposed to install software onto a cop’s laptop to track her keystrokes, but I will if I can.”

“What? Don’t you dare.”

“I’m kidding. I’m not looking to go to prison. But I do think it’s highly likely that she’s just tired of watching scum get away with abusing people and ruining their lives, and that this case was just the first. She’s going to target someone else.”

“We could have scared her by finding her so quickly. She may decide it’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

“She might. But that doesn’t necessarily hold true for her partner.”

“True,” Callie admitted, pondering his words. Gale could possibly be the sole person behind the website, but it didn’t seem likely. She thought Xavier’s instincts that there was another person working with the detective were probably correct.

“I would have just let it drop, to be honest,” Xavier said. “Before they released your emails. Now they’ve pissed me off.”

“I don’t believe that. You’re almost incapable of letting anything drop,” Callie muttered while checking her phone. Her family had been bombarding her with messages. Her siblings, as lovingly meddling and gossipy as ever, had all viewed the website and were vying for her attention. She copy-pasted the same reply to all four of them, knowing they’d complain in a group chat about it, and was about to close her messaging app when she saw a new text from Ambrose.

“Is that your wannabe boyfriend?” Xavier asked as he caught a glimpse of the text.

“Shush,” she said. “He’s just worried. I guess he’s been watching the website and saw my emails posted.”

“Are you ever going to throw the guy a bone and get a drink with him?”

“None of your business.”

“You think my love life is your business. You have many opinions on it. Repeatedly. Every day.”

“‘Love’ life is stretching it in your case,” she said, but smiled as she quickly shot Ambrose a text promising she was still up to meeting him for drinks that night unless something came up with the case.

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