Shadow's Conspiracy (Shadow Island FBI Mystery Series Book 8) by Mary Stone

Author:Mary Stone [Stone, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mary Stone Publishing
Published: 2023-08-03T16:00:00+00:00

23

The sun was just peeking over the horizon, stretching the shadows as Hoyt pulled his keys out to unlock the station door. The crisp thunk of the dead bolt echoed down the empty street. Golden light glinted off the star on the glass door so brightly, he had to squint to see.

Stepping inside, he set his travel mug on the windowsill so he could lock up behind him. It was another thirty minutes before he had to open for the day, and he wanted to spend that time getting the office ready and let the air-conditioning cool down after adjusting the temperature.

He never liked having to cover for the sheriff. And he downright hated it when he had to cover in the middle of a complicated case that crossed jurisdictions like this one did. Rebecca had a good rapport with Rhonda, but he barely knew her. Although he knew his colleagues in Coastal Ridge, the incident at the hospital created yet another jurisdictional layer.

“Deputy Frost.”

He jumped and reached for his gun before he recognized the voice coming from behind him—a voice that did not belong inside the locked building.

Turning away from the door, he laid eyes on Richmond Vale standing behind the dispatch counter.

“Rich. What are you doing in here?” Hoyt looked around, checking if anyone else unauthorized was inside. He, of course, had a key to get in. So did Melody and Viviane and Rebecca, naturally. But there shouldn’t have been any other wandering station keys. “How did you get in here?”

Vale ignored his questions completely, even waved them away, as if they were annoying little gnats. “I wanted a chance to speak to you personally. You’ve served this county and our town for quite a long time now. I thought you deserved to hear this before anyone else.”

He stepped up to the half door. Hoyt narrowed his eyes as Vale passed through into the lobby as if he did so all the time. There was supposed to be only one magnetic fob that unlocked the door to the bullpen, and that stayed with the sheriff’s keys. So Vale had to have one on him too.

Rebecca had warned him about things like this. Hell, she’d even given him a recorder and downloaded an app for it on his phone—for situations such as this one. But he hadn’t figured out how to set his to a specific motion like she’d done on her phone. Fiddling with it now would be way too obvious. He’d have to rely on the security cameras.

“Whatever you need to tell me, you can say during office hours.” And around other witnesses. He knew Vale wouldn’t be having this talk with him if Viviane were around to hear it.

“Not this. I really shouldn’t be doing this since it isn’t official yet. But like I said, you’ve been loyal to us, and I want to prove to you that we’re loyal in return.” Vale looked up at him, pushing forward into Hoyt’s personal space, a tight smile on his face that turned Hoyt’s stomach.

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