Some weren't.
Then he saw the final name.
Sheriff Thomas Grady.
Samuel leaned back.
Claire stood behind him.
"What is it?"
"This goes higher than the sheriff."
"How high?"
Samuel opened another file.
It contained a series of payments made through shell companies.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Marcus Bell.
Samuel's eyes widened.
Claire recognized the name.
"Who is that?"
"A state senator."
"And?"
Samuel stared at the screen.
"And he was the man who ordered me to close the investigation six years ago."
The room became silent.
Then Samuel noticed something else.
A timestamp.
Every file had been accessed that morning.
Someone had opened the files only hours before Samuel received the drive.
He looked at Claire.
"They're not just watching us."
"What?"
"They're moving."
A car passed outside.
Samuel stood.
The headlights swept across the living room.
Then stopped.
The car parked across the street.
No one got out.
Samuel watched it.
Five minutes passed.
Ten.
Finally, the vehicle drove away.
Claire whispered,
"What do we do?"
Samuel picked up his coat.
"We leave."
"Where?"
"Somewhere they won't expect."
"And then?"
Samuel looked at the old badge lying on the table.
He picked it up.
"I make one phone call."
Daniel Reeves answered immediately.
"I was waiting."
Samuel said, "You were right."
"How bad?"
"Bad enough."
"Do you have proof?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Enough to bury half the county."
Daniel was silent.
"Does Claire know?"
"Everything."
"Good."
Samuel paused.
"Daniel."
"Yes?"
"Are you still in contact with Inspector Mara?"
Another silence.
Then Daniel said,
"I haven't spoken to her in years."
"Call her."
"Sam—"
"Call her."
Daniel understood.
Mara Quinn had been the most feared internal affairs investigator in the state.
She didn't care about rank.
She didn't care about politics.
And she didn't care whether someone liked her.
She cared about evidence.
If Samuel could put the evidence in her hands, the people responsible would have nowhere to hide.
But there was a problem.
Mara had disappeared from public service two years earlier.
No one knew where she was.
Daniel finally said,
"I'll see what I can find."
Samuel ended the call.
Claire looked at him.
"Who is Mara?"
"The person I should have called six years ago."
"Why didn't you?"
Samuel looked down.
"Because I believed retirement meant leaving the fight behind."
Claire touched his arm.
"Maybe retirement just means choosing which fight is worth coming back for."
Samuel smiled.
"You sound like your mother."
Claire smiled sadly.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"It is."
Outside, thunder rolled across the sky.
The rain grew heavier.
Then Samuel's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice said,
"You should have taken the warning."
Samuel remained silent.
"You don't understand what you're dealing with."
"I understand enough."
"No, you don't."
Samuel looked at Claire.
"Who is this?"
"You know who I am."
"No."
A pause.
Then the man said,
"You always were stubborn."
Samuel recognized the voice.
His face changed.
"Thomas Grady."
The sheriff laughed softly.
"Hello, Samuel."
"Why?"
"You already know why."
"No. I know what you're afraid of."
Silence.
Samuel continued.
"The question is why you're afraid of me."
The sheriff's voice became colder.
"Because you never learned when to stop."
Samuel smiled.
"And you never learned when to start running."
The call ended.
Claire stared at him.
"What did he say?"
Samuel placed the phone on the table.
"He just confirmed everything."
"How?"
"He called me."
By midnight, Samuel, Claire, and Daniel were sitting inside a small conference room at an old motel twenty miles outside Bellweather.
Daniel had found Mara.
She arrived shortly after midnight.
She was sixty-two, gray-haired, and carried a black briefcase.
She looked at Samuel.
"You're older."
"So are you."
"I expected you to be dead."
"I've disappointed people before."
Mara smiled.
Then she became serious.
"Show me."
Samuel placed the flash drive on the table.