Page 55 of Man of Honor
Without looking, Dominic shot him a casual middle finger. Still, he behaved himself through dinner, and even waited until the plates were cleared before asking, “So, how’d you do it?”
Mason sighed and dabbed at the corner of his mouth with his napkin.“It wasn’t just me,” he admitted.“I tried going it alone for years with no results.So, I turned to a higher power.”
I glanced at Gideon, who smirked and cocked a brow back at me.
“Not that power,” Mason corrected, amused.“One from the Attorney General’s office.”
I frowned.“What’s the AG got to do with appeals?”
Mason’s gaze flicked briefly toward Wyatt and then back to me. "Not the AG himself," he clarified, choosing his words with care.“A friend of mine from law school is an investigator there.Colton Langford. We've been working together on a statewide anti-corruption task force for the past year."
Ben was staring hard at the tablecloth, allowing Mason to do all the talking like he didn't even have a dog in this fight, but it was Wyatt who caught my attention. His back had stiffened, and a muscle in his jaw twitched like he was grinding his teeth. Bracing himself for something I didn't understand.
Dominic didn’t miss his reaction.His eyes were fixed hawkishly on Wyatt.
“What’s this got to do with Ben?” I pressed, wiping my damp palms on my thighs.
Most days, I was fine with not being book smart like my brothers, but tonight, I felt like the only man at the table who didn't understand what the hell was going on.
Mason set his napkin aside and laced his fingers together on the table.“Colt looked into the case as a favor to me. We all know the gun Gage's father pulled on them didn't get up and walk away. Colt found it."
"Where?" Wyatt asked sharply.
Mason's attention shifted to him, but his cool expression didn't change. "Tagged wrong and hidden in a dusty corner of the old evidence locker nobody uses anymore. Conveniently misplaced to paint Ben as a cold-blooded killer."
Sick heat churned in my stomach. Bile crawled up my throat until I felt ready to puke. I only remembered that night in flashes: my father showing up at the door like he'd spawned straight out of my nightmares, him slamming me against the wall,and Ben flying down the stairs like an avenging angel. I'd overcome so much, but even after so many years, the hatred in my old man's eyes reduced me to a little boy again.I remember the sound of heavy breathing and the bone striking flesh as the scuffle spilled out onto the lawn. Then the crack of my old man's neck breaking.
I never saw the gun, and it haunted me.
"Well, that's quite the revelation," Dom drawled, taking a long sip of his whiskey and watching Wyatt over the rim. "And you wonder why people take the law into their own hands, Deputy? The corruption starts in your own house."
“It stops at my door,” Wyatt said flatly.
"You've turned a blind eye for years."
“Stop pushing him, Dom,” I warned. My hands itched to grab him by the collar and shake. This wasn't the time for one of his pissing contests. Not tonight. Not with Wyatt, the man who'd saved me—the one who'd seen me. The first man to touch me with anything but violence.
Dominic raised his glass in a lazy salute. “I’m just pointing out the irony. Whoever hid that gun is still with the sheriff's department. Where do his loyalties lie?"
I slammed my fists on the table, rattling the silverware, and snarled, “Where the hell do you think?”
Wyatt’s knee was between mine, commanding me to hold steady, but I ignored it. Dominic wasn't done.
"You're a hothead, Gage, but you forgive too fast. Whether he knew about the gun or not, shouldn't the man who slapped the cuffs on Ben take his share of blame?"
I was on my feet before I realized it, but Ben's voice froze me in place.
“Don’t lay that on him, Dom.”
He'd barely spoken all night, but his quiet words stopped Dominic cold. He turned on Ben with fire in his eyes, but it was snuffed out instantly once he caught a look at the exhaustion in Ben's face. He snorted and sat back in his chair, surrendering...for now.
“Who broke the chain of custody?” Wyatt asked intently.
Frustration drew Mason's mouth into a tight, thin line. "They're still looking into it. As Ben's attorney, I'm not privy to the official investigation, so I've been relying on whatever crumbs Colt drops me. They've found a partial print?—"
"Vanderhoff?" I interrupted eagerly.
"You'd think, huh?" Mason gave a humorless chuckle. "But it doesn't match Ben or Vanderhoff.Could be whoever made itdisappear, but it might just belong to the person Gage's father got the gun from."