Page 77 of No Rules
Despite everything, Alex laughed. “Duly noted. But thank you. Coming from you, it means a lot.”
Ryan put his hand on Alex’s knee. “Don’t ever let me bring you down, okay? I don’t want to find out I dragged you into my darkness.”
Alex leaned sideways and put his head on Ryan’s shoulder. A fire had been lit inside him that wouldn’t be doused anytime soon. “Don’t you worry about that. Not a chance in hell.”
“You’re saying you’re immune to me?”
“Not to you. Not by a long shot. But your darkness? It doesn’t threaten me or scare me. I like you just the way you are, Ryan.”
“Good.” Ryan’s voice cracked as he pressed his cheek against Alex’s head. “That’s good.”
24
When the phone rang and the caller ID popped up on the screen, Ryan’s heart skipped a beat. “It’s Baxter,” he mouthed at Alex, then picked up and put it on speaker. “Mason. I have you on speaker so Alex can listen in.”
“Detective Baxter here. I have some good news for you and your partner.”
“Hit me with it.” Ryan held his breath. No matter how many cases he’d closed, this part never got old.
“We found the proverbial smoking gun that links Jeffries and Thornfield to the murder of Sam’s Promise. Several, in fact.”
Alex pumped his fist, and Ryan let out the air in a longwhoosh. They had them. “What did you find?”
“You were right about Jeffries landing in financial trouble after that report on animal abuse Ms. Vandervliet filed. Jeffries was set to sell that horse for half a million, so he was furious. We have several witnesses who can testify to his rage and him threatening Ms. Vandervliet.” Baxter sighed. “The man’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. He even hired a lawyer to sue her for slander.”
Ryan snorted. “That’s gonna be hard to prove when her allegations were found to be true.”
“Yeah, no kidding. It turns out that about ten years ago, one of Jeffries’s horses got caught after a race with EPO in his system. Jeffries maintained he had no clue how that had happened and threw his vet under the bus. She got a slap on the wrist, he got a monetary fine, and that was that.”
“That may be where he got the idea,” Ryan said.
“Could be. Anyway, Jeffries was near bankruptcy after Ms. Vandervliet’s claim. Thornfield wasn’t doing much better, though, in his case, because of an expensive gambling addiction that had already cost him his marriage. He, too, was getting desperate, so when Jeffries offered him two hundred thousand to kill that horse, he took it.”
Ryan whistled. “Two hundred thousand? That’s a lot of money if you’re destitute.”
“Jeffries made Thornfield an offer he couldn’t refuse, to use Don Corleone.”
“You found proof of the payments?”
“No, he was smart enough to pay him cash…but dumb enough to have Thornfield with him when he cashed his winnings. From what we can tell, Jeffries made seven bets in total, all through different people, and Thornfield was one of them. But the idiot cashed them all himself that same day, which stood out. We talked to Clyde Watson, who confirmed he was your source as well. Everything he said checked out. Jeffries won close to seven hundred thousand dollars that day.”
“Holy shit!” Alex whispered, then slapped his hand over his mouth. He was so adorable.
“Thornfield ordered EPO four times in the last three months. Each of them was a low legal dose, but combined, it was enough to kill Sam’s Promise.”
“So they planned this,” Ryan concluded.
“Well in advance. We’ve got the warrant from the judge, so we’re on our way to pay Thornfield a visit first, then headed straight to Jeffries. But I wanted to give you a heads-up.”
“Thank you, Detective. That means a lot.”
“Don’t thank me. You’re the ones who cracked the case.”
“Can we inform our client?”
“Yeah, as long as she doesn’t spread the word. Then again, two hours from now, none of it will matter anymore because we’ll have executed our warrants and have all the evidence we need.”
“We’ll make sure to mention that. Again, Detective, thank you for all you’ve done to solve the case.”