“Good.”
When Aria and her Wolf Security team arrived at Koolaroo, Kayden had flown Mitch, Cassidy, and me out to the plane wreck full of money. Levi followed in the other chopper with Aria, Blade, and Maya. As the packets of cash had been loaded into the chopper, Mitch told them we believed Frank had put the money in that plane. It was a lie, and I hated that we were lying, but at least this lie would make sense. We told them that none of us would have even thought of that plane if we weren’t trying to retrace Xavier’s story about his mother’s bullshit and how the pilot died in the plane crash. Then we had to explain how Frank had moved that poor pilot’s body from that plane to the cave and left him there for thirty-seven years.
Aria wanted us to take her to that skeleton, but Mitch explained how difficult it was to get to the body. He welcomed her to return anytime with rappelling equipment. And I’d offered the alternative of us photographing the scene and recovering the bones ourselves.
That was why, three days later, Kayden had flown me back to my tiny house on the outskirts of Winton, where I’d planned to hand in that evidence and spend a few nights to get my head straight.
But I hadn’t been able to stay. I’d hated being there as much as I hated not knowing where Bob Ackerman was.
Then, I had the unpleasant experience of going into Winton Police Station. I’d handed over the photographic evidence and the skull and bones that Mitch, Kayden, and I had recovered from the cave, using ropes and winches attached to the front of their truck.
Just walking through the station where I’d worked every day for four years had made me feel like a fraud. I didn’t know the three police officers working at the station now, and each of them had looked at me like I was as corrupt as hell.
It made me sick to my stomach to know that they were pulling out every single file Bob had worked on, including all of mine.
I hadn’t been able to get out of that place, or that town, fast enough.
The other constable I’d worked with, Nate Stephens, had also been stood down. I’d tried to contact him a few times, but so far, I hadn’t been able to reach him.
I couldn’t decide if that was because he’d taken a vacation or something much more sinister. I hated how I’d become that cynical.
Bob Ackerman was still out there somewhere. Aria assured me that every cop in Australia was aware of him, but he’d vanished like smoke. Internal Affairs had launched a full investigation into everyone who’d ever worked under him, me included. My phone rang daily with questions, interviews, and other crap.
They were tearing apart my entire career, examining every case I’d ever worked, looking for contamination, looking for proof I’d known what Bob was doing.
I hadn’t known. God, I hadn’t known. But that didn’t make the shame any easier to carry or the worry any less intense.
Kayden straightened, wiping his hands on a rag. His eyes found mine across the shed and softened. “You okay?”
“Yep. I’m fine.”
“Liar.” But he said it gently, without judgment.
I managed a smile. “Just thinking.”
“Dangerous pastime.” He crossed to the tool bench, selected a different wrench, then returned to the engine.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I wanted to ignore it. It was probably another IA investigator with more questions, but I couldn’t. I pulled it out and checked the screen.
Unknown number. Brisbane area code.
Sighing, I answered. “Hello.”
“Constable Delaney? This is Parker Callahan.”
“Parker, hi. And it’s just Sapphire Delaney now. Do you have some information for me?”
“Right. Well, Sapphire, I have some good news. Whitney and I have identified the skeleton you found in the cave through dental records.”
“Oh, that was fast.”
“We got lucky. He’d had some serious dental work done after a pub fight ended in him losing his front teeth.”
“Okay. That was lucky. Good, and who was he?”
“Joseph ‘Joey’ Robbins. You were right about him being a pilot. He was never married, but he did have a daughter. She was only four when he died. His father passed away nine years ago, but his mother is still alive. I thought you might like to be the one who gives her and his daughter the news that his body was found.”
“Oh.” I clutched my chest. “But I’ve been stood down.”