“No, but we thought we were getting close until a few nights ago.”
“What happened a few nights ago?”
I could see the debate raging behind his eyes. “This is off the record. You can’t use any of it.”
That wouldn’t have been my preferred method of operating at this stage, but I nodded. “Fair enough.”
“We had an undercover agent in this house for two months. He came from Macomb County because we figured there was less of a chance of him being recognized. His job was to lay low and get a feel for what was happening.”
“Beau’s crew,” I mused. “You wanted him on the team.”
“We didn’t know it was Beau’s team at the time. We thought it was Cal’s team. Our man was supposed to try to infiltrate the team and figure out who was supplying the drugs. He was making good headway and was even allowed to participate in a few drops. We thought he would eventually get to meet the suppliers ... and then he disappeared.”
“A few nights ago.”
“He completely fell off the face of the earth five nights ago. We didn’t get concerned the first night. If he’s being watched, he can’t always call. Once he missed three contact windows, we knew he was in trouble.”
“Did you come down here looking for him?”
“We did. It was under the guise of arresting him for a parole violation. We provided him with an extensive background of drug arrests when we put him in the halfway house because that would also be an easy reason to pull him out.
“When my men arrived and asked about him, Cal feigned confusion,” he continued. “He said that our man had voluntarily left days before. He claimed to have reported it to the police department, and his paperwork checked out ... from his end.”
That’s when the rest of it started to come together. “I’m guessing it didn’t check out from the Detroit Police Department’s end.”
“You’re catching on.”
“You think someone in the Detroit Police Department is involved in this,” Eliot mused. “That might explain why you didn’t realize Hypno was a thing until the game was in the third quarter.”
Weariness washed over Jake’s features as he rubbed his chin. “It has to be someone in the narcotics division. We don’t know if we’re looking for one person ... or ten ... or an entire department. We just don’t know.”
“It makes sense to buy off the cops in this scenario,” I noted. “If they look the other way, business can proceed with minimal interruptions. The department has so much ground to cover, so many dark pockets to patrol, that they’re focused on violent crimes rather than petty drug violations most of the time.”
Jake nodded. “That’s it in a nutshell. We didn’t suspect that Cal was involved until we got our inside man into the house. He had a good reputation. Turns out that’s not the case.”
“So somebody shot him to shut him up,” Eliot mused. “The discovery of the Santas has made somebody nervous.”
“We believe that the Santas were one arm of the operation,” Jake admitted. “We’re talking a significant arm. We were hoping our man would be able to discover why so many people were leaving the halfway house.”
“My understanding is that they didn’t leave at the same time,” I said. “I thought the departures were staggered.”
“By a few days, yes. They didn’t all get up at the same time and walk out the door. Very little time passed between the defections.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Maybe Beau and his cohorts were trying to break from Cal because they thought they could make more money on their own.”
“That’s possible,” Jake agreed, “but we don’t have confirmation on that. In fact, we don’t have confirmation on anything.”
“Because you lost your source,” I surmised. “Do you think your guy voluntarily disappeared?”
Jake averted his gaze. “I wouldn’t normally believe that. He was a good officer.”
“Then that means he’s dead.”
Jake worked his jaw but didn’t speak.
“There’s no confirmation of that,” Eliot offered, trying to ease the tension. “It’s possible that Jake’s man has been taken prisoner. Maybe they found out who he was and decided to keep him for leverage.”
That sounded like wishful thinking. “That would be dangerous for them. If he escaped or got access to a phone ....” I was sympathetic when I focused on Jake. “I’m sorry. I know this must be difficult for you.”
“It’s even more difficult with you involved.” He leaned closer. “This is a tenuous situation, Avery. Things could blow up at any time. I don’t want to see you get hurt. It would be better if you backed off.”
“I can’t do that.” I was calm, but it took effort. “This is a big story. Those dead Santas are going to be the talk of the town when word gets out.”
“You have no idea.” Jake rubbed his forehead and stared at the tabletop. He was good at hiding his emotions, but for a moment, true anguish twisted his features. That’s when a dark thought entered my mind.
“Your man was one of the dead Santas.” I didn’t mean to blurt it out, but the look on Jake’s face when he snapped up his head told me I was right. “The reason you haven’t released the names is because one of them is your officer.”
“Oh, man.” Eliot shifted next to me. “I’m so sorry. That’s ... truly awful.”
“It’s even worse than that.” Now that I’d figured out part of it, the other pieces were falling into place. “You can’t be sure your man was still working for you and not them.”
Jake let loose a disgusted sigh. “You always were too smart for your own good.” He extended a warning finger. “You’d better not even think about publishing this. If I see a hint that you’re going down that route, I’ll throw you in jail myself. I don’t care if
