Bob was grimacing in pain. “Almost… almost had you.”
“But you didn’t,” Baird said, lowering the revolver for a moment. “Made a big mistake, biting off more than you could chew. Somedays, you eat the bear, son. Sometimes, the bear eats you.”
“Surprised… Didn’t think you had it in you,” Bob said through gritted teeth. “Damn… hurts getting shot.”
“I bet it does. But the next one’s going to make that all go away.” He raised the gun again. “And all that anyone will remember is how I bravely shot a cop-killing intruder, another scary outsider.”
“Why? Why Singh? Why get Thomas to shoot him? That…” Bob grimaced. “That I don’t get.”
“Not much to it,” Baird said matter-of-factly. “He was a nosy kind of feller. I expect you know most of the details already.”
“Methylamine… Seems a little cheap for you.”
“It’s a growth industry. Demand outstrips supply. And we have all the supply.”
“So… it’s just about money, then.”
Baird scoffed at the notion. “It’s always about money, son. What isn’t?”
“Uh huh.” Bob pushed off the floor and began to rise. “Did you get that?”
“What?” Baird said. What the hell…
A figure stepped around the corner of the study door.
“We did.”
Baird’s eyes widened. “Margaret Swain?”
Bob opened his shirt to show the wire and blood pack harness. “Bringer of pain,” he said.
Two police officers stepped past her and into the room. One had cuffs in his hand. Baird was frozen in place, dumbfounded. “I don’t… What?!”
“Hands behind your back, please, sir,” the first officer intoned, grabbing the gun right out of his hand.
Baird did as ordered.
“You look surprised,” Bob said. “But like you said to Mr. Thomas and Mr. Dyche—who were also wearing wires—you were insulated. The sergeant was kind enough to pop up to your study when he go there to ‘use the phone’, and switched your rounds for blanks.”
“You were insulated, but they weren’t,” Swain said, nodding back towards the stairs. “Murder, conspiracy to commit, an entire truckload of other charges.”
“Dyche…” Baird began to say, flummoxed.
“Had a whole lot of money in a bank account he couldn’t explain,” Bob said. “But as a law enforcement professional in California, he has to be able to.”
Baird glared at him. “You... You...” He began to shake his head slowly, rage building in him.
“Now, Parker…” Bob said. “Just accept it. Like you said… Sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes the bear eats you.”
The second officer took Baird by the cuffs, a hand on one shoulder to guide him towards the door. “Parker Baird, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law…”
Outside the house, Bob watched as they loaded Dyche and Thomas into the back of one squad car, uncuffed, and led Baird towards the other.
“Thank you, Mr. Richmond,” Swain said, coming up behind him. “Dyche wouldn’t have been enough. As you suspected, most of his money came from an account that seems to be controlled by Merry Michelsen, not from Baird directly.”
“As long as he had Michelsen as cover, we needed an admission,” Bob said. “Now what? When does my friend get released?”
“He should be out by this afternoon,” she said. “And then we can sit down and talk about your testimony.”
“My what now?”
She smiled ruefully. “You didn’t think you could just walk away from this, did you? You’re our key witness.”
“But you have him on tape admitting it. And you said I’d get confidential informant status. And you have Dyche, Thomas and Czernowitz. You don’t need me. What does confidential informant mean to you exactly, Swain?”
“Your name won’t be entered into the record and only the judge will know your identity.”
“The rest isn’t enough? The tape?”
“Technically, probably, yeah. Nothing you said personally changes the statements he made. But it will greatly help the credibility of the sting if you’re there to confirm it in person. It was your idea, Bob.”
That’s not going to work, Bob thought. I need to extract myself from this. “I take it you’re going to want a longer debrief, then?” he said.
“We will. We can do it right now, if you want to come back to the station with us…”
“Can I take a raincheck until tomorrow? I have a ton of things to catch up on.”
She peered at him curiously then and Bob had a momentary fear she was on to him.
