Sam’s heart slowed to a crawl as she saw red. “Who told you that?”

“You know I can’t reveal my sources.”

“Tell me right now, Darren. Was it someone at HQ?”

“Might’ve been. So is it true?”

“Listen to me. Are you listening?”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t shoot the messenger, Lieutenant.”

“We’ve withheld that detail because we might need it later. I’m asking you as a professional and as a colleague not to run that. We haven’t told his wife about that either. I’d hate for her to hear it in the media.”

“Aw, jeez, Sam. You’re killing me here.”

“How about this? When we close this one, I’ll give you the exclusive. Do we have a deal?”

“Oh, all right. But don’t forget you owe me.”

“I won’t,” she said blowing out a deep breath. “Tell me one thing, Darren. Was it Stahl who called you?”

“I’m not saying. You know I can’t.”

“Fine. I’ll be in touch.” She ended the call muttering, “Motherfucker” under her breath.

“Got a leak?” Hill asked.

“More like a rat,” Sam said as she dialed dispatch and asked to be patched into the chief immediately.

“Lieutenant,” the chief said. “Do you have news for me?”

“Nothing yet, but we’re following a number of promising leads.” Promising might be taking it a bit too far, but he didn’t need to know that. “The reason I’m calling is we’ve once again got a leak at HQ. Darren Tabor just called me to ask if it was true that Willie was found in a Dumpster. We’ve kept that detail quiet in case we need it later, so I’d like to know how this is happening—again.”

“So would I,” he said in a tight tone that told her he was pissed too.

“You know as well as I do that it was Stahl. He’d love nothing more than to make me look bad by sabotaging my investigations. I don’t want to tell you how to do your job—”

His bark of laughter halted her diatribe. “By all means. Don’t let me stop you.”

“Have Archie check the phone logs. I bet the call traces back to Stahl.”

“You think he’d be stupid enough to place a call to a reporter from inside this building?”

“I think he’d be arrogant enough to assume he’d never get caught.”

“You might be right about that.”

“I’m always right about these things. Will you have Archie check?”

“Yes!”

“And will you tell me what he finds out.”

“No way.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair. Go back to work. Find me a killer.”

“I’m on it.” She slapped her phone closed. “I hope he nails that bastard.”

“What’s the deal with that guy Stahl anyway?” Hill asked as he navigated beastly midday traffic.