“You killed him to protect Richard Mullaney and seal your place at his side. I already told the department. They’re pulling up everything they can about where you were the night my father supposedly committed suicide. Even if they can’t make it stick, everyone will know. By the time you try to fall asleep tonight, this will be the only thing every single cop you ever knew is talking about. You’re the guy who murdered his partner on the side of a deserted road and then let his family believe he ate his own gun.”

The color drained from Thompson’s face as he blinked in silence. Ellie stared back, emotionless.

“I need a second.”

He rose from the table and, after an initial stumble, moved swiftly toward the restrooms at the opposite corner of the restaurant. They watched as the men’s room door closed behind him. A moment later, a man in a trucker-style cap emerged. He was still wiping his damp palms on the thighs of his jeans when they heard the crack of a gunshot.

A woman screamed as Trucker Cap dove for the floor, crawling beneath the nearest table. A waiter dropped a tray of dinner plates that had been carefully balanced on one shoulder and ran through a back exit door, setting off an emergency alarm. A male voice yelled out, “Active shooter! Run! Everyone, run!”

As customers pushed past one another in search of a safe place to hide from an expected onslaught of bullets, two women remained still, side by side in the back corner booth. They knew there would be no more gunfire.

Ellie downed the rest of her beer but said nothing. Lindsay reached into her purse and tapped the record button on her phone. “You called it,” she said.

Ellie dabbed at her eyes with her dinner napkin before placing it on the table. “It’s done now.”

38
Tuesday, June 29, 11:49 a.m.

According to the Dodge Charger’s dashboard, it was nearly noon, but objective concepts of time had stopped meaning anything to Carter Decker about fourteen hours earlier. He had pulled his first all-nighter in the last four years, and the second longest shift in his entire police career. He was ready to inhale the breakfast burrito he had picked up from Rosie’s and then crawl into bed and pass out.