Darren didn’t agree to anything in the room, but he didn’t have to. He already knew what he was going to do. But it would take a couple of drinks to screw up his courage. He pulled over at the bar nearest to the prison, a rough-looking roadside joint in a building made to look like a barn. It was called Bucky’s, and inside the place was filled with COs just off duty. Darren had removed his hat and badge in his truck to cut down on the spectacle, and at the bar he ordered six fingers of bourbon in two glasses. He wanted them lined up, back to back on the bar top, so there would be no lag between sips, no room for him to contemplate changing his mind. The lights in the bar were as low and warm as the feeling in his limbs when the liquor took over and muzzled his cerebral cortex. He didn’t want to think or feel anything, just let the words roll off his tongue when he climbed in his truck later and gave Lieutenant Wilson the news.

“He says he ordered the hit on Ronnie Malvo.”

“No shit,” Wilson said, his voice full of wonder.

“You’ll need an affidavit, of course.”

“It’s more than we even hoped for, Mathews.” Then, almost as if he couldn’t believe their good fortune, couldn’t believe it at all, he said, “Conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with a federal witness, this is it.”

Darren, feeling a strange pull in his chest, almost like he owed Bill King something for taking the heat off Mack, said, “He thinks his son is alive.”

“Looks like he’s the only one,” Wilson said, then he tried to steady his breathing for all that came next. They would need to get that affidavit right away, either by sending Darren back or getting a Ranger stationed out of Texarkana to do it. “And we all have to take a close look at the implications of what this means for the task force—if Bill King knew Ronnie Malvo was a snitch, who else knows? Speaking of which—” And here he called out to the secretary who organized his calendar and helped type up his reports. “Get me on the line with Frank Vaughn down in San Jacinto County when you can. We need to tell Frank that the task force will lead the investigation from here.”

The mention of Vaughn reminded Darren of the deal he’d made with Bill, pinched at a sense of duty he didn’t want to feel for the former ABT captain. “Bill has concerns about the investigation of his son’s disappearance.”

“Well, that ain’t on you anymore, Ranger. Darren, look, you did a hell of a job, pulled pee from a tree, worked a miracle, son. You owe yourself a drink and a drive home.”