“Deputy Lynch, I don’t mean to trivialize the murder of the young lady in your town, but drugs kill millions of people every year. If we can take another one of these dealers off the streets, that’s thousands of lives we can save.”

“I’m sure that’ll make us not finding Sydney’s killer justifiable to her parents,” Charlie said through gritted teeth,

Sheriff Huggins leaned toward Charlie and whispered, “My gut tells me this painting is going to tell us a whole lot more if we let it go, but if you think this is something we need to fight back on, we can. This is your case. I trust you.”

Trust. Charlie licked his lips. It felt like a recurring theme these last couple of weeks. Trusting he’d made the right decision to leave the Marines and move to Walton. Right now, Sheriff Huggins was trusting him to make the right decision for the case. To bring justice to Sydney’s family. And what about Lane? She trusted Charlie enough to tell him about her depression.

“I believe this painting is going to lead us to Sydney’s killer.”

Sheriff Huggins set his jaw. “There’s only one way to find out.”

NINETEEN

THE DRIVE FROM FLOYD HOLLINS’S HOME to the art gallery was quick but not quick enough to prevent doubt from settling into the crevices of Charlie’s mind. Letting Agent Edmonds take that painting removed that portion of their investigation from his hands. Would the DEA hold up their end of the bargain? Charlie was tired of the dead ends this case was leaving him with. And the doubt that maybe his father was right.

Charlie found a parking spot outside the gallery just as his phone rang. He glanced at the ID. “It’s Frost.”

Sheriff Huggins nodded. Charlie kept the car running and the AC on full blast. “Lynch.”

“Hey, how did the interview with Hollins go?”

“Not as well as I’d hoped. It’s in the DEA’s hands now. What’s up?”

“Yeah, Agent Padello said they’re involved now, but we’ve got some leverage.”

Charlie’s ears perked. “What?”

“When we found out the DEA had sunk their fangs into the case, we ran the videos through facial recognition software and got a hit on a member of the cartel the DEA’s investigating. Marco Solis. He’s the second cousin of Benito Rodriguez by marriage. Among a long list of prior crimes, including assault, robbery, and drug charges, it appears Mr. Solis has a taste for fine art.”

“How much of a taste?”

“We’ve got him on video visiting the gallery two times the week before Sydney was killed and once a few days after, but that’s not what makes him interesting. He only goes through the back door and it’s always after hours.”

“Frost, I could kiss you right now.”