“You were right about one thing,” Adam said, letting every bit of the anger he was feeling over what had been done to Greg and the five years he himself had lived in hell echo in his voice. “He had you. Dead to rights.”

“And we are here,” Quinn said, with as much command presence as Adam had ever seen, “to finish what he started.”

“Get out,” she blustered. But there was fear in her eyes.

“We’ll do that, if you really want that,” Gavin said with deadly calm. “But it means we’ll be back tonight, with the chief of police himself, who is more than ready to cart you off in cuffs personally. In fact, he expressed a decided preference for dragging you out of the council meeting tonight, on camera, with the media in full attendance. It took some convincing to allow it to happen here and now.”

She went even paler as Gavin’s reason for waiting until now became clear. “He wouldn’t dare—”

“Oh, but he would,” Quinn said. “He’s on his way right now. You’re responsible for the death of one of his finest, attempts to murder that man’s daughter and the forced retirement of a man who would have become the same kind of officer.”

Adam felt a shot of warmth beneath the cold anger. There was still a novelty to it, allowing himself to hear and believe the praise.

“And by the way,” Gavin added, “he’ll also be dealing with Captain Manning.”

The woman’s eyes widened as he mentioned the man they were fairly certain had been the one to pass along the word of Mandy’s inquiries. Gotcha.

“You can’t prove anything,” Harris said stubbornly.

“The last gambit of the guilty,” Adam said coldly.

“Indeed,” Gavin said, but his eyes never left the quarry. “Tell me, Katrina,” he said, using her first name rather derisively now, pounding home the point that her title was gone, “have you ever heard of an instance where I went into court without everything I needed to prove my case? I can answer that for you. You have not.”

The door behind them was pulled open. A man in uniform with four stars on his collar stood there.

“Normally I’d knock, but some people don’t deserve the courtesy,” the chief said.

Adam never took his eyes off the councilwoman. Saw the moment of realization dawn. Savored it. He glanced at Mandy, who was also watching the woman who had destroyed her life. Saw the same feeling of satisfaction in her expression.

It was over.

Chapter 38

“That’s Foxworth,” Liam said cheerfully. “Fighting corruption one crooked politician at a time.”

“Not,” Quinn said dryly, “what the intention was.”

“When you fight evil, you have to go where it is,” Adam said.