They’d considered Conklin a friend as well as a colleague. Then they’d found out that Captain Hernandez had somehow known Conklin was involved and hadn’t told anyone. Now to learn that someone had been aiding and abetting Stahl as he lied about investigations and the recent goings on with Ramsey—even before his son turned into a violent criminal—threatened to push Jake right into retirement. Being a cop in the current climate was harder than it had ever been. Their biggest problems shouldn’t be coming from inside their own house.

The one thing that kept him going, even when he’d rather quit, was his decades-long close friendship with Joe Farnsworth. The chief needed Jake watching his back, so he would stay for as long as Joe was chief. If Joe left, he would, too. Looking out for Joe was the number one reason he was in New Orleans. If he could find Tom Rosa, hopefully he could get some answers about how Stahl had managed to convince his superior officers that he was fully investigating cases when in fact he was doing the bare minimum—and sometimes not even that.

The Worthington and Deasly cases had been solved in a matter of days after being reopened by Sam and Jeannie, which had led them to wonder what else Stahl had barely bothered to investigate. U.S. Attorney Tom Forrester had ordered a full investigation into all the cases Stahl worked on, including the ones that had led to successful prosecution. If he’d failed to do even the most rudimentary investigation in some cases, what was the likelihood he’d manufactured evidence in other cases?

High.

Jake shuddered to think of how many convictions might be overturned due to these revelations. All because one man had decided to collect a paycheck while cutting every imaginable corner on the job and being a son of a bitch to work with. Stahl would spend the rest of his life in prison for twice trying to kill Sam, and the rest of them were left to clean up his mess.

After Jake checked in and dropped his bags in his room, he headed out into thick, swampy heat that had him sweating immediately. He took in the sights in the Quarter—live jazz, revelry, architecture, people on balconies, sex shops on every block, bars, mimes and an overall party atmosphere.

He was glad not to be a cop in this town.

Behind him, loud music seemed to be getting closer to him. He turned to find a band leading a bride and groom through the streets with the wedding party bringing up the rear. Smiling, he stepped back to watch the joyful group go by, singing and dancing their way through the Quarter.

Two blocks in, he found Sully’s Bar right where Norman had told him to look and ducked inside, seeking an older version of Tom Rosa. Jake hadn’t seen him in more than ten years, and Norm wasn’t sure if he even still worked there. Sully’s was the most recent place Norm had known him to work, so Jake had decided to start there.