Calm. Down.

Andy needed more training. This was Liberty Lake after all—he’d probably never seen a murder victim in his life.

Forensics had found one small piece of evidence, but Kara didn’t think it would lead anywhere. They determined that the killer hadn’t parked on the street, but had used the trail system on foot. There was evidence of footprints leading up to the house from the back. There were many other footprints—but Andy had brought out cops to check the house last night. These were distinct because they went to and from a trail that edged the back of Ogdenburg’s unfenced property.

A team of two officers were following it, but Kara didn’t hold out much hope that they’d find a witness or evidence.

Once forensics had cleared the scene and the cops came back from their canvass of neighbors—none of whom could be seen from Ogdenburg’s house, and those who were home couldn’t recall seeing a trespasser—Kara left. She drove back to Em’s, had a very late lunch, and called Lex.

“Planning to transfer to Spokane now?” Lex said, irritated.

“You didn’t say it was urgent.”

He sighed. “Kara, we have a problem.”

She hated Lex’s lead-ins. “Just tell me.”

“Chen’s working on a plea deal with the feds.”

“What the fuck? What are the feds even doing in this shit storm? This is an LAPD case! It’s our jurisdiction, our evidence, our undercover sting. You damn well know that when I shot Chen’s thug that it was justified.”

“I know that. You were cleared internally. But the feds want Chen’s supplier. And Chen says that Xavier Fong wasn’t armed when you shot him.”

“He threw a fucking knife at me!”

“And missed—”

“I have a scar.”

“Mostly missed. And then wasn’t armed and you shot him.”

“He threw a knife at my back and if his aim was any better you’d be talking to my corpse. He was reaching into his belt for another weapon and I shot him.”

“The feds are listening to Chen.”

“He runs a sweatshop. Brings in slaves to do his work for him. He killed Sunny!”

“I know, Kara—and believe me, we’re doing everything we can—”

“I’m coming back. Right now. You can’t let them do this!”

“That would be the worst thing you can do right now.”

This could not be happening. “I spent the last fourteen months building a case against David Chen. We have him. I handed the DA a damn good, prosecutable case. Against Chen and a dozen of his associates and three businesses!”

“Kara, you did what you were supposed to, and we rescued hundreds of people. Hundreds. Feel good about that.”

“I do feel good about that,” she snapped, “and I’ll feel fucking amazing when I know David Chen will never see the light of day.”

“I just wanted to tell you what was going on before you heard it from anyone else. I’m doing my best here—I’ve taken it all the way to the top. The chief knows that the feds only got involved when your name came up.”