“Did you recognize the second officer?”
“No.”
“Badge?”
“Couldn’t read it.”
“Description?”
“Mid-forties. Maybe younger. Dark hair. Thin face.”
Reyes nodded.
“And Cole never turned off his body camera?”
Walter looked at him.
“I didn’t notice one.”
Reyes turned slowly.
“He wasn’t wearing one?”
“I didn’t see it.”
Reyes whispered something under his breath.
Walter studied him.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Reyes looked at the dashboard camera.
Then at Walter.
“Maybe nothing.”
“Daniel.”
“I need to see the footage first.”
“You already believed me.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Walter’s expression hardened.
Reyes sighed.
“Fine.”
He leaned back.
“Three months ago, a truck driver named Samuel Hodge filed a complaint against an officer on this highway.”
Walter waited.
“Hodge said an officer stopped him for a broken taillight, searched his cab, and took six hundred dollars.”
“Cole?”
“Hodge couldn’t identify him.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. No video.”
Reyes continued.
“Five weeks later, a college student said two officers stopped him outside Bellford. Claimed they smelled marijuana. They searched the car.”
“Did they find any?”
“No.”
“Money?”
“Eight hundred and forty dollars disappeared.”
Walter stared at him.
“Same highway.”
“Yes.”
“Same officers?”
“We don’t know.”
Walter’s eyes narrowed.
“Who’s ‘we’?”
Reyes looked away.
That answer took too long.
Walter felt something inside him shift.
“Daniel.”
Reyes rubbed his jaw.
“Walter, I need you to understand something.”
“No.”
“Listen first.”
“You told me that camera was for insurance.”
“It was.”
“You installed it.”
“Yes.”
“You told me every veteran over sixty should have one because scammers target older drivers.”
“That was true.”
“Was?”
Reyes looked at him.
Walter felt the cold in his stomach again.
“What did you put in my car?”
“A dash camera.”
“Only a dash camera?”
“Yes.”
“Then why do you sound like I’m sitting inside an evidence locker?”
Reyes didn’t answer.
Walter leaned toward him.
“Who are you working for?”
Before Reyes could respond, a black SUV entered the parking lot.
Walter turned.
Another vehicle followed.
Neither had visible police markings.
Three people stepped out.
Two men.
One woman.
The woman walked directly toward Walter’s sedan.
She appeared to be in her early forties, with dark hair tied back and a navy coat buttoned to her throat.
Reyes opened his door.
Walter caught his sleeve.
“Who is she?”
Reyes looked at him.
“Her name is Elaine Mercer.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“She’s with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.”
Walter stared at him.
Then at the approaching woman.
Then back at Reyes.
“What did you get me into?”
Reyes didn’t answer quickly enough.
Walter understood.
His voice dropped.
“Daniel.”
“I didn’t know Cole would stop you.”
Walter’s hand remained on his sleeve.
“But you knew somebody might.”
Reyes closed his eyes.
And that was the moment Walter realized the robbery had begun long before the flashing lights appeared in his mirror.
Elaine Mercer introduced herself without reaching for Walter’s hand.
That told him she understood his mood.
“Mr. Bennett,” she said, “I’m sorry.”
Walter stood beside his car.
The feed store lot was empty except for their vehicles.
“Which part?”
Mercer glanced at Reyes.
“All of it.”
“That’s a broad apology.”
“It needs to be.”
Walter folded his arms.
“You used me.”
Reyes stepped forward.
“Walter—”
“Don’t.”
Reyes stopped.
Mercer removed a small credentials wallet from her coat and showed it to Walter.
He barely looked.
“Tell me why three thousand dollars disappeared from my pocket.”
Mercer took a breath.
“For the last six months, we’ve been investigating complaints involving roadside cash seizures in this county.”
“Seizures?”
“The officers describe them as seizures when they bother documenting them.”
Walter laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“And when they don’t?”
Mercer looked at him.
“We believe some money is simply being stolen.”
“By Cole?”
“We suspected Officer Eric Cole was involved.”
“Suspected.”
“Yes.”
“And today?”
Mercer glanced at the camera.
“Today may be the first time we have direct video evidence.”
Walter looked at Reyes.
“You knew.”
“I knew they were investigating Cole.”
“You installed that camera.”
“Yes.”
“For me?”
Reyes hesitated.
“For you and two other veterans who drive this route frequently.”
Walter stared at him.
The parking lot seemed to tilt.
“You planted cameras in old men’s cars?”
“No. I recommended upgraded cameras and paid for them through the veterans’ legal fund.”
“You didn’t tell us why.”
“No.”
Walter took a step toward him.
“You let me drive through an area where you thought police officers were robbing people.”
Reyes did not back away.
“Yes.”
Mercer interrupted.
“We never expected you to be targeted.”
Walter turned sharply.
“Then why put the camera there?”
She had no immediate answer.
Walter pointed toward the highway.
“Because you expected somebody to be targeted.”
Mercer’s jaw tightened.
“Because every previous complainant had one thing in common.”
“What?”
“They were older, alone, and carrying visible cash.”
Walter felt a chill.
“My cash wasn’t visible.”
Mercer’s eyes moved to Reyes.
Walter followed them.
The look between them lasted less than a second.
But Walter saw it.
“What?”
Reyes said nothing.
Walter’s voice rose.
“What?”
Mercer spoke carefully.
“Did anyone know you were withdrawing money today?”
Walter looked from one to the other.
“My contractor.”
“Anyone else?”
“The bank teller, I suppose.”
“What branch?”
Walter told her.
Mercer turned to one of the men beside the SUV.
“Call it in.”
Walter caught her arm.
“What does the bank have to do with this?”
She looked at his hand.
Walter released her.
Mercer lowered her voice.
“We think information may be getting passed to the officers.”
Walter stared.
“From the bank?”
“We don’t know.”
Reyes looked sick.
Walter looked at him.
“You knew that too?”
“No.”
“You better think carefully before you answer me again.”
“I swear to you, Walter, I didn’t.”
Mercer continued.
“Three previous victims withdrew significant cash shortly before they were stopped.”