“I need to speak to PC Rob Howard. It’s about the break-ins that have been happening.”
“Calm down, miss. Let me take your name,” the older lady behind the desk asks.
“Please, this is important. I really need to see him.”
“Hayden? What are you doing here?” Beau asks, repeating his rehearsed speech. “Is everything okay?”
I sag against the counter, blowing out a breath. “Beau, I really need to speak to Rob and the people who are working the break-ins. I have really important information.”
“Let her through, Hayley,” Beau orders gently.
“That’s not protocol. She needs to be signed in,” she argues.
“She’s family. If she says it’s important, it’s important.”
“Okay, but if anyone asks, I’ll tell them you let her through,” she tells him.
He gestures for me to go to the side door, where Hayley proceeds to buzz me in.
“Are they all here?” I whisper when I reach him, ducking my head so no one can read my lips.
He places a hand on the bottom of my back, guiding me down a hallway. “Yes.”
He pushes open a door to what looks like a conference room. An oval table sits in the middle, surrounded by eight brown chairs, three of which are occupied by Rob and two others.
The eldest of the three sits forward, frowning at Beau and I. “Beau, this is a private meeting.”
Rob looks up, stunned to see me for a minute, before his eyes widen. “Please tell me they didn’t get to you?”
“You knew?” Beau grits out.
Rob winces. “You know Hayden; she wouldn’t let it drop. I did warn her.”
“We’ll talk about it after,” Beau warns him, before turning to the older gentlemen who first spoke. “This is Hayden Carter. She’s my fiancé’s cousin. Hayden has some important information about the break-ins that you need to hear.”
“Take a seat. I’m detective Walker, this is PC Fisher, and from what I can see, you already know PC Howard.”
Fisher stays quiet, watching, processing, but for someone in his mid-forties, he’s probably used to doing that.
Rob still looks sick with worry, his eyes shadowed from lack of sleep. If one of them is guilty, they aren’t showing their hand, which means they’ve been hiding this for longer than people realise. Someone who can be this cool and collected has had practice.
They most likely think they’ll get away with it.
Beau pulls out a chair at the end of the table, and I take it, smiling at him as he sits down in the chair beside me.
“Hi,” I greet, giving them a small wave. I try not to put on much of a show. Rob will see right through it, having met me before.
“What information do you have for us?” Fisher asks, paying more attention now.
“Before I reveal anything more, I’ll need your cooperation.”
They sit up straighter in their seats, expressions serious. Something tells me it has nothing to do with the seriousness of the situation, but the fact a girl has come in and told them what to do. The only ones who don’t seem as fazed are Beau and Rob. Which is a good sign for Rob.
“If we can, we will,” Walker practically forces out.
“I’ve been following the story, asking questions of potential witnesses—”
“I asked you not to do that,” Rob snaps, frowning at me. “Look what happened to Christina.”
“If she has something, let her speak. You can hash out your disagreements after. I, for one, would like to hear what she has to say. These burglaries need to end,” Fisher comments, his jaw clenched when he looks at Rob.
Hmm, it seems those two aren’t besties.
I clear my throat when it becomes tense. “A girl contacted me yesterday morning. She claims to have evidence that can provide proof with regards to the burglaries, although she wouldn’t tell me of what or of whom, and that she could only talk to me. She feels like she’s being watched, and that whoever these people are, they know she has information that could be a problem for them, so she doesn’t feel safe to hand in the evidence herself.
“She’s going to meet me on Friday at nine pm to hand it over.”
“What’s stopping them from getting to her before then?” Walker asks, rubbing a hand over his beard.
“She has gone into hiding and said she will contact me on a pay as you go phone so they can’t trace her. And as of this morning, I got word out that I’m going to the old cattle market on Friday to collect evidence that will put a stop to these crimes.”
“Why would you leak that?” Beau snaps. “You’ve put a target on your head and put yourself in danger, Hayden.”
I grin, clasping my hands together on the table. “Because while I’m meeting her at another location in town, you guys can surround the cattle market and arrest whoever turns up.”
“I think it should be one of us who goes,” Rob declares, a little pale.
It’s hard not to look at Beau, to see if he’s thinking the same as me over Rob’s comment. It’s hard to tick him off the list when he reacts like that, yet it could just mean he’s worried.
“She will only meet me, Rob. She made that clear,” I tell him.
“That’s not how this works,” Fisher argues. “If she has evidence, she needs to come to us.”
I push back my chair, letting them see my disappointment. “Then I’ll tell her to meet me somewhere else and pray they don’t hurt her before then, because I’m not putting her at risk. Too many people have been hurt because of this gang. It needs to be put to an end.”
“Wait,” Walker yells, placing his pen down. “I’ll listen. I can get word out and have a team put together.”
“But then you have a chance of them being tipped off,” Beau muses, pretending to be in thought. “We should keep it as low key as possible.”
“Are you saying we have a leak?” Walker accuses, his face turning red.
“No, but who here can honestly say that someone hasn’t listened in on their conversations? It only takes one person to overhear and we are screwed.”
“And what if more than one of them show up?” Rob asks, his attention on Beau and me.
“Call for help,” I offer dryly. “I’m not doing this if she’s going to be put at risk.”
“How do we know this isn’t a set up for the gang to get you alone? They’ve killed before, Hayden,” Rob stresses.
“I’m not stupid. That was the first thing that popped into my head when she called. I looked her up on Facebook. She hasn’t been active since she witnessed whatever she did that night. This is the real thing, and she’s scared out of her mind. She’s a good person, just finished college. I can’t see someone like that being mixed up in a gang that is clearly trying to steal to make money. Can you?”
“And how do we know that what she has warrants an arrest or is even worth the manpower and time this will take?” Fisher asks, his gaze narrowed on me. “We could be working on real leads. Not some ‘maybe’ story.”
I sit back down in my chair, arching my eyebrow at him. “She has video footage of who she assumes is the leader, and photos. I might not know what or who is on that video, but it’s enough to scare the girl to death. She was genuinely petrified, telling me I couldn’t trust anyone. She told me I couldn’t tell the police because she felt even they couldn’t protect her. She wanted me to take this to my boss.”