A battalion of cop cars and news vans were parked outside Sterling's building by the time Gil got there. Great, was his only thought as JT parked behind some squad cars.
Reporters shouted questions at him as they made their way to the entrance.
"No comment," he heard JT bark at one. "Now, back up!"
If not for how serious things were, Gil might have smiled at how fast the reporters scrambled out of JT's way.
Not that he could blame them.
JT was built like a linebacker.
And barks like a Pit Bull.
A Uni waved them on inside. Something they wouldn't need if Bright would have stayed at Jessica's.
Dammit, Bright, he thought as he headed for the elevator. Why couldn't you do what I asked just this once?
Because it wouldn't be Bright was why.
The kid wasn't the sort to sit on the sidelines. Least of all when it was his neck on the line. Didn't mean he couldn't wish Bright would let him figure out how to get him out of the predicament he was in.
"Gil."
A grin split Gil's lips as he spied Jamie Brannigan coming towards him. He clasped the hand offered, relieved to have someone he could trust working with him to figure out what the hell happened.
"Managed to rope you into this mess, too, did they?"
Jamie snorted a soft laugh and jerked his head in the direction of a man talking with JT and Dani.
"Gray called me in on this mess, actually."
"Gray?" Gil vaguely remembered the veteran detective. "He worked the 2-3 with you back when you were rookies, didn't he?"
"He did, yeah." Jamie nodded. "Transferred over to the Detective Bureau about ten years ago, though."
Gil didn't have to ask why such a transfer appealed to a detective like Thomas Gray. The Detective Bureau's main responsibilities included the prevention, detection, and investigation of crimes. Most cops who wore a badge wanted to see crimes averted when and where possible.
Those that didn't?
Well, they didn't deserve to wear a badge in his opinion.
"So." He waved towards where Edrisa was examining Sterling's body. "What the hell happened?"
And please tell me Bright wasn't involved.
Not that Gil had any hopes of the kid not somehow being wrapped up in this mess.
He just wasn't lucky enough for that.
"Best I can tell..." Jamie heaved a sigh. "Your boy was in the office and talking to Sterling when a delivery man came out of nowhere and fired a single shot through the window."
"At Bright?"
"No, Gray said the target was Sterling."
"Sterling?" Gil's brow creased. "Why would the target be Sterling?"
"Likely to keep him from revealing anything to Malcolm."
"Attorney-client privilege prevents that."
"Malcolm's more than capable of getting around that, Gil."
He's right, Gil realized as a sheet was placed over Sterling's body. Bright would know how to get the answers he wanted from Sterling without breaking confidentiality.
Endicott couldn't take the chance the attorney would develop a conscience and help Bright prove his innocence.
So, he had one of the dozens of contract killers on his payroll take care of him.
Same as he hired Eddie Smith to get rid of Eve Blanchard.
And almost Martin Whitly.
The man's unerring ability to walk away from danger unscathed impressed, as much as it frustrated Gil.
"Where are Bright and Sorcha now?"
"Gray said he sent them back to the Whitly home with express orders to wait there for us."
Gil snorted a laugh.
"Like Batman and Robin actually obeyed."
Jamie's lips twitched.
"Would you expect anything less from them at this point?"
"No." Gil watched Edrisa chatting animatedly at Dani and JT. The two wore similar expressions of frustration. He hid a smile as he turned back to Jamie. "Them doing their own thing is the only constant I have right now."
Jamie's brow furrowed.
"Things are that bad with Malcolm's case?"
"Bad enough."
Gil couldn't imagine things getting any worse than they currently were. Jamie blew out a breath as crime scene techs moved around them categorizing evidence and taking pictures.
"Hoyt is reaching out to his contacts at 1PP to see if he can't get a bead on who might be on Endicott's payroll."
Gil hoped he'd find out before orders came down to charge Malcolm officially with murder.
"Arroyo, Jamie," Thomas Gray said as he lumbered up to them. "Wish we coulda met under better circumstances..."
"Best time as any," Gil replied as he shook the detective's hand. "Especially given the circumstances in question."
"I'm just glad you were here, Tom." Jamie raked a hand through his hair. "Hate to think of what might have happened to them two had you not been here."
"Yeah, well." A shadow passed over Gray's face. Set off bells inside Gil. "Don't thank me, yet, Jamie."
"Why not?"
"Because the only reason I was here is because Endicott has had me following the kids since last November."
Fury almost consumed Gil. Before he could react, though, Jamie grabbed Gray by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall. A couple of uni's came forward to break up the fight but a look from Gil got them to back off.
"You work for Endicott?" Jamie growled, eyes flashing. "You're telling me you're actually on this asshole's payroll?"
"Yeah." Gray remained completely docile in Jamie's hold. Something Gil knew the man wouldn't be if not for the respect he had for him. "Yeah, I started working for Endicott in 2018."
"Why?" Jamie's fingers curled into Gray's white dress shirt. "Why would you work for a man like Nicholas Endicott? Christ, Tom, you're a cop!"
"To pay for Kenzie's tuition." Shame and sorrow filled the older man's face. "That's the reason I started moonlighting as a private investigator. We needed the money after Diane got sick. Everything we had went to her medical bills. We had nothing left to pay for Kenzie to go to school."
While Gil didn't approve of Gray working for a man like Endicott, he couldn't fault the man for doing what was necessary so his kid could go to college. Not everyone had the kind of money Endicott did.
Something the man used to his advantage.
How many other cops does he have on his payroll for the same reason as Gray?
Hoyt Brannigan was looking into that number as they spoke. Trying to find the person responsible for Bright being arrested.
Gil suspected it'd be someone they never anticipated.
Like Thomas Gray.
Only higher up the division chain.
"Why didn't you come forward sooner?" Gil asked as Jamie stepped back. "Why wait until Sterling's dead before coming forward with what you know?"
"Because I didn't agree to murder when I started working for him." Gray straightened his mussed shirt before looking at Gil. "I might be a shit cop for working for a man like Endicott but I'm still a cop at the end of the day."
"This goes public and you won't be," Jamie said. "Your career is over, Tom."
"If losing my badge keeps those kids alive?" Gray fished his badge from his inside jacket pocket and handed it to Jamie. "Then have it."
"Which one?" Gil stepped towards him. "Which one does Endicott want killed?"
"My guess?" Gray glanced at Jamie, his expression grim. "Your niece."
"Over my dead body," Jamie rumbled. "I'll kill the son of a bitch before he gets anywhere near Sorcha or Malcolm."
On that, he and Gil were in perfect agreement.
"I'll handle Batman and Robin," he told Jamie as he signaled for JT and Dani. "If you and Gray can handle the rest of this mess."
"You got it." Gray's jaw clenched. "Anything I can do to help at this point, I will."
"I'll meet you at your squad later," Jamie said. "Have a few things to say to Batman."
"She'll be there," Gil promised before exiting with JT and Dani.
...
"Who was the man you were talking with outside Sterling's office?" Malcolm asked once they were back in the car. "I didn't recognize him."
"Thomas Gray." Sorcha glanced over her left shoulder before switching lanes. "He graduated with Uncle Jamie from the academy."
"Ah." Ten years brought about many changes. Especially to people. Kids became teenagers, teenagers became adults, and so on. "What was he doing outside Sterling's building?"
"He works for Endicott."
"What?" Malcolm's heart dropped into his already violently cramping belly. Only sheer perseverance kept him from emptying the bits of toast and coffee he managed at breakfast all over the floorboard. "He works for Endicott?"
"He's apparently been reporting to him on our comings and goings since November." Her fingers gripped the steering wheel hard enough her knuckles cracked. "It was Detective Gray who took those photographs of us."
Malcolm didn't have to ask what photographs. He knew what ones she meant. Ones that should never have been taken in the first place because of the private moment they captured. Fury replaced the fear and anxiety fighting for dominance inside him. Spasmed in the hand clenched atop his thigh.
"He gave them to Tammy Lynn?"
"No, he gave them to Endicott." Sorcha turned at the corner. "Who gave them to Robert."
"Who, in turn, gave them to Tammy Lynn."
"Mhm."
Malcolm absorbed that as Sorcha stopped behind a delivery van. Part of him wanted to rant and rail about their being followed. At their privacy being invaded.
The other realized there was little point in being upset. Endicott was a man who bought information and used it to gain the only things he craved: power and control.
Sorcha wasn't done with her bombshells, however. She still had one more to hit him with.
"Robert worked for Endicott."
What breath he managed to draw in whooshed out of Malcolm.
"He what?" He shifted in his seat to stare at her, eyes wide.
"Robert, Watkins, your father, they all worked for Endicott."
Who knows how many others there are, he thought as Sorcha pulled up in front of his mother's house.
"We need to tell Gil about this."
Sorcha cut the engine and sat staring out at the street, eyes pensive, mouth set in a hard line.
"We need to find Dad's files is what we need." Her hands dropped to her lap. "They are the only thing that will help us prove Endicott is the monster he is."
"Turner left you no clue about where they could be?"
"Just that he left them where it all began."
"Where it all began?" A frown knit Malcolm's brow as he tried to decipher the clue. "Where what all began?"
Sorcha shook her head. "I don't know." She blew out a breath. "There are any number of places he could mean. Where your dad was born. Where he committed his first murder. Where the first body he and Watkins killed together is buried."
"Any of those are possible but have no connection to you, me, and your dad."
"Maybe, maybe not." She turned to him. "There could be a connection there but we can't see it. Not yet."
"You're right." Much as Malcolm hated to admit it. "We need to figure out that connection."
Sorcha reached over and stroked the back of his neck. Equal parts comfort and support. Desperately needed given the situation they found themselves.
"We will." She indicated his mother's house with a slight nod. "Get inside and cleaned up. If we want to keep you out of jail a little bit longer, we can't have Gil finding you off your leash, and covered in Sterling's blood."
"Where are you going?"
"To check on Sunshine."
He had not forgotten his little budgie was alone at his loft. Ainsley, though, promised to check on her before they snuck out to see Edrisa. Which meant…
"You're going to meet your uncle Hoyt, aren't you?"
"No, I'm going to check on Sunshine." Her lips edged up into a smile. "Uncle Hoyt will just be there supervising as I pick up a few things for you."
Malcolm snorted a laugh. "Right."
Sorcha leaned over to kiss his cheek. "I'll be back in a bit."
"Just be careful."
I can't lose you, he added silently.
Not I love you.
As he desperately wanted to say.
Because he couldn't make himself say the words despite how much he wanted too.
One day, though, he swore as he stepped from the car. One day, I'll find a way to tell her everything I've kept locked down deep inside.
Hopefully, it be before he ended up in prison.
Or dead.
A/N: Hello, all! Hope this finds you well!
I just want to send a special thank you to Rookblonkorules for their lovely reviews!