Bone Secrets 03 - Buried

didn’t know you were in town,” Gerald apologized. His boss’s brother was a common visitor in thegovernor’s mansion. He tugged his jacket’s sleeves down an inch and wished he’d worn his usual driving gloves.
    “You scared the shit out of me, Prentice. You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”
    “I didn’t know anyone else was in the house.”
    “We’re leaving for the airport in a couple of hours. I should wake Phillip up.”
    That would take care of Gerald’s dilemma. “Good, I need to talk to him real quick. I was about to call him on the intercom. I’d rather you did the honors.”
    The senator chuckled with a smile, and Gerald understood why the man had never lost an election. He knew how to appear completely charming and relatable. “Phillip’s never been a morning person. I‘ll let him know you’re waiting to talk to him. Must be urgent if you’re here this early on a Saturday morning.”
    Gerald shifted on his feet and pulled his sleeves again. “A personal matter, actually.”
    The senator nodded. “Got it. I’ll let him know.” He poured two mugs of coffee, adding plenty of cream to both, and backed through the swinging kitchen door. “A little peace offering. We were up till one last night packing and talking. Coffee should wake him up easier.”
    Gerald sincerely doubted coffee was going to help after his boss found out he hadn’t completed his mission.

    “What? What the hell is it?” Mason asked Ray again. The other detective was frantically rooting through his papers. Mason was about to pull the car over and grab the papers to see for himself.
    “Hang on. I want to make sure I’m not totally wrong first.”
    “Christ, Ray, you’re slower than my mother’s dial-up.”
    Ray scanned a page. “Here it is. Here’s the name again. Yep. Phillip Brody was the prosecutor for Hinkes’s trial.”
    “
What the hell? Our Governor Brody?
”
    “Yeah, our governor started out in the Multnomah County district attorney’s office before moving into politics. Ran for state representative, succeeded, and moved up from there. But before that, he was a lowly assistant district attorney.”
    “Wait a minute.” Mason’s brain was making leaps and bounds. And somersaults. “So, Phillip Brody knew Hinkes at some point. Also had to learn what a scumbag he was.”
    “There’s no way he’d keep up an association with that kind of person.”
    “Christ, I’d hope not. I like to think our elected officials have better taste.”
    “Governor Brody also has the type of power and access to make someone’s past disappear.”
    “Shit.” Mason didn’t know if his brain could accept that step.
    “Think the governor knows where to find Hinkes these days?”
    “That’d be a big help. But wait a minute. Katy Darby.”
    “What about her?”
    “She worked on Senator Brody’s campaigns…maybe she also worked with Governor Brody? She seemed to be the type of person who would work with both men. Their politics are similar. I have to imagine that working on a campaign isn’t a year-round job once the election is over. I wouldn’t be surprised if she worked with both men. If one was happy with her work ethic, surely he’d recommend her to his brother. It’d make sense that she’d spend time during one man’s off-season helping out the other one,” said Mason.
    “And she met up with Hinkes that way? That’s implying Hinkes was still in association with the governor back then…or whatever position he held at that time.”
    “Why would the governor maintain a relationship with a scumbag he prosecuted? Especially a potentially murdering scumbag?” Mason was afraid to let his brain follow the possibilities presented by that train of thought.
    Ray’s brain zipped right up the path. “Because he needed someone to do some sort of dirty work.”
    “And he exchanged it for getting him off the murder charge,” Mason finished.
Fuck.
“This isn’t a TV show. Shit like that doesn’t happen in real life.”
    “It shouldn’t,” agreed Ray. “But we have to look at this.”
    Mason glanced at his speedometer and saw he was over the speed limit by twenty-five miles per hour. He let up on the gas, his leg aching to push harder. “I don’t like this theory.”
    “It’s making my stomach cringe. This is our fucking governor. The people in this state are crazy about him. He seems to be a great guy.”
    “Well, people thought the same about Ted Bundy.”
    “Governor Brody